#1 router was a newish DSL 3780 as provided by Talktalk and the one
acting as modem to connect to broadband, plus providing one access
point at the top of the house.

#2 used a wired LAN to connect to #1 and provided a 2nd wifi access
point on the ground floor.

Swapping from AP #2 to AP #1 could be done almost instantly, swapping
from #1 back to #2 could take upto an hour, before a full connection
with Internet access could be had.

I tried lots of routers as #2, lots of variations of settings without
any success.

Today I decided to swap #1 and #2 around, so #2 was actually connecting
to the broadband. Then I tried to reconfigure what had been #1, the
3780, to work as just an access point. Lots of issues with logging in,
lots of issues with changing anything and getting it to save the
settings and in the end I swapped it out for a spare router.

My guess is that it had some serious issues, though it had seemed fine
and to work/sort of.

With that 3780 no longer in the loop, I can now swap back and forth
from #1 to #2 in a second. :-)

On Mon, 20 Mar 2017 16:19:51 GMT, Harry Bloomfield wrote:

Today I decided to swap #1 and #2 around, so #2 was actually connecting
to the broadband. Then I tried to reconfigure what had been #1, the
3780, to work as just an access point. Lots of issues with logging in,
lots of issues with changing anything and getting it to save the
settings and in the end I swapped it out for a spare router.

How odd, glad your sorted. ISTR that this has been a long standing
problem. Itching to find out what's wrong with the old #1. Partly
mangled flash settings memeory. Wonder if a factory reset would cure
it?

--
Cheers
Dave.

I assume you switched off dhcp / DNS on router 2 and gave it a fixed IP address which is
- on the same subnet as 1
- is not the same as 1
- is outside of the range of IP addresses that the dhcp server on 1 dishes out?

I think the default gateway on 2 also needs to be the IP address of 1.

Thanks

Lee.

Dave Liquorice presented the following explanation :
How odd, glad your sorted. ISTR that this has been a long standing
problem. Itching to find out what's wrong with the old #1. Partly
mangled flash settings memeory. Wonder if a factory reset would cure
it?

I changed the settings on it remotely, whilst set up as #1 in the loft,
numerous times without any problems. Only when I swapped the two over
and tried to reconfigure it in place of #2, did the problems begin to
show up. I tried direct wired, doing several factory resets, changing
passwords, but nothing would stick.

My #1 is now a reasonable spec., not too old one I spotted cheap in a
charity shop. My #2 is a really ancient low spec one, just kept as a
working spare - so I have ordered a much better independent dual band
Netgear from Ebay, that (hopefully) ought to allow the Firestick to
connect via the 5Ghz and everything else via the 2.4Ghz.

I have since switched access points numerous times, every time it was
instant except for once when it took a few seconds to get connected to
the #1, I'm guessing due to a temporary poor signal.

Roger Hayter formulated on Tuesday :
Well done! No-one seems to have thought of that. Still not sure how it
failed the way it did, but if all works that's good.

I never even considered it, it was a fairly new one.