No. The ip layers and channel layers are completely separate. I guarantee you several of my neighbors have their wifi on channel 1 with ips in the range 192.168.0.x. But they aren’t all on the same network, because they have different ssids and passwords.
This is all getting very confusing. But if you are just trying to connect one computer to only the esp01, the ip conflict stuff isn’t the problem.
Hello. I’ve downloaded a wifi analyzer earlier and used it to test which showed that after several minutes (varying from 3-12 so far), a wifi network is created. This is either named V1CNC or ESP-xxx depending on the instance though generally V1CNC.
When trying to connect to it via phone it won’t allow it to connect, and the same for laptop. Notably, the laptop does not always show a network at all. For both, when showing the network it shows it as a good signal strength.
So far I have made no changes to the module sent out by Ryan since I can’t connect to it. Later tonight I should have the chance to try it with a separate laptop in case there are any issues with this one specifically.
Here is the scenario Jeff.
His laptop is rj45’d to his home router whose ip address is 192.168.0.1, his laptop has been assigned a dhcp on the same subnet by said router, after programming the ESP to be a hotspot with an ip address of 192.168.0.1 by default in the firmware it pops up and starts listening to and responding to packets addressed to 102.168.0.1. As Gregory types 192.168.0.1 into the browser bar his laptops browser issues a request to 192.168.0.1 saying “hello, are you there? Can I see your web page please” to which the ROUTER replies “naf off”, the ESP obliges with a ‘disconnect’ message, meanwhile everybody else on the subnet gets replies from the ESP of ??? because the ESP doesn’t understand what all the traffic is about… = chaos abounds.
IF the laptop is set to DHCP Gregory could disconnect the RJ45 and reboot, then the laptop wont be connected to the router and providing the router does not have a wifi connection he might be able to get a reliable connection to the ESP and change it to client mode when he can change the default ip in sta mode incase a future connection fails at any time.
That’s what I think might be happening…
On a windows machine, type ‘cmd’ into the search bar next to the lower left corner windows icon, a black command line box should open, then type ‘ipconfig’ in that box (without the quotes) and the reply will tell you your laptops ip address, your subnet and your routers address… do this without the esp being on.
That wouldn’t happen. IP conflicts won’t affect the 802.11 wifi connection.
The two nets would not be connected. The laptop should not be transferring any traffic between wifi and ethernet. The laptop should not be acting like a switch.
The reboot is not going to matter. As soon as the ethernet is disconnected, there won’t be any connection to the home network.
The route table will have a preference for one or the other. It may go to the esp or the home router. But that 50/50 only happens if: 1
Greg is still connected to the LAN. 2. They have the same subnet (many do use 192.168.1 or 192.168.100). 3. Greg is actually connected to the esp.
Networking is very hard to diagnose through a forum. There are a million ways things can be configured. This is the hard part of these esp devices. If they work, great. If they don’t, then there is a lot of imprecise language surrounding it. There are also a lot of myths and bad knowledge out there that do not help.
It sounds like the problem is not even on the ip layer, but at the wifi connection layer. If the wifi can’t connect, then the ip address does not matter.
My best guesses are:
I am trying not to get involved with the networking issues. They are hard to figure out from here. The debugging really needs to come from the user. So I watch, and wait.
Did you get a chance to try the other laptop?
I have only sold ~150 of these wifi modules, there very well could be an issue and it could need re-flashing (which means I just need to replace it). I have had my phone kick me directly off because it did not have internet. I know I have hit something along the lines of “connect anyway” on it, not sure if I had to do that on the tablet or laptop. let me know how it goes and if I should setup a replacement.
Of course they do, I suggest you try it. If you have two devices on a network, even wireless ones, with the same IP they will never work reliably.
There are not two nets… there is only the one. Greg states he cannot connect to the ESP because -
Again, there are not two nets, there is one net based around the router and an interloper that is listening to all the traffic that is addressed to the router whos only capability is to send out it’s web page. The laptop is doing nothing except trying to contact 192.168.0.1 to obtain a webpage and the router is listening to that request and wondering what it means, it doesn’t have a web page to send, so it treats the request as an unknown request and issues a disconnect instruction.
It isn’t getting that far. There is no, or at least there is often no hotspot because the esp keeps getting told to disconnect by the router because it is generating spurious transmissions on the routers network.
That’s what I think may be happening
Yes, it’s a possibility, that is what I suggested earlier on in the thread but if the esp is connected to the skr it is unlikely.
Windows has stuff all to do with it, this is a simple communication between the laptop and the esp, the router and the operating system are not involved, or at least they shouldn’t be - if the comms were not being interfered with because the router has the same IP as the esp!
The simple test for all this is… is the laptop connected via a cable to the router and Is the router address 192.168.0.1?
Why program the esp with a default STA address that is so commonly used by router manufacturers? Most devices use 192.168.4.1 as a default STA address precisely to prevent this problem.
You’re misunderstanding me.
In the osi layer model, wifi operates on layers 1&2. Similar to ethernet and a switch. The ip layer is layer 3. An ip collision in layer 3 doesn’t affect layers 1&2.
I have dealt with a lot of ip collisions. They are not fun. But they have to be on the same network.
The interloper is on the esp01 sta. The router network is between the router and the computer. If the esp was connected to the router, it wouldn’t be at 192.168.0.1, it would only have a dhcp assigned address. There are two nets.
Sorry for the delay in posting, I’m just getting the time today to run through the replies and try new solutions. When looking at my own IP configuration I can see that:
Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2600:8805:1a02:3000::4ee5
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2600:8805:1a02:3000:d59f:bb95:16fa:87a
Temporary IPv6 Address. . . . . . : 2600:8805:1a02:3000:6988:cbb0:e1df:1ff4
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::aa82:be7e:8340:afbd%5
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.49
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : fe80::10:18ff:feb0:1f43%5
192.168.0.1
So it appears that they will be using the same default gateway, or trying to at least. Above is while connected to the router.
Additionally, I have tried on 2 more laptops. Neither one is able to connect, with one looping “connecting” indefinitely (15 minutes and counting) and the other saying “Can’t connect to this network”
I checked the power supply while it was attached to the computer and it was getting a steady 3.3V, I didn’t recheck it powered by plug but can’t imagine it’s changed (yes I changed the jumper over).
Finally, I have everything except the module disconnected from the Skr
Unless anyone has any ideas, I think I need to swap this one out?
For other ESP devices, there’s been times where I power down all my wifi routers and repeaters around the home, and/or take the device outside to a quiet wifi spot to see if connecting to ESP is more reliable.
Connect long enough to configure to join preferred wifi network, which will need to be configured, save, reset. Then power up the main wifi router(s), then hopefully the ESP will join after just the ESP is power reset again.
I connect to all my esp devices in my suburban neighborhood that has a bunch of wifi APs and I have something like 80+ devices on my home network.
I do sometimes have trouble connecting to them. But the issue is usually something like power, or the android not wanting to use a connection that doesn’t have Internet.
I think the swap is the right choice. It may not fix it, but it is the most likely, IMO.
Yes, but they are all connected…that means they have all been swapped to client mode (presumably one at a time unless you and your laptop can seriously multi-task) and been assigned an individual ip address… try switching 80 unassigned esp’s on at the same time and see what happens, they will all pop up on the same ip address in STA mode and nothing will work.
All the operating systems operate their IP stacks differently, you are used to linux which has arguably the most conformal system of them all. Android is awful. There are colleges in the states that have, in the past, banned Android devices from their network because Android does stupid things when (among other things) trying to renew their dhcp license… because the bootloader isn’t providing the phone’s real MAC to the kernel, the kernel chooses a random one as a fallback after every reboot, so they come up as a different device requesting an IP address and so the college admin were unable to permanently bar a specific device…their solution was to banish all Android devices. Ever wondered why your home router keeps getting new android phones appearing and new leases being generated…now you know why! Windows also behaves differently to linux too… you need to be a hardware engineer to experience the issues across different devices, quoting IP stack theory does not cover it all.
Jeff is right. IP is layer 3.
When those ESPs are in AP mode, they’re still unique below layer 3, and they can be uniquely identified and connected to without IP conflicts. Having a high noise floor from lots of devices on the same channel can make it more difficult to stay connected.
Having multiple devices advertising the same SSID for connecting to can confuse clients too- but with just a single ESP as in this case, that isn’t what is happening.
It would be interesting to set up a continuous ping to the ESP-01’s IP address and leave that running while trying to connect to it. My guess is that the ESP is restarting for some reason, and that while connecting and disconnecting from the network, the ping session will periodically succeed and fail as it goes through those restarts.
Windows will connect and disconnect to known networks when they go up and down, which makes for a mess as well. If windows loses the network it was connected to, it will then automatically connect to other local networks that it has been allowed to. This will again confuse things.
Regarding the IP network collision- this is why my own networks are configured away from the most common 192.168.0 and 192.168.1 networks. I also reconfigure IOT devices if possible to use still different IP networks by default so that they don’t cause confusion when configuring and troubleshooting.
I’m curious if this ESP–01 was ever configured to connect as a client to the local network. If so, using a wired network client and scanning the local network IP range would show that it is connecting and disconnecting.
I’ve seen ESPs that had bad RF performance and would continuously disconnect/reconnect.
This is a privacy feature, so the starbucks hot spots (or worse) won’t be able to track the presence of your phone.
You can turn it off for specific wifi networks:
I am glad I do not have to admin a college network. My college used mac address whitelists, so you had to use the same mac every time.
We just forbid our MDM devices the randomized Mac-Addresses. 
Otherwise it would be impossible to use them in our Wifi.
I’m going to try taking it into a cold room tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on how busy work is to check if it’s getting crowded out and if I can connect to it there. If not I’ll reach out regarding getting it replaced @vicious1
Good luck @Gregory!
Do you code, are you interested in tinkering with building and burning custom firmware onto the ESP01? Or are you just wanting to get the CNC up and running asap?
Can share bunch of ESP3D source code/build info IF that’s a rabbit hole you want to go down (for fun/learning/experience, NOT to save time). Cheers!
I’m pretty interested in it, the issue is right now I’ve got so little time with school lol. If you want to post them I’ll probably end up looking through them over the summer, when I’m just focused on research.
Ideally I’m trying to get the CNC working by the end of the semester, since it will be nice for saving some time making replacement parts for research, but it’s by no means a priority unfortunately
Putting education first, sounds smart 
. Partially uploaded some of my notes to v1engineering-mods/esp3d at main · aaronse/v1engineering-mods · GitHub will add more if/when you/someone nags me because they’re wanting to dig deeper into building/customizing ESP3D (e.g. hard coding default SSID/pwd for their network…). In the meantime, these detailed topics were very helpful :
