Deco M9 Plus three pack not working

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Deco M9 Plus three pack not working

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Deco M9 Plus three pack not working
Deco M9 Plus three pack not working
2020-12-09 16:48:07
Model: Deco M9 Plus  
Hardware Version: V2
Firmware Version: 1.2.12 Build 20191014 Rel.42025

So I just picked up the three pack of the TP-LINK Deco M9 plus for our house. According to the diagram at the top of this page, I have them hooked up in the "star network" configuration.

Main deco is hooked to cable modem. Then that deco is hooked to my TP-LINK switch. My other two Decos are hooked via wired connection to that switch.

It is set in router mode. I set up the main one first, works fine. Then I added the other two. I didn't pay attention to the status lights on them later as I went straight to bed after. But internet speeds and coverage were awesome. But then tonight I noticed that they were both blinking red. App says they're connected fine. The main deco is solid green. But the other two aren't working. I've tried rebooting them, even re-adding them. Can't quite figure out what I'm doing wrong.

 

I did try removing them, resetting to factory, and then adding just one via wireless only, rather than wired.  It found it, connected, app says it's healthy, but it is doing the same thing, just blinking red.  Occasionaly blinks green for a second, then goes back to blinking red. 

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#1
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Re:Deco M9 Plus three pack not working
2020-12-10 17:21:28

@paqman 

 

Swap the main unit with one of the satellite ones to see if the issue still happens.

 

If the ones wired to the switch continue to blink red, take one directly to the main Deco, disconnect the cable that goes to the switch and connect the satellite directly to the main Deco. 

 

If the satellite works directly connected to the main Deco then the issue may be the cable going to the switch or the switch itself.

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Re:Deco M9 Plus three pack not working
2020-12-10 17:56:13

 

Tony wrote

@paqman 

 

Swap the main unit with one of the satellite ones to see if the issue still happens.

 

If the ones wired to the switch continue to blink red, take one directly to the main Deco, disconnect the cable that goes to the switch and connect the satellite directly to the main Deco. 

 

If the satellite works directly connected to the main Deco then the issue may be the cable going to the switch or the switch itself.

@Tony 

 

I'll try that thanks.  I did just update all three to the latest firmware.  I had to do it manually, as they were on an old firmware that was reporting as up to date in the app.  It didn't fix my issue.  

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Re:Deco M9 Plus three pack not working
2020-12-10 18:59:20

@Tony 

Small update.  I haven't tried swapping them yet to put one of the other two in as the main deco yet, (I'm working, and can't totally drop my internet at the moment) but I did remove one of them, and connect it directly to the main unit with a known good cable.  The same issue persists.  So I think that can rule out my cable run or my switch for now.I think I failed to mention that these units are factory refurbs.  So it may be that they are just bad.  However, I will be curious to find out how it works when I switch one into use as the main deco.  If both of them work fine as the main deco, and they just won't work as APs, then what could the problem be?

 

I should say that in the app, i can see that there are devies attached to them, and they have traffic flowing through them, even though the light is blinking red.  I haven't pulled out the wifi analyzer yet, but at least from the app, it looks like they are working.  But the red blinking light has me concerned.

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Re:Deco M9 Plus three pack not working
2020-12-11 15:03:21

Well, last night I took the whole thing down, hit the factory reset buttons, and tried to re-create the network using one of the other decos as the main unit.  Well I ended up trying all three, and now, I can't even get it to work at all, even the way it was before.  I never even got to trying to add APs to the mix.  I couldn't even get a main deco up and running.  Everything would go smoothly until it would try to test the internet access.  I create the wifi, then my phone successfully connects to the wifi, and then the app says it is testing the internet connection.  At that point, the light goes red, and it is never able to get access to the internet.  I tried this all with a few different known good ethernet cables.  No switches involved.  Only my cable modem (which is fairly new, and has no problems on our current equipment), directly connected to the deco.  I tried it on all three decos, with multiple cables, same result on each one.

 

If anyone has any ideas what I might be doing wrong, I'd love to hear them.  Otherwise, I think maybe I have a bad batch, and I'm going to just return them.

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Re:Deco M9 Plus three pack not working
2020-12-23 08:21:07

@paqman 

I am also trying to set up a new Costco 3-pack with similar "testing internet" problems where the main Deco unit goes red, requiring a hard reset via the reset button. Is there any recommendation for this issue or is this a Costco return also?

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#6
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Re:Deco M9 Plus three pack not working
2020-12-23 15:10:43

@KC6IJM 

Wow, on a brand new unit?  Well, I returned mine, but they were refurbs, so I wasn't surprised that mine were bad.  But a brand new unit has me a bit suspicious.  I mean there isn't much to this setup process, so I can't see where it could be going wrong.  After returning mine, I was doing a factory reset on my current Unifi Dream Machine unit, and was having issues with that, until I replaced the ethernet cable I had going from the cable modem into the Dream Machine.  So it could be that cable was causing me issues all along, but it tests fine, and I've been using it for a while.  But maybe it's just out of tolerance or something.  And actually, I tried different cables with the Deco units, so I know that wasn't my issue with the Decos.  Good luck.

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#7
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Re:Deco M9 Plus three pack not working
2021-01-10 22:02:58

@paqman 

Thanks for your reply.  I'll try chatting with Customer Service and then return to Costco if no success.

Steve  KC6IJM

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