Hello it’s been a while since I set mine up I just got a new Comcast XB7 modem and I am trying to re-add the IP reservation I had before. I copied the MAC address from the back off the ambient weatherbridge but it says the MAC address is not in correct format which I don’t understand. Also when it comes to the host what exactly do I input? Sorry if these are dump questions but I completely forgot how to set this up. Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Just be clear on terminology
- you are talking of the router functionality of your Comcast XB7. The modem functionality is only to connect to the internet.
Now, if your router ("modem") says that the MAC address doesn't have the correct format ... - different routers have different ways how to write MAC addresses: capital letters (for the hex A-F), or lowercase letters (a-f). Using ":" as separators for the 2-Byte blocks, some use "-" (hyphen, minus sign) ...
If you look up any other device connected to your router, it should show the format the router "likes", accepts. You may have to manually enter the MAC address using its representation logic (lower case, upper case, -, :, *, ....).
Cut and paste may create an error due to different code pages ...
But, in principle, if the MB device (aTP-Link I understand) is connected to the router, it should appear there in a list of connected devices which its IP (which it may have received from the router via DHCP).
If it doesn't show, did you check if another device in your network happens to have the same IP as your TP-Link now. It may be an IP address conflict.
You can check by connecting your computer / Laptop directly with your TP-Link via an Ethernet cable. Your Laptop has to be in the same subnet as the TP-Link (its [last] address you should know), only the 4th Octet has to be different - e.g. if your TP-Link still has an IP in the range of 192.168.1.xxx (x=1-254), your laptop network interface should be also inside 192.168.1.xxx, only the xxx of the Laptop has to be different from the xxx of the TP-Link (and within the range of 1 - 254).
If you say that you have the correct IP address for the TP-Link, then this was the IP it had with your earlier router ("modem"). If you had to make an IP reservation, this indicates to me that the TP-Link didn't have a fixed IP (either because it cannot have one in principle or because you didn't program/configure it that way), but a dynamic IP. Then, whatever was reserved by the earlier router has no meaning anymore, because the new router will give out new dynamic addresses.
In my opinion, best will be look up the devices connected to your new routing device (Comcast) and try to identify the TP-Link. Its MAC address should show. Then use the IP shown with the MAC of your TP-Link to connect.
If it doesn't show in the new router, you have to look into the cabling ...
