TP-Link WR1043nd v2.1 drops internet connection

[holger]

Hi,
I am not a networking specialist...
Bought brand new TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND v2.1, flashed Gargoyle 1.6 onto it - worked like a charm. However, my internet connection is lost sometimes just after a few seconds, sometimes after minutes, sometimes after hours.

Router is connected wired to NetGear DM111P modem. Modem is configured as PPPoA bridge. Router configured as DHCP wired.

Following are the symptoms when my internet is gone:
- Can still connect wireless or wired to router
- Can still renew the DHCP lease, which I thought would either come from ISP or the modem, so not sure how that can still work when the internet was gone
- Just saving changes on Connection/Basic without having made any changes often brings back connection; sometimes immediately, sometimes after 2-3 times
- Wiring directly into modem I can most often access its own web interface, but never through the router when connection was dropped

I first thought the modem was the problem, so I replaced it with my old Dynalink RTA1025W configured as half-bridge. Same problem.

Next, I wanted to exclude the TP-LINK hardware as root cause; however, since I cannot revert it to OEM firmware, I cannot test it without Gargoyle. There is only one image available from TP-LINK website, and that has the boot loader in it, which Gargoyle does not seem to like to flash back. I am not really into editing the image file and stripping x number of bytes from it as suggested in some forums, as I do not want to brick my new router...

Any help / pointers appreciated, also in case I need to post additional technical details, please let me know!

Other than these connection problems, I am really thrilled with Gargoyle firmware and its capabilities, so I'd love to get it working reliably!!!! And since this is the router and version that you offer via the shop with the latest Gargoyle version 1.6, I cannot see why it should not be possible to get it working

[holger]

Embarrassing update - looks like the problem was caused by a faulty Cat5 cable between the router and the modem. After replacing the cable, the router has been providing us with reliable internet connection for 48 hours now, so pretty sure that was the issue.

Really happy with Gargoyle firmware, and I cannot understand that none of the router manufacturers provides these awesome capabilities in their OEM firmware. How can anyone with a few kids in the house who is on a metered (i.e. data cap) internet connection survive without quotas?

Anyway, many thanks to the creators of Gargoyle - you are doing an awesome job!!!

[holger]

After another week and going through 3 more network cables, I believe there is still some problem with my set-up. Sometimes, router works flawless for a day or 2, but I never got more than this out of one network cable that connects the router WAN port to the modem.

Any help will be appreciated!!! I'll post separately re. image to fash back to original firmware...

[pbix]

Your modem makes a link over and copper wire to your ISP. It sounds like this link is going up/down on you. Check the logs on your modem to see if the link is going up/down. If you modem does not support logs then get a different modem that does.

If this is the issue then you are in for a frustrating conversation with your ISP. It could a problem with something on their side which they will deny.

If you can get access to the web page of your modem from the LAN side of your router there is nothing wrong with your gear.

Also, Gargoyle does not support PPPoA so I am wondering how you got that working and if there might me issues in the way you did.

[mates]

Hi

i got similar problem with losses ... with build 1.6.0. my VNC server is unstable ... if I revert back to 1.5.X than all is ok

but my connection seems to be OK ( still connected) only VNC server is telling me that there is a lot of losses

[holger]

Hi pbix,
thanks for your reply! Pretty sure its not the ISP for 2 reasons: (1) my old router/modem (Dynalink RTA1025W) works with no problem; (2) when I wire straight into modem after router failed, I got internet.

PPPoA is the only thing that my ISP (Vodafone NZ over wholesale network) offers me if I am not much mistaken. So my modem is configured as a PPPoA bridge. That's about as much as I understand, unfortunately. So are you saying that PPPoA goes into my modem and comes out as PPPoA to the router, so if the router cannot "speak" PPPoA it won't work? But why is it then working sometimes? And how can my laptop get the internet when wired to the modem on the same cable that normally goes into the router? Does the laptop "speak" PPPoA?

I read in another post of yours "If I had just one user with a PPPoA connection willing to make PPPoA work, tell me what they did and then test it the resulting Gargoyle code then it would be supported." - though that dates back to 2012. Happy to be the guinea pig if you tell me what to do Am really keen to get it working, so if you could talk me through how I need to configure my NetGear DM111P modem and how to configure the router connection, that'll be awesome!

[pbix]

I don't have anything further ideas on this. Maybe someone else will comment with a solution.

The previous post was not for a guinea pig. It was for someone "willing to make PPPoA work, tell me what they did". I have no idea.

[holger]

Am reading a lot about setting up DMZ, disabling NAT on the modem and the like. I am no networking expert, so not sure whether that might work or what security holes that'll open up. Any advise on this?

[mycal]

Not going to say this makes a difference, but try a longer cable between the modem and the TP link router. I've seen some green switches not work with short cables and certain devices, but when you put a 15 foot cable instead of a 3 foot one, the start working.

I don't know if the TP-Link router has the same green switch hardware as there switches, but it helped for me between a tplink green switch and certain devices.

[holger]

Update:

I have now tried all that I can think of getting Gargoyle reliably to work on the TP-Link 1043nd to no avail. I have now reverted to factory firmware and will find out whether it is a hardware problem or Gargoyle problem.

Following has been tried:
- 5 metre network cable between modem and router as suggested in replies to this thread.
- new modem (Draytek Vigor 120), which is pretty awesome when it comes to how much control it gives you. I could even configure it to bridge from PPOA (ISP) to PPOE (Gargoyle).
- tried various different combinations, of having the modem connect to the ISP and provide dynamic or static IP to router, as well as router connecting to ISP, different settings for DHCP and NAT on both, router and modem, etc.

Bottom line is: router works only intermittently, from a few seconds to maximum 2 days. Symptom always is that I can wirelessly connect to router, but internet connection is gone. Router status would still show the correct ISP IP address in that status?!!!

I will provide an update in a week or so, after either the factory firmware has been providing me with a rock solid internet connection, or I have encountered the same symptoms. Current config is same as my last with Gargoyle, i.e. having the Draytek Vigor 120 as PPOA/PPOE bridge and the router connecting directly to the ISP.

Anybody else based in NZ with Vodafone as ISP having problems with getting Gargoyle 1.6 work on a TP-Link 1043nd V2.1? Or, even better: having it working and willing to share details about their hardware set-up and software configuration?