[roughbeast]

I recently had to replace my AC88U with another after the WAN port died and ceased to pick up a connection through my Virgin Media Superhub 3 (modem-only mode). I made sure that I saved the current settings so that my stable arrangements continued.

As soon as my replacement arrived I set it up with default settings without any LAN connection. Bit by bit I added network components, such as switches, clients, media and my old N66U in AP mode. All seemed well until my family tried to connect from their devices by Ethernet and wifi.


1) Devices dropped internet connection even though connected to the router by Ethernet.
2) Devices dropped internet connection even though connected to the router by wifi.
3) Virgin Media 'On Demand' and 'Catch up' ,which require an internet connection , became inaccessible.
4) My Kodi boxes failed to connect to the AC88U media server, but could access the N66U media server via the AC88U!
5) My Kodi boxes could not connect to my cloud media via Livedrive
6) My pal in Kefalonia could connect to my VPN server but could no longer stream BBC iPlayer content.
7) My FON hotspot went off line even though it was a visible client.

All these problems can be temporarily put right by rebooting my modem and the AC88U simultaneously and then rebooting devices and/or by disabling and re-enabling network adaptors. After a while the problems re-appear.

I have tried everything including reinstating my old settings, restoring factory settings and starting again and by allocating ip addresses manually. Bizarrely, if I reinstate my old N66U as the DCHP server, the network runs smoothly. This is not a permanent solution because the AC88U has features and capacity unavailable on the N66U.

Has anyone any ideas as to what might be the issue? 1) Firmware issues? 2) Faulty kit?