Deco M9 Plus in AP mode taking over DHCP server and assigning IPs in own subnet
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After installing the M9 in access-mode in my network, I notice some devices cannot be reached anymore.
When examining the situation I notice that the IP the devices get is in the range the M9 uses when in router mode.
When switching to Router-mode, the (internal)M9 IP is: 192.168.78.1 and the DHCP range it uses is from 192.168.78.100 to 192.168.78.200 with a subnet of 255.255.255.0.
Router mode is unusable in my situation, so I'm forced to use the AP-mode.
Some devices (like a "Wemos D1" board, a Thermostat and sometimes my printer when turning it on) get an IP in the 192.168.78.x range while my
cable-modem (Lan Gateway with IP: 192.168.178.1 and subnet 255.255.255.0) is setup to handle the DHCP with a range of 192.168.178.30 - 192.168.178.250 .
The weird thing is that the cable-modem is UP all the time when one of these devices is added, but still doesn't get an IP from my Modem and because of the
different subnet, can't see the device. The device says it's up and running on the SSID from the Deco M9, with the Deco M9 given IP.
From within the Deco App, the device can be seen WITH the wrong IP address....
Because the devices it happened to are headless and no monitor can be attached, looking at the network from the device is not possible.
For some reason the Deco M9 DOES listen AND responds to DHCP requests in certain situations,
making networking a real challenge, even for someone with a good background in networking!
I hope someone will fix this serious flaw in the firmware...
I'm not the only one experiencing problems with DHCP in AP-Mode accordig to several other posters on the community.
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Why even take the risk. It's proven they don't care and won't fix issues that are not only causing critical issues but don't make any sense from a technical design perspective.
Spend your money with a vendor that gives a sh1t.
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I have an M9 Plus system arriving in a few days and having read most of the 12 pages of this post, am now very concerned that I have not done the right thing!
I currently have a BT Hub 6 on Plusnet. I also have a Win 7 PC on 24hrs a day running a CCTV system along with an IP camera connected to the Lan via a powerline adapter that I was planning to replace with one of the DECO hubs. From comments on this post, it would seem I would lose visibility of the camera. Also, would I have to set up port forwarding and my dynamic DNS service again on the first Deco unit?
Finally, I know a little about networking but not a lot, so apologies if this sounds silly. To overcome all these issues over the M9 assigning IP’s in it’s own subnet, would it not be possible to just change the original router’s IP address and subnet to match the Deco’s? As I understand it, all I would have to do first, is change any fixed addresses on my network ie my camera and cctv PC, before changing my router settings.
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Thank for saying what I was about to type. 😅
I'm still having this problem on the M9 plus. Do you know any solution yet?
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@magne and others,
I haven't found a solution for this hideous design-flaw in their firmware.
Currently I have 3 Deco M9's catching dust in a box in my garage.
Since I discovered that the people here from TP don't even know what they are talking about and the actual devs not creating a work-around, I've moved on to a robust system.
Bought me a Fritz!box 7590 router and 2 Fritz!repeater 3000 Wifi extenders and have never looked back....
I should have invested the € 330,- that I bought the set of 3 M9's for in the current setup. I would have had less frustration and would have money left too !
If you can still return the product: DO!
TP-Link won't fix this !
Cheers,
Max
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Update:
[Feature Request] Smart DHCP on/off switch under access point mode
It has been accepted and will be added in the future.
So far some models have added this feature already, while others will be added along with firmware upgrades. Please pay attention to the firmware release note on the official website.
And there seemed to be some misleading about "smart DHCP". This feature would not be enabled for no reason.
With the built-in smart DHCP, Deco will send a DHCP server request when joining a network and check if it can receive the response from a DHCP server. If there is a response, Deco will think there has been a DHCP server in the network already, then no need to enable its own DHCP server. Otherwise, there is no DHCP server detected in the network, then it will turn on its own DHCP server.
The DHCP server request will be updated every 60s which means if the main router has not fully activated for the first 60s, once it is activated and could respond to the DHCP request, the DHCP server on the Deco will be automatically turned off.
Some users might complain why my Deco left its DHCP enabled for more than 1-2 hours. After further troubleshooting with more users, we find Deco uses “smart DHCP”, while the main routers have their own special DHCP settings, for example, “Assign IP address only when there is no DHCP server”, quite the same as Deco right? They will also search whether there is already a DHCP server or not. Now the main router detected Deco had enabled its DHCP firstly, so it quit, leaving all the clients no choice but to continue getting IP from Deco.
There are also cases that the "secondary DHCP server" in the network is something else:
A forgotten old switch was pushing out the 10.0.1.x addresses
An Apple Time Capsule assigned in the 10.0.x.x range
Please comment below if you have any further concerns.
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But you are dragging this back to diagnosing when the DHCP feature kicks in. People DO NOT want that.
When I put the product in bridged mode I expect it to be 100% transparent on the network and not decide to spin up services. It's my network, if my DHCP service is down or maybe I don't even use DHCP, it's not your business in bridged mode to decide to pop up and start dishing out IP addresses.
We want(ed) one simple feature. Fully disable all services in bridged mode. What is so tough to provide this to your customers?
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Couldnt agree more. But maybe TP-link didnt quite fully understand and we were too subtle, so here goes once more.:
NO DHCP SERVER.
NEVER!
EVER!
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At first I noticed a problem on my network with your devices in bridge mode. I explained the problem with as much info that I could give you.
You then told me (and all others that encounter this problem (Yes it IS a problem)): "It's not a bug, it's a feature!".....
If you fail to take people that work in the network/sysadmin/infra-design serious when they tell you that putting a DHCP server in a network without an option to disable it, you clearly do not understand networking.....
From that moment on, we hoped that there would be any possible solution for this Bug and that it would get sorted out....
Clearly not.....
For a product that has decent specs and a premium price-tag, you would expect more support than this.
So a lot of people still waited to see if something would come up in the firmware...
Others (like me) took the loss and moved on.
Some people find this post whn they run into the same issues as we all did in the hopes that something will change...
I still hope so for all these people, but I think this is a product that wasn't technically thought out, except for a marketing strategy like: It must be easy to use; even my granny should be able to install it.....
Cheers,
Max
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My problem with my 2M9plus&1M3W mesh is that I don't even get to AP mode.
When I want to configure it from router mode to AP mode (just in the main M9plus), it restarts, and stays in red. I don't even see 1st one working as AP, and of course the DHCP problem goes after it.
Regards.
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