SamKnows BlackBox DHCP

I've been a participant for SamKnows for over a year now and never had any problems. Well, until today. The SamKnows BlackBox (TP-Link N600) doesn't seem to be running tests or it isn't communicating with the test servers correctly.

I have recently made changes to my network and it can only be this causing the issue.

I've had to asign static IP's to all devices on my network and to get this running correctly, had to disable DHCP as I was getting problems with devices connecting when it was enabled and all allocated static IP's.

The problem is, the SamKnows BlackBox has no UI. Due to this I cannot allocate an IP to the BlackBox, is this likely to be the problem and is there any way if fixing this without enabling DHCP and allowing dynamic IP addresses?

I'm using the Billion 7800n on Sky Fibre 40/10.

Machines with static IP addresses should be perfectly happy with a DHCP server present on the network, i.e. you can mix and match, just assign static IP's outside the range the DHCP server will issue.

What was the problem with static IPs and DHCP running.

Had similar problems a month or so ago. Try re-booting the SamKnows box.

Edited by deleted (Mon 09-Sep-13 13:23:28)

Was getting no Internet access with an explamation mark on the network icon. Click troubleshoot and it informs me the fix is to enable dhcp and as you know, this then assigns a dynamic ip each time I start the machine....

Very odd and not normal.

So all you did to fix the problem was turn off DHCP on the router? Which implies the static IP settings were correct on the PC.

Very odd.

Sorry, I should have explained better.

I had done nothing with the router, it automatically applied the fix and that fix was to remove all the settings I had entered and basically switched to allow Windows to manage the network...

I hope that makes sense :/m
The error I get is as follows;


DHCP is not enabled for "Local Area Connection".

Then I get Windows to fix it and it removes all if my settings...

Edited by shaneosborne (Mon 09-Sep-13 13:43:30)

This is why I had to disable DHCP in the router and now I get no problems, other than the SamKnows Box not communicating because I can't asign an IP...

General rule is do not hit the let windows fix it side of things, but figure out what setting you had missed from the static IP configuration for the LAN connection on the PC.

Well, that's the problem because it works for a while (network) and as soon as the explanation mark appears it doesn't. I've checked and checked and all my settings are correct, I've gone through all my devices, even created a map just in case I've assigned the same IP to two devices and I can find no problem

IP is set as 192.168.1.101
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.254

DNS: 90.207.238.97
: 90.207.238.99

I haven't a clue what could be wrong but when I disable DHCP on the router, all is fine with the same settings. So, I can't use a mix of both DHCP and Static assigned devices (for some reason).

I think I may have fixed my problem, fingers crossed...

I've enabled DHCP on my router and assigned static IP's on all my devices but making sure the IP's are outside of the DHCP Pool. That way the SamKnows BlackBox will be allocated its own IP from the DHCP Pool...

I'm just hoping this is the fix as I'm not sure if this was likely to be the problem....