Routerboard 951UI 2HnD as wired to wireless bridges

RouterOS Beginner Basics
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Hallo everyone,

so I am pulling my hair out trying to understand why this Mikrotik device is not playing nice with me. I am an IT guy with lots of network experience but this is my first experience with Mikrotik. I have 4 of these Routerboard 951UI’s. Three of which I have not touched as I inherited them at a small NGO where I am volunteering in Guinea, Conakry. These three Routerboards are connected to another Microtik Router (sorry I forget the model number) via ethernet cable to port 1 and working as wired to wireless repeaters or bridges providing my NGO’s office with wifi. Works great…but due to the type of internet connect that the main router is connected to is ridiculously slow and overpriced, I am trying to improve the network by replacing the connection and ISP.

So I have take one of the 951UI’s and am trying to use it in a similar fashion as a wired to wireless bridge for a Huawei B612 Flybox 4G router. This unfortunately is not working and I have wasted 2 days already. The 951UI’s works fine in Bridge mode when I use ports 2-5 but ether1 refuses to pull DHCP from the Huawei router. My laptop has no problem with the Huawei. All other ports on the 951UI have no problem with the Huawei’s DHCP. But only ether1 refuses to play ball and I have to use ether1 because it is the only POE port and the building is designed only to support POE based access points!

Seems like an easy fix though… But unfortunately I have used every possible “Quick Set” config of the 951UI to no avail. I tried deleting the default config completely and creating a Bridge that has all other interfaces in it including ether1 as I read multiple times on this forum. I have tried so many different possible solutions just to get the port ether1 to pull a DHCP address! I think I am losing my mind and now I am wondering if the port itself is physically broken. But I can’t use one of the other three 951UI’s as they are in “production.”

No matter what I try, ether1 will not talk to the Huawei router. If I static an address to ether1…nothing. If I put a DHCP client on a bridge and add ether1 to it…nothing. If I create a DHCP relay between the Huawei (192.168.1.0/24) and some DHCP range on the 951UI (192.168.88.0/24)…nothing. BUT THE OTHER DAMN PORTS WORK! ether2, 3, 4, 5 will pull DHCP from the Huawei all day! So will my laptop! I am lost. If I use the WISP AP quick set and use any other ports than ether1, everything works. My laptop connects to wlan1 to the internet via the bridge and gets it’s DHCP from the damn Huawei as long as the Huawei is wired to ports 2-5…

I will attach a quick diagram of what I want to accomplish. Basically the Huawei does DHCP and internet and the 951UI are just wired to wireless bridges. But at this point I will take any configuration that let’s my users connect to the Huawei’s much faster 4G connection.

Thanks in advance for the help!
Untitled Diagram.png

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As you comment, if what you want is to create a wired to wireless bridge, all you need is adding all ether and wlan1 ports to the bridge, that’s all, no need for any IP on the 951’s, the 951’s will extend Huawei L2 and hence L3 without requiring any other configuration.

For management, you can still use the neighbors tab in winbox to connect to the 951, double click on the mac address field and winbox will connect via L2 to the 951.

From your description of the dhcp client failing though, it looks like the huawei, or something in between, is blocking the 951’s ether1 mac address, so no L2 either.

What’s the interfaces > ethernet > double click on ether1 port, Status, Rx Stats and _Tx Stat_s tabs when is plugged? (screenshots please)

Do you have access to the Huawei? Have you modified ether1 mac address on the 951?

Regardless of all this, make sure to:

1.- Upgrade your router to latest long-term (6.45.8 as per today), reboot
2.- System > Routerboard, click Upgrade button so that firmware is in sync with ROS too.
3.- System > Reset to no defaults. Reboot.
4.- Connect to 951, create a bridge, add all etherX and wlan1 to it.
5.- Test dhcp-client on the bridge to see if L2 between huawei ↔ 951 is not restricted

and report back. If ethernet link between huawei and 951 is fine, the problem could be some sort of mac address restriction, or duplication.

But only ether1 refuses to play ball and I have to use ether1 because it is the only POE port and the building is designed only to support POE based access points!

So how is everything wired? Can you describe, from Huawei ether port up to 951 ether1 how is wired in detail?

Have you tried a different patch cable and PoE Injector? On 100BT PoE Devices is not uncommon with bad cables or injector, to have power, but then if Tx or Rx wires are broken, not have L2… Do you use the same cable when testing from ether2-5?

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http://forum.mikrotik.com/t/routerboard-951ui-2hnd-as-wired-to-wireless-bridges/137571/1

How to waste (my) time !