Router can ping and trace but clients can't...

[jeff288]

My N66U, which worked fine for months, gave me problems when I added a wifi extender to the network and along with it maybe 5 more clients. At first I thought it was the modem acting up since I could reach the router but I just had no internet. So I used "Network Tools" on the router to ping and resolve a few IPs which worked. Anyway, l never figured out exactly why but I reset the router to default settings and things worked again even though they were fine before for months. What could've caused this? I'd just like to know in case I have the issue again and no internet support to research it.

 

[ColinTaylor]

As you said this coincided with you adding a WiFi extender that is the only clue we have. Perhaps the extender was acting as a router with its own DHCP server, that would cause issues. Without more information it's impossible to say really.

 

[jeff288]

As you said this coincided with you adding a WiFi extender that is the only clue we have. Perhaps the extender was acting as a router with its own DHCP server, that would cause issues. Without more information it's impossible to say really.

Maybe so. It's a Netgear EX6120 and I don't think there's any way to turn off its DHCP server and make it just a bridged extender. I'm trying to login to it via its local domain http://mywifiext or 192.168.1.250 but no luck. I've been trying for hours but not seeing any devices with that IP even though the DHCP server is working on the N66U. Gawd, I'm just too stupid for networking, I guess. Maybe this is a question for the Netgear forums but here's something you guys might know, why do I get dashes instead of IPs

like so?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Looking at the manual, it shouldn't be running a DHCP or DNS server after you've set it up. The easiest way to determine if it is the source of your problems is to turn it off and wait.

You'll get dashes instead of IP's if the WiFi client has associated with the router but hasn't requested for an IP address.

 

[jeff288]

Looking at the manual, it shouldn't be running a DHCP or DNS server after you've set it up. The easiest way to determine if it is the source of your problems is to turn it off and wait.

You'll get dashes instead of IP's if the WiFi client has associated with the router but hasn't requested for an IP address.

You read the manual just to help me troubleshoot? Well I feel special now, thanks. The extender is in another apartment, my daughter's and I'm waiting on her to reset it one of these days or just bring the damn thing over so I can factory reset. But you're right, it's not hosting a DNS server but it is doing MAC masquerading which doesn't help me when trying to assign those clients a static DNS. I just figured it's doing something funny with DNS since the device itself, I'm guessing from the MAC, is giving me dashes.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Once the device is set up you won't be able to access it using http://mywifiext because the Asus' DNS server doesn't know anything about that domain. That's only valid when connecting directly to the Netgear during the setup process.