So, i have an interesting connection problem with my new AT&T U-Verse router (Pace 5268AC FXN). Out of the box the MC would not connect and I got the flashing yellow LED on the front, and no green LEDs lit up on the back of the MC. Originally diagnosed the problem as a bad cable. I subsequently tried three different cables and three different ports on the router, including both cables and ports that are fully functional with other network devices.
I then took the cable out of the back of my home office PC and plugged it into the WC and got a successful connection. (Incidentally, this cable runs first from the router into a Polycom VOIP phone, then to the PC, if that makes any difference.) The DHCP server assigned an IP to the MC, and I was able to run some backups of my home PC.
However, I needed the connection back to my work PC so I switched the cable back and tried again with a cable directly from the router to the MC. It seems that if I take a cable with an active connection and plug it into the WC, it will talk to the router, but if I try to start from scratch, they will not talk. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!
Ànother user reported the same problem with the at&t Uverse router recently. It appears that it fails to auto-negotiate a link speed, and fails to establish any connection.
I suggested a workaround of putting an Ethernet switch or old router between MyCloud and router, and this user and others found this to allow a connection to be established.
It’s unclear whether the problem lies with MyCloud or at&t, but the MyCloud obviously works with plenty of other routers.
Thank you CP, it looks like this workaround will get me running. For now I switched my setup so that the MC is connected to the router downstream of the VOIP phone so that the port speed is negotiated.
In preparation to switch to your suggestion using my old Verizon router, I will need to change the settings so that the old router’s DHCP doesn’t try to issue an address, correct? It looks like I can choose to disable DHCP on the old router, but I also have an option for DHCP relay. Is one of these setting preferable to the other?
For now I switched my setup so that the MC is connected to the router downstream of the VOIP phone so that the port speed is negotiated.
Does that mean that the VoIP phone is essentially acting as a switch? In which case, if it works, and gives you gigabit ethernet, I’d probably leave it… VoIP uses very low bandwidth, so sharing the link to the router whilst you’re making calls shouldn’t impact the data rate available to the MC.
It looks like I can choose to disable DHCP on the old router, but I also have an option for DHCP relay. Is one of these setting preferable to the other?
Not sure. I’d probably start with the simple ‘disable DHCP’ and see how you get on. DHCP relay might introduce confusion over IP addresses. Other, more experienced comment welcomed.
You’ll probably also need to disable WiFi, if it’s a WiFi router.
I’d suggest flagging this issue to WD and AT&T, pointing out the issue and the fix, and the suspected problem (failure to auto-negotiate). I note that there were four threads related to this problem at the top of the thread list last night, so it’s not an isolated problem. Maybe WD and AT&T need to get together, stick an Ethernet analyser on their link, and find out why the don’t talk to each other…
It’s all up and running now with the old Verizon router acting as the intermediary. I disabled both DHCP and the WiFi radio on the old router and it is acting like a switch.
Can you point me in the right direction for where I go to bring this to WD’s attention?
I spent a few hours on the AT&T forums earlier - most of the excuse that I’m seeing are “It’s another security issue, and we won’t add this to our Residential gateways.”
Once the switch gets to me and I have full knowledge of the steps I took and any issues that possibly haven’t made it to the forums. I’ll call them and complain to them. It’s stupid that their Motorola routers work great with MyCloud but this POS 2Wire/Pace router doesn’t.
It’s not a security issue; the fact that adding a switch between them makes it work shows that it’s most likely an auto negotiation problem. A switch doesn’t apply any security or firewall function; it just switches the Ethernet traffic stream. Essentially, it performs the same function as a bit of Ethernet cable, except that it allows multiple devices to be connected to the cable at once.
My WD MyCloud also does not work when plugged into my router. Incredibly annoying. However it works when plugged into a PC. No network access mind you. Does anyone have a resolution to this?
After conversations with both WD and ATT (MyCloud won’t connect with Pace 5268), it was suggested that I get another router that speaks UPnP so that it can interpret between the MyCloud and the Pace 5268. MyCloud uses UPnP (Universal Plug and Play), the Pace 5268 router doesn’t allow that protocol. It’s like one is speaking French and the other English, so they can’t talk to each other. ATT considers UPnP a security risk.
It’s NOT a UPnP problem. I have UPnP control of my router disabled because I agree with AT&T about it being a security risk.
But the problem here is due to a failure of the MDI/MDI-X auto negotiation between the MyCloud and router, and that is very low-level protocol, performed by the Ethernet chips. Putting a switch inbetween provides a different device, that both at&t and WD devices will successfully negotiate with.
UPnP requires a link to be established, to allow packets to be passed. No data link is established…
I really don’t see why AT&T can’t understand this; it’s pretty simple…
I did the connect My Cloud via ethernet cable to PC, update to support SSH, putty to it and reset speeds - no luck. My router firmware is dated Dec 2016, so looks like I don’t have the patch that Sonic will push out to folks (if you’re AT&T, don’t know if/when that’ll happen)… I wanted my backups running again so I bought a $10 5-port network switch on Amazon - just arrived, hooked it up, booted My Cloud and I’m up and running…
It is an issue with straight-thru and crossover cables. When you essentially connect one router to another router (the WD drives appear like routers), then you need a crossover cable. Basically it switches two wires among the 8. It is a similar issue if you have multiple hard-wired devices and not enough ports in the back of the gateway. If you are connecting the gateway to a switch to connect multiple devices, you either have to have a switch that has an “uplink” port OR you need to use a crossover cable. For those of you who make their own Ethernet cables, you can go online and search for how to make a crossover cable.
I had the SAME issue with my new AT&T Gateway and a 16-port gigabit switch. I couldn’t get a link light. I tested using an older Cisco 8-port switch with an uplink port on #8. As soon as I plugged into the uplink port (which is the same as using a crossover cable), I got a link and everything worked.
CAVEAT: Newer switches are auto-sensing which means that they can negotiate with routers and decide which kind of connection needs to be used. Unfortunately, the piece of junk Gateway that AT&T uses does NOT support auto-negotiation and therefore will NOT work.
BOTTOM LINE: Get a switch that has an UPLINK port, or buy/make a crossover cable and these devices and switches should be able to connect without a hitch.
