Access point doesn't see local network

[marcplante]

I have a FIOS Actiontek modem/router and a Netgear R6400 that I have setup in access point mode.

The FIOS router control panel includes the Netgear as an inactive gateway. It cannot ping the Netgear even though the netgear is set to respond to pings.

The Netgear router is online but cannot see anything in the house.

Couple items that I'm wondering about:

1) One item that I'm wondering about in the settings is DNS
I recently updated the DNS servers on the FIOS router to talk to OpenDNS servers.

The Netgear router is set to get DNS from the ISP with the primary server set to 192.168.1.1

2) Also the Netgear router set its address to 10.0.0.1 during setup. The FIOS router sees it at 192.168.1.166. The FIOS router sees the Netgear's MAC address.

Do I need to restart the FIOS router to rediscover the Netgear router and push a new address down? Resetting the Netgear device didn't help (Though I confirmed through a wizard that it is set to vanilla access point configuration (other than the fact that I turned on Ping response).

Recommendations?

Thank you,

Marc

 

[VirtualLarry]

This honestly sounds like you've connected them wrongly, and plugged the Netgear's WAN port, into a LAN port on the ActionTec, with the added caveat that they were both set for the 192.168.1.x subnet, and therefore, the Netgear auto-adjusted to the 10.x.x.x as a failsafe mechanism.

Plug the Netgear into the ActionTec, LAN to LAN.

But first, use the RESET button on the Netgear, plug a PC into a LAN port on the Netgear, and set the LAN IP address, to a "higher" 192.168.1.x address, maybe .251, and then disable DHCP. (May require TEMPORARILY setting the PC's IPv4 IP address on your ethernet wired NIC to a 192.168.1.11 / 255.255.255.0 setting, in order to navigate the router's menus, after disabling DHCP on it.

Then set the PC's IPv4 IP settings to auto-detect (for DNS too), and then Apply, and then plug the Netgear into the ActionTec, LAN to LAN, and then try to access the Netgear's menus, when connected to the ActionTec.

See if all of your devices can communicate together, and access the internet.

 

[marcplante]

Thanks for the ideas. When you said LAN to LAN that reminded me... But when I sat down at my desktop that was connected to the Netgear access point, everything was working fine. The Netgear instructions to set the device to access point mode specifically show a LAN to WAN cable link, which struck me as odd at first, but it's working, so I'm going to leave well enough alone. I tend to only use the access point for my office PC since there's no good way to get a cable here. If it flakes. I'll rebuild it with a LAN LAN connection...

Then again, I have a pair of Linksys devices in the way, so I'll have another round of adventures with that. Since they're somewhat matched, I trust they'll have a clean setup... Well see.

Getting a terabyte of data back to my new NAS will be much easier with a 350 Mbps connection.

Thanks again for all of your time and input on Anandtech

 

[VirtualLarry]

The Netgear instructions to set the device to access point mode specifically show a LAN to WAN cable link, which struck me as odd at first, but it's working, so I'm going to leave well enough alone.

Well, either their instructions are WRONG, or they have a special "Access Point" mode in their firmware, that you must set up, which has the affect of turning the WAN port into a LAN port.

Regardless, if you want to trust Netgear's faulty instructions, over Jack and my years of experience, be my guest. Maybe some day, you'll realize that life isn't always "by the book".

 

[marcplante]

https://kb.netgear.com/24104/How-do...outer-to-AP-mode-after-I-ve-already-run-setup

Actually they DO have a special access point mode, and their instructions are above. Digging around I found that using a LAN port provided higher throughput, so I'll switch it best chance I get. I was in the middle of recovering an old drive to a NAS and didn't want to mess with a connection that was working at the time.

Common tech advice used to be RTFM. There are LAN to WAN connections and left handed threads out there. It never hurts to check...

 

[ch33zw1z]

use a general guide: https://www.ezlan.net/router_AP.html

no need to rely on Netgears "WAP" mode, you're basically doing this:

1. on the Netgear: disable dhcp, disable dns, disable any firewall or filtering settings
2. set a static IP config that is on the same subnet as the actiontec, but outside the actiontecs dhcp address range
3. plug in cable from lan to lan between devices (again, dont rely on Netgears firmware to use the wan port the right way)
4. confirm you can access the netgear, and then config your wireless

*note, when I do this, I also do not add a default gateway to the WAP. it doesn't need it. I also disable WAN

what pair of linksys devices are "in the way"?