td-w9970 as access point or give up?

I am about to give up on this but on the chance anyone has a bright idea?

Tp-link td-w9970 modem router. I am trying to turn it into an access point instead.

I have put it in router mode (instead of modem router mode) as directed. Turned off DHCP.

It almost works. But if restarted it stops working. If I move the ethernet cable from its wan network socket to a regular network socket the internet often springs to life. Or vice versa?

Right now its stopped letting me login to the web admin at all. But if I swap the cable back and forth it will let me get internet over the wifi? Without juggling the cable I can connect via wifi but without internet.

A tv box connected by an ethernet cable can always get internet? It via wifi that I have to juggle the cable to wake it up.

I am on the latest firmware. Driving me up the wall.

I may just buy one of these for £15 which actually has an access point mode. https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001FWYGJS Just annoying that this says it should work but I can't seem to get it to work. Grrr.

Follow part 2 of the guide...

https://youtu.be/Cg_gGECGLiY

Thank you for the though pheasant. The effort is appreciated. Sadly I had already seen that video, the guide on their website and a couple of other forum posts, the ones on their website unanswered. They are all rather long winded ways to say put it in router mode with a seperate ip address and turn off DCHP, which I have done.

Its annoying that it nearly works if you reboot it and swap the cables enough. For a few hours at least. Then it stops. The fact it always works if you are physically connected to the box via a cable makes me think the wireless bit of the firmware has gone wrong at some point and maybe can no longer cope with this function despite their claims. Though the tantalising thought there might just be some vital setting...

HI,

My 2 cents worth here...You state that you've switched off DHCP on the router....Do you have another router (or similar) that is handling DHCP or a DHCP Server? Are you using static IP addresses for all your network devices? I have a VM Hub 4.0 and when it's in access point mode, DHCP is automatically switched on. When it's in Modem Mode that's when DHCP is switched off as you would be connecting the Hub to another router that would be handling DHCP.

HTH,

In reply to a post by mking90031:

HI,
Do you have another router (or similar) that is handling DHCP

Thanks, Yup, my main modem router hands out ip address just fine. If you connect to the dodgy access point by a cable you always get a ip address from the master router, if you connect by wifi you sometimes get a ip address and internet for a while, sometimes not.

To be honest I think it may be time to give up, maybe the wifi chip is just a lemon.

Speaking generally....

Check the IP address, gateway and subnet mask of your router and the w9970? Make sure there isn't a clash. Ensure the DHCP server on the w9970 switched off, as is the firewall and NAT function.

Check all when connected together.

If you cable connect your router and w9970, then cable connect to the router with a laptop you should be able to reach the home page of both devices. Ditto if your cable connected from laptop to the w9970 and finally wirelessly connected.

In reply to a post by mnbvcxz:

In reply to a post by mking90031:

HI,
Do you have another router (or similar) that is handling DHCP

Thanks, Yup, my main modem router hands out ip address just fine. If you connect to the dodgy access point by a cable you always get a ip address from the master router, if you connect by wifi you sometimes get a ip address and internet for a while, sometimes not.

To be honest I think it may be time to give up, maybe the wifi chip is just a lemon.

Eh? If its not connected via cable then it sounds like you are trying use it as a WiFi Bridge not a AP. An AP provides access to a network, a bridge allows you to join 2 networks together. Follow the instructions to set it up as a Bridge and try it.

In reply to a post by dogcat:

In reply to a post by mnbvcxz:

In reply to a post by mking90031:

HI,
Do you have another router (or similar) that is handling DHCP

Thanks, Yup, my main modem router hands out ip address just fine. If you connect to the dodgy access point by a cable you always get a ip address from the master router, if you connect by wifi you sometimes get a ip address and internet for a while, sometimes not.

To be honest I think it may be time to give up, maybe the wifi chip is just a lemon.

Eh? If its not connected via cable then it sounds like you are trying use it as a WiFi Bridge not a AP. An AP provides access to a network, a bridge allows you to join 2 networks together. Follow the instructions to set it up as a Bridge and try it.

Would agree with dogcat looks like you are trying to set it up as a WiFi bridge, I had mine V2 setup as an access point in the loft via cable it worked but seemed to take a while to give out an IP address, but it worked ok once setup correctly. The firmware on a V4 the latest version is completely different from the older versions but I've moved to a semi-pro setup now which had a bit of a learning curve.

My setup was a V2 modem router with my old V1 as an access point.

I think you may possibly be misreading the last post by the OP. I don’t get the impression he is trying a wireless bridge connection, rather a direct wireless connection from laptop to the w9970. Perhaps I’m wrong, but that’s how I read it.

It is totally unclear what the OP is trying to do, to use the W9970 as a wifi access point it would need a permanent ethernet connection from a LAN port on the W9970 back to the main router, not from the W9970 WAN port as it not acting as a router. Swapping cables between the ports is just confusing the issue

The statement If you connect to the dodgy access point by a cable you always get a ip address from the master router,

Does that mean connecting a device to the W9970 by ethernet or connecting the W9970 back to the main router by ethernet? Just more confusion.

I did consider that the OP may be trying to create a wireless bridge or extender function or even wireless client mode where the W9970 wifi connects back to the main router to provide connections via the LAN ethernet sockets but it probably isn't either of those.