New TalkTalk Booster not working

[MakeItWorkPlease]

I have fibre 65 internet and it works fine. 

Received the new Sagemcom F@st 266 UK V2 booster from talktalk the other day. The setup works fine and it goes through the lights, etc.. and it "works". i.e. solid blue light after the WPS procedure. But after a minute or two the light changes to flashing orange and it no longer works. 

Have restarted the router and booster numerous times and the same always happens. 

Setup is done very close to the router. The router is also compatible. Its a Sagemcom Fast 5464. 

Is something wrong with my booster?

Thanks.

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

How are you getting on?

Thanks

Michelle

[KeithFrench]

OK

[MakeItWorkPlease]

yes, I'm not a home yet. I was just explaining what had happened last night still. I will restart the router when I get home. Hopefully this will sort everything

[KeithFrench]

It was the router that might have needed to be reset, not the booster. What has happened to the light on the booster now?

[MakeItWorkPlease]

the extender has been fully reset and then I changed my SSID to have just one name, rather than two names (for 2.4 and 5). Not using the default talktalk name by the way, I'm using the same name as in the photos I sent you before. just this time its a single name, the one ending in #2499.

Then the extender has been configured and established a connection with the router, however, the extender still shows as a separate AP when searching for WIFI. 

The router is high up on a cupboard with nothing around it. 

[KeithFrench]

That will depend on what the SSID (network name) was before. Where is the router & what is around it?

[MakeItWorkPlease]

Hi Keith/Michelle,

I have now changed my SSID name to a single name and it has connected (Solid blue light), I left it for hours very close to the router and it continued to be (solid blue light). When searching for Wifi on my phone the typical "Shell-0000" AP still there, is this normal? 

When going into the 2.4 or 5ghs wifi settings under "Mesh", I can see the wifi extender and shows "great" signal. Nothing connected to it though. 

After a couple of hours in this situation I finally turned it off and tried to place it 2 to 3 meters away from the initial position (which was showing great on the mesh tab), now it just kept flashing amber the whole time. Haven't tried it again since last night. 

I did not reset my router after it was updated to v202 though, so maybe I'll give that a try again today. 

[Michelle-TalkTalk]

Morning,

How are you getting on?

Thanks

Michelle

[KeithFrench]

Hi @MakeItWorkPlease 

All mesh systems only use one network name (SSID) for both the 2.4GHz & 5GHz bands, irrespective of manufacturer. They are all designed to provide a seamless transition across a home, not only between router (Gateway node) & Booster (extender node), but also between 2.4 & 5GHz bands. You could be connected to say the extender node's 5GHz band and then move further away from it, beyond the range of the 5GHz band & it would then switch to the 2.4GHz band.

I found numerous bugs when the 5364/5464 router was connected to the older V1 F266s when separate SSID names were set. The TalkTalk Devices team now say to only use the one SSID. I have campaigned to go one further, a firmware change to prevent separate SSIDs per band when the router is used with an F266.

Now to your other issue. Sometimes V202 can be unstable and the first thing I recommended in my guidelines in this sticky post, is to perform a factory reset of the router after upgrading to V202:-

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Fibre/Very-Important-V2-Sagemcom-FAST266-Wi-Fi-Booster/m-p/30582... 

Did you try this?

The other thing could be that your F266's final position is too far away from the router. Flashing amber indicates that the F266 is configured, but not connected to the router. Try moving the F266 closer, then go into the WiFi Mesh tab on the router & check the Extenders sub-tab. What is the Connection Status shown for the Extender F266?

[MakeItWorkPlease]

Hi Debbie, yes, I have received the new extender and all older ones have been sent back. 

Unfortunately, no, it has not worked. It did exactly the same the other two units did. Works for 1 to 2 minutes and then it blinks blue and green and goes into an infinite flashing amber mode. I confirmed by router was using the 202 FW too. 

No idea what is happening anymore... I haven't had the time yet but I'll be changing my SSID names to a single name (not one for 2.4 and one for 5Ghz) and something simpler than what I currently have to see if this is the issue, I can't see anything else being the issue. But its also weird if the extender can't deal with differently named SSID's. 

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi @MakeItWorkPlease 

Do you still need help with this?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi @MakeItWorkPlease 

Have you received the replacement extender?

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi @MakeItWorkPlease 

Thanks for your reply.

I've ordered the replacement now and a returns bag for your current ones. 

Please allow 48hrs for this to arrive. Let us know how you get on.

Thanks again.

Debbie

[MakeItWorkPlease]

Hi Debbie,

Yes please. Should I return the 2x I already have with the return slip received with the second one?

Thanks @KeithFrench , once I have the new one I will do that! 

Cheers everyone,  hopefully this will sort it out.

[KeithFrench]

If you accept the new booster, please bear my recommendations in mind:-

Place the F266 near the router & attempt a WPS connection of it to the router. After a successful WPS connection, leave the F266 where it is for 30 mins to allow for firmware updates and then, if stable, it can be turned off & relocated to its desired location.

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Thanks @KeithFrench 

@MakeItWorkPlease  Apologies for this. I will need to send another extender. Would you like me to go ahead and arrange this?

[KeithFrench]

Then I would think this is the problem, TalkTalk updated your firmware to the minimum required (V202) after you tried to connect to it with the old firmware V174. I think that this may have caused the F266s firmware to be corrupted. This is nothing more than a guess on my part. I will ask TalkTalk what can be done about this.

[MakeItWorkPlease]

That's all there is to it, nothing else in there, same for the 2.4GHz page too.

The extender has been reset 100 times already. Once it enter the "crash" mode there is no way out of it. It just keeps flashing amber forever. So to re test things I always have to reset until the blue and red light flash.

No, it did the blue and green flash but the router remained at 174 all the time. It was only the other TT guy that updated it to 202. But even now it does the green and blue flash and then dies. 

[KeithFrench]

Thanks, that screenshot only shows the router & not the 266, which it should do. Please can you try a factory reset of the 266 (via the reset switch on the rear of it)?

What I meant by "If so, which side of the router being updated to V202?" is when you first tried to use the 266, I think that your router was still running firmware V174 and subsequently upgraded to V202, is that correct?

[MakeItWorkPlease]

I was connected to the same SSID in all the screenshots I sent. To the one ending in 2.4GHz to be more exact. I have put captions in all my screenshots. the first three are without the extender even being plugged in. 

The "Shell" AP is seen is almost all of the other screenshots. Most of them only show the 5Ghz one because I still had the wifi throttling ON. In the last ones you can see both the 2.4 and 5GHz "Shell" AP's. 

Se below for the extenders tab screenshot.

wifi mesh externders tab

Regarding the flashing lights, yes, in most attempts after the blue light goes solid it starts to flash green and blue for a little while, if right after this that the "SHELL" AP disappears and the amber light start to flash. It was doing this with the old FW and even now with the 202 FW.

I dont understand this question "If so, which side of the router being updated to V202?"

Thanks again for all this help! Its much appreciated.