Help to diagnose a problem

[DCS17]

I am a self taught complete network novice. So forgive me if this is a stupid set up! All advice gratefully received.

I am in UK and use 4G LTE for internet. I have a TP-Link TL-MR6400 with sim card. Ethernet cable from LAN output to an Orbi RBR50 Internet port input. This then has 3 satellites. Running Voxel firmware. TP Link is 10.0.0.1 and Orbi is 192.168.1.1 with 255.255.255.0 subnet. I also have a TPLink Archer C50 set as a wireless extender for the Orbi wireless network too. Usually 30-35 devices attached to the Orbi network (mix of wired & wireless).
All works well, EXCEPT that periodically (once every day or couple of days) the Orbi loses internet access partially.
By that I mean I can Ping out OK. A weather station that feeds Wunderground continues OK. An ADSB receiver feeding data remains connected. But I cannot browse the internet either using IP address or http(s) and IOT devices lose connection.

I've spent ages trying to figure out what is going wrong and what I need to do to prevent it happening. But to no avail.
I simply don't have the necessary knowledge - and despite google, I cant turn up anything similar for advice.
So I post here in desperation!

I have the Orbi set as the TPLink DMZ Host IP and I've tried both fixed IP for the Orbi and using TPLink DHCP to issue a reserved address to Orbi. Neither makes any difference.

To restore a working connection I dont need to reboot anything (although rebooting either the Orbi or TPLink will restore things) I simply go to the Orbi Internet Setup page, change nothing but just click "Apply". I dont know what that actually does, but connection is usually restored.

So anyone any ideas as to what is going on and/or suggestions to improve th setup?

Thanks

David

 

[drinkingbird]

I am a self taught complete network novice. So forgive me if this is a stupid set up! All advice gratefully received.

I am in UK and use 4G LTE for internet. I have a TP-Link TL-MR6400 with sim card. Ethernet cable from LAN output to an Orbi RBR50 Internet port input. This then has 3 satellites. Running Voxel firmware. TP Link is 10.0.0.1 and Orbi is 192.168.1.1 with 255.255.255.0 subnet. I also have a TPLink Archer C50 set as a wireless extender for the Orbi wireless network too. Usually 30-35 devices attached to the Orbi network (mix of wired & wireless).
All works well, EXCEPT that periodically (once every day or couple of days) the Orbi loses internet access partially.
By that I mean I can Ping out OK. A weather station that feeds Wunderground continues OK. An ADSB receiver feeding data remains connected. But I cannot browse the internet either using IP address or http(s) and IOT devices lose connection.

I've spent ages trying to figure out what is going wrong and what I need to do to prevent it happening. But to no avail.
I simply don't have the necessary knowledge - and despite google, I cant turn up anything similar for advice.
So I post here in desperation!

I have the Orbi set as the TPLink DMZ Host IP and I've tried both fixed IP for the Orbi and using TPLink DHCP to issue a reserved address to Orbi. Neither makes any difference.

To restore a working connection I dont need to reboot anything (although rebooting either the Orbi or TPLink will restore things) I simply go to the Orbi Internet Setup page, change nothing but just click "Apply". I dont know what that actually does, but connection is usually restored.

So anyone any ideas as to what is going on and/or suggestions to improve th setup?

Thanks

David

Your setup is kinda messy, but based on the symptoms it sounds like the Orbi stops accepting new connections, existing keep working but new are dropped. Could be memory, could be a limitation of the number of sessions that system supports. Is it running latest firmware? You may just have too much for it to handle especially with the repeater coming off it.

It could be the TP Link 4G router too, and hitting apply on Orbi just bounces the WAN and resets the connections making room for more. So I'd make sure everything has the latest firmware and see if you can monitor memory utilization and logs on all the network devices.

 

[DCS17]

Thanks for your help.
I think messy is an excellent description I stems from me being self taught and not really knowing what I'm doing!
I'll look to see if I can manage without the repeater altogether. Maybe reposition the satellites to try to get wifi coverage to where I need it.

 

[drinkingbird]

Thanks for your help.
I think messy is an excellent description I stems from me being self taught and not really knowing what I'm doing!
I'll look to see if I can manage without the repeater altogether. Maybe reposition the satellites to try to get wifi coverage to where I need it.

Or perhaps hardwire the TP Link repeater to the ISP router and change it to router or AP mode, and have some devices use that to offload from the Orbi system. Another thought is if the Orbi supports scheduled reboot do that overnight every night, maybe it has a memory leak or is not clearing out stale connections.

Without seeing memory utilization or other logs (if the Orbi even lets you see that) it is mostly guess work though. It could be that all your stuff is fine and the 4G router is the one having too many connections.

Can you run the orbi in wireless only (AP) mode, no router, and have the ISP router handle all your DHCP etc? Cleaner setup that way but not sure if the Orbi system supports that. Or alternatively see if the 4G router supports bridge mode.

If you don't want to get into all that, since hitting apply on the Orbi seems to fix it, a scheduled reboot (or smart plug set to bounce over night) may be the easiest fix, should have the same effect.

 

[DCS17]

Thanks for your suggestions. I cant easily hard wire the repeater as its in a shed outside!
Orbi will let me run in AP mode, BUT the ISP router has a 32 device limit, so I don't think it will handle everything I need. Orbi supposedly has 250 device limit hence me setting up the way I have. The 4g Router doesn't support bridge mode unfortunately, so I was using DMZ as a sort of alternative.
The smart plug idea is a great one for me. Got a couple lying around unused, so I can easily set up an overnight reboot.
I'll try getting rid of the repeater altogether first, because thinking about it I didn't have this problem before adding it!
I'll report back with progress. Im very grateful for your advice. thank you

 

[drinkingbird]

Thanks for your suggestions. I cant easily hard wire the repeater as its in a shed outside!
Orbi will let me run in AP mode, BUT the ISP router has a 32 device limit, so I don't think it will handle everything I need. Orbi supposedly has 250 device limit hence me setting up the way I have. The 4g Router doesn't support bridge mode unfortunately, so I was using DMZ as a sort of alternative.
The smart plug idea is a great one for me. Got a couple lying around unused, so I can easily set up an overnight reboot.
I'll try getting rid of the repeater altogether first, because thinking about it I didn't have this problem before adding it!
I'll report back with progress. Im very grateful for your advice. thank you

Makes me suspect that 4G device even more, haven't seen one actually say a limit in a long time (there are limits but not hard ones usually, at least not as low as 32). It may be that when you added the repeater you also added more devices and just overloaded its NAT table. But give it a try without the repeater just to see (but with the same number of devices connected, just going via the Orbi now).

Worst case, nightly reboot of either the 4G router or the main Orbi may solve it. If the Orbi has a scheduled reboot that is easier on it than cutting the power but I know people that use smart plugs to do it without problems. I suppose it probably cuts a bit of life off the wall wart adapter but who knows how much.

When it happens next try manually rebooting the ISP router and see if it fixes it. If not, then try the Orbi. May help narrow down what device it is. Or it may not, as the Ethernet link bouncing may be enough to clear the NAT table so rebooting either might have the same effect. If you REALLY want to get into narrowing it down you can toss any dumb switch between Orbi and ISP router, that way the WAN link won't go down when you reboot one or the other.

Your symptoms of existing connections working but new ones not definitely sounds like you're hitting a connection (logical tcp/udp connections, not physical devices) or memory limit.

 

[DCS17]

Thanks. I do have a switch spare so I think I will try narrowing down properly. It's been driving me mad that I cant work it out!

 

[DCS17]

So far so good! I've removed the repeater and had a full 24 hours without a problem. If it goes another 24 hours then I think it may be fixed. So fingers crossed. If it doprs out again I have a network switch so I can establish the offending device. Thanks again for taking the time to advise me.,