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[scan80269]

I'm looking for help to confirm whether my problem is a bug.

DIR-880L HW A1 running latest 1.20 firmware in Bridge Mode.  Location: Palo Alto, California, USA

PC clients connected to the LAN ports have normal internet access through the DIR-880L bridge for a day or so, then apparently the IP address is not renewed after expiration so the clients get autoconfiguration IP addresses (e.g. 169.254.140.86) and lose connection to the internet.  This behavior has been reproduced at least a dozen times and is consistently repeatable.  Power cycling the DIR-880L enables the LAN connected clients to regain internet access, until their IP leases expire again.

The wireless router that this DIR-880L bridge connects to for internet access is a Netgear R8000 Nighthawk X6.  Internet provider is Comcast Business.

For comparison, I also have two DIR-868L configured in Bridge mode running latest firmware and in the same role as the DIR-880L, and the DIR-868L units do not share the same issue.

I appreciate any help to get to a resolution on this issue.

[FurryNutz]

• What wireless modes are you using?

Is Smart Connect, Beamforming and or MIMO enabled on the router?
What is the distance between the router and the 880L?


I just put mine online tonite and will let it run for a few days and see if I notice anything...

[scan80269]

The DIR-880L is configured to connect to the 5G band of the Netgear router.

I currently don't have admin access to this router (it's not owned by me), but I'd guess that beamforming is enabled, Smart Connect is enabled, but MIMO is not.

Distance is approx. 50 feet, with two walls in between.  The Comcast service downlink speed is 100Mbps, and this bridge link can sustain that speed, at least when other connected clients are not using some of the bandwidth.

With the DIR-880L in bridge mode, the Netgear router acts as the DHCP server for clients attached to the DIR-880L, right?  The Netgear router appears to hand out IP leases that expire in 24 hours.  After expiration, the clients' requests for IP address renewal apparently goes unanswered.  After a client loses the internet connection after its IP address expired, I tried "ipconfig /renew" but it sits there for a while then times out.  I have to power cycle the DIR-880L before any client gets a valid IP address again.

[FurryNutz]

Possible that the distance is too far and the signal is dropped. With two walls and 50 feet, 5Ghz is effected by building materials. I forgot to check mine last nite after I got home. I didn't get home til late. I will today though. Mines in a 15-12 foot range though. 

Can you move the 880L any closer?

Yes the NG router is the main host DHCP server...

[scan80269]

Unfortunately the 880L bridge cannot be located.  It is in my test lab and the Netgear router is in another lab.

I have switched to using DIR-868L in bridge mode.  As a substitute for DIR-880L, the DIR-868L can keep attached clients connected for many days, so it doesn't appear to have the same issue with wrecking IP address renewal for clients.  The only downside in using DIR-868L is its latest firmware still missing the KRACK fix, though I understand the 868L is end-of-life so may never get another firmware release.  I've also briefly tried AdvancedTomato firmware with the 868L in bridge mode and it seems to work fine also.

Unless the DIR-880L bridge can keep the clients connected to the internet without daily manual intervention, I won't be able to use it in my lab.

By the way, that Netgear router hands out 48-hour or 24-hour IP address leases (don't know why it's not consistent), so an accurate test for this issue may require up to 48 hours for the lease to expire for a client.  I already got misled when a client continued to work past the 24-hour mark, only to have it cut off again past the 48-hour mark.

[FurryNutz]

Can someone set up an IP address reservation for the DIR-880L on the NG router? This will override the lease time out. Possible that when the lease times out, the connection drops and doesn't gain another IP address, however in most cases when the lease runs out, the connection should not be dropped nor the IP address should be changed if the 880L is still connected.

[scan80269]

I have no admin access to the Netgear router, but have requested it.

Getting IP address reservations may be difficult, as I have at least 9 clients connected downstream from the bridge.

For now, the workaround continues to be DIR-868L replacing the DIR-880L in bridge mode.

[FurryNutz]

Ok, will be checking mine when I get home after bit. 

[FurryNutz]

OK, seems like this is a problem. I got home and I could not access the main host router from my Windows PC thru the 880L. LED was BLUE on the 5Ghz radio. I can't remember if the Internet Globe was, I think it was. Both the Windows PC and Mac Mini that were wired to the back of the 880L reporting having IP addresses. I could not ping the main host router. I disabled the LANs on both PCs and then re-enabled them and they failed to get an IP address. I powered OFF the 880L and after it was back, PCs got IPs and had Internet access.

I have reverted back to v1.08WW 2016 FW. I didn't do a factory reset after using the Recovery Mode as I saw Bridge mode was still configured after the FW was downgraded. I'll let it run over the weekend. If it happens again, i'll factory reset. I'm hoping it doesn't. 

I'll have D-Link review this. 

[scan80269]

Thanks much for helping to investigate this, FurryNutz!

I recall seeing last week the Internet Globe LED lit up blue, and the 5GHz radio LED slow blinking on the 880L bridge.

Just before this long weekend, I set up my 880L bridge and 868L bridge running alongside each otherl, both connecting to the same Netgear router SSID over 5GHz WPA2/AES.  The 868L has the usual 8 clients attached (via a Netgear GS116 gigabit switch) and the 880L has just one client attached directly.

I just checked connectivity.  It's been 3 days since the setup.  The clients behind the 868L bridge are all responding to remote access (via TeamViewer).  The single client behind the 880L bridge does not respond to remote access, most likely because the 880L has cut off internet connection to this client.

For lack of any evidence to the contrary, I still suspect this issue is related to 880L breaking client IP address renewals.  After rebooting the 880L, connected clients all get normal IP address leases, and remain connected to the internet within their lease periods.  Once a lease expires for a client, however, its internet connection will fail.  By comparison, the 868L bridge working in the same environment as the 880L does not exhibit this issue.

At least the failure symptoms have remained highly consistent for this 880L, for as long as I have worked with it as a wireless bridge.

[FurryNutz]

Well, the 880L was good all weekend. I checked this morning before leaving for work and still had internet access thru the 880L in bridge mode. I presume there is a problem in recent FW. I've past this along to D-Link for review. I mean time, if you want to use the 880L, revert back to v1.08B04 using this process:
Emergency Recovery Mode
You'll need to use this process to get back to older FW. You can't use the routers web page to do this...

[scan80269]

Thanks for the update!  I have flashed my 880L back to 1.08WW firmware, and also reconfigured it to router mode, did a reset, then back to bridge mode.

Attached client got a 24-hour IP address lease, so will check by tomorrow afternoon to see it still has internet access through the 880L.

[GreenBay42]

I will issue a ticket (dtrack) for this issue.

[FurryNutz]

Thank you Sir. 

[scan80269]

My 880L bridge running with 1.08WW firmware has passed the 24-hour mark, and the attached client still has a valid IP address assigned by DHCP server and internet access.

This is beginning to look like the issue tracks the latest 880L 1.20 firmware.  I'll keep the client connected to the 880L bridge indefinitely to see if the issue reappears.

Separately, my 868L bridge (with 1.20B01 BETA firmware) just started showing the exact same issue, but it has been up and running for many days before attached clients lost their IP address leases.  Should I flash the 868L firmware back to 1.12B04 as well to compare?