Wired backhaul with RBK50 and RBS50 disabling ethernet ports in satellite

[docgravel]

I have been trying to configure Wired Backhaul with my RBK50 and RBS50. I have 2 RBS50s, but I've turned one off to try to isolate the problem. I have a MoCA (GoCoax) adapter set up to connect the wired backhaul. So my setup is basically Xfinity -> MB8600 Cable Modem -> RBK50 -> MoCA -> MoCA -> RBS50. The setup seems to work fine if I don't use any of the ethernet ports on the RBS50. The second I plug my PS4 or Apple TV into the RBS50, all sorts of random things start happening. The RBS50 will start to randomly turn magenta and disconnect, and unplugging all the ethernet cables except the wired backhaul seems to fix it instantly. Oddly enough the the wired ports on the RBK50 also seem to stop working at the same time. The connected device list also seems to have random data. For example, it will claim wireless devices in my den are hard wired to the living room.

Here is what I've tried so far:

• 3 different firmware versions (2.7.2.104, 2.7.2.102, 2.3.5.30)

• Assigning a reserved address for the RBS50

• Assigning each wired device a reserved address

• Unplugging any switches.

I have had the same behavior happen with two different RBS50s.

I am trying to set up a situation where both my wife and I can have our laptops easily wired to ethernet from our individual offices and the PS4 is wired.

Any ideas? Are the ethernet cables supposed to work with wired backhaul?

[docgravel · Accepted solution]

I think I figured it out! It was unrelated to my Orbi and totally related to the GoCoax MoCA adapters. I was able to reproduce this issue with RBK -> GoCoax -> GoCoax -> Switch -> 2 or more devices. They all had the same static IP address by default, which appears to not be a problem if you're using them to connect one device on the other end, but as soon as you connect them to a router or a switch with multiple devices, it looks like this was causing problems. I didn't even realize these devices had IP addresses because they were on a different subnet and were static IPs. I just set them all to use DHCP with reserved addresses and the network has been stable for the last 2 hours with many devices connected to ethernet.

[CrimpOn]

Yes, of course, ethernet ports on the RBR50 and RBS50 should remain usable when the sattelite is using ethernet backhaul.

The only MoCA connections are to the router and satellite, correct? (aside from TV sets)

I always assign IP addresses to devices which are "permanent", such as Orbi satellites, printers, IP cameras, etc.

(I do not see this as relevant to the problem, but it is a common practice.)

[docgravel · Accepted solution]

I think I figured it out! It was unrelated to my Orbi and totally related to the GoCoax MoCA adapters. I was able to reproduce this issue with RBK -> GoCoax -> GoCoax -> Switch -> 2 or more devices. They all had the same static IP address by default, which appears to not be a problem if you're using them to connect one device on the other end, but as soon as you connect them to a router or a switch with multiple devices, it looks like this was causing problems. I didn't even realize these devices had IP addresses because they were on a different subnet and were static IPs. I just set them all to use DHCP with reserved addresses and the network has been stable for the last 2 hours with many devices connected to ethernet.

[CrimpOn]

Thanks for the solution.  My TP-Link Powerline units have no IP address.  Since the electrical circuit is essentially one "local area", they must use some sort of Powerline broadcast to find each other.  When I start the TP-Link's Powerline management program, the units just "pop up" on the screen.