@David-TP 

 

Hi. Until now, no problems: connection solid and no errors.

 

I'll surely follow your advice and find a better solution to place the device.

 

If any problem occur in a week, I'll post here; otherwise, I'll post that the overheat was the real issue and manually upgrade the firmware to the 1.7.4 version.

 

By the way, I'd like to know what is the best optimized config: to let it just like is (DNS changed on WAN and LAN [DHCP server] simultaneously), or should I keep Cloudflare and Google DNS only on WAN?

 

Thanks in advance.

  @David-TP 

 

Hi. Firstly, following your teaching, I let the changes on the DNS only on WAN, removing all the DHCP server config (LAN).

 

As I thought things might be solved, at about 00h30, and because I had set a static IP for the Mi Boxes on the DECO app (reserved addresses) and also on each Mi Box, I decided to remove the static IP adress of the Mi Boxes and take a bath to sleep (therefore, I enabled the DHCP on the config of the Mi Boxes). When I left the bathroom, I noticed that the connection was lost. All the DECOs went to red. I don't know if this behavior was expected or will happen again.

 

Due to the confidential character of the debug firmware, this message, the photos of the IPv4 and IPv6 and the system log were sent to your e-mail.

Thanks for your help.

  @David-TP 

 

All tests performed really indicate a hardware problem or incompatibility with router mode. The only remaining alternative is to try to use the Deco M5 as an access point. However, I have a question based on my network topology.

 

Is it enough for me to place a router between the modem and the first Deco (Main Deco) to configure the 3 Decos as access points, or should I change my network topology? Thank you very much.

  @Alexandre. 

 

  @Er1 

 

Hi, guys. Could you help with my last post doubt?

  @Thirrony 

 

It is enough to place the router between modem and Main Deco, and that is what I would recommend to do as a first step. 

 

After you have reconfigured Deco mesh to run in AP mode and confirmed everything runs correctly, I suggest you change your network topology: connect TP-Link switch directly to the router. 

As for Main Deco, either keep it connected to router, too, or connect it to one of TP-Link switch Ethernet ports.

  @Alexandre. 

 

I really appreciate your attention because I was getting insane with every issue.

 

I have 2 more questions based on what you said:

 

1) Why do you suggest to place the switch directly after the router, and not after the Main Deco? What are the pros and contras of each option?

 

2) Considering the usage of the 3 DECOs in AP mode, what's the difference of having the following architecture ("--->" is where it is plugged):

2.1) Router ---> Main Deco ---> Switch ---> the 2 DECOs satellites plugged each one on a Switch port (preserving my current topografy)

2.2) Router ---> Main Deco ---> Switch ---> Deco satellite 1 ---> Deco satellite 2

2.3) Router ---> Switch ---> all 3 DECOs plugged each one on a Switch port (as you suggested)

2.4) Router ---> Switch ---> Main Deco ---> Deco satellite 1 ---> Deco satellite 2

2.5) Router ---> Main Deco plugged on a port and, on the other, plugging the Switch ---> the 2 DECOs satellites plugged each one on a Switch port (as you also suggested)

2.6) Router ---> Main Deco plugged on a port and, on the other, plugging the Switch ---> Deco satellite 1 ---> Deco satellite 2

 

Thanks for your great help, buddy.

  @Thirrony 

 

When running Deco mesh in AP mode, there is no need to pass all wired traffic through Main Deco. Because of that, it makes sense to offload Main Deco from this, by removing it from the link between the switch and router. This will reduce CPU and memory load on Main Deco and might even address issues with Deco mesh, if they are triggered by Main Deco running under too heavy load.

 

Also, if there are other issues with Deco mesh, for example firmware upgrade went bad, they will only impact wireless traffic when Main Deco is not between the switch and router.

 

  @Er1 

 

  @David-TP 

 

  @Alexandre. 

 

 

UPDATE ----> Solution + Doubt

 

After trying the suggestion of using the 3 Decos as access points (putting a router before the Deco M5), the problem persisted. So, after lots of new attempts, finally I could solve the problem: in fact, the problem was the IPv6 config and a probably IPv6 conflict with Android Devices (specially, the 4 Mi Boxes).

 

I figured this out when, after another crash of the internet connection, I could still access the router (TP-LINK EX220, provided by the ISP) via DDNS, and realized that the status didn’t show any IPv6 address. Hence, the internet was active, because I could still remotely access the router (gateway), although I didn’t have internet connection via wi-fi or ethernet cable.

 

This was my ISP’s router config when I had the internet problem:

 

 

- On internet config, the IPv6 addressing type was SLAAC.

- On LAN config, the IPv6 address type was RADVD.

- Status didn’t show any IPv6 address or gateway.

 

As an example, I had this status on a Mi Box:

- 1 IPv4 address.

- 3 IPv6 addresses.

 

Furthermore, perfoming IPv6 connectivity tests on this website (https://test-ipv6.com/) with all my devices, I had IPv6 address on my laptop (Windows), on my smartphone (Android) and on all the Mi Boxes (Android). However, the internet connection always dropped randomly (probably, due to IPv6 conflicts).

 

So, I tried another config:

- On internet config, I set the IPv6 addressing type to Auto.

- On LAN config, I set IPv6 address type to DHCPv6 server.

- Status now show IPv6 address and gateway.

 

On the Mi Box, now I have this status:

- 1 IPv4 address.

- 1 IPv6 address.

 

However, perfoming IPv6 connectivity tests on this website (https://test-ipv6.com/) with all my devices, I still have IPv6 address on my laptop (Windows), but no IPv6 addresses on my smartphone (Android), nor on all the Mi Boxes (Android).

 

Googling why this happened, I discovered that Android isn’t compatible with DHCPv6 server. Ok, I understood this.

 

What I still don’t  understand is what persistently happened with my internet connection using SLAAC and RADVD. Looks like IPv6 conflicts, but what is the technical explanation? What is the error cause?

 

Thanks, brothers.