Question
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Topic
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DHCP IP address assignments by primary router and wireless extender
I have a very specific question that probably demonstrates my lack of networking knowledge. First, here’s the equipment relevant to my issue: a Netgear R7960P wireless router, TP-Link RE450 wireless extender (with an ethernet port), and a DirecTV HR34/700 receiver. The TP-Link extender is connected wirelessly to the Netgear router and via an ethernet cable to the DTV receiver. Everything seems to be operating correctly at the moment but the DTV receiver loses its internet connection frequently and requires a reboot to reconnect. Today when I tried to troubleshoot I noticed something that I don’t understand. The Netgear router DHCP assigns IP addresses in the 192.168.1.2 – 254 range, very standard. The TP-Link extender had been assigned 192.168.1.3, which I then reserved for it on the Netgear admin utility, no problem. However, the Netgear admin utility says the DTV receiver has an IP address of 192.168.0.254, which is outside of the Netgear DHCP range. When I look at the network info on the DTV receiver itself, it shows it’s IP address as 192.168.1.12 and has a different MAC address than shown on the Netgear admin page. Even weirder, the TP-Link extender shows it’s not connected to any clients (on a TP-Link app I use to control it), despite the fact that the DTV receiver says it does have an IP address and is definitely connected to the internet. In summary, the DTV receiver has an internet connection despite the extender indicating it doesn’t have any clients and the Netgear router showing an IP address for the receiver that’s outside of the router’s DHCP range and different than the IP address shown on the receiver itself (which is in the DHCP range). If someone could explain what’s going on, I’d appreciate it!!