Linux Computers

[Chance]

I think her laptop came online and somehow there was an IP conflict that wasn’t handled well by the router and TCP/IP chaos ensued.

I had an older Netgear router that would periodically re-issue IP addresses that were still actively in use. If that's the case, the OS will almost always give you some variety of warning message. I was far too lazy to figure out why the router would do that, so I'd just assign a static IP and move along.

[RJ]

DHCP on or off?
Do you have any set IP addresses, and are they set/removed from the available address range?
Sounds to me like this could be an issue.

1 - On.

2 - If you mean static IP assignment, no, none. Every device on my network I have set up to look for my wifi, and automatically connect. Devices include an older Brother Printer, a couple iPads, iPod, iPod Nano, new HP laptop (hers), my Linux laptop, my work HP laptop, several TVs, and my car. Plus devices brought by the occasional relative who visits from out of town. I have Access Control on, and only allow known MAC addresses to connect.

Not sure how this is an issue.

The router firmware has always been...flaky. Say I try to add a new device my son brings over. IPhone say. I see it come up as "blocked" on my list of devices after logging in to the router. I try and edit the device to "allow" the MAC address, and the router returns "connection lost". So what I have to do is temporarily remove Access Control. Then my son logs in. Then I allow Access Control again. And his iPhone appears.

Plus I occasionally get times where it's like the router table get's confused (like the other day when Mrs. came back and started her laptop.) Performance was horrible, I'd connect on my Linux box then it would stop. I'm not savvy enough to know how to Dx stuff like this, but maybe there are some utilities that can sit on my network and deduce what's going on if I have idk maybe multiple devices on one IP? I confess network stuff like this is slightly over my head. I know how TCP/IP works in theory but in practice its a bit more difficult to work out what's going on.

Hell I may just give up and junk the thing. Thinking of buying one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0752FD3XJ...v_ov_lig_dp_it

I mean I know throwing it out is a quick solution and I'd really like to have this working but overall I'd give this R7900P a very definite 1 star out of 5 for general usability for my situation.

[RJ]

I had an older Netgear router that would periodically re-issue IP addresses that were still actively in use. If that's the case, the OS will almost always give you some variety of warning message. I was far too lazy to figure out why the router would do that, so I'd just assign a static IP and move along.

That perfectly could describe what this R7900P is doing.

I'll look into what Linux utilities are to watch for this on the local network.

[RJ]

@RJ, I stand corrected I just looked at my router. I forgot I refreshed to Advanced Tomato. It was a little more use friendly. If you reflash your router with Tomato you can set a reboot schedule as well. I also like scripts ability to split tunnel VPN and assign by IP or MAC address. It litterally took me 15 minuted to get everything dowloaded and flashed, another 30/40 minutes to config everything. Over time I figured out how to split tunnel and do a few other things. Best of luck.

Thanks I looked at Advanced Tomato. I like it. It looks Linux based because I saw the image of Tux lol. Cool.

Yeah I might look into that for sure. Thanks for the tip.

[RJ]

That perfectly could describe what this R7900P is doing.

I'll look into what Linux utilities are to watch for this on the local network.

Apparently Wireshark is listed as being available through Linux, so I downloaded it and am in the process of seeing if it will help. The smart guys at work use to Diagnose packets for our IEEE 1278 simulations, so maybe it will be useful.

[Mike C]

I had an older Netgear router that would periodically re-issue IP addresses that were still actively in use. If that's the case, the OS will almost always give you some variety of warning message. I was far too lazy to figure out why the router would do that, so I'd just assign a static IP and move along.

That is exactly what I do. I static assign IP by MAC address and limit my network to specific IP range. It seemed to help before I moved over to Tomato firmware. I've still kept the practice even though it's probably not necessary.

[RJ]

Apparently Wireshark is listed as being available through Linux, so I downloaded it and am in the process of seeing if it will help. The smart guys at work use to Diagnose packets for our IEEE 1278 simulations, so maybe it will be useful.

Ok...I might be over my head but this thing looks like the bomb.

Got it running had to put myself (e6530) into the wireshark group using a sudo command. Boy if this thing can't show me what is going on nothing well. If I ever have the situation again I'll fire it up.

Attachment 39636

[RJ]

That is exactly what I do. I static assign IP by MAC address and limit my network to specific IP range. It seemed to help before I moved over to Tomato firmware. I've still kept the practice even though it's probably not necessary.

Hmm my brother mentioned something about that, assigning static IPs.

Would I have to go and do that for each device i.e. is that (assigning static IPs) done at the router as well as each device, or just at the router?

Forgive my ignorance.

[Chance]

Would I have to go and do that for each device i.e. is that (assigning static IPs) done at the router as well as each device, or just at the router?

At each device, or at least the ones that seem to be having issues when connecting. If the device is working fine, I wouldn't mess with it.

Wireshark can help you identify what's happening if you don't mind drinking from the firehose. But if it's actually a problem with Netgear's implementation of DHCP (which is what I would lean towards given my own experience), you're probably just going to end up having to turn the router off and turn it back on again anyways.

[That Guy]

The router firmware has always been...flaky.

I'll say. It sounds to me like either that machine can't handle the amount of connected devices, or it is just a POS. Either way, replacement does sound like a good idea. Assigning static IP addresses for everything / most things does sound like it might help, but with the amount of devices you're talking about you'll be fiddling with the router a lot (both initial setup, and every time a device is replaced).