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[mikeduncan177]

Seeing a problem with my DAP-1860 as a WiFi extender working with a D-Link DIR-890L.  I am still trying to diagnose exactly what is happening, but hoping that someone else has seen this strange behavior.

When an iPhone client is connected to the Extender, it can see devices connected to the Router (ethernet and wifi) UNTIL suddenly it doesn't!  Confirmed this by Ping using ip address.  I can get it back by either re-connecting the WiFi to the Extender or (at worst case) by restarting the Extender.  It happens randomly, but I can guarantee it will occur within 4 hours.

Here is a little more information on what I have found:

• DAP 1860 Hardware version A1, Firmware 1.01
• DIR 890L Hardware version A1, Firmware 1.20
• Connection between 1860 and 890L is on the 2nd 5GHz band of the 890L and seems to be stable (no other traffic configured to go over this link)
• Smart Connect status on the Extended Network seems to make no difference and I see problem on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz channels
• I have seen this problem on more than one client device and not at the same time!!  Clients are iPhones running iOS 11.0.3, one iPhone 6s and one iPhone 5s

I would appreciate any suggestions on how to further troubleshoot this issue.  Is it possible to activate Logs on these D-Link devices?

[FurryNutz]

Link>Welcome!

• What region are you located?
• Was a Factory Reset performed before and after any firmware updates then set up from scratch?

  Link> >FW Update Process

• Was the router and extender working before any firmware updates?

Does disabling SC and setting manual channel 11 on 2.4Ghz and manual channel on 5ghz with single modes exhibit differences?

What is the distance between the extender and DIR router?

[mikeduncan177]

I am in the North America region (USA)

I followed the Update Process (same as your  link), so Yes I did Factory Reset before and after.

Yes, Router/Extender were working fine before firmware update on 890L

Router - Extender distance is 55ft, with one internal stud/sheet-rock wall between them.  Signal level shown on Extender is 3 out of 3 bars.

I will check the manual channel settings that you suggested, and let you know the results.

[FurryNutz]

Ok, let us know. If the problem continues, I like you to load back the v1.11 FW on the 890L and then test again. There maybe some issues with v1.20. D-Link is reviewing things now with it.

[mikeduncan177]

I decided to make sure I had a good config.bin which I had used to restore settings after upgrading to FW 1.20.  I rebuilt the configuration from scratch and I am still seeing the problem.

Does disabling SC and setting manual channel 11 on 2.4Ghz and manual channel on 5ghz with single modes exhibit differences?

I did not quite understand exactly what you wanted me to do here....are to talking about the link between DAP-1860 Extender and the DIR-890L Router?

I like your idea of rolling back to FW 1.11 on the Router and seeing if the problem exists.  I have the 1.10 and 1.11 bin files, but don't know how to override the safety feature the prevents down-grading the firmware.

When I see the problem, I have determined some conditions that may be relevant to troubleshooting:

• When selecting the SSID to connect to on the iPhone client, it takes a lot longer to connect
• Pinging the Router fails, but pinging the Extender passes
• I have managed to establish a working path to the Router by renewing the Lease on the iPhone (worked once)
• I don't think Smart Connect on the Extended SSID makes any difference

[FurryNutz]

Follow this and go back to 1.11:
 Emergency Recovery Mode

[mikeduncan177]

In spite of following the Emergency Recovery Mode instructions to the "letter", I have a "bricked" DIR-890L!!!!

Got to the point where Router's Amber power lamp is blinking and I did confirm that my client PC (Window 10 Home) can ping the Router successfully.  But http://192.168.0.1 does not get a response from the Router in Firefox (56.0.2) or Internet Explorer (11.15.16299.0).

Normal power up sequence doesn't get me to the Router's Control pages either.

Any suggestions?

[FurryNutz]

Which browser did you use?

Can you still get to the recovery mode and try to send the v1.20 FW file?

Be sure to use IE11 or FF browsers and disable any PC security add-ons and software.

[mikeduncan177]

Problem solved....have down-graded FW to 1.11.

Will now monitor to see if the sub-net disconnect happens with this version of Router FW.

[FurryNutz]

Do you know what the problem was when you attempted the first downgrade?

[mikeduncan177]

This may apply only to certain routers, but the DIR-890L requires that you hold the Reset for at least 10 seconds.

Your Emergency Flashing How-To instructions were great and I followed them to the letter.  In Step 6, I was letting go when the Amber light started blinking.  That wasn't long enough.  I opened a case with D-Link Support and they told me this.  I confirmed it was also true to get the Factory Reset to complete.  So from a bricked device, I was able to get back working with FW 1.20, then I got Router into Recovery Mode (by holding reset longer) and upgrade to 1.10 (last marked Full FW version), then step up to 1.11.

[FurryNutz]

AH, ok. Glad they helped you out. I'll make note of this in the Recovery FAQ.

Thank you. Keep us posted on how it goes...if its better, there maybe problems in the v1.20...I'm running my 890L in AP mode with v1.20 however using a non D-Link extender and seems to be ok. I haven't noticed any issues...yet.

[mikeduncan177]

It has been six days since I down-graded my 890L Router from FW 1.20 to 1.11 to see if it had any effect on the "disconnect" problem with the DAP-1860 Extender.

Conclusion:  Since I have not seen any problem, I have to conclude that there is something in the FW1.20 that is causing the sub-net disconnect.

Re-cap of the problem I saw with FW 1.20 in 890L Router:

• I configured the Extender to have SSID's for 2.4 & 5.0 bands that were different (no Smart Connect). The Extender SSID's were different from those used in the Router.
• I connected an iPhone 6s client (running iOS 11.0.3) to the 5GHz SSID of the Extender.  Everything worked as expected....until it didn't.
• Symptoms of issue: No internet access, no access to sub-net clients connected to the Router (hard-wired or WiFi)  Confirmed by Pinging.
• Was still able to Ping the Extender from the client.
• This problem was repeatable, but the time for it to occur appeared to be random.
• I was able to repeat the problem using a different client (iPhone 5s, but still using iOS 11.0.3)

I would be happy to work with someone from D-Link, but I think this issue is beyond First-Level Support.  Hopefully, your contacts at D-Link can work this issue.

[FurryNutz]

I see there is v1.02 FW for the DAP available. Only thing would need to be tested is this version of FW with the 890L v1.20 to see if problem still happens. 

[mikeduncan177]

Ok, my Extender is at FW 1.01, so I guess I need to go through a rigorous testing process....upgrade Extender & see if stable with Router 1.11, then upgrade Router to 1.20.  At least, I can now down-grade the router successfully if it doesn't work!!

I'll work on this over the next few days and let you know the results.