Leases expiring on Belkin Linksys WAG320N WIFi Router

[avander]

Following on from my earlier post tonight in the IT/Interweb section I have another question about our setup.

We have a 5 level shop house.

We have the modem on Level 1 with a Tenda W309R+ Wifi Router connected.

On Level 2 I am using my old trusty Cisco Linksys WAG320N Wifi Router configured in "bridge only" mode. My problem is that it seems to be dropping the leases every couple of days and in order to connect our phones and tablets again on that level we need to either reboot or power down and up the router. We can then connect as normal.

We have another Tenda on Level 4 running as an extender and which works fine.

I am getting a little sick of the stepladder and power up and down every couple of days and thought maybe one of our TV networking gurus could provide me some specirfic advice on what setting/s to change as I believe this may just be a config issue....maybe. As I said above, the other Tenda WiFi router on Level 4 works fine.

I have included some screenshots of what I expect the relevant router config screens for the main config page and the wireless config pages. There are more but I hope these are sufficient.

Please note greyed out values are fixed as a result of setting the router to bridged mode.

Edited June 8, 2014 by avander

[RichCor]

You currently have the Cisco Linksys WAG320N Wifi Router configured with a STATIC IP address, so can't drop a lease (at least not as a DHCP client).

Maybe you mean lock up or drop Ethernet connection?

Your DHCP Server is set correctly as a DHCP Relay, so all the leases are being handed out by 192.168.0.1

If this is a recent issue (wasn't happening before with current configuration) then there may be a fault in the WAG320N, or some type of traffic is causing it to lock up.

There is a Recent Firmware update on the Linksys site dated: 03/25/2014

Ver.1.00.13 Annex A (8 MB)

Linksys LLC

Product: WAG320N Annex A
Classification: Firmware Release History
Release Date: March 25, 2014

Firmware Version: 1.00.13
Last Firmware Version: 1.00.12

Language: Multi-Language

Note: Not to be used with Annex B models (DE and E1)
_____________________________________________________________________
Firmware Version: 1.00.13
Release Date: March 25, 2014

- Fixed TCP port 32764 backdoor issue



Firmware Version: 1.00.12
Release Date: March 25, 2010

- Added the DHCP reservation support
- Fixed STC PPP connection problem
- Fixed configuration problem with DNS3
- Fixed Web GUI and disabled the widechannel 40MHz configurations with 802.11b and 802.11g modes
- Fixed time is off by 1 hour in GMT-8

Firmware Version: 1.00.08
Release Date: August 27, 2009

- Initial release

[wolf5370]

Can I ask why you are using a DHCP Relay anyway on the Bridge? This is usually done for connecting two networks together (routing packets between networks - as they are both on 192.168.0.X looks like this is not needed if you are serving from your main router too) - is this your set up?

If not, you could try turning of the bridge DHCP server, setting up the gateway to point to your Tenda Router (192.168.0.1 - probably already is) and let that serve the DHCP addresses. This works because your bridge will send the level 2 broadcast to the Tenda (ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff / ff.ff.ff.ff) for an IP.

This is my set up at home btw (using Buffalo as a bridge and D-Link main router).

PS: When you do reboot then simply log in to your bridge router via wifi using its IP Address directly and reboot - saves the step ladder

//Edit: Typo

Edited June 8, 2014 by wolf5370

[avander]

You currently have the Cisco Linksys WAG320N Wifi Router configured with a STATIC IP address, so can't drop a lease (at least not as a DHCP client).

Maybe you mean lock up or drop Ethernet connection?

Your DHCP Server is set correctly as a DHCP Relay, so all the leases are being handed out by 192.168.0.1

If this is a recent issue (wasn't happening before with current configuration) then there may be a fault in the WAG320N, or some type of traffic is causing it to lock up.

There is a Recent Firmware update on the Linksys site dated: 03/25/2014

Thanks for the great reply! Appreciate the info very much.

You are correct, to say it is dropping the leases is a misnomer on my part. Also, it is not a recent development and has been the same since I first set it up (with config advice from remote Linksys support).

To be more accurate, it "hangs" and won't allow existing or new devices to connect about 48hrs after it has been rebooted? It seems to be the same amount of leadtime since the last power down which is why I am thinking it is config?

It just keeps looping around the connect dialogue on my Android phone, for example. It can see the SSID but won't reconnect. Nor does it actually drop connections, if you are connected you will stay connected until you move out of range or power down and up and try to reconnect at which point you will cycle through the connect a few times before connecting to the much weaker signal from the router on Level 1.

I will check out the firmware version and if needed update it.

Regardless, I will post results.

[avander]

Can I ask why you are using a DHCP Relay anyway on the Bridge? This is usually done for connecting two networks together (routing packets between networks - as they are both on 192.168.0.X looks like this is not needed if you are serving from your main router too) - is this your set up?

If not, you could try turning of the bridge DHCP server, setting up the gateway to point to your Tenda Router (192.168.0.1 - probably already is) and let that serve the DHCP addresses. This works because your bridge will send the level 2 broadcast to the Tenda (ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff / ff.ff.ff.ff) for an IP.

This is my set up at home btw (using Buffalo as a bridge and D-Link main router).

PS: When you do reboot then simply log in to your bridge router via wifi using its IP Address directly and reboot - saves the step ladder

//Edit: Typo

Hi, Thanks for the response. All assistance is greatly appreciated. Not sure why I have the DHCP relay? Possibly an oversight by Cisco when I was first configuring. I take your advice though but will upgrade my firmware first as suggested by Richcor and see if that yields anything positive. I don't expect so as it seems the update was a security update and will probably come back and try some other options then.

[RichCor]

As Wolf5370 pointed out, the WAG320N should be set as DNS SERVER: Disabled

It only needs to be enabled if some devices were not being handed DHCP IP due to device chain hop issues.

From what you have typed in your later posts I would guess that the device issue is being caused by something involved with the WiFi encryption setting.

An internal code error creating a buffer issue or memory leak? A quick google search of this model reveals a variety of issues that go unresolved, so who knows.

Here are some things to try (one at a time):

• Isolate the radio frequencies (place WiFi units on separate non-overlapping frequencies; CH 1, 6, 11)
• Change the encryption. Try WPA2 / AES (using "WPA2-Mixed", "TKIP or AES" settings can cause issues)
• Disable one or the other radio: 2.4 then 5GHz

[avander]

Can I ask why you are using a DHCP Relay anyway on the Bridge? This is usually done for connecting two networks together (routing packets between networks - as they are both on 192.168.0.X looks like this is not needed if you are serving from your main router too) - is this your set up?

If not, you could try turning of the bridge DHCP server, setting up the gateway to point to your Tenda Router (192.168.0.1 - probably already is) and let that serve the DHCP addresses. This works because your bridge will send the level 2 broadcast to the Tenda (ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff / ff.ff.ff.ff) for an IP.

This is my set up at home btw (using Buffalo as a bridge and D-Link main router).

PS: When you do reboot then simply log in to your bridge router via wifi using its IP Address directly and reboot - saves the step ladder

//Edit: Typo

Hi,

As suspected the firmware update didn't resolve the issue so I have now disabled the DHCP server function on the Cisco bridging router. The sky didn't fall in so will see how that goes. )

[boonchu]

I had a similar problem with my Linksys 320, It was fixed by changing from a mixed band to a single band. No more dropouts or having to reboot the modem router.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Linksys equipment isn't very good, lots of problems with many routers made by them.

Asus RT-N10+ router is available everywhere in Thailand for around 750bht.

Works as a bridge or as a wireless repeater.

Best equipment upgrade I ever did was bin my Linksys wag120n.

[avander]

Linksys equipment isn't very good, lots of problems with many routers made by them.

Asus RT-N10+ router is available everywhere in Thailand for around 750bht.

Works as a bridge or as a wireless repeater.

Best equipment upgrade I ever did was bin my Linksys wag120n.

I was very happy with the 320n back in Oz. It covered my whole house admirably, was fast and a simple setup with only the one modem/router. I didn't have any problems.

My setup here is a lot more complicated but I'm also only using it as a bridge. I guess that setup may be more problematic showing up the Linksys issues.

For the moment after my last changes yesterday it seems to be ok.

Sent from my GT-I9305T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[avander]

Thought I would post to anyone interested that disabling the DHCP Relay setting on the Linksys WG320N appears to have resolved the issue of the router hanging after about 48 hours uptime and not letting devices reconnect.

I'm a happy chappy now and thanks to those who suggested the change.