@Riley_S  -

1. I have rebooted the deco units with no improvement.

2. I have moved the deco satellite closer to the main unit for one hour, rebooted both, and used a known good cat5e from main to satelite with no improvement.

3. I have followed the link provided and confirmed I have the latest firmware Deco X20(US)_V3.6_1.0.6 Build 20220909. I selected hw v1 instead of v3.6 in the original post. If there is a newer version for a deco x20 hw v3.6 please provide a method to aquire the new version. 

Thanks for the quick response! Could you provide any next steps to resolve the issue?  

Riley_S wrote

  @gmacp123,

Two things:

The deco will automatically rescan the network and backhaul methods when they are rebooted; this can be a way to force the unit to rescan its connection quickly.

 

Oftentimes, simply switching the placement of the decos, and moving the satellite to the main node can often fix any settings or configurations that may be preventing the connection from happening.

 

 

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, please ensure that you update your Deco network to the most recent firmware version available for your device here: https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/download/deco-x20/v1/#Firmware

 

There are plenty of updates that have been made to the firmware since the date of the firmware listed above; many of which may help improve the backhaul and stability of the network.

  @Riley_S

Thank you for the reply.

1. I have swapped ethernet ports on the satellite and main deco with no improvement

2. I swapped the satellite unit to main (with unit open in the app, selected three dots at top right and selected "set as main".. this took several minutes to settle down) with no improvement

3. I removed the satellite device from the app, then removed the main device from the app and then deleted the network. Then rebuilt the network in the app with no improvement

4. After the full factory fresh build of both units and rebuild of the network I attemped the direct ethernet link from main to satellite with no improvement and then attempted adding the netgear GS308E between with no improvement. The netgear switch is happy (1000full) with both sides. Also, laptop on the netgear switch or subtended from port2 on the satellite is able to surf.There is no improvement to the original failure of the decos to detect ethernet backhaul and automatically switch away from wireless.

Could you review the summary and provide next steps? Is there any CLI into local controller within the deco or a config dump I could collect and send for analysis? I could mirror a port on the switch and collect pcaps but would prefer not to spend that much time. I bought cheap consumer grade gear so I could use a supported topology and plug-play without the need to dig this deep.

 

Riley_S wrote

  @gmacp123,

A few small things worth trying first:

Try using different ethernet ports on the satellite and main deco unit;

Swap the position of the two units and set the (previously) satellite unit as the main deco through the app.

 

Have you tried setting up the device in your desired setup. Most users use this type of configuration to connect multiple deco nodes together? If it is a manage switch, you could potentially see what side of the connection is having issues connecting.

 

I would recommend resetting your Deco Nodes to factory default and setting up your network again; it is possible that there was a setting changed that is preventing the connection. I would first try to reset the satellite node and reconnect it, this way your network settings from the main node will stay in tact, and it can be determined what node was causing the behavior.

 

I did check, and that is the most up to date firmware available for the V3.6 and V3; 

@Riley_S 

The issue appears to be related to the need to configure a VLAN on the WAN port with my ISP. When I add another router/switch inline to handle the VLAN toward the modem the ethernet backhaul between the Deco units starts working. Is this expected behavior? The VLAN is only configured on the WAN port with no VLAN/IPTV configs on the LAN ports.

See below for details. I would love to see a bug report or enhacement to fix this issue if possible.