Constant DHCP chatter with one device

[RocketJSquirrel]

I am seeing constant DHCP chatter in my RT-N66U's log, mostly due to one device. The device with DHCP-assigned IP 192.168.1.118 is a Control4 multi-channel power amplifier for whole-house stereo.

I'm not knowledgeable enough with DHCP to fully understand this log. Does it mean the device is repeating its request for an IP address every few seconds? Any ideas why this is happening and how I can stop it? Router firmware is stock Asus 3.0.0.4.246. Thanks!

Nov 2 11:17:46 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.118 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:18:02 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:18:02 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.118 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:18:18 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:18:18 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.118 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:18:34 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:18:34 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.118 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:18:50 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:18:50 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.118 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:19:06 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:19:06 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.118 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:19:22 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:19:22 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.118 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:19:38 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:19:38 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.118 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:19:54 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:19:54 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.118 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:19:59 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.1.118 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:19:59 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.1.118 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72 16ChannelAmp
Nov 2 11:20:10 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:20:10 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.118 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:20:26 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:20:26 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.118 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:20:42 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72
Nov 2 11:20:42 dnsmasq-dhcp[528]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.118 00:0f:ff:04:a4:72

 

[jdabbs]

The amp is asking "hey, anyone, can I have 192.168.1.118?" and listening for a device to tell it no, in which case it requests a new IP. Annoying but harmless. Setting a static IP on the device is the obvious way of stopping it.

 

[RocketJSquirrel]

Thanks. I was able to set a static IP, but it wasn't immediately obvious how to do so. (I inherited this beast sans manual when I bought the house it was installed in.)

This is a mostly-dumb power amp which simply gets commands ("connect input A to output B") from a controller via Ethernet. The user interface for changing its IP address involves spinning a knob. So to get to numbers like 192 and 168, you have to start from 0 and spin up or start from 255 and spin down.

Much spinning later, the silly thing is static and the log is quiet.