Why doesn’t the bridge between TP-Link routers not work?

Hello! Please help me to understand the problem, which costs me a week of sleepless nights! The situation is as follows: TP-Link MR 3220 router receives 3G via modem with antenna and gives out wi-fi. I try to connect two more routers TP-Link WR841N and TP-Link WR841ND to it in bridge mode. I configure them as usual:

I don’t make any special settings on the main one, everything is distributed there automatically.

On repeaters – I connect via cord, change IP-addresses, reboot the router, disable DHCP, reboot, turn on WDS, connect to the main router, save, and, since the distribution does not start, reboot again …. and immediately the connection to the router is lost! Browser says “The connection has been dropped. It looks like you are connected to a different network”. It no longer responds to my new IP address and does not let me into the admin area.

What’s interesting is that two new connections appear in the list of available connections – one with the name of the bridge network and one with the name of the router. The one with the router name is labeled “no internet access”. The other one, the one with the bridge name, asks for some kind of password when trying to connect, even though I specifically disable security on all routers.

The only way out of the situation is a factory reset, followed by new attempts at settings….

The second router behaves in the same way.

Previously, both of these router-repeaters worked in a bridge with another main router for several years, and everything was ok. True, the old main one had an alternative firmware – without it the modem did not want to start…. But here the modem works on the native one, but bridges do not want to start.

I will be very grateful if you can help me to understand the problem!

Answer

Hello. I understand that the article Configuring Tp-Link router in bridge mode (WDS). Connecting two routers via wi-fi you have already seen it?

It’s a bit confusing, it’s hard to understand what’s going on there. Usually, WDS bridge between TP-Link routers works well.

A few questions:

After disabling the DHCP server and rebooting, you should no longer be able to get into the router settings. Only after you manually punch in the addresses. Including the set IP address for that router. Do you do that?
After connecting to the main router, go back to the main router settings page of the repeater router. Look at the WDS status. It should say “Run.” What do you have there?
After rebooting the repeater router, you can access its settings via cable. Have you tried it? You may have to write static addresses on your computer.
After configuring the wireless bridge on the TP-Link router, new networks should not appear. The main network remains, and the network of the router-repeater. With the factory name, if you have not changed it. Isn’t that what you have? I don’t understand what the “bridged name” network is?

And some tips:

Install WPA2-PSK Wi-Fi network security. Including on the main router.
Keep an eye on what network/router you are connected to. After all, you have a cable connection, and most likely your computer is still automatically connected via Wi-Fi to the main router. Because of this, you may have trouble accessing settings. Disconnect the unnecessary connection.
Try to connect WR841N or WR841ND in bridge mode to another network. You can even give out Wi-Fi from your phone.
Try to configure the bridge without disabling DHCP-server.
See the status of the connection by WDS in the settings of the router, which you configure in bridge mode. You need to understand if there is a connection to the master router.
Disable the WPS function on all routers. Including the main router.

Try it. We can correspond in the comments below.