Author Topic: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue  (Read 23600 times)

fbhenry

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WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« on: September 14, 2012, 10:54:24 AM »

Hi all,

 

I wrote a half-baked, unhelpful post (apologies) on this problem in another thread.  I'll try to write a proper one here.

 

I recently updated my WZR-HP-G300NH ver. 1 firmware from build 14998 to build 19484.    That is, it runs:

 

DD-WRT v24SP2-MULTI (07/15/12) std - build 19484

 

The WZR is the gateway to my soho lan/wlan attached to a Comcast business class SMC D3G cable modem gateway.  The wireless network performance with build 19484 is improved, and all wireless clients can connect with each other and the internet.  Wireless clients get DHCP addresses from the WZR, and the DHCP service in the Comcast gateway is disabled.  

 

I have two wired hosts: 192.168.11.20 (nestor, an iMac)  and 192.168.11.21 (hector, a linux server).  The problem is that while these machines can reach the internet and ping all wireless clients on the network, they are invisible to each other.  They cannot ping or ssh or otherwise contact each other.

 

I have tried adding static DHCP entries for both machines.  I have tried adding a static route to network 192.168.11.0 via 192.168.11.1 (the WZR).  

 

All wireless clients can reach these two machines over the lan.  The WZR on/off/auto switch is "on."  It has also been set "auto", making no difference in this problem.  

 

While looking at the routing tables today, I noticed that wireless clients (e.g., my laptop) have both hosts *20 and *21 listed with gateways given as their MAC addresses.  

 

Thus:

 

wireless-laptop:~ user$ netstat -nrRouting tablesInternet:Destination Gateway Flags Refs Use Netif Expiredefault 192.168.11.1 UGSc 18 0 en0127 127.0.0.1 UCS 0 0 lo0127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 UH 5 46023 lo0169.254 link#4 UCS 0 0 en0192.168.11 link#4 UCS 6 0 en0192.168.11.1 4c:e6:76:3f:9c:63 UHLWIir 19 5660 en0 1116192.168.11.20 0:1f:5b:f1:23:3e UHLWIi 1 296 en0 1152192.168.11.21 0:16:76:e0:b8:7f UHLWIi 3 11250 en0 1071192.168.11.107 127.0.0.1 UHS 0 0 lo0192.168.11.108 0:21:bd:e5:70:fd UHLWIi 0 0 en0 853192.168.11.110 7c:c5:37:a:c1:97 UHLWIi 0 0 en0 818192.168.11.255 ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff UHLWbI 0 9 en0

 

The routing table of the WZR:

 

Destination LAN NET   Subnet Mask   Gateway   Interface0.0.0.0   0.0.0.0   x.x.x.x   WANx.x.x.x   255.255.255.252   0.0.0.0   WAN169.254.0.0   255.255.0.0   0.0.0.0   LAN & WLAN192.168.11.0   255.255.255.0   192.168.11.1   LAN & WLAN192.168.11.0   255.255.255.0   0.0.0.0   LAN & WLAN

 

 The route table of the wired host at 192.168.11.21 (hector) is:

 

root@hector:/var/log# netstat -nrKernel IP routing tableDestination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags   MSS Window  irtt Iface0.0.0.0         192.168.11.1    0.0.0.0         UG        0 0          0 eth0169.254.0.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.0.0     U         0 0          0 eth0192.168.11.0    0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U         0 0          0 eth0

 And the route table of the other wired host 192.168.11.20 (nestor) is:

 

nestor:~ fbhenry$ netstat -nrRouting tablesInternet:Destination        Gateway            Flags        Refs      Use   Netif Expiredefault            192.168.11.1       UGSc           21        0     en0127                127.0.0.1          UCS             0        0     lo0127.0.0.1          127.0.0.1          UH             13   912451     lo0169.254            link#4             UCS             0        0     en0192.168.11         link#4             UCS             9        0     en0192.168.11.1       4c:e6:76:3f:9c:63  UHLWIir        22       33     en0   1155192.168.11.20      127.0.0.1          UHS             0        0     lo0192.168.11.21      link#4             UHLWIi          0        4     en0192.168.11.100     0:d:4b:c2:3d:9d    UHLWIi          0        0     en0192.168.11.101     90:4c:e5:69:4b:e7  UHLWIi          0        0     en0   1176192.168.11.107     70:56:81:a8:e:d5   UHLWIi          2      344     en0    345192.168.11.108     0:21:bd:e5:70:fd   UHLWIi          0        0     en0   1052192.168.11.110     7c:c5:37:a:c1:97   UHLWIi          0        0     en0    991192.168.11.112     4:54:53:b2:43:1c   UHLWIi          0     1548     en0    511192.168.11.255     ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff  UHLWbI          0       42     en0

 

The route for hector is Link#4.  If someone could clarify that I would be grateful.

 

I then ran arp queries for the wired hosts on several wireless clients.  Every wireless client had the correct arp info.

 

However:

 

nestor:~ fbhenryr$ arp hectorhector (192.168.11.21) -- no entry

 And:

 

root@hector:/var/log# arp nestornestor (192.168.11.20) -- no entry

 

In contrast, on a wireless client: 

 

wireless-laptop:~ user$ arp hectorhector (192.168.11.21) at 0:16:76:e0:b8:7f on en0 ifscope [ethernet]wireless-laptop:~ user$ arp nestornestor (192.168.11.20) at 0:1f:5b:f1:23:3e on en0 ifscope [ethernet]

 This is about as far as I can get diagnosing the issue.  Is there any other info I might provide?

 

Do I have to add static arp entries?  Any assistance on understanding this problem would be greatly appreciated!

 

Best,

 

Fred

 

 


xjimbox

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Re: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2012, 02:21:00 PM »

I'm having this same problem, as are a bunch of others from what I can determine.  I gave up troubleshooting for now and went back to the "friendly" firmware.  I'm ready to **bleep** this POC (Buffalo and dd-wrt also).

 

I don't think it is an arp issue on the hosts.  One interesting thing to test - on your wired hosts try performing a continuous ping to another wired host and reboot the router.  You should get a few pings that go through.

 

EDIT: LOL  "j u n k" gets auto translated to **bleep**  ... very telling


fbhenry

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Re: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2012, 02:42:56 PM »

xjimbox,

 

Thanks for the reply.  I did a continuous ping and during router reboot about 12 pings got through.  So yes, seems like the same problem.  

 

I also tried setting the arp addresses and still no cigar.  What a drag, because otherwise I like the wireless setup with this firmware.

 

cheers,

 

Fred


xjimbox

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Re: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« Reply #3 on: September 15, 2012, 12:17:54 AM »

After spending way too much time on this, I finally have a router where both the wireless and lan ports can talk between each other and everything can access the internet...i.e. a normal working router.

 

I ditched the Buffalo branded dd-wrt and friendly firmware images and went with a pure dd-wrt image.  That's not to say dd-wrt didn't have the same issue with lan hosts not being able to communicate.  It looks like somewhere around build 18xxx the lan issue got introduced.  It is still not fixed as of build 19519.  I tried builds 18777, 19342, 19484, 19519. They all have the lan issue.

 

The firmware that is working so far for me is build 17990 from 12/9/2011.  ftp://dd-wrt.com/others/eko/BrainSlayer-V24-preSP2/2011/12-09-11-r17990/buffalo_wzr-hp-g300nh/

 

Flashing the dd-wrt image is easy from the Buffalo pro firmware web gui.

First flash the "buffalo_to_ddwrt_webflash-MULTI.bin" image and let the router reboot.

Then flash the "wzr-hp-g300nh-dd-wrt-webupgrade-MULTI.bin" image.

NOTE: once flashed with dd-wrt the router goes to its default settings and uses 192.168.1.1.

Also NOTE: I don't think reverting back to the Buffalo branded dd-wrt is as easy.  See http://dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Buffalo_WZR-HP-G300NH#Debricking_Info_using_TFTP

 

I had so many issues with the Buffalo pro firmware build 14998, which is from 8/31/2010.  Hopefully build 17990 is better.  Good luck.

 

References:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=152738&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=51532&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

http://dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Buffalo_WZR-HP-G300NH

 


fbhenry

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Re: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2012, 11:30:00 AM »

I'm really liking the wireless performance of the 19484, but I suppose to get my lan hosts fully working I'll have to try the 17990, what a shame.  

 

Thanks for the effort and posting all that great info, jimbo.  


soggy

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Re: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« Reply #5 on: September 18, 2012, 07:09:17 AM »

Hi FB:

Your hector&nestor puzzle intrigues me, which is not to say that I can necessarily solve it, but it's interesting enough to make me wonder about a few things, if you wouldn't mind telling.  Are hector and nestor attached to the router or to the modem?  What is the modem's IP address?  What is the router's WAN address?  What is the router's "operating mode"?  Thanks FB.


fbhenry

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Re: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« Reply #6 on: September 18, 2012, 08:57:20 AM »

Hi soggy,

 

Thanks for your interest in the problem.  Hector and Nestor are attached to the WZR router (cat 5e patch cables, which have been checked, as well as switched among the lan ports)  The comcast SMC cable modem gateway has a lan address of 10.1.10.1, it's DHCP service is disabled.  It has a static wan ip of X.X.X.218, the WZR WAN ip is X.X.X.217, and the WZR WAN gateway is the cable modem WAN ip of 218.  This has not changed at all from before the firmware upgrade when all was working well.  

 

The operating mode is Gateway.  I used NAT to direct HTTP, SMTP, IMAP requests to the hector host, which would have that static ip of *.*217 if it were on the internet directly.  All of my users can use those services from the "outside" just fine, so NAT seems to work from the WAN side.  

 

I changed the on/off/auto switch from auto to on, and it made no difference.

 

I have a hard time truly believing this is just a firmware issue, but I am pretty much stuck.  I fear is is something obvious and embarrassingly simple, so if you have any ideas, I'd be grateful.

 

cheers and thanks,

 

Fred 


soggy

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Re: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2012, 09:32:42 AM »

Hi Fred.  Any chance you're double NATted?  I normally only use Gateway mode (dynamic NAT) on the outermost box, with everything behind that in router mode. Have you tried at least temporarily disabling SPI firewall?  Is there an inward route set up from the modem to the router?  I must confess, I don't understand what the Xs mean in those addresses.  Maybe I've bitten into a bigger puzzle than I can chew.  (and I seem to be mixing metaphors too)    :)


fbhenry

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Re: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« Reply #8 on: September 18, 2012, 09:37:38 AM »

The X's were just because I couldn't recall offhand what the full dotted quad was.  the addresses are 70.90.124.217, *218 -- the former is my static IP, the latter is the WAN IP of the modem, or the comcast gateway.  You can try visiting http://70.90.124.217/~fbhjr  (I'm pretty certain you should be successful)

 

I can't reach that from the LAN.  

 

I'll check on the double NAT possibility

 

Any help is greatly appreciated!  

 

cheers,

 

Fred


fbhenry

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Re: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« Reply #9 on: September 18, 2012, 09:53:11 AM »

Also, as mentioned before, I can reach the hector server *via a wireless client* on its LAN ip of 192.168.11.21.  I cannot reach that server *via a wired host* (e.g., nestor at 192.168.11.20).  Nor can I reach the WAN IP from any client, wireless or not, using IP or DNS.  Routing table, NAT?  I'll keep digging   


soggy

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Re: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« Reply #10 on: September 18, 2012, 10:02:51 AM »

Polynesian warfare reposes?  Wow.

So your modem's in some sort of bridge mode such that it delivers the external IP right to the router without first translating it onto the modem's LAN subnet then?  If there's no translation happening at the modem then it can't be double NAT.  Kinda blows my theory.    :(


fbhenry

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Re: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« Reply #11 on: September 18, 2012, 10:20:44 AM »

Ha, I thought it was the "It works!" page.  that's the "old cardboard box filled with **bleep** gathering cobwebs" page.

 

Anyhow, after checking on the NAT and also deleting what I think was a redundant but harmless static routing entry (no change in problem),

it's really seeming more like firmware/hardware.  I'll probably downgrade today as per jimbo's suggestion earlier in the thread.  I must say my wireless performance is fantastic in this current (19484) fw though.   


fbhenry

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Re: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« Reply #12 on: October 21, 2012, 03:53:47 PM »

I finally got around to taking Jimbo's advice and flashed to the brainslayer dd-wrt 17990 build.  Immediately I pinged over the wired LAN.  I was putting off the

flash to dd-wrt because the wireless was running so well--but I needed access over the wired LAn.   

 

everything else running right and true.  So I suppose that will have to be the solution until they fix the issue.  I was tempted to try the latest testing

build but I have barely had enough time to finally fix this annoyance, without possibly getting myself involved in flashing through

multiple firmwares, and possibly getting bricked out.  So thanks again for the legwork Jimbo.

 

Thanks and best to all,

 

Fred


spamminator

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Re: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« Reply #13 on: November 01, 2012, 03:47:08 PM »

Is wireless stable using build 17990?


moonbug

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Re: WZR-HP-G300NH - build 19484 and ARP issue
« Reply #14 on: November 04, 2012, 05:08:51 PM »

Some1 mentioned that build 20119 on WZR-HP-G300NH works with wired LAN to LAN connection. Can some1 confirm?