[SOLVED] Connect Network Extender Troubles AC750 Wavlink

REALOldNick

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Win 7 64 bit Home Prem SP1. Latest security updates available . I want to connect my AC750 to my Dovado router, which not have WSP WPS button. There are instructions on how to connect using a browser and entering the IP Address of the extender's admin page. After setting ghe AC750's switch to "Repeater", I managed to get to the Admin page, entered the requested details and got to where I could say which router I wanted to connect the extender to. The software went to look, gave me two alternatives (one was the Dovado and the other the modem router that gives the Dovado Internet, plugged into the Dovado's USB.

Just when it looked as if I was getting there, up popped a message saying the network connection had failed and I needed to check my network. Now here I cannot be sure it did not say "internet connection". I had to disconnect from the Dovado to do all of this, so I guess until the extender and the Dovado are paired, internet cannot be expected.

After this, the extender disappeared from the scene as a network, and makes no difference to signals if I move away from the router, taking the extender with me.

I have even tried connecting the extender to my PC via ethernet, which the manuallet says not to do. But hey.

It did not work.

I have read several other people talking of the same sort of thing, but have never seen a solution that I remember.

Are these just unreliable garbage? Is there something I can do to reset the extender and try again?

Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi .

Thanks for any help
 
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Solution
Be nice if it was a little more simple sometimes. There solution was the silly WPS button but even having this feature is a massive security exposure. Depends on your router, ones that care about security have this feature disabled by default.

So you will have to look in the manual but almost all devices have some way to factory reset them. It is normally some button your push and it may vary how long you hold it or if you do it when the device first boots etc etc. It is a read the manual question.

After than the setup should be straight forward. You want to connect via a ethernet cable, it gets messy to change wifi settings when you are actually using the wifi you are going to change.

Some key things. The word...
Be nice if it was a little more simple sometimes. There solution was the silly WPS button but even having this feature is a massive security exposure. Depends on your router, ones that care about security have this feature disabled by default.

So you will have to look in the manual but almost all devices have some way to factory reset them. It is normally some button your push and it may vary how long you hold it or if you do it when the device first boots etc etc. It is a read the manual question.

After than the setup should be straight forward. You want to connect via a ethernet cable, it gets messy to change wifi settings when you are actually using the wifi you are going to change.

Some key things. The word "extender" is confusing. You want to run in wireless repeater mode. The other thing people call "extenders" is when you connect to the main router via ethernet, this is better called AP mode.

The other thing that can bite you is another three letter thing called WDS....not to be confused with the stupid WPS button. WDS is the method that allows multiple devices to share the same encrypted connection between the repeater and the router. This is a hack since wifi uses the mac address as part of the encryption key so only a single mac address can pass over any wifi connection by default. Some routers have this disabled or you must configure the router to allow the repeater to use a WDS connection. WDS Is not as bad as WPS security wise but WDS is considered a security violation, if for example you did not want someone connecting equipment that you did not authorize.
 
Solution

REALOldNick

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Thanks for the reply. Sorry I was slow to come back I had no notification.

The dropping out by the software seems to be a bug, because in the end the repeater connected to a router anyway.

Turns out that the major problem seems to have been the Dovado Router that I was using for the house. It had been dropping internet intermittently and eventually its No1 USB port stopped working at all. I switched to the No2 USB and that worked but then also started dropping in and out.

This intermittent stuff and goalpost changing made the entire process more complex than it should have been.

Unfortunately I factory reset the Dovado to see if that would fix it, but now my problem is that I can't enter the default "admin" user name.

Anyhow, I am now using the little modem-router that used to feed the Dovado, via the USB port. Its signal is not as strong as the Dovado's, but of course with the repeater that is not quite such an issue. After running around and around in circles for a couple of days, I am content to leave things as they are for now, until I can face up to trying to get the Dovado sorted.

No affiliation except as customer, but I have to say that the Wavlink guy I dealt was most helpful and patient.....to my great surprise.

Nick