No DHCP Client table showing in the E4200 router [ Edited ]

[exbadger]

I just purchased an E4200 router.  I have four clients on my network and they are all set up for DHCP.  I renewed their IPs and they all are connected.  "Cisco Connect" reports that I have four clients connected.  When I access the router and bring up the DHCP Client Table, there are no entries.  There should be four entries.  Aftern I enable the logging function, none of the logs have any data in them even after I wait for 45 minutes and use the internet and renew IPs.   I am using Firmware Version: 1.0.03.  I have the same results for both Chrome and Firefox. I want to be able to set Static IPs but I am hampered by the not having any clients in the DHCP client table.  I chatted with support and they thought it was a hardware problem.  They shipped me a new router.  I have the same problem with the new router.  

Can anybody help?  

[gv]

Sounds like a firmware bug to me.

You don't need the DHCP client table to set static IP addresses though...

[exbadger]

Yes, I can get around not setting up statics on the router.  I really would prefer to do it on the router and I want to be able to see the logs also.  I keep thinking it must be my browser configuration, but I did turn off all extensions and made sure that cookies were not being blocked and still can't see the logs or the dhcp client table.

[gv]

Again: you don't need the DHCP client table to set up static IP reservations on the router. Just enter the MAC address of the device and the IP address.

The logs won't show you this information either.

[Brenda]

on the 2nd thought?

what kind of devices are you trying to connect DHCP?

[exbadger]

Thanks for asking.  I have two desktops, a slingbox, a PS3 and one DVD player running on my home LAN.  I am very frustrated with Cisco on the problems I have had the with the E4200 and have taken it out of my network and reinstalled  my reliable yet antiquated Netgear MR814V2.  I have had two extended chat sessions, replaced the E4200 router with a new one courtesy of Cisco and one extended phone support session.  

My basic symptoms were that I would watch slingbox for ten minutes on my desktop and then the connection would drop.  Never happened on my old router.  I then discovered that I could not listen to the radio off of the internet for more than 5 minutes without a hiccup.  .  

I thought perhaps I could assign static IPs to my devices and avoid this problem.  Maybe even assign static routes so the router would not have to do any thinking.  When I went in to configure the static IPs, I discovered there were no clients listed in the DHCP table. So I turned on the logs and then released and renewed some of the client IP addresses and nothing would show up in the DHCP log.  

Long story short, went through the whole scenario on the telephone with help desk.  They had me reset the router to the old firmware level.  Then voila, I could see the clients in the DHCP table.  She then upgraded me to the current firmware.  Went back and looked at the DHCP client table, and one of the clients was gone.  I released and renewed that client and it came back.  Not good, but the help desk thought she was done and said good bye.  Within 20 minutes the DHCP client table had no clients in it.  Still had the dropouts on slingbox and internet radio.

I am going to try  the phone support one more time and basically tell them to take it back and give me money back.

OBTW, the help desk lady would not give me a trouble ticket number so I will probably have to start from scratch and go through the whole thing again when I call.  

Any ideas on what to do to resolve would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

[gv]

Why didn't your write this from the beginning?

The DHCP server and the client list have nothing to do with disconnects or hanging connections. They may be a symptom of the underlying problem at best.

As I wrote before: DHCP reservation does not require the client log. You can simply manually add an entry and assign an IP address to a MAC address of a computer.

To assign static IP addresses on a device you don't even need DHCP reservation. Most devices allow you to assign a static IP address directly on the device

I suggest you try to assign a static IP address to a device and see if it helps or not.

At the same time, use a computer wired to the E4200 and check the status page. Press reload on the browser to refresh the status. Check the status and compare what you have before a hicup, during and after.

My guess would be the E4200 reboots and thus the DHCP client table is empty and all connections are interrupted.

Some E4200 have overheating problems causing random reboots.

Another guess would be the power/voltage. Some ac/dc adapters are quite sensitive to voltage drops on the line.

[exbadger]

Thanks for the inputs.  The network drop outs have gone away.  I was able to play my slingbox for 24 hours straight with no dropping of the connection.  Why?  Don't know for sure.  I think it was one of two things:

1.  I had logmein (VPN product) installed on one of my PCs.  I uninstalled that for a different reason and my drop outs went away.

2.  Weather turned cooler at the same time, so I wonder if overheating was the problem.  The router does run warm to the touch.  I tried putting a box over it for a couple of hours but that did not cause the drop out come back.

I still do not have the DHCP client table showing up in the router, but I  can live with that problem.  Though the DHCP log works and I can see all clients registering.

Thanks all for the help.

[mcc123]

Sure would be nice if someone could answer the original question - "Why is the DHCP table empty?"

[davidssw]

Just to confirm to you (OP) the addresses should be there I have clients on my E4200 V1 that are both DHCP and static

and basically all my DHCP clients are being shown in the DHCP reservation table.

For what it's work I'm using cisco connect on a laptop running windows 7 X64 with SP1 and afterwards to examine the e4200 (vs. going to the routers home page with a browser)