The Range Extender, Chromebook, Macbook, DHCP Lookup Failed Problem.

[coolhandluke]

It’s been a minute since I’ve been on this forum, but I’m back with a hell of a problem.

This is the equipment I use:

• Windows PCs
• Chromebook
• Macbook Air
• iPhones
• Netgear Nighthawk XR500 Router
• Netgear Nighthawk X4 Mesh Range Extender
• Netgear 24x8 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem
• Google.com

My Setup:

• Modem and Router upstairs. I have 2 Windows PCs hardwired into the router.
• Range Extender downstairs within signal (signal strength light is green).
• Chromebook and Macbook Air are ‘connected’ to the router and extender via Wi-Fi.

My Problem:
Every Windows PC and iPhone I have connected to the Wi-Fi connection work just fine and are able to look things up on the internet. The only devices in my household that have a problem with the internet are the Chromebook and the Macbook Air. For some reason, they will ‘connect’ to the Wi-Fi then drop the Wi-Fi immediately after. The Macbook Air doesn’t display a message as to why, however, the Chromebook comes up with a message stating that “DHCP Lookup has Failed.” The iPhones and Windows Laptops I have work on the Wi-Fi perfectly fine close to the router and close to the extender, not the case for the Chromebook and Macbook Air when they are close to the extender. I’m looking to fix this primarily for the Chromebook; my tried fixes will be done primarily from the Chromebook.

My tried fixes:

• Disabled QoS on the router, rebooted the router, rebooted Chromebook, forgot the network, tried to reconnect. Doesn’t work.
• Factory Reset the Range Extender and reconnected it/paired it to the router. Doesn’t work.
• Power Cycled the Chromebook. Doesn’t work.
• Factory Reset the Router and Range Extender. Reconfigured Wi-Fi name/password and repaired Range Extender. Doesn’t work.

Things I haven’t tried cause I don’t know how to:

• Manual Configure Range Extender/Router.
• Pretty much anything that deals with configuring the network.

Anything helps and I’m all ears to try stuff, so feel free to suggest anything. Y’all are the best.

Luke

[coolhandluke]

TL;DR Update: I fixed it.

So I reset the extender again and set the Extender to a Static IP instead of a dynamic one, and that didn’t work at all. I then reset the extender and did this.

The Router and the Extender have a nice feature called “Smart Connect” in which both the 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi bands run under the same name (SSID). I originally checked the box to use Smart Connect because I figured it would be a nice way to give people using my Wi-Fi the ability to use both the 2.4 and 5Ghz speeds without having to switch it manually.

The fix I found is that once I disabled both the Smart Connect on the Router and Extender, having to create two different Wi-Fi names for my 2.4 and 5Ghz bands, and then syncing the Extender back up to the Router everything seemed to work perfectly fine. I have the Chromebook and the Macbook hooked up to the 2.4Ghz Band and the Wi-Fi doesn’t drop, lag, mess up or anything.

Now there might be a fix that I haven’t tried (and don’t really want to because it is fixed now) that might also work and be able to keep both Wi-Fi bands under the same name using Smart Connect. Under the Extender Settings inside the Netgear portal, there is a checkbox that says “Sync Configurations with the Netgear Router.” For me, that checkbox was by default unchecked. Again, I haven’t tried it with that option on because I noticed it after I fixed it, but if anyone has this problem and wants to try then feel free to and post what happens in the comments.