@Kevin_Z 

Give it a rest Kevin.

It's been a problem since 2019, and it is still not fully or consistently removed from your release firmware across the Deco devices. Here you are, still asking for network diagrams.

It's ironic, really, as the "Smart DNS" is a feature meant to help keep a network up for all those dummies who know nothing, yet here we find ourselves in 2024 still requesting network diagrams from people.

Just bin the feature and move on. 

I have found a workaround that works for me.

The problem arises with multiple Deco stations that are wired directly to the modem that acts as a DHCP server. 

I purchased a basic 4-port switch, wired my Deco stations (AP Mode) to it, powered everything up, and only THEN connected the switch to the modem. Thanks to the switch, Master en Slave Deco can interact directly with each other as if they were daisy chained (the recommended config) without any interference from the modem. Have not experienced any DHCP issues ever since.

Ive endured  this fault for some years with my Deco M4s but I've finally had enough. Even though the system is configured for Access Point, rather than Router (so that the DHCP server is disabled) they occasionally grab hold of a MAC address and assign another IP address, even if the item is configured for a fixed IP address.  Not only is it difficult to analyse what is happening, it is impossible to make the M4s release control.  It wastes so much of my time when this happens. I'm a domestic home user, not an IT networking specialist. TP-Link have known about this for years. I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and buy an alternative mesh wi-fi system.

  @David-TP 

Beta firmware?!?! This got reported in 2019. Are you serious?

  @phillip_mcmahon i have a fix ... sell / return the boxes and buy another brand.  Did that years ago and can watch this forum chuntering on with amusement rather than the frustration i felt then.  Then again, I did recently buy a TP Link AP and, surpisingly, that's not working very well either.  Claimed 365 feet coverage but struggles over 30 feet.  My bad for not learning my lesson, I guess.

  @heidarren I just had similar issues with new X95 decos in Access Point mode behind a Cisco RV340 firewall.  I had 4 of them, one set up as the main.  I set them up in access point mode and dealt with DHCP problems for a week before I removed them.  I plugged a laptop in to the wired network.  It didn't receive an IP address until I rebooted the decos and my Cisco firewall.  I tried to connect a Samsung TV to the wireless network and the same thing happened.  No IP address was assigned until I rebooted everything. A also tried several smart devices, like blink camera modules and smart sockets.  I ran into the same thing.  The set up process failed until I rebooted the decos and firewall.  Something is going on with the DHCP server, most likely caused by having two on the same network.  I removed the decos, installed 4 unifi Access Points, and no problems now.  Wired and wirelss devices get an IP address from my firewall as they should.  

  @David-TP   In a word, No.  This was Beta software and other people had highlighted that it still had issues in AP mode.  This was back in February of this year and there was a new formal release of firmware, 1.6.2 back in March.  I had assumed that the fault would have been rectified in that release.  Surely it wasn't 1.7.0 that you asked me to install as this was only issued as a Beta in March of this year.  Looking at the link for this firmare, users are still asking for a formal release of firmware. Are there still inherent issues preventing its formal release?

  @winter98 

Oh, I know. I did that years ago. I'm amazed this is STILL a thing, and official advice is to recommend installing beta firmware almost 6 years after this was first reported.

It's quite an impressive product failure.