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[Networking] Odd ARP behavior Actiontec MI424 Rev I router

Hi all,
I was working an odd issue with a security/nanny cam and my searches kept sending me here, so I figured I'd just ask.

Just got a MI424WR Rev I router to replace my Rev C that was super slow. Old network had a D-Link DIR-655 for wireless. Want to consolidate if I can.

Everything migrated great, nothing fancy on the network settings (WPA2, AES, my own key), no MAC filtering. A linux file server and printer on a fixed address, hard wired. TV's / BR on hard wires, and phones, laptops, and a pair of security cameras on wireless. All the wireless work except one: a Panasonic BL series. Camera works fine on the old router and hard wired. Best I can tell the wireless in the camera works great.

Symptoms are that it shows a connection and the Actiontec shows the link and mentions the MAC address in the log. So good news there. However, nothing can ping or connect. About 20 minutes later, things seem to work, but this isn't always the case. One time it worked for three days and then just stopped streaming.

Put on Wireshark and noticed that nothing was answering the ARP requests from the laptop that was trying to connect. I manually added an ARP entry in my laptop and it started pining and could connect. So the only network disconnect seems to be simple discovery / ARP level communication.

I logged into the router via Telnet and added an ARP entry there and eventually other computers could access more reliably. However this did not survive a reboot and some features are still not working.

So any advanced stuff I can do with the ARP table, proxy, routing? Force it to relay, force a permanent entry? I have a Linux server, so any magic there to have it answer ARP requests for the camera?

Appreciate the help!
Anthony

Update: so after the flail last night and 20 minutes to an hour of not being able to answer pings, I wake up this morning and it's working fine. Last time it did that, it lasted about three days and dropped again, requiring a power reboot -- obviously not good for a security camera.

Worth noting that this had uptimes of almost six months and after any power outages came back up with no intervention (on the D-Link router).

So it seems the Actiontec is capable of doing the right thing, but gets in its own way? Some odd managment / Qos / rule process that times out? Why does it start working eventually?

Anyway, I'd still appreciate anything else to look at in Wireshark or router settings.

Thanks,
Anthony

Shot in the dark but disable the IGMP setting on this page: »192.168.1.1/index.cgi?active_page=6059
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My other computer is your computer

If the response to the ARP request is intermittent, I'd say that the network interface on the camera is bad (replacement of entire camera). If static ARP fixes the problem (while the ARP entry stays put), then I'd say it's a bad camera. Question: Other devices using the same 801.x access point are working OK?

Not at home, so I can't verify, but I think I tried the IGMP.

I also used the "hidden" proxy page to disable that, no luck.

Camera works wired, so if it is the camera it has to be in the wireless module. But then again, it works on the D-Link router. Funny thing is, the D-Link always showed this camera as having address 0.0.0.0, but direct connections to its actual IP always worked, so I didn't think anything of it. I figured it was something to do with how the extra wireless layer (which has its own mac) passed on the connection.

The MAC that is recognized by the actiontec is the "wired" one and it associates with the IP of the camera even in wireless mode. Not sure what kind of network magic happens there, but it worked.

I also notice that the camera sends out an unsolicited ARP broadcast on power up. I'm wondering if the D-Link locked onto that and shared it, but the Actiontec doesn't?

tonight I'll put just a laptop and the camera on the D-link and run wireshark to see what the packet stream looks like when its working. Maybe it hasn't been working well all along and the D-Link just covered for it.

Thanks for the help guys.

Sorry, was working from memory earlier -- that link you sent was the "hidden" page I tried earlier with no change. I currently have it enabled.

I got home from work and everything links right away (so, working?), and Wireshark showed the camera answering ARP requests, at least to my laptop when I first connected (I made sure the arp table was clear before connecting).

Verified on several devices that it is working. Oddly enough, the MAC is not in the ARP table on the router (either UI or CLI). So the requests are direct.

Any chance this is a weird STP or route setup thing that just takes the Actiontec a while to sort out? Once it's sorted, it seems to work, but last time it hung after a few days (and I'm inclined to leave it alone to see if that happens again now).

Thanks again for the input.

I know you wanted to simplify but worse case scenario you could put the D link back in the loop just for the camera?

Yeah, that's a distant plan B. I'd let the D-Link run all the wireless still, except it always had a big drop in performance throughput. What would come as 20/20 on the Actiontec would be 15/18 or so on the D-Link (sometimes worse, never better). I might revisit solving that if I can't get this worked.

As for the Actiontec experiments:
So after "working" for a day or so, it stopped answering ARP requests, camera not available, etc. Manually added ARP to the client machine and it connects right away.

Changed addressing over to DHCP, thinking the router might answer the request / remember MAC to IP better.
1) Immediately showed up as an expired lease. I deleted the lease and it came up a few minutes later as a good lease and I could access the camera.
2) This morning -- nothing. Locked out again. Added ARP entry to the laptop and connected right away. Once that was connected and I knew the camera was awake, I tried from a phone -- nothing.

On the Actiontec side, I tried:
IGMP full disable, disable from the "hidden screen", etc. Did not change outcome.
DHCP entry for the camera. Did not work, see above.
Manually added ARP entry to the Actiontec from the Shell. Let's the router ping through just fine, did not help other clients connect.
Enabled "Hardware Bride Acceleration" -- No change.
Checked STP for the wireless connection -- No change.

I haven't tried any combinations of things, I revert every setting after confirming it did not work.

Still to do:
Back on the D-Link Router for just this camera and test behavior, Wireshark, etc.
Move Actiontec closer to camera to see if this could be hardware related. I have no indications it loses connection, but if it struggles it might be confusing something and it takes time to sort (which might explain the "magically works" sometimes).
Full reset of the camera and re-install firmware -- just in case.

Question for the group:
This camera has a dual MAC thing happening (one for wired that gets an IP and shows up in the DHCP/ARP, and the next MAC entry for wireless that doesn't get an IP). Is this common, normal?

It always showed up on the D-Link as 0.0.0.0 on the wired MAC, but pings of the "static" that I assigned it worked and the camera worked. I never dug into before because it worked, but now I'm curious.

Thanks.

Okay, did some more tests with some interesting results. Full reset of camera, firmware re-install. Did not fix, but it's done so I can check it off.

Put it back on the D-Link and did a Wireshark log.
The events of note that my laptop (also wireless) could detect:
Camera MAC asks (ARP) who has x.x.x.253 (IP of camera). Tell 0.0.0.0
Camera MAC broadcasts Gratuitous ARP for x.x.x.253 (Request)
Then I ping from the laptop. I get an ask then answer of ARP request and the ping packets show up.

On the Actiontec, did the same thing (clean boot, no other wireless devices, so the clutter was down).
Camera MAC asks (ARP) who has x.x.x.253. Tell 0.0.0.0
Gratuitous ARP for x.x.x.253 (Request).
Then I get a blast of SSDP requests from the x.x.x.253 source (the camera) 21 times. THIS DID NOT OCCUR AT ALL ON THE D-LINK.
Then the ping ARP requests, no reply and no successful pings.

The only thing that changed in this setup was the router and the ssid/key. Band, encryption type, and all other camera settings were identical.

Any ideas here? I'm not familiar with SSDP, but that seems to be the only difference. Other than it not working on the Actiontec and working perfecely on the D-Link.

Thanks.

Another shot in the dark, UPnP: »192.168.1.1/index.cgi?active%5fpage=900
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My other computer is your computer

Both were checked. Published to Main WAN only.

Which way to try something different?

I tried the IGMP again too. Proxy disable, checked allow IGMP for all the proxies. Reboot router. Still nothing.

Thanks.

Uncheck UPnP and give it try. Saw some comment around the net that turning it off helps.
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My other computer is your computer

Upnp might have done it. I still have the igmp proxy off, but it finds the camera quickly more after both a camera restart and a router restart, which is a good sign.

Previous times it failed again in one to three days so I'll leave it up and see what happens.

Thanks!