WiFi issues: In router settings, wrong IP assigned to certain devices?

Freddy1765

Senior member
May 3, 2011
389
1
81
Hi,
We're having some trouble with the WiFi in my apartment. Certain devices can connect, but others can't.
Long story short, some construction workers severed a cable on street level. We received a new router from the ISP and then they repaired the cable. Since then, we've had issues.
Yesterday I could connect just fine with desktop (wirelessly), macbook, and phone. My roommate couldn't connect at all. Today she rebooted the router and could then connect on her computer, but now I can't connect on desktop or phone.

My own thinking at this stage is that maybe this new router is limiting how many devices can be on the network at the same time? I've logged into the router settings, but honestly I'm not too sure what I'm looking at.

One thing I noticed which seems meaningful is that even though my desktop's and phone's MAC addresses are on the list of connected devices (in the router settings), the IPv4 assigned to them are different from the ones I can see on each respective device. The IPv4 assigned to my macbook corresponds to the one I can see on the device itself, which I assume is why the internet is just fine on that.

I would really appreciate some help on this,
Thanks!
 
Feb 25, 2011
16,777
1,466
126
Screenshots please.

I don't know what you mean by "The IPv4 assigned to my macbook corresponds to the one I can see on the device itself" - how are you checking your IP?
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,229
9,990
126
Interested in helping, but you need to give us some more to go on. Screenshots would be helpful.

One suggestion that I can make, without more info, is, "Have you powered-off every device, including the PC and router, then powered on your router, and then started powering-on your devices? Is there a particular device count, at which further devices cannot connect?"
 

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
37,734
18,004
146
This type of config error should be easy to resolve. Like Dave and Larry said, provide more details.

1. ISP, modem and router make and model

2. Screenshots would be great.

3. Power off every client, power cycle "router"(not sure exactly what you're working with yet). Power up router, and a single client that you can use to admin the router. Check IP's, login to router to review status, ensure the DHCP server config is what you want it to be, etc...
 

Freddy1765

Senior member
May 3, 2011
389
1
81

Thank you all for offering to help. I was actually able to resolve it myself after a couple of hours of tinkering.

I guess it's hard for me to explain myself properly since I'm not well-versed at all when it comes to basic network stuff.
What I meant is that, upon logging onto the router, there was a list of connected devices in a table. These devices were identified by their MAC addresses and had an IP associated with each of them.

If I hit (alt + click) on the wifi icon on my mac, it gives me a list of details about my network connection like IP address (192.168.xx.yyy), Router (192.168.xx.1), Security (WPA2) etc. That IP was the same as the one in the table of devices on the router-page.

On my Win10 desktop, if I click the wifi icon and then 'properties' on my network, I can see the MAC address and IP of what I assume is my computer. (see gyazo). That IP did not match the table I found in my router's settings. I changed the IP in Windows to the one from the table. This caused some kind of DNS issue(?), Windows automatically resolved that by running some kind of diagnostic, and then everything suddenly worked again.
https://gyazo[insert . ]com/bc5bfb96ca6cb18dc4c6061a2f91985e

So I guess my devices were assigned a wrong IP for some reason, though I have no idea why it only affected some of my devices, and none of my roommate's devices.
 
Last edited:

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
37,734
18,004
146
I'm not sure if you fixed the issue, if it keeps happening, provide the information we requested.

Both the modem and router make and model, maybe some pictures of ipconfigs, etc...
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,229
9,990
126
OP, sounds like, for whatever reason, you had a manually-assigned IP address in your NIC device properties, which, running the troubleshooter, switched it back to "Dynamic IP (DHCP)" setting, which is the default. (It makes the IP address assigned by the router's DHCP server.)