Can't get two E3200 Extenders working together?

So I've had one G3100 and one E3200 (Coax) working well together -- and just wanted to add another (2 more actually) in some other areas of the home.

Just starting with the first one however -- they refuse to work together. The new one came on and looked good -- white light -- and the upstairs one that was untouched was blinking yellow for Wi-fi backhaul even though it was never touched. Unplug the new one, upstairs one starts to work. For a while everything showed solid white but I had no internet anywhere.

Its like there is some kind of conflict? I can't see how the coax cabling is configured inside the house but can you not have two moca adapters/extenders on the same line or something?

Any ideas? Thanks!

Accepted answers

swunder2

I accidentally lost the coax in the basement into the hole in the wall while switching splitters. Thought it was all over, never going to be able to find it. I somehow managed to find it in the cable rats nest in the drop ceiling and pull it all the way out and only then noticed the CONNECTOR WAS LOOSE.

Crammed that cable in and made sure it was steady and its been 4 hours with all white lights and good performance since. I just have to re-terminate it so it can withstand more than 1 ounce of force and figure out how to get it routed properly through the wall again.

I now have 3 extenders (2 on new firmware, 1 still stuck on 3.0) working together.

I blamed the flakeyness on my goofy setup having a old G1100 and free rental G3100 in bridge mode as AP's so I gave up and bought these extenders to do it the 'right' way -- but I'm thinking that cable was it all along.

I have to do some testing/unplugging to make sure the system doesn't easily go haywire if anything happens to a unit but yeah...

TLDR -- check your cables people.

All comments

pacmusicman

The OP doesn't clearly say, but, are both extenders connected to the router independently, or, are both extenders being daisy-chained to each other? 🤔

swunder2

I wish I could confirm either way -- I know I have one new 8 way splitter in the basement I have access to, and I've tried to replace/identify splitters as well as I could in the attic and crawl space.

I'm going to try a moca adapter and ethernet cable for the extender to test (stupid I know, but I already have a couple moca adapters).

I just don't know enough about the internal wiring, or how moca works, or if I'm just on buggy/old firmware to confirm anything. Anyone know the newest firmware for the extenders?

pacmusicman

The only issue I ran into with my three extenders occurred as a result of the latest firmware update. Prior to that I had all three extenders connected to the router via both coax and Ethernet. Once the update was pushed, two of the extenders refused to come up.

Through trial & error, I discovered that extenders that are hardware 1102 lost the ability to be dually cabled. My third extender is hardware 1103 and has no problem being connected by both cables.

I would do a top to bottom check of cables, connectors & splitters. Replace any old/obsolete splitters and re-terminate any questionable connectors.

I looked at a typical passive 8-way splitter and each output is attenuated by around 11db. That's quite a bit. Daisy-chain another splitter downstream and the signal might be too low for the extender to use.

Can the coaxial cabling be reworked to reduce the number of splits? 🤔

swunder2

Yeah I really need to figure out all the cabling... just such a pain.

Apparently my current working E3200 is not on the newest firmware -- 3.0.0.10 with the old interface? I definitely need to get that updated though factory resets haven't done it.

Cang_Household

If you unplug the E3200 with the old firmware, and leave in place only the G3100 and the other two E3200's connected via Coax, would they work well together?

The current firmware for G3100/E3200 is 3.1.0.13.

swunder2

I now have 3 extenders (2 on new firmware, 1 still stuck on 3.0) working together.

I have to do some testing/unplugging to make sure the system doesn't easily go haywire if anything happens to a unit but yeah...

TLDR -- check your cables people.

pacmusicman

Glad to read that the problem looks to be resolved! 🙂

It might still be worthwhile to see if there is any possible way to simplify the coaxial infrastructure. For sure, compression RG6 connectors are the way to go for DiY. 👍

Outside of the firmware update that did away with dual cabling for 1102 hardware extenders, my only other caveat with the 3100/3200 is that the LED ring around the WPS button dims over time. The LEDs on my router and two older extenders are barely visible. The LED on my newer extender is starting to dim, but is still quite visible.

Cang_Household

What? You have a G1100 too? G1100 can be connected to the MoCA as well to serve another access point if you want to do that. I created an interactive guide on bridging the G1100 into an existing network, which you can find it here https://forums.verizon.com/t5/G1100-Bridging-Guide/bd-p/g1100-bridging-guide.

Cang_Household

User was able to receive a firmware update for the E3200 stuck at 3.0.0.10 through support.

rodnbarb@verizon.net

I have same setup! For the two you got working, did you make any changes in the router? Both of my extenders are working but the one upstairs for smart tv takes 3-5 minutes before internet access. Driving me crazy!