Connection works via wifi but not ethernet.... makes no sense!

Project86

Golden Member
Nov 12, 2002
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Getting really frustrated with this so perhaps someone can help me figure it out. I use a laptop as my main PC these days. It roams around the house on wifi, then docks at my desk (using the dedicated dock which performs brilliantly) for use with a big monitor. The whole thing is quite nice overall but I'm having network issues.

The dock has GB Ethernet coming straight from the router which lives a few feet away. When I dock, Windows 7 never seems to know to prioritize Ethernet. It keeps the wireless signal despite me trying several methods of fixing it (I googled it, seems lots of people have the same issue). So I manually tell it to disconnect from my wifi network, then I'm good.

However, on the wired connection I can't seem to connect to my NAS which is in the other room, nor can I get to my media server device in yet another room. Those things both work via different routers in wireless bridge mode. They are rock solid as far as that goes - the only problem I have is accessing them when I'm connected to my laptop dock with Ethernet.

What am I missing here? Seems my router, a Netgear R6300 v2, can talk to the wireless bridges (and their subsequent connected devices) perfectly fine via wifi but somehow not through a hard wire. And that makes no sense to me. Anyone know where I should start?
 

i7Baby

Senior member
Jul 23, 2015
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Can you connect ethernet cable straight from your router to your laptop?
 

Project86

Golden Member
Nov 12, 2002
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Yes, that's what I'm essentially doing with the dock. It goes from the router to the dock, and the laptop sits in the dock which provides connectivity.
 

Project86

Golden Member
Nov 12, 2002
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I just reread my initial post and maybe some clarification is needed. So the NAS and the media servers both live in different rooms. None of the rooms have Ethernet wired and my house is such that I can't realistically do that. So I use a router in each room converted to wireless bridge mode, to connect those devices to my main router. The NAS connects with an Archer C7 in AC mode while the music server is wireless N using an Asus RT-N66u. I get good speeds all around.

Problem is, when I'm connected to the main router via Ethernet, it can't seem to see the other devices on the network. When I switch the a wifi connection then I see those devices again. Not sure why this would be.

Does that make sense?
 

Project86

Golden Member
Nov 12, 2002
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Ok maybe there's something larger going on here. I can't even access my NAS via the IP address in my browser, no matter what my connection (ethernet or wifi) from the laptop. I can get there just fine from an ipad or other laptop though.

So, to reiterate, if I use my main laptop with wifi I can access the NAS as a mapped network drive, but under those same circumstances I can't get to the NAS via browser login. Something is weird for sure!
 

lazybedone

Member
Apr 15, 2015
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You'd better ask a technician near about that problem. Something weird is really going on and you need to fix it. I use vpn so I am not having any problem. Maybe you could try one and see what happens.
 

azazel1024

Senior member
Jan 6, 2014
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What is the wireless and wired IP addresses of everything? Are you positive that the wired and wireless IP addresses are on the same subnet? Any chance you have a static IP on the wired Ethernet port of the laptop?

You'd still be able to get out to the internet if the gateway IP is correct, but if the subnet for the adapter is wrong, then you will not be able to connect to anything on the local network.

Sounds like you have a misconfigured IP address.
 

AnonymouseUser

Diamond Member
May 14, 2003
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In Network and Sharing Center under the SSID name, what is the network location (Home, Work, Public)? Both wireless and wired should be the same (preferably Home).

Also, since it is a laptop, instead of manually disconnecting from the wifi in Windows you can just flip the wifi switch on the laptop off.
 

mxnerd

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2007
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Maybe there is an option in routers setting that isolates wired and wireless network? If yes, you need to turn that off.
 

azazel1024

Senior member
Jan 6, 2014
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It wouldn't be working on wireless then to access the NAS. Isolation settings don't separate wired and wireless, they prevent any wireless client from connecting to anything other than the internet (IE gateway IP).
 
Feb 25, 2011
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The NAS connects with an Archer C7 in AC mode while the music server is wireless N using an Asus RT-N66u.
It sounds like you have two routers and they are creating different networks.

Look up something called "Bridge Mode."
 

Project86

Golden Member
Nov 12, 2002
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Thanks for the help everyone. Let's see here:

What is the wireless and wired IP addresses of everything? Are you positive that the wired and wireless IP addresses are on the same subnet? Any chance you have a static IP on the wired Ethernet port of the laptop?

You'd still be able to get out to the internet if the gateway IP is correct, but if the subnet for the adapter is wrong, then you will not be able to connect to anything on the local network.

Sounds like you have a misconfigured IP address.

No, it's all on the same subnet. 192.168.1.1 is the main router on my desk, NAS is 192.168.1.12, media server 192.168.1.25. My laptop will vary based on connection. If I go wifi I usually get 192.168.1.6, and if I go ethernet I think it gives me 192.168.1.20. But whatever, as you can see it's all as it should be.



In Network and Sharing Center under the SSID name, what is the network location (Home, Work, Public)? Both wireless and wired should be the same (preferably Home).

Also, since it is a laptop, instead of manually disconnecting from the wifi in Windows you can just flip the wifi switch on the laptop off.

It shows HOME, and the name is the same too. I tried playing with it, making a different name for the wired connection, but it doesn't matter either way.

I forgot about the wireless switch, I'll have to remember that. Thanks.



It sounds like you have two routers and they are creating different networks.

Look up something called "Bridge Mode."

I actually have 3 routers, and I am using bridge mode. The main router (Netgear) works as normal, the TP Link Archer works in AC mode as a bridge, and the Asus works in N mode as a separate bridge. When it works, it works well, but then it stops working....

Which leads me to say - I rebooted my main router and got things working. I can now "see" the NAS when connected to ethernet, and I can log in to it via browser too. But this seems to happen a lot and I'm wondering why it stops working off and on. Sometimes I'll go to transfer some large files to the NAS and it won't finish because the connection gets lost.

My setup is somewhat complex but surely not THAT bad. Each bridge router has a few devices connected, and I'd say there's never more than 7 or 8 things connected total at any given time. What can I do to make it more stable, short of swapping routers (again) or laying ethernet (not possible)?
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,545
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If you turn the wifi off, (so that you are on wired only) and open network and sharing center, see if your network is local or unidentified. Make sure your sharing settings are correct on the wired connection. Also look at your router and make sure it is seeing the wired connection.
 

Engineer

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Not sure what the problem is but it's been documented that bridges sometimes cause problems because they get confused because you're using one MAC address from one device to another when in reality, you're using multiple devices. I don't think, from reading, that bridge mode is an official WiFi standard (WDS is but that cuts bandwidth in half).

https://www.excentis.com/blog/operation-wi-fi-bridges

I've had great luck with bridges but have only used one item at a time (basically, a remote one port switch for locations that didn't have an EtherNet cable).

With that said, not sure if this is your issue or your router's firmware / wifi drivers, your bridge firmwares, or the fact that you have multiple devices on the bridge causing issues. Have you checked to see if there is a firmware upgrade for your main router and bridges?

Finally, I had better luck on using an AC1300 Linksys WUMC710 network media bridge refurbished from eBay for $13.00 than I did any other. Simply worked (but again, I only had one device attached to it).

Another solution is to get powerline adapters and connect the bridge to the main router via the powerline adapters (eliminating the WiFi portion). In essence, making the bridge a switch (or replace it with a switch and powerline adapter).
 
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Project86

Golden Member
Nov 12, 2002
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All is working well right now, and I've sent a few larger files back and forth for testing with no issues. I'll see how long it lasts before losing the connection again. I do agree it must be something going weird with the wireless bridges, causing confusion. I suppose I could try the dedicated network media bridge combined with a separate switch, but that will probably give the same result.

Powerline adapters are very slow in my house. Must be the wiring. The AC bridge gets me 30-40 MB per second transfers (or faster at times) while Powerline gets me 2 or 3 MB per second. No thanks.

Oh well, thanks for the help.