I have a PC connected to a dumb ap by cable. this dumb ap is connected to the main router by cable, which is 192.168.1.1.
This main router is also connected by cable to another dumb ap.
I tried upgrading the dumb ap's, but after some attempts the devices are no longer reachable, restarts are not helping. They had trouble upgrading because of some renaming a while ago, that causes issues with upgrades.
Currently, i sometimes get access to the router (dumb ap) next to my pc on 192.168.1.1. But most of the time, 192.168.1.1 goes to the main router. (deleted all config after flashing a firmware on the dumb ap). So it seems there are two devices now on 192.168.1.1, where the main router is dominant and usually connects.
If i try to unplug the cable to the main router, this does not help, though. i still dont have access to 192.168.1.1. I also tried booting in safe mode without luck, even if i put my pc's ethernet connection to 192.168.1.10 and subnet mask to 255.255.255.0 it is not connecting by putty to 192.168.1.1. always connection refused.
Maybe this is also the problem on the other dumb ap, but i dont know. How do i get access back to the dumb ap's, and completely flash them with latest firmwares, not keeping anything? i think i have to completely reset them, i think restoring backed up settings messed something up after flashing latest versions.
Are you using LuCI? If you do, configuration changes that could break the connectivity to the device should automatically be reversed after 90 seconds, if no new connection to LuCI was established.
If you can still access the device at least periodically, try to restore a backup created before the upgrade.
There may be an ambiguity about how a dumb access point with OpenWRT has to be configured, so that there are no address collisions. By default, every OpenWRT device initially has the IP address 192.168.1.1/24
Let me give you a summary of the process of setting up a dumb AP with OpenWRT.
Connect your PC directly to your fresh OpenWRT device, which you want to setup as a dumb AP. Do not connect that device to anything else!!!
Access your device via its default IP address 192.168.1.1.
Stop and deactivate dnsmasq, firewall and odhcpd.
Delete the WAN interfaces that are configured on that device.
Add the ports/physical interfaces that have been assigned to WAN to br-lan.
Change the mode of br-lan from static address to DHCP client.
Disconnect the device from your computer and connect it to the network that it should provide access to.
Go to your DHCP server and get the IP address that your new AP got from it.
Connect to your new dumb AP using this address and finish its configuration to your liking.
Its not being reversed. I made a upgrade and since then i cant reach it. Also not when all other cables except to the pc are removed. Its not reacting on its standard ip(192.168.1.218) and not on 192.168.1.1. Not on luci, not on ssh.
I only sometimes get access to 192.168.1.1 before after some seconds it switches back to the main router.
You mentioned something about renaming that caused issues with upgrading the devices. Can you explain that further?
What hardware are you using? Maybe there are bugs or braking changes for that hardware in the actual release of OpenWRT.
If that's the case, and/or you don't have a backup from before the upgrade, all you can do is to make a fresh start with the release that has been working before.
Some name changed in openwrt versions, causing attended sysupgrade to fail and package names not being found.
The wrx36 is what im using.
Upgrading first did not work when retaining settings. When the device was finished, i still saw a old snapshot version installed in luci.
I then tried again without luck.
I then tried to flash without retaining setting/config, and then it succeeded. So i think putting back a config might not be a good idea.
But now as i said, i unfortunately cant connect.
The router next to the pc only shows up for few seconds at random times, before the main router takes over 192.168.1.1 again.
The other dumb ap (not connected directly to pc but to main router) is not reachable ever.
Sorry, but I am confused.
Is your PC connected to a dumb AP, or to a second router?
Initially you said your infrastructure consists of two APs and a main router and your PC is connected to one of the APs via Ethernet. Now you write that the router next to your PC shows up for a few seconds, before the main router takes over. So is there a second router, or do you mean one of your APs?
I would suggest to disconnect the device that you want to access from the rest of the network and access it directly with your PC using Ethernet. In that case there is no main router that can "take over" the IP address.
Like I wrote before, every new OpenWRT device initially uses the IP address 192.168.1.1/24. If that IP is already present in a network that this device is connected to, you have to isolate it from that network and access it directly.
It is a router, a dynalink wrx36. Just like the other two. This one, next to the pc, is configured as dumb ap. The main router is connected to the dumb ap by lan cable.
The issue is that if i disconnect it from everything else, i still cant access it. I dont know why.
I remember i have reset a dynalink wrx36 in the past and simply connected it and could go to 192.168.1.1. Not even a need to set ethernet settings in the pc. Just worked instantly. Not now.
I dont understand why. When it works when also connected to the main router (for just some seconds) i see in luci that its new, it even asks to set a password.
So maybe some kind of conflict with dhcp or static ip's. I dont know.
Can we be sure that there are no bugs or braking changes with the hardware and the new firmware that you used for the upgrade? Because that sounds like the interface/link itself is not working anymore.
Can you go back to the older firmware and configuration that you used before and test if the device works with that one?
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Or the IP address of the upgraded device is completely messed up and essentially unknown. That's the other possible cause that I see.
I don't really know about your device. Is it possible, to access its CLI without having to use IP, for example via a direct serial link? Then we would have IP out of the way.
i dont have the hardware to make a serial connection as of now. it's also weird that in failsafe mode it refuses to connect to the pc. i will try to purchase a lan to usb adapter so i can try the secondary pc (laptop) i have to connect to the device.
I am not sure if an adapter from Ethernet to USB will help. What we would need is a connection to the device that is not IP based, to get a messed up IP configuration from the list of possible causes. That's why I asked if a direct serial link is possible. But its definitely worth a try.
just one more question before trying this, is flashing a firmware also removing packages? how can i flash a firmware deleting all additional packages? just completely fresh?
on the mainrouter i have assigned static IP's to the dumb ap's, does this matter?
I think so, but I don't know it for sure. If I understand it correctly, the upgrade of OpenWRT is like a fresh flashing of the device, but with the option to keep the stored settings. But I might be wrong about that.
That should not matter, if there are no address conflicts. That's why you should never use the whole subnet as your DHCP range. Best practice is to leave a small amount of it for static addresses.
I figured out what caused this. On my pc i had tailscale running, which is effectively changing/messing with IP settings. Disabling that made it all work again. That was stopid of me to forget, and spend so many hours with it today...
