So, after a period of stability, I'm back to some weird stuff happening that I can only put down to either the Spark VRV9517 router (firmware V6.00.18 build 02)
or the Spark SmartMesh devices (I have three, all running the V1.00.11 firmware).
Over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed various wireless devices such as my laptop, my phone, my wife's laptop and phone, Google Nest etc., are not connecting to the internet, and on investigation, they are connecting to the Wi-Fi, but are not receiving an IP address from the router, which acts as a DHCP server.
If I reboot the router and SmartMeshes, everything comes right, and all devices get IP addresses. For a while...
If I set a static address, away they go happily surfing the internet, all good, except, being mobile devices, I don't want them on a static address.
Anyone else experiencing this problem or have suggestions for a fix?
In my case, the route and meshes are solid, just periodically my devices stop being allocated an IP address and the only fix I can think of is to restart all devices and magically IP address start being issued again.
I suspect a factory reset might help my router issues - often it's recommended after firmware updates - but I'm reluctant to set everything up again. LOL.
I have also had problems, most noticeably with Siri and the "just a sec" answers when asking for anything from the weather to setting timers. Resolved this by changing back to a Unifi access point. Now everything works 100%
Over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed various wireless devices such as my laptop, my phone, my wife's laptop and phone, Google Nest etc., are not connecting to the internet, and on investigation, they are connecting to the Wi-Fi, but are not receiving an IP address from the router, which acts as a DHCP server.
If I reboot the router and SmartMeshes, everything comes right, and all devices get IP addresses. For a while...
I had a similar issue with the Smart Modem's DHCP server not working consistently (v6.00.17 build04 and earlier), resulting in self-assigned IP addresses and no internet connection for wifi devices.
I am currently working around it, by using an older Spark-supplied router (HG659b) as the modem and DHCP server, with the Smart Modem's DHCP server function disabled and it only acting as an access point. However the HG659b is a bit flaky itself, and often requires reboots anyway, so I'm also looking for a better solution.
I performed a factory reset on my Spark modem yesterday. Everything looked good, up to the point where this morning, my laptop, which had been switched off since Friday, could not get an IP address. Another network device also failed to renew its lease overnight.
As a test, I connected to the Spark modem via another computer and switched off DHCP, saved the settings, switched DHCP on again, saved settings, and immediately my laptop and the other device that couldn’t obtain a new lease, got an IP address and all is well again (for now).
So, from what I can tell, the issue is that the modem, after a period of time, stops acting as a DHCP server. Stop and start the DHCP server capability on the modem and it fixes the problem, albeit temporarily.
Any thoughts on this? Faulty modem, or a firmware issue? Or something else?
scobb: So, from what I can tell, the issue is that the modem, after a period of time, stops acting as a DHCP server. Stop and start the DHCP server capability on the modem and it fixes the problem, albeit temporarily.
Any thoughts on this? Faulty modem, or a firmware issue? Or something else?
I found the same thing, but logging into the router to disable/enable the DHCP service wasn't as easy as power cycling, especially when trying to do it using wifi. Feels like a firmware problem to me, but I can't pin down when the change occurred. It had been very stable for a long time, then at some point the DHCP service just wasn't working properly. I have tried factory resets too, but they didn't provide a solution that lasted any longer than a reboot.
I use a custom IP address range, but the default range didn't seem to work any better (and it had been solid on the custom range in the past).
Changing lease times didn't seem to help, and renewing leases didn't work – we were still getting self-assigned IP addresses in less than the maximum 2-week lease.
I called Spark this afternoon to explain my problem and they agreed to exchange the modem under warranty for a new Smart Modem 2 at no cost. I popped down to my local Spark shop, picked up the replacement and it was up and running in no time.
It’s too early to say if this will fix my DHCP issue, but I’m hopeful.
Pretty impressed with the service I received. Thanks Spark!
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