SW40J WiFi Extender not connecting from more than 1m

[beanie_again]

Hi - been in IT for the last 30 years, so this really shouldn't be this difficult for me (although I am happy to be proven wrong!).

I'm just having trouble getting the SW40J WiFi Extender to reliably connect over more than 1 meter from the main hub, without having a flashing orange light.

I have followed the steps below from another post, and it works great when connected using an RJ45 cable on ethernet - and continues to work ok when less than a meter away from the main hub, but if I power down and take a couple of meters away - flashing orange light is all that I get, constantly. The steps from another post:

• Plug in ethernet cable to SW40J and router and wait for the solid turquoise light and leave it for a few minutes
• Power down (and take the power cable out of) the SW40J extender, so it connects to the WIFI and leave it for a few minutes
• Power down (and take the power cable out of) the SH40J extender
• Power down (and take the power cable out of) the SH40J hub
• Wait for 10-20s to enable the hub's RAM to clear before powering the hub back up and wait for solid turquoise light

Saw another post about resetting the device, which I have also tried without success - and I have tried leaving the device on the ethernet cable for a couple of days to allow a firmware update to happen - it is currently showing r2.64.6-R-1303886-PROD-1

Am I missing something, or are there any other tips or tricks for me to try?

Thanks in advance.

Paul

[JimM11]

@beanie_again Have you also tried the factory reset of the Smart Pro router as well as the Smart wireless device, user's have reported that sometimes both reset and then re-paired seem to kick it all into operation.

[beanie_again]

Thanks for the response Jim -  yes I have seen that advice, just powered down both - and reset both.

Powered up hub, then connected extender using ethernet - all good with aqua lights on both.

Disconnected ethernet, still aqua, then moved extender about 3m away from hub using an extension lead without powering down (no walls or anything blocking). It was still showing aqua light but connection type was N/A - then disappeared from extenders completely (still aqua light on extender):

Any ideas? Try disabling 2.4Ghz?

[beanie_again]

Tried turning off 2.4Ghz channel, and connecting using the hubs wizard that takes 7 minutes (felt more like 30 minutes lol):

Couldn't find it, bearing in mind that the extender is within sight of the hub:

Still flashing blue - not sure what else to try?

[JimM11]

@beanie_again I would power off the Smart wireless device, leave it for 10 mins, power it up and let it workout what to do with the mesh, system will try to smart wireless detect and set itself for the best operation.

Seems that the web manager does not show good connection as software interface to the device, but the app if you have it working does a far better job when looking at the device.

Will take a look at your posted image when it is cleared for viewing. Mesh is not easy, and EE make a real mess of showing what is going on, that's for sure!

As a rule of thumb i use 30-40 foot as the operation between devices, just to be sure that the wi-fi signal can overlap connection wise between both devices.

[beanie_again]

So just a quick update...I reset and switched off the hub and extender for about 2 hours, then reset and switched on the hub and extender. I find the app is quite laggy, with what I see being delayed somewhat, but I did get both set up and connected when about 2m apart on wireless.

Connection is somewhat sporadic, with flashing aqua happening every hour or two - but I have given it a few days to "settle" and hopefully update. Appeared happily in the admin panel:

The app has changes from not appearing at all, to "Strong signal" and today it was "Too Close" so I have moved it further away, but currently flashing amber.

I will try connecting it again...

[beanie_again]

Extender is not appearing in the browser or app management since moving further away - flashing orange.

Distance is around 6m / 20ft with clear line of sight, no walls between, no microwaves or other devices causing interference in between.

Was previously complaining that it was too close: