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A few times now I noticed while one of my Powerline adapters has a solid green LED, the other is not even lit. I understand the oscillation in my electric circuit influences the quality of the signal BUT if the adapters can't "see" each other, they can't, period. So I wonder if I have faulty adapters or if they are just not too reliable.
On top of that, I've started seeing devices I wouldn't recognize in my LAN AND started randomly getting IP addresses over a different DHCP scope than configured in my router. I never thought the AV adapters could be the problem until I saw a post in here of someone mentioning a similar problem.
My setup:
- 2x D-Link Powerline AV500 adapters - One downstairs connected to my ISP's (Bell) modem and one upstairs connected to a Linksys router
- 1x Linksys E2500 router with DD-WRT (No DHCP enabled)
- 1x Sagem ISP Modem (DHCP enabled)
I started thinking the adapters could be the issue when I installed a Cisco switch in my LAN to try and expel those "rogue" devices from it.
I was expecting to see those devices in my ISP-facing interface but, surprisingly, they are coming from my Powerline-connected port.
I still can't tell whether it's my Linksys somehow allowing those devices in or if it's a Powerline problem.
Anyway, from seeing some comments in here, I'm starting to think the Powerline is the problem because I didn't have any issues before I added them to my network.
Vini Santos
Posted 2014-10-29T18:42:52.817
Reputation: 1
1Did you try to give the Adapters new keys, either with the software or by manually pressing the button on the devices inside a 2 minute time frame? I once also was in my neighbors LAN propably because the adapters used the key from the factory which must have been the same as my neighbor (well at least I hope it was that :-) ) and after giving new keys the LAN worked again as expected. – Shihan – 2015-07-20T07:30:22.940
Hello Shihan,
Thanks for answering! I didn't know you could do that.
I found out what my problem was. I live in a townhouse complex and, surprisingly, realized it was happening because my next-door neighbor also had the adapter. (I asked him!) I didn't even imagine we shared the electrical wiring...well, at least not in a way such thing would happen.
Anyways, since I'm a network guy, I've ended up tagging packets from my upstairs AP to a specific VLAN and instructed the switch to drop any untagged packets. That worked.
But I guess the solution could be as simple as changing the keys. :) – Vini Santos – 2015-07-21T12:04:38.950
Sorry, after replying I realized I actually DID try doing that but I'm sure no keys were modified. I tried it multiple times, even swapped the adapters between the floors. Upstairs would always be lit, I guess it would get to my neighbors adapter faster.
We found no other solution that worked for the both of us, other than one of us not using the adapter. – Vini Santos – 2015-07-21T12:07:46.690