This topic

BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

SamuraiMelon — Sun, 21 May 2023 22:47:01 GMT

Hi,

I'm trying to use my Smart Hub 2 as an access point as I have a better 3rd party router.

It seems that the gateway i.p. is locked on the hub. Despite being able to make changes and press save, every time it reverts back to the 192.168.1.254 default.

This is a problem as my main router is on 192.168.0 subnet.

I say its a problem but it works ok as the hub will just router traffic from its 192.168.1 subnet to 192.168.0 however this is needlessly complicated and seems very silly that you can make the gateway change (and it refuse to properly save). Has anyone else experience this behaviour?

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

Les-Gibson — Mon, 22 May 2023 14:02:22 GMT

Did you disable the DHCP server on the SH2? if not I would expect validation (when you click save) to fail and the gateway address to remain unchanged

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

SamuraiMelon — Mon, 22 May 2023 20:34:12 GMT

Yes, the DHCP server is disabled

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

licquorice — Mon, 22 May 2023 20:44:28 GMT

Factory reset the SH2 and start again. The Gateway shouldn't be locked.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

SamuraiMelon — Mon, 22 May 2023 20:48:29 GMT

I've factory reset multiple times. It seems to change as in redirects to the new i.p. but fails to load. It seems to reboot but restarts with the default.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

licquorice — Mon, 22 May 2023 21:01:20 GMT

Try a 2 stage approach.

Disable DHCP and save the change and then change the gateway address and save.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

SamuraiMelon — Mon, 22 May 2023 22:12:31 GMT

Hi,

I already took that approach. It saved and took the DHCP server off (and stuck off), but will not change from the default gateway address.

I even tried just changing the final octet, to see if it were restricted to 192.168.1 but still not such luck.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

Crimliar — Mon, 22 May 2023 23:20:36 GMT

I presume you are setting the IP and gateway of the connecting device to manual - at least until you have everything fully set up?

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

Les-Gibson — Tue, 23 May 2023 01:10:19 GMT

Silly question maybe but someone has to ask them so it might as well be me.

You're not duplicating the gateway address are you? both hubs need an exclusive address

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

Crimliar — Tue, 23 May 2023 06:24:28 GMT

Actually no! It would be normal that if you are attempting to use an ISP router as a switch, you need to set the gateway to the (usually) one device that has a connection to the internet. Otherwise, every device connected to the "switch" router is not going to see it's data hit the internet!

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

Les-Gibson — Tue, 23 May 2023 06:50:42 GMT

@Crimliar

The gateway is the hub not the line and you don't want two devices on the same network with the same IP address, this is called an IP clash.

Remember the old analogy of an IP address, it's a bit like telling the postman which house you live in so that he can deliver your packages to the correct address, now think of the confusion it would cause if there were two houses in your street with the same address, where should your postman (the internet) deliver you packages (packets) then?

Believe me, you do not want IP duplication on your network

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

SamuraiMelon — Tue, 23 May 2023 23:24:09 GMT

They both have exclusive addresses.

The 3rd party is the main router with the DHCP server and I've even reserved the I.P. address on the 3rd party router based on the MAC address of the hub.

However, because the BT hub refuses to change its address from 192.168.1.254, my 3rd party router has never seen that mac address connect to it.

Not that it should matter, but its important to add I've got a switch in the middle, with a reserved i.p. from the 3rd party router.

So it essentially goes WAN -> 3rd Party Router (DHCP Server) -> Switch (Reserved I.P. #1) -> BT Hub (Should be Reserved I.P. Address #2)

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

Crimliar — Wed, 24 May 2023 06:28:45 GMT

I'll have a go at duplicating your setup tonight I can manage:

ONT - GT-AX6000-Tpl1008-SH2

But as I've already set my SH2 to 192.168.50.254 with it's DHCP off (and the GT-AX6000 set as the gateway - ie the device that interfaces between the LAN and WAN) I don't think I'm going to have the issue. I only did this so I could play with the settings and see what the SH2 is capable of (not much), but it all worked.

*When you made your changes isn't the "SAVE" button in a strange place - very odd!

**I might also have a go at looking at how the save is triggered, and even use the "Lynx" browser to see if that helps spot anything.

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

Les-Gibson — Wed, 24 May 2023 11:17:13 GMT

You could try and get round it by changing the subnet mask on the SH2 to 255.255.254.0, this would give you host addresses in the range of 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.1.254 thus covering both subnets

EDIT!!! Correction, on the third party router, which won't see 192.168.1.254 with the standard subnet mask and therefore the problem would remain

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

Crimliar — Wed, 24 May 2023 17:42:22 GMT

Okay, so I've replicated-ish what our OP is trying to do.

First step was to factory reset the SH2 with it unplugged from everything apart from the mains:

Next step and this is where it was a little quirky. Set the SH2 to 192.168.50.254 so that it'll fit in with my existing router. I had to do this in two parts, changing the IP address, save, reconnect and then turn off the DHCP and save:

When I tried doing everything in one step, even setting the IP address on my WiFi adapter it wouldn't work if I didn't split this into two steps.

After this I connected the SH2 to my TL-SG108E V3 (the correct model number this time). At this point, I removed the set IPv4 from my WiFi adapter properties and could connect to the internet using the SH2 as an Access point. Looking at the device table on the GT-AX6000 the SH2 could be seen there at 192.168.50.254 (remember that discovery is performed using the MAC address - the IP address comes later). Oh, the GATEWAY address whether I connect to the SH2 or the GT-AX6000 is 192.168.50.1 AS IT SHOULD BE.

So, I cannot replicate the issue. I also tend to think it's not an issue with the router, it's not the kind of fault you'll see from bad code or failing hardware. This leads me to think it has to be something to do with the browser settings or the environment on the machine you are using.

*images compacted as much as is sensible...

Re: BT Smart Hub 2 Gateway I.P. Locked

simon3270 — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 10:11:39 GMT

If you change the gateway IP to a different subnet, you must initially leave DHCP enabled and set a custom DHCP range to be in that same subnet, and save your settings. Then turn off DHCP and save settings again.

The code on the smart hub clearly checks for a valid DHCP range, even if DHCP is turned off.