Deco x20 is killing connection to a switch hooked up to it

Deco x20 is killing connection to a switch hooked up to it

Deco x20 is killing connection to a switch hooked up to it
Deco x20 is killing connection to a switch hooked up to it
Yesterday
Model: Deco X20  
Hardware Version:
Firmware Version: 1.5.3 Build 20231227 Rel. 62097

Hey All, So I'm having a weird issue with my Deco x20 home network set up. I have included a diagram which shows roughly how my setup is wired but here are the bullet points:

  • Fiber modem connected to main x20 via cat6e
  • Gigabit network switch connected to main x20 via cat6e (all wired connections are with cat6e)
  • Switch feeds out to Ethernet wall jacks in my home
  • remaining two x20 units are hardwired via wall jacks

 

My issue is that the main x20 appears to be dropping connection to the Network switch rendering all hardwired devices downstream disconnected.
This used to happen maybe once a week, and then a few times a week and now it's happening about once per hour. If I unplug the network switch's power and plug it back in, the connections are repaired...until it happens again which, as I mentioned is now usually after just an hour of uptime. Because power cycling the switch (temporarily) fixed the issue, I assumed the network switch was to blame so I tried plugging in a 5-port gigabit switch and just running connection to a few wall jacks and my Phillips Hue Bridge (which requires an Ethernet connection) but the issue has repeated itself even with the swapped out network switch.

I recently switched over to fiber internet but this was a problem I had been having before the provider change (previously on Xfinity coax).

I'm really not sure how to fix the issue or if there are some settings on the x20 that I can change to stop it from happening but I'm pretty sure the X20 is to blame because of the troubleshooting attempt above.

Any ideas?

Thanks!
 

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#1
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8 Reply
Re:Deco x20 is killing connection to a switch hooked up to it
Yesterday

  @OMGChris 

 

There are two options to try:

 

1. Swap Main Deco with one of Satellites to see if it is Main Deco hardware issue. You can do that by following the process of promoting Satellite to Main Deco. 

 

2. If what you have is fiber modem/router, it would be possible to remove Main Deco from the link between the switch and modem/router. Confirm what you have and I can tell you how. 

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#2
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Re:Deco x20 is killing connection to a switch hooked up to it
Yesterday

  @Alexandre.

Alexandre. wrote

  @OMGChris 

 

There are two options to try:

 

1. Swap Main Deco with one of Satellites to see if it is Main Deco hardware issue. You can do that by following the process of promoting Satellite to Main Deco. 

 

2. If what you have is fiber modem/router, it would be possible to remove Main Deco from the link between the switch and modem/router. Confirm what you have and I can tell you how. 

Thank you. I will try to  swap one of the satellites with the main deco tomorrow and report back with results.
Regarding your other solution, The issue with that is I want to manage all of my downstream connections with the deco app and make sure everything is on the same network for in-home transfers, NAS, and my media server. If I go directly from the modem to the switch, wouldn't everything hardwired off the switch be unmanaged?

Thanks!

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#3
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Re:Deco x20 is killing connection to a switch hooked up to it
Yesterday - last edited Yesterday

  @OMGChris 

 

If you go directly from modem to switch, you can only manage hardwired to switch devices through modem/router management interface. That might not be an ideal solution for you, but if you have an unusable home network, does convenience of managing it matter?

 

Also, after removing Main Deco from the link between switch and modem/router you might find that the issue is actually somewhere else, and with Deco mesh out of the picture it would be easier to find and fix it. If this is the case, after fixing an issue you can bring Main Deco back.

 

Finally, here is "light" option for you: do not remove Main Deco but configure Deco mesh to run in Access Point mode. You will still see all wired devices in Deco app, but CPU load and memory utilization on Main Deco will drop substantially. If an issue is with too busy Main Deco, that will fix it.

As well, this is necessary step for what I originally suggested, so if swapping Deco units won't help and you want to stabilize your home network you'll need to try it.

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#4
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Re:Deco x20 is killing connection to a switch hooked up to it
Yesterday

  @Alexandre. 

Alexandre. wrote

  @OMGChris 

 

If you go directly from modem to switch, you can only manage hardwired to switch devices through modem/router management interface. That might not be an ideal solution for you, but if you have an unusable home network, does convenience of managing it matter?

 

Also, after removing Main Deco from the link between switch and modem/router you might find that the issue is actually somewhere else, and with Deco mesh out of the picture it would be easier to find and fix it. If this is the case, after fixing an issue you can bring Main Deco back.

 

Finally, here is "light" option for you: do not remove Main Deco but configure Deco mesh to run in Access Point mode. You will still see all wired devices in Deco app, but CPU load and memory utilization on Main Deco will drop substantially. If an issue is with too busy Main Deco, that will fix it.

As well, this is necessary step for what I originally suggested, so if swapping Deco units won't help and you want to stabilize your home network you'll need to try it.


Well, I was hopeful that changing one of the satellies to the main deco unit would do the trick. I promoted one to be the main and physically replaced the old main one with the new one. Everything was running smoothly for about 3 hours and then the connection to the switch died again.

So I guess the next step would be to  switch the deco to access point mode then?

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#5
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Re:Deco x20 is killing connection to a switch hooked up to it
Yesterday

  @OMGChris 

 

This is correct: the next step is to switch Deco mesh to Access Point mode. 

You do not need to move Deco units for that or change network layout in any way, just make configuration change in Deco app for Operation Mode parameter. 

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#6
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Re:Deco x20 is killing connection to a switch hooked up to it
23 hours ago

  @Alexandre. 
Thanks, I changed my Operation Mode to Access Point and none of the deco units would connect. They just say there flashing red for over half an hour. Because of this, I wasn't able to manage them with the app either. I guess it makes sense. If they're acting as an access point but coming stright from the modem and not a router like the app suggests, then they don;t have a network to act as an access point for/ Or maybe I'm thinking about it incorrectly. 

I was forced to manually reset the main deco unit by holding the reset button and then re-setting up my home network. Is there a way to set these to access point mode and make sure I'll get a connection?

Thanks again for all your help

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#7
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Re:Deco x20 is killing connection to a switch hooked up to it
21 hours ago

  @OMGChris 

 

Deco Access Point mode can only work when there is ISP modem/router, not just modem. I told you that, but probably did not emphasized it strongly enough. I am glad you recovered your Deco mesh. 

 

To try that again, you will need modem/router. If what you've got from ISP is modem/router in bridge mode behaving as pure modem, resetting it to default mode should make it router again. If ISP supplied you with modem but can provide router as a free add-on or replacement, request it.

 

In any case, there is not much I can do remotely to assist you. My plan was to have Deco mesh run in AP mode, that will offload Main Deco. After that, if problem is still there, just connect switch directly to ISP modem/router. 

That can't be done if what you have got is modem.

 

By the way, what did you use for router functionality before Deco mesh?

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#8
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Re:Deco x20 is killing connection to a switch hooked up to it
20 hours ago

   @Alexandre. Ah ok. That makes perfect sense. I apologize for not realizing that's what you meant earlier.
When we had the fiber installed, I opted out of the router, which included their own mesh access points because I already had this Deco system.  So I just have the modem from them. No modem/router combo.

Prior to using the deco x20 mesh system, I was using 2 Google OnHub mesh routers. Those worked great but I switched away from them when it was announced they would be ending support for them. The odd thing is that this Deco mesh system has worked well for at least 2 years before I started getting the disconnects. And now they are happening more and more frequently (as I mentioned, usually only lasting an hour max before it disconnects.

Thank you for your help. I guess I will try and request a router from my service provider, though that's really not the route I wanted to go. I like the freedom and customizability of something like a TP-Link system as opposed to the ISP supplied one.

In the meantime, I'll connect my network switch directly to the modem and see if the disconnects still persist.

Thanks again for all your help

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#9
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