D-Link DWR-2101 crash and reboot loop on Smarty 5G

[tosis]

Morning all,

Have been lurking for some time, registered primarily to post this (ahem, hello by the way).

Problem: When the device is set to use any network combination including 5G it crashes and enters a reboot loop - each time it associates to the network in 5G it again reboots. Testing confirms this isn't battery related.

Solution: Remove the SIM, boot, log into the web portal, navigate to the WWAN Settings page. Insert the SIM, repeatedly refresh the page, and before the device crashes, select 3G+4G mode and apply.

Background: Purchased a D-Link DWR-2101 in mid-December as a replacement for my Huawei E5885Ls-93a (gifted to the folks). The DWR-2101 appears to be the cheaper cousin of the Zyxel NR2101, and possibly the iNomad from Yanko design. As an aside. the web portal code points at these being manufactured by Compal Electronics.

The D-Link and Zyxel products have exactly the same web portal (different colours and minor branding changes in CSS), and the manuals are pretty much identical. I expect the iNomad might end up using a slightly customised firmware.

The device is generally statically wired to my home network, where Three only provides 4G services at present. This week however I'm travelling and today find myself in a location with 5G service. It's been a rough morning... with no service for me!

I've raised a support ticket with D-Link in the interim; would it be worthwhile raising one with Smarty as well?

 

[Lucian]

Yeah, D-link support is your best bet, don't think Smarty is at fault here.

 

[Meatball]

Do you know what type of mast it was?
Some of the new THREE monopoles appear to be connecting to 5G initially (via 4G eNB) and then if there is no significant data flow after a time out period drop back to 4G. If you run say a speed test the throughput triggers it to reconnect to 5G, when the usage subsides it reverts to 4G again unless a new connection is initiated. Phones do this if set to power save options but my experience is this appears to be network initiated as the phones have the relevant switches off.
I haven't seen the same behaviour on other THREE 5G sites (roof etc) so whilst your issue may be a firmware/setting I would also try other sites (non monopole).

 

[tosis]

Hello Meatball,

I'd have to check on mast type, honestly don't know.

After a few days back and forward with D-Link support I've been informed today that they're referring back to their R&D Team in Taiwan (I interpret as going back to Compal). I'll soon see what D-Link come back with

The thing is, the router was crashing and rebooting fairly swiftly, sometimes faster than the device could complete the reboot to the display home screen. If I turned it on without a SIM inserted, then inserted a Three / SMARTY SIM after successful boot, it would crash within seconds of associating in 5G.

I'm currently self-isolating away from home in Brum and have coverage from the Bearwood 5G mast. I'll need to look up the mast type to proceed I guess

 

[tosis]

I had a debug and information gathering session on Wednesday with D-Link's "R&D Team". By that I mean a screen share session while they ran debug tools on the router attached to my laptop over USB.

It's still early in the process, even if three weeks have now passed, and no expectations were set. I'm not (yet) certain what result(s) to expect from this rather slow process but I will update when I have more to share.

First impressions:
- This product platform feels incomplete, with substandard software
- D-Link support is slow

 

[GavinAshford]

While its not any help to you, I'm impressed that they're clearly wanting to dive deep into the issue and get to the bottom of it, it's obviously something they're taking seriously enough to be doing remote debug sessions - and so they (or any!) company should, but don't always do, unfortunately.

 

[Alcantir]

Hey tosis,

Did you ever get this resolved? I do not have this problem at home, but experienced the same problem yesterday on a trip to Finland.

 

[ia22]

Have any one able to resolved the above issue? i'm facing the same problem. However, my device works fine with 4G nevertheless, i need 5G for my test.

 

[mikeliuk]

Does this also happen with a known-good SIM taken from a mobile phone?