Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => Broadband Hardware => Topic started by: Ibex on September 29, 2021, 12:28:52 AM
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I've been using a Zyxel VMG8924-B10A for 4 years, ever since VDSL finally became available at our exchange. It's been super reliable, apart from a really annoying bug which has been present since the beginning and numerous firmware updates have failed to fix:
Periodically it refuses to assign DHCP IP addresses to one or more devices connected to the LAN.
Other devices connected to the network will work fine, but for some reason the router will randomly refuse to assign a network address to some devices. This happens even if the outer has been set to always assign the same IP address to that device. And any device on the network can be affected - computers, TVs & video recorders etc. But devices which have an IP address set manually and don't rely on DHCP are never affected.
Rebooting the router resolves the problem, but I would desperately like to try and find a solution. (It has become so annoying that I am reluctantly looking at having to replace this router.)
The network is a small home network with the usual assortment of computers, TVs etc. connected. I don't use the wireless networking on the router, everything is connected via Ethernet cable. (A separate wifi access point is used as & when required if a phone or tablet needs to connect to the network, but most of the time wifi is not used in the house at all.)
The problem can affect any device on the network (unless it has been assigned an IP address manually, as a workaround).
I tried contacting Zyxel support after I first got this router and discovered the problem. They asked me to capture the network traffic with Wireshark so they could analyse. But lost interest after I pointed out that the problem occurs at random and I have no way of making it malfunction, so I would likely have to leave Wireshark running for a couple of weeks. I hoped a firmware update would fix it, but the problem is as bad as ever. (I'm currently using firmware 1.00(AAKL.28)C0.)
Has anyone else experienced this problem, or have any ideas how to fix it? (I live in the UK.)
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This is interesting as I have run the same router, currently on the same firmware, for a similar period. Most of my devices run wirelessly, some via a 2.4GHz WAP and others directly from the Zyxel's 5GHz side. I have occasionally seen what you describe but only on specific devices - Youview boxes that connect wirelessly via TP-Link TL-WR702N nano routers. For those I have added them to the static DHCP list (done using their icons on the Connection Status screen) and they now mostly behave themselves. I had assumed the issue was with the way I am connecting them, but perhaps it isn't?
Of my wired devices - a PC, a printer, and the WAP - the printer and WAP are on the static DHCP list and the PC isn't. They all work just fine like this.
I think the only change I've made to the default DHCP settings is to set the lease time to 1 day. I did that as it's always the same devices connecting and disconnecting so I didn't see any point in them renewing their IPs multiple times a day.
As you say it's a super reliable router and for me gets better VDSL speeds that just about anything else I've tried. I'm actually rather attached to it.
:)
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Thank you for replying Tubaman.
Interesting you mentioned Youview boxes - I have a few connected too. A recent firmware removed the option to set the box's IP address manually. Very annoying. >:( [So much so that I've been looking at secondhand Draytek routers.]
P.S.
Are you a tuba player? :cool: I used to play Eb bass in a brass band (many years ago).
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Thank you for replying Tubaman.
Interesting you mentioned Youview boxes - I have a few connected too. A recent firmware removed the option to set the box's IP address manually. Very annoying. >:( [So much so that I've been looking at secondhand Draytek routers.]
P.S.
Are you a tuba player? :cool: I used to play Eb bass in a brass band (many years ago).
I can still set the IP manually on my Youview boxes, all Humax (BT) versions, but the way the menus now work makes it less obvious than before.
I am a tuba player - Eb mainly and very occasionally Bb. All concert band and orchestral nowadays, but I started in brass bands.
:)
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Awesome. :cool:
My Youview box is a TalkTalk one. It's matured into a very reliable & usable recorder. But it's depressing when they keep removing features. :-(