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dmedovich
join:2002-12-18
Nashville, TN

dmedovich

Member

RG losing wifi dhcp assignments

Uverse installed 11/16/10. The first couple of days wifi clients had trouble keeping connection more than 5-10 minutes. The laptops/iphones would show an active wifi connection to the router with strong signal and valid tcp/ip entries and valid dhcp lease.
Mac laptops wouldn't repair connection since it saw that connection to Access Point was active and good-- had to turn off airport and back on. PCs would do a full IP renew and reconnect ok.
I changed it from channel 6 to 8 and locked it (1, 6 and 11 each had from 5 to 10 APs in the neighborhood on them). That seemed to resolve the issue. I also bumped up the dhcp lease timeout to 999 hours.
Problem has now returned. Not an interference or signal strength issue from what i can tell. Watched on RG and saw active wifi connections just get dropped-- would drop clients all at once except sometimes a couple of iphones in sleep mode waking up to look for updates. Would often happen while iphone or laptop was actively opening a web page. Have to turn off wifi and back on to renew dhcp and works ok every time. Gets old when you have to do that every 5-10 minutes.
I dropped dhcp lease time to 400, changed channels a couple times-- didn't help. I rebooted the RG and it seems to have helped.
I've read on some forums that there may be a chipset or firmware issue with the 2wire-- is there any way to resolve this?

wayjac
MVM
join:2001-12-22
Indy

wayjac

MVM

If you can set the tcp/ip info directly on the device
That will eliminate any dhcp problems, if this has no effect it's not a dhcp problem

Is the 2wire resetting?
simiglen
join:2001-04-30
Simi Valley, CA

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I am having the same issues with Iphones and Ipods
jsmithepa
join:2006-12-06
Burlingame, CA

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to dmedovich
Did you say you are using an AIRPORT ACCESS POINT? and you have 2WIRE (AT&T's WIFI) enabled at the same time?

Dennis
Mod
join:2001-01-26
Algonquin, IL

Dennis to dmedovich

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to dmedovich
There's a great program called netstumbler that runs on windows machines that you can use to see what kind of chatter is going on around you.

I had a similar issue just the other day, RG just kept cycling through channels no matter what I did. Finally settled on channel 7 and no issues since then. None of the other 11 ap's around me were are on that channel so I'm going to say it was interference.
dmedovich
join:2002-12-18
Nashville, TN

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Currently only have the 2wire access point running. The reference to airport was turning the client wireless off and on on the Mac laptop to reacquire the dhcp credentials.
dmedovich

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I used the Meraki WiFi Stumbler to identify surrounding wifi traffic, and then picked channel 8 and locked it on the 2 wire to prevent channel jumping.
Had to reboot RG again yesterday to clear up the issue-- couldn't maintain wifi connections. About 4 days of usage before problem reappeared. I'm rebooting, not resetting to default-- and this seems to clear up problem for a while.
I do have 1 windows laptop set up with static IP and DNS assignment from the 2wire range. That PC was having trouble with the auto-configure of tcp/ip-- it has xp pro / wouldn't negotiate with the 2wire. I'll check the connection on this laptop next time the trouble comes up, but I'm pretty sure it was having same issue.
The static setting may bypass the dhcp negotiation and assignment, but that's not where the problem is -- I can renew dhcp ok, the 2wire just won't maintain the connection to the wifi clients once they're active. The client that connects using the static address is still using the dhcp connection pool and the dhcp server is probably still managing that connection once established.
I'm wondering if there's some sort of data caching, logging function on the 2wire that is maintaining either logs or stats that eventually encroaches on the dhcp connection data-- since the RG is maintaining the data stats on the video connections there's a lot of traffic it's keeping track of.
jsmithepa
join:2006-12-06
Burlingame, CA

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Only other things I can suggest is, keep playing with channel assignment, if AP has a turbo mode, turn it off see what happens, and don't forget ventilation, make sure RG is not getting overheated. Use another encryption mechanism. Lastly search this forum for all post related to 2WIRE drop out.

Datx
Huh? What?
join:2001-01-21
Austin, TX

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I had similar issues after 2 1/2 years of Uverse. I end up resetting the RG back to factory default and have not had a DHCP issue in the past couple of months.
simiglen
join:2001-04-30
Simi Valley, CA

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I was having the same issues and to fix it was really strange.

I was at a local eatery that had wifi. I cracked out the ipod and let it get a connection. The restaurant actually had uverse. I let it get an ip address from the restaurant and my ipod started working again. When I got home it continued to work. So it seems it is probably not an Uverse issue, but and Ipod/Iphone issue.

Just my 2 cents on what happened to me

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

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I'm having this problem too. Happens on my iPhone but also a Windows laptop. It connects, but will not get an IP. I used to be able to get a connection by repairing the network.

I can connect to another access point (wired) further away and it gets an IP from there (via the RG's DHCP server) fine.

Really strange. Trying to do some wireshark analysis before I reboot the RG - I'm expecting that it will start working correctly after I do that.
mmay149q
Premium Member
join:2009-03-05
Dallas, TX

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Hello, this is Matt with U-Verse Tier II Technical Support. I want to resolve your issue as quickly as possible. Do you by chance have Wireless Protected Setup enabled in the RG? If so you should probably disable it as we've identified it as a known issue to kick WiFi clients off the network when enabled. In fact my Archos 101 Android Tablet can't even connect to 2-wire devices with it enabled. Try it out and let me know.

Thanks, Matt

U-verse Tier II Technical Support
dmedovich
join:2002-12-18
Nashville, TN

dmedovich

Member

Wifi protected setup is disabled.
Wireless security is set to default of WPA-PSK (TKIP) and WPA2-PSK (AES).
Wireless channel is locked to 8.
Power setting 10
Wireless mode 802.11b/g
DTIM=1
Max rate = 54 mbps

Had to reboot RG again this morning. The PC that is wireless that i have that has tcp/ip manually configured for IP and DNS settings also lost connection to RG, and I couldn't connect to the RG on that PC using 192.168.1.254 (only from wired client).
mmay149q
Premium Member
join:2009-03-05
Dallas, TX

mmay149q

Premium Member

So the WPS was already disabled before I commented on this post?

Thanks, Matt

U-verse Tier II Technical Support
dmedovich
join:2002-12-18
Nashville, TN

dmedovich

Member

yes-- WPS has always been disabled since install.
mmay149q
Premium Member
join:2009-03-05
Dallas, TX

mmay149q

Premium Member

Ok, go ahead and shoot an e-mail to uversecare@att.com, include your U-verse Billing Account Number, or phone number on the account, and a good contact number. I think we need to go ahead and schedule a technician to come out and swap out your gateway.

Thanks, Matt

U-verse Tier II Technical Support

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

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WPS is disabled in my case as well.
mmay149q
Premium Member
join:2009-03-05
Dallas, TX

mmay149q

Premium Member

said by djrobx:

WPS is disabled in my case as well.

Do you have a static assigned wireless channel? Or is it set to auto?

Thanks, Matt

U-verse Tier II Technical Support

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

djrobx

Premium Member

It's set to a specific channel (not auto).

It's so inconsistent and strange that I'd be afraid to risk a tech charging me for a service call because it works OK for them when they come out.

It seems like a software problem more than a hardware problem, but who knows. I never had trouble with the wifi on my previous RG at my previous home.

JeffK
@datareturn.com

JeffK

Anon

I am having the same issue. Wireless clients can not renew DHCP unless i reboot the RG. I can go to the laptop that is having the issue and set the IP an DNS to static and it connects right up. The wireless connection is fine. It just will not hand out DHCP over wireless and it is very intermittent. Wired clients have no issue with DHCP. I have had this happen to different laptops at different times. Reboot the Gateway and all is good. I do notice that when this happens there are a lot of wifi transmit errors on the RG.

trparky
Premium Member
join:2000-05-24
Cleveland, OH

trparky

Premium Member

I've had an open issue with Matt about this issue. He seems to think that there is some kind of firmware bug that is causing this. The only way to fix it for me was to run my open wireless access point.
Pelon
join:2010-12-08
Stockton, CA

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Interesting, I have a similar issue with an iMac that connects via wifi to a Airport Extreme (connected in bridge to the RG).

When waking the iMac from sleep mode, maybe 1 out of 5 times i'll get a "IP address is being used" message. So far the only remedy is connecting the ethernet.

And all I run is macs/iphones in the house with the exception of an xbox and a ps3 and so far only the iMac has IP problems.

Vchat20
Landing is the REAL challenge
Premium Member
join:2003-09-16
Columbus, OH

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I also seem to run into this issue as well from time to time. Essentially it retains an ip unless I force disconnect and reconnect and then it refuses to pull an ip from the RG until I reboot the RG then it clears up again. Seems to be triggered and even exacerbated if there's a lot of NAT traffic like utorrent running on multiple machines (stock settings for 1mbit upload which seems to set a high connection limit), skype, maxed HSI speed, etc.. I also noticed when this comes up inter-LAN connections seem to be really off. Network map in Win7 is almost totally blank when it is usually pretty full, media center extender access on the 360 fails (360 is wired straight to the RG switch, media center PC is wifi) as well as other media access and even pings to various machines on the same network.

It's all really ugly and the only solution I have found that doesn't involve a migraine is just unplugging the RG for a second or two and plugging it back in. *shrug*

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

djrobx to trparky

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He seems to think that there is some kind of firmware bug that is causing this.

That's what I think.

The wireless connection is fine. It just will not hand out DHCP over wireless and it is very intermittent. Wired clients have no issue with DHCP

What's interesting in my case is that I have this problem not only connecting directly to the RG, but also connecting to a secondary access point. But when it happens, I can switch to the other access point, and it will connect fine for a while. Then it will fail, and I'll need to switch back. Rinse, repeat. Or, I can reboot the RG and everything will be fine for a while.
Lotheron
join:2009-04-03
Wesley Chapel, FL

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I was also having this issue in the last week or so. My clients would not obtain IPs and drop off randomly. At first I attributed it to channel noise as I noticed my neighbor just had U-verse installed. I checked the RG and while it had a DHCP spot setup for the computer I was testing, it would stay at "Acquiring network address" and eventually fail. I even reset DHCP and noticed the test computer was supposed to have receive a new IP address in the range, it never did. This was affecting laptops/iphones/android phones over wireless.

While I never rebooted the RG, I changed channels multiple times and it didn't seem to fix it. It was intermittent over the period of 36 hours. I eventually switched from WPA + WPA2 to just WPA and it seems to have been ok for about 5 days now.

meucci
@sbcglobal.net

meucci

Anon

I had the same issues of loosing my DHCP. Of course AT&T is no help. I turned off wireless o the RG and added a Cisco E3000, and presto all is perfect in my wireless world.
Good Wife
join:2007-05-31

Good Wife

Member

Having same issue as OP. I created a new thread, but wanted to add to this one since my sense this is a growing problem - lots of posts on same topic all over the web.

I got my RG replaced and turned off wireless security, changed to wpa2 instead of the higher one, and selected a channel and disabled auto after looking at what was in my neighborhood. All of our devices have IP assignments starting with .64 -the same ones dhcp gave them when we added the new RG. (I wrote them down). Both laptops have lost connection twice today. One is .68 and the other .69 This is baffling and frustrating to say the least.

Not only that it disconnected in the time I took to create this post!

Drex
Beer...The other white meat.
Premium Member
join:2000-02-24
Not There

Drex to dmedovich

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Just wanted to chime in as well that I'm seeing this issue too. I just got Uverse over the weekend and configured the RG for wireless. Initially i had no problems, but I've been unable to connect via wireless from multiple laptops and Droid phones. I have not tried recycling the RG yet. I'm seeing the same issue where it will connect to the wireless network, but won't get an IP address via DHCP. I tried using a static IP and that did not work either.

Dennis
Mod
join:2001-01-26
Algonquin, IL

Dennis

Mod

I noticed this starting to happen more and more as well. I turned on a computer so the kids could skype with their grandma (it uses a 2wire wireless usb adaptor) and even though the signal was 54mb and it's only like 30 feet from the RG suddenly every damn wifi connection started dropping.

Turned on netstumbler on my netbook and couldn't find any other AP's close enough to explain the sudden interference. The only fix so far seems to be turning off the wifi or power cycling the RG (while swearing in my case).

I only have 6 active wireless devices....wonder if pushing it to 7 borks something in my case? Very annoying....almost to the point of running another cat5.

Drex
Beer...The other white meat.
Premium Member
join:2000-02-24
Not There

Drex

Premium Member

said by Dennis:

The only fix so far seems to be turning off the wifi or power cycling the RG (while swearing in my case).

Just had the wife call me up b/c my wifi printer wasn't working. Had her recycle the RG and it's working now.