Question Need help checking a broken WAP router (TP LInk Archer C8) -- can I plug into my PC to diagnose?

[Werdna76]

I have a wireless setup that has a basement router sending my internet into a hub area that feeds various wall jacks in my house. Since the signal is weak from basement, I use a few more routers around the house (set up as WAPS) out of the wall sockets. It's been great so far in terms of covering more space. However, one WAP stopped working and I want to diagnose it (not sure if it was a power surge or something else).

I've tried plugging it in where another WAP was plugged in (working internet plug, good power cord), and it's stll not working -- it powers up, but going to its IP address (old, and now after reset, it's base one - 192.168.0.1) gets me nothing.

At this point, assuming I reset it, is there an easy way to just jump into this router to reconfigure it? For example, if I just plug it into my desktop LAN port, can I log into it and configure the IP address, network settings, etc.? I've tried, while my desktop is connected to the working wireless internet, and no luck getting into it. Will my LAN port work if my wifi card is on? Do I need to do something fancy to get my PC to go directly into the router (no internet is fine - just need to configure it as a WAP)?

Do I need to plug it into a internet powered wall jack? Will I be able to see it if it has the factory reset IP address if it's plugged into my existing network ?

Any tips on how to get into the WAP easily would be great.

Thanks!
Andrew

 

[bill001g]

I would disable the wifi just to be sure windows was not being stupid....this is especially true since microsoft changed some stuff in win11 to "help" you out when you have multiple interfaces active.

After this it should be the same as a out of the box install. It seems you can get access via ethernet so that mean it must be running as a router and giving your pc a IP ?

I would first go in and set the wifi to some unique SSID. Now try to connect to it with say your phone. It will not do much since you do not have a internet connection. All you really want to verify is that the wifi radios connect and maybe you can ping the phone from your pc. The router might have the phone in a list of devices that are connected.
After this I would just configure the wifi in your final setting and change it back to AP mode and see if it works.

Now I guess you could try it out on the internet before you convert it to AP. The main issue is going to be if your main network is using 192.168.0.x. It will complain the wan and lan are on the same subnet. You can change the lan ip and dhcp range to say 192.168.200.x All depends on which is going to be faster to do. If you just lost the AP configuration then you don't need the extra test on the internet.

 

[Werdna76]

Thanks - I can't seem to get into it. My main network is on another set of #s, so that's not an issue. It might just be bricked. The "reset" button isn't doing anything when I keep it down for 10 seconds, and the lights don't seem to be doing the right things generally.

 

[bill001g]

Although it is uncommon routers do fail. I would see if it has some kind of firmware recovery mode. It would be something like holding some button when you power the device on. This is normally used to recover from a firmware flash failure but if somehow the firmware got damage it might fix it. If the flash memory chip failed though it will not work.

You are going to have to search tplink site to see if this device has that mode and how you activate it. It is very messy thing to use even when it work. You generally need to configure static IP and then use TFTP or maybe FTP to transfer a image to some fixed IP address the router has assumed.

In most cases when they get stuck in reboot loops they are dead.


....a add thought have you tried the power supply from one of your working units.

 

[JohnMGotts]

After connecting your router to your PC, type “tplinkwireless.net” to access the mngt. console.