Pace modem only supports access points attached to Ethernet Port 1?

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by labraxa » Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:15 pm
Curious if anyone has seen this, or whether I'm doing something wrong

I have an 8-port switch attached to one Ethernet port of my Pace 5268AC DSL modem, and from the switch I run EThernet cable to two WiFi routers running in wireless access point mode. Yesterday those access points stopped working (can connect to their WiFi but devices don't get assigned an IP address, can't access Internet). The wireless network coming from the Pace was 100% fine.

I did some troubleshooting and connected the routers directly to the four yellow Ethernet ports at the back of the Pace (i.e. I took the switch and wiring out of the loop). Here's what I found

- The routers see the Ethernet connection (blinking green lights) and their WiFi works (I can connect a laptop to those WiFi networks), but the device can't get an IP address from the Pace
- However, if I connect the router to Port 1, it works fine
- A printer with a static IP address *can* be connected to Port 2, 3, 4 and works fine

As a solution I went ahead and plugged my switch into Port 1, ran the cables to my routers, and everything is fine again.

I don't want to mess with my setup since everything works now, but I did want to check if this is a known issue. Why would they only work on Port 1? Why did it work last week on a different port? Maybe it was a subtle hardware failure ...
by ngufra » Thu Jun 11, 2020 5:25 pm
The switch is unmanaged: when it sees a packet coming on port 1 that claims to be from a specific address, it will remember so next time it gets a packet to that address it will send it to that port. Maybe it takes some time for the switch to forget and re learn when you change from port.

I doubt the port 1 has anything special though sometimes it can be configured.
Maybe the port 1 is used for dmz but i think any port on the lan side of the pace modem router switch or on the switch should be usable.

You mention the printer having a static ip.is its ip in the range that the pace is using for dhcp ?
What i usually do is to leave it to dhcp, but on the router, set the reservation so it always assigns the same ip to the mac of the printer. this ensures that all ip are managed by the router and ther will not be any conflicts.
by labraxa » Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:41 pm
Thanks for the comments!

Most of my tests were with the two routers plugged directly into the Pace modem (i.e. the switch completely out of the picture), and the routers only worked when they were plugged into Port 1. Or are you referring to the switch built into the Pace? Maybe I was a bit too impatient and should have power cycled the Pace between tests.

Printer has a static IP defined on the printer side. It's within the DHCP range of the Pace, but I can't remember if I blocked out that address - I think I did?
by labraxa » Fri Jun 12, 2020 9:18 am
ngufra:
Maybe it takes some time for the switch to forget and re learn when you change from port.
That may have been the problem. I had the same problem again today, even though the switch was on Port 1. This time I hooked the Pace directly to the various routers, but reset the Pace and waited 20 seconds before trying again. This time everything lit up.

So maybe I was just too impatient last time, and should have cycled the modem between switching cables around.

Therefore right now it looks like the problem is the switch ...
by ngufra » Fri Jun 12, 2020 9:34 am
glad i helped.
yes i was referring to the switch in the router. the unit is a modem router and switch.
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