Conflicting DHCP when Deco in AP mode ?
Today I ran into an issue which made me almost cringe.. as I hadn't expect this to happen, considering I've been working in the IT networking business for over 30 years..
I had recently purchased a Deco M5 mesh set with 3 nodes and setup as AP access points, because I alread have a decent router from my ISP (Zyxel EMG2926). This has been working fine for the last 6-8 weeks and nothing to complain about.
Last night, for some strange reason my router rebooted and I lost Internet connexion from everywhere, including my wired PC's which I use every day to work from home.. So getting back internet was critical to me and I tried the quick obvious options like rebooting the router and also reseting to factory the router, then reloading the configuration I had on backup.. To no avail, I wasn't able to get an functional internet, still the router diagnostic was able to ping any IP address outside my network.. Since I needed to work and support clients, I disconnected the Zyxel router and put back the Mercku M2 Hive base I had prior to the ISP router and after 5 minutes, was back into business.. (The Mercku is also a Mesh Wi-Fi system with 4 Bee nodes, albeit it wasn't working to my entire satisfaction, thus the purchase of the Deco M5).
Having spend the morning with work, I had hope the issue with the router might have been on the ISP side, so tried to set it back in action. Result was identical and nothing was really working.. Put the Mercku M2 back for the PM as I had a support call and did need internet ASAP.
At the end of the PM I got back to my router and it was so weird that I even tried to reset the Zyxel for the n-th time and start from scratch.. What puzzled me was that it was working if I forced my computer into fixed IP address, and even with DHCP Mac address reservation, the router wouldn't route my requests properly to the internet.. Looking at the IP addresses in the config made me think that router was totaly corrupt and crazy.. The router's IP is 192.168.127.1, but returns 192.168.127.102 as gateway and .254 for the DNS server, which is even crazier.. This is when I started to scan my network for rogue devices with my Android smartphone, but couldn't find anything suspicious. I've a lot of IoT devices and aside of the 3 Deco M5 AP's, there was nothing un-usual. However, the .102 IP address made me tick and look closer at the Mac Address, to finally discover that the main Deco M5 unit (the one connected by Cat5 cable to the switch) was the culprit.
For some obscure reasons my Zyxel router was thinking that the Deco M5 AP unit was the master DHCP on the network, despite TP-Link saying in their documentation that it is not the case when in AP mode.. As a proof, my Mercku M2 router had no issues at all with that and was perfectly handing over IP addresses to all devices..
Has anyone run into such a situation with another HW router ? getting conflicting DHCP server mode while the Deco M5 is in AP mode ?
I fixed my problem my disconnecting the Cat 5 cable temporarly from the switch, rebooted the Zyxel router and voilà.. after it was back as 'master' DHCP, I plugged the Deco M5 back and all was working as before.. But I'm really curious about that strange behavior.
Any comments are welcome on this.
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@Kevin_Z It would be better if you acknowledged the issue instead of shafting the consumers with lies. I'm so angry with this issue leading to my wireless CCTV cameras stopping recording on my NVR that I'm at a total loss on how to express this properly so you understand a fix is URGENTLY needed. I have firmware 1.3.1 running on Deco M5s.
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same issue on this thread too.
https://community.tp-link.com/en/home/forum/topic/160293
Have no idea why TP-Link are so insistent on this not causing issues and giving us a simple "Fully disable DHCP" option.
@Kevin_Z surely you need to start supporting people who are facing this issue and have spent a lot of good money on the product. Can you please provide a decent update, and not one that asks for wireshark captures and router models etc.
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Guys this is abnormal. This is my first product from Tp-Link and I have enough now.
Smart home accessories not working properly. Randomly stop working because deco take control with "SMART DHCP"
TP-Link Please do something with this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Hey Kevin,
I've again had a mess created on my network due to this smart DHCP behaviour.
Please urgently offer the option to fully disable any and all DHCP capability when in bridge mode.
This really is a simple situation to avoid. Help your customers.
I ask you at the very least update this thread.
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From time to time my network becomes inactive due to DHCP conflict.
I NEED TO DISABLE THE DECO DHCP
HOW TO DO THAT?
DECO M5 in AP mode.
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Chiming in to let TPLink know that this exact thing happened to a Deco network I managed recently.
I had wasted days trying to figure out what happened and why all devices didn't get internet connection.
Here's the gist of the situation :
1. It's a 3 unit Deco M5s in a mesh network, one Deco acting as the AP mode connected by wired Ethernet to an OpenWRT based router.
2. There was a power outage and the router and all Deco was down.
3. When power came back up, I guessed the Deco units booted faster than the OpenWRT router so its smartdumb DHCP Server took over and got activated.
4. And that dumb DHCP server sure did NOT deactivate itself when the main OpenWRT router came up.
In my decades of experience in setting up network devices, I believe this is the first time this kind of thing happened to me. When I set something as an AP, and I want to keep its DHCP Server down, I certainly want to keep it down even across reboots.
I was originally very satisfied with Deco M5s performance when I first installed it. Now I am extremely disappointed that TPLink can't even do this simple thing right.
I guess the my old perception is still true, "TPLink? Good price, decent hardware, but loooousy software"
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same issue here
my firmware version on all Deco 5 is 1.3.1
any solutions out there. This is driving me nutts and TP-Link is not even replying.
we demand some answers and solutions
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I gave up trying to figure out that problem.
It was installed in my parents' house and they kept pestering me whenever their WiFi was connected but there is no internet connection (because of the DHCP problem).
I caved in and bought another unit of Deco M5, set that as the Main Router (so the whole mesh is no longer in AP mode anymore).
Never had a problem with DHCP again, yet.
Does it work? Yes.
Am I satisfied? Definitely NO. I miss the features from the OpenWRT router.
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but I can't believe that a company like TP-Link are not doing anything about this
it is not normal that a customer spends hundreds of dollars and they are stuck with a big problem.
i understand that it's technology and it's not perfect but in this case they should work on the problem and figure out a new firmeware.
they most important they should a least acknowledge the problem.
im so disappointed and mad that I have this problem.
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