Fritz!Box 7530 ax & Repeater 2400

[marjacklu]

Good evening,

I recently upgraded an old Fritz!box to the 7530 ax. I have 3 repeaters that I wish to connect to the new box with LAN cables.

However, even though all the cables are connected, it seems that a chain has formed to the other repeaters, instead of joining the Fritz!Box directly (see attached screenshot).

Is there a way that I can separate the chain and have each repeater link directly to the Fritz!box?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[ridde]

Is there a switch between the Repeater and the 7530?

All devices up to date?

 

[marjacklu]

All devices are up-to date.

All the repeaters are connected to a Netgear unmanaged switch.

 

[ridde]

"Netgear unmanaged switch"

there is the problem.

Fritzbox can not manage a "unmanaged switch" and show it correctly in the overview. It works, but it does not show it correctly.

Ergänzung (11. September 2023)

You need a LLDP Switch (expensive)

 

[marjacklu]

I see. thank you for all your help ridde. I am grateful to you for your insight.

 

[honky-tonk]

my fritz box correctly detects my cheap unmanaged switch very well in the overview.

You should check that each repeater is configured as LAN-Bridge and not as repeater. Before doing so you might want to add each repeater into the mesh where the 7530 is the mesh master. For this, you need to reset the repeaters to factory defaults. then switch them on and press the button on the switch for a few seconds on the reppeater and then also the WPS button on the fritz box. now they are in the mesh and the mesh overview on the fritz box should list them with the mesh symbol. now you need to configure the repeater as LAN-bridge.

Proceed accordingly with the other repeaters. adding to mesh sometimes doesn't work on first try...I needed a few repetitions.

 

[ridde]

@honky-tonk

Can you tell us the name of your unmanaged switch?

 

[honky-tonk]

@ridde
definetely TP-link and model should be TL-SG116 but not 100% sure, but definetly not a managed switch.

 

[norKoeri]

have each repeater link directly to the Fritz!box?

They are already. Please, simply ignore those lines shown by your FRITZ!Box. Since FRITZ!OS 7.5x, AVM added support for LLDP. However, some switches, even unmanaged ones, answer to LLDP. Other switches answer to LLDP in a wrong way, … and so on. It is a mess, right now, and somehow pure luck. If you want correct ‘lines’ being drawn for sure, the solution is to buy a LLDP-capable switch which allows you to disable (!) LLDP.

Netgear unmanaged switch

Which on exactly?
In your case, it looks like an issue with ARP, too. I would change the ports, for example, put the switch in to LAN2 and not the last LAN3/4 of the FRITZ!Box. Then, put Floor0 into another port and the uplink to the FRITZ!Box in that port at the switch. Does the graphic change?

not 100% sure

Turn it around, look at the label, and post it. There are a lot of ‘smart’ switches, which cannot be configured at all but come with some smart features like LLDP – I would rather call it software left-overs.

 

[honky-tonk]

Turn it around, look at the label, and post it

Thanks, I know exactly where it's written, I'm just not at home, so I can't look it up. However, I'm not sure how this would help.

 

[marjacklu]

Dear ridde, honky-tonk and norKoeri,

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to respond to my original post.

I've learnt a lot in a short space of time!

@norKoeri, I have the following switch:
Netgear GS116GE ProSAFE 16-Port Gigabit Desktop Unmanaged Plug and Play Switch

@ridde, I thought I had the latest software, but last night the fritzbox updated to 7.57 and I updated all of my repeaters to 7.56

@honky-tonk, I did a factory reset on the repeaters and set them up with LAN and that seems to have worked (see attached image).

@norKoeri, I understand from what you wrote that the image isn't necessarily a true reflection of the situation, as all the repeaters are already linked to the fritzbox.

Thanks again to all of you.

 

[honky-tonk]

I did a factory reset on the repeaters and set them up with LAN and that seems to have worked (see attached image).

seems perfect. problem solved!?

 

[norKoeri]

the image isn't necessarily a true reflection of the situation, as all the repeaters are already linked to the fritzbox

Yes, there are still (several) glitches while that overview is generated and when LLDP enabled switches are involved. I recommend to ignore it as much as possible.

Your switch is one of those which offer LLDP but is not configurable. Now, the order looks correct, the FRITZ!Repeater are connected not via WLAN but LAN, and the AVM Mesh logo is shown. Looks great … but the link speed is displayed not as Gigabit- but Fast-Ethernet. Therefore, please, double-check the LEDs on your switch and the Web interface of all FRITZ!Repeater, if they indicate the same. I guess not, and everything is at Gigabit Ethernet.

On the long run, I recommend to replace this Ethernet switch with one which offers no LLDP at all. Or at least is configurable, so LLDP can be disabled, if it is broken like in yours.

I'm not sure how this would help.

Dadurch können wir jene Switche sammeln, die obwohl nicht konfigurierbar trotzdem LLDP anbieten.

Bei Dir wird zwar alles korrekt angezeigt, aber solch ein Switch ist einfach für den Mülleimer, weil LLDP ein kritisches Software-Modul ist. Und ein TP-Link TL-SG116 ohne „E“ in Namen erlaubt keine Firmware-Updates. Anders formuliert: LLDP ist nicht stabil genug als dass man es in Gerät verbauen könnte, dass keine Security-Updates erhalten kann. Broken by design. Offenbart einmal mehr das fachliche Kompetenz-Niveau bei TP-Link und hier Netgear.

 

[honky-tonk]

Bei Dir wird zwar alles korrekt angezeigt, aber solch ein Switch ist einfach für den Mülleimer, weil LLDP ein kritisches Software-Modul ist. Und ein TP-Link TL-SG116 ohne „E“ in Namen erlaubt keine Firmware-Updates. Anders formuliert: LLDP ist nicht stabil genug als dass man es in Gerät verbauen könnte, dass keine Security-Updates erhalten kann. Broken by design. Offenbart einmal mehr das fachliche Kompetenz-Niveau bei TP-Link und hier Netgear.

es ist tatsächlich ein TL-SG116.

ich denke im Heimnetzwerk sollte solch ein switch verkraftbar sein, in Layer2 ändert sich ja jetzt über die Jahre auch nicht so viel, dass man den direkt als sicherheitsrisiko entsorgen muss.

 

[norKoeri]

Naja, seit ein wenig mehr als zehn Jahren geht man im Heimnetz von internen Angreifern aus. Tatsächlich kann sogar eine Werbe-Einbeldnung in einem Web-Browser auf Deine Geräte daheim zugreifen.

Bei LLDP werden gerne Informationen von anderen Geräten gesammelt. Verkraftet der Switch deren Einträge nicht, läuft der in einen Speicher-Fehler und vermutlich in einen Boot-Loop. Dann hast Du zwar „nur“ einen Denial-of-Service daheim … Hatte ich schon. Viel Spaß beim Debuggen der Ursache … und in meinem Fall hatte das Quell-Gerät saubere, valide LLDP-Einträge. Nur deren Menge – die auch nicht ansatzweise übertrieben war, sondern sogar einem Heim-Szenario angemessen ist – hat mein Switch abgeschossen.

Auf jeden Fall ein Unding, ein aktives Heimnetz-Gerät – ein Gerät, dass einen Dienst anbietet – zu verkaufen, ohne jegliche Möglichkeit zu bieten, Firmware-Updates einspielen zu können. TP-Link und Netgear haben mit diesen semi-schlauen Switchen leider einen Vogel abgeschossen.

Layer2

Zwar steht in der Wikipedia, dass es Layer-2 wäre. Müsste jetzt aber nochmal die Definition ausbuddeln. Für mich ist das ein Layer-7-Protokoll, eine Anwendung, ein Dienst, der da herumlungert.

 

[marjacklu]

Your switch is one of those which offer LLDP but is not configurable. Now, the order looks correct, the FRITZ!Repeater are connected not via WLAN but LAN, and the AVM Mesh logo is shown. Looks great … but the link speed is displayed not as Gigabit- but Fast-Ethernet. Therefore, please, double-check the LEDs on your switch and the Web interface of all FRITZ!Repeater, if they indicate the same. I guess not, and everything is at Gigabit Ethernet.

Thanks again norKoeri.

Where each ethernet cable is connected to the switch, one of the two lights above the socket blinks green. Does that mean that it is Gigabit ethernet?

On the web interface of all the repeaters it shows the speed of 100 Mbit/s (see attached image). However, when I measured the speed near the repeaters with the Fritz app, it shows around 500 Mbit/s, so I presume it is ok.

Ergänzung (13. September 2023)

My only concern now is that the internet keeps dropping the Wi-Fi connection on my devices. I wasn't sure if this is because all of the repeaters are mesh enabled and the mesh is trying to find the best reception for the devices? Would it help if I adjusted the Wi-Fi channel settings to Wi-Fi 4 or Wi-Fi 5? (see image). At the moment it is W-Fi 6.

Ergänzung (13. September 2023)

On the long run, I recommend to replace this Ethernet switch with one which offers no LLDP at all. Or at least is configurable, so LLDP can be disabled, if it is broken like in yours.

Can you recommend one? I need a 16-port gigabit unmanaged switch? I bought the Netgear one recently and can exchange it in the next couple of weeks.

 

[norKoeri]

blinks green. Does that mean that it is Gigabit ethernet?

That is something you have to ask Netgear or someone with that switch at hand. According to the pictures on the Internet, there is a label on the Netgear called ‘both’. That means, both LEDs of that port must be on for Gigabit Ethernet.

On the web interface

I meant the Web interface of the repeater itself. Each repeater has its own Web interface.

internet keeps dropping the Wi-Fi connection on my devices

Did it work before, some months before? There are reports about FRITZ!Repeater with FRITZ!OS 07.5x, being LAN bridges, that the DHCP messages do not arrive. To test that hypothesis, which is just a rumor right now, one approach is to install an older FRITZ!OS, for example, 07.29. The procedure is described here …

 

[marjacklu]

Thanks for your quick response noeKoeri.

A few weeks ago I had the same repeaters, but a different FritzBox (5490). Since the upgrade of the Fritzbox and the software, I have frequent drops in the connection of devices via wi-fi. I'm not sure why this occurs, but I read somewhere that the "mesh" system may cause this. I would like to turn the mesh off if I could, to test this theory, but unfortunately it doesn't seem possible to turn off the mesh system on the repeaters since upgrading to software 7.57.

 

[norKoeri]

At the start of this thread, AVM Mesh was not enabled in your network.

FritzBox (5490)

That did not get FRITZ!OS 7.5x. Might be related, too. I would rather go that path, reset all FRITZ!Repeaters. If that does not help, reset the FRITZ!Box. If that does not help, downgrade the FRITZ!Repeaters to something before FRITZ!OS 7.5x. If that does not help, downgrade the FRITZ!Box to something before FRITZ!OS 7.5x.

I read somewhere that the "mesh" system may cause this

Which symptoms do you face exactly: When a device is powered on, it does not get an IP address, right?

 

[marjacklu]

On the long run, I recommend to replace this Ethernet switch with one which offers no LLDP at all. Or at least is configurable, so LLDP can be disabled, if it is broken like in yours.

Did you have a recommendation for a box norKoeri?