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Understanding DHCP “Black Dots” and Connection Drop-offs

Understanding DHCP “Black Dots” and Connection Drop-offs

peter86james
New Contributor

We’ve been noticing recurring black dots in our DHCP logs, which seem to align with user reports of network drop-offs. Each time, the logs show “DHCP did not occur.” What’s puzzling is that these users are stationary no movement or device relocation yet it looks like a roaming event across access points (APs) occurs, followed by several minutes of network loss. We’re trying to understand what these black dots indicate in DHCP terms and whether they signal AP roaming, DHCP lease renewal issues, or something else causing these intermittent connectivity disruptions. Any insights would be appreciated.

2 REPLIES 2

Elwin
New Contributor II

Those black dots usually mean the AP couldn’t complete a DHCP exchange. It happens when the client drops briefly during reauthentication or channel change. Check if DHCP lease timers are too short and watch for 802.1X reauth events that interrupt renewals.

The 10.8.4.0 firmware also had a bug causing this update to 10.8.4.1 or later.

Extreme Networks Troubleshooting DHCP Relay/Client Issues
How DHCP Works 

Network Engineer

DeVoID
Valued Contributor

Any updates?  I know one of the older firmware updates they introduced a new line in the AP's config about DHCP and that caused a massive issue, and it might be back with this latest update 10.8.4.0... any news?

GTM-P2G8KFN