Repurpose an Old TP-Link Router as a Wireless Access Point Without Breaking DHCP

The fix is simple once you know the trap: an old router stops passing traffic the moment you disable its DHCP server only if the cable from your main router is plugged into its WAN port. Move that cable to a LAN port, leave the main router's DHCP running, and give the old unit a static LAN address such as 192.168.0.2. It will then behave as a proper wireless access point instead of a second router fighting your network.

What you are actually building

When people say "repeater," they often imagine a device that extends Wi-Fi over the air. Older routers like the TP-Link WR741ND do have repeater-style features, but they are firmware-dependent, often vendor-specific, and they typically halve your throughput because the radio must receive and retransmit on the same channel. The far more reliable way to reuse an old router is as a wired access point: run one Ethernet cable from the main router to the old one, and let the old one broadcast its own Wi-Fi.

In this mode the old box stops being a router at all. It becomes a switch with a radio attached. No NAT, no DHCP, no routing decisions happen on it — all of that stays on the main router, which keeps handing out addresses to every device on the network, wired or wireless.

Why disabling DHCP appears to kill the network

The WAN port on a consumer router is a separate, routed interface. If your uplink cable lands there, the old router keeps doing exactly what routers do: it NATs traffic between its LAN/Wi-Fi side and whatever is on the WAN side. Two things then go wrong:

• Clients get no addresses. The old router's DHCP server was the only thing assigning IPs to devices connected to it. Switch that off while the uplink is in the WAN port, and laptops connecting to its Wi-Fi get nothing usable (often a self-assigned 169.254.x.x address). Nothing "magically" connects because nothing can.
• Even with DHCP left on, you get double NAT. Devices behind the old router can reach the main LAN, but the reverse direction is blocked by NAT. And if both routers use the same subnet, routing between them breaks entirely.

This also explains the confusing 192.168.0.84 address. That is not your LAN setting — it is the WAN interface leasing an address from the main router's DHCP server, shown on the status page. The static LAN IP you configured (192.168.0.2) is still set; you just cannot reach the admin panel through the WAN-side address, because remote management from the WAN side is blocked by default on these firmwares.

Configuration, step by step

Do the initial setup with only your laptop connected to the old router, before attaching it to the main network:

1. Connect your laptop to a LAN port of the old router and open its admin panel.
2. In the LAN settings, change the IP address to something inside your main subnet but outside the main router's DHCP pool — for example 192.168.0.2 with mask 255.255.255.0. Reboot when prompted.
3. Confirm you can reach the panel at the new address.
4. Disable the DHCP server on the old router.
5. Set the wireless network name and password. Using a different SSID from your main router is usually wiser on unmanaged consumer gear — it makes troubleshooting far easier.
6. Now connect the Ethernet cable from a LAN port of the main router to a LAN port of the old router. Leave the WAN port empty.

The addressing plan ends up looking like this:

Main router:   192.168.0.1  (DHCP on, serves the whole network)
Old TP-Link:   192.168.0.2  (static LAN IP, DHCP OFF)
Uplink:        main router LAN port  ->  old router LAN port
               (WAN port left unused)

On these models the LAN ports are internally bridged to the wireless interface, so traffic flows automatically between Wi-Fi clients, wired clients, and the main router.

Troubleshooting the common failures

I locked myself out of the admin panel

If the old router is already cabled up with DHCP off and your laptop gets no address, assign your laptop a manual IP such as 192.168.0.50, mask 255.255.255.0, and browse to 192.168.0.2. If that still fails, hold the reset button for about ten seconds and start over from the factory defaults printed on the label.

The status page still shows a dynamic address

That dynamic address lives on the WAN interface. Once the cable is in a LAN port, the WAN interface goes unused and the lease disappears. If you still see one, the cable is in the wrong port.

Clients associate with the Wi-Fi but have no internet

Check three things: the uplink is in a LAN port, DHCP is off on the old router but on at the main router, and the main router actually has internet. Nine times out of ten it is the port.

SSID, channel, and placement choices

Give the access point its own SSID so you always know which radio a device is using; you can always rename both later to experiment with roaming. Put the two radios on different, non-overlapping channels to avoid interference, and place the access point roughly halfway between your main router and the dead zone — the Ethernet backhaul is what makes this setup fast and stable, so run the cable as far as you need to.

Keeping the setup healthy long term

Reserve 192.168.0.2 for the access point in the main router's DHCP settings (or simply keep it outside the pool), label the device and the cable so nobody "helpfully" moves it to the WAN port, and check the vendor's site once for a final firmware update — old routers stop receiving updates, so avoid exposing its admin panel to anything beyond your LAN.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to change anything on my main router?

No. Its DHCP server must stay on — it is now responsible for addressing every device on the combined network, including everything behind the access point.

Why is the WAN port wrong for this?

The WAN port puts a router in the path: NAT breaks two-way communication with the main LAN, a second DHCP server competes with the first, and identical subnets on both sides make routing fail. A LAN port keeps everything on one flat network.

Can I use the same SSID and password on both routers?

Yes, and devices will roam between them, but cheap client radios often cling to the weaker signal instead of switching. A unique SSID per router makes diagnosis straightforward; unify them only once everything works.

My old router has a built-in WDS or repeater mode — should I use that instead?

Only if you cannot run a cable. Wireless repeating halves throughput and depends on both routers cooperating; a wired access point is faster, simpler, and immune to those quirks.

Can I still use the remaining LAN ports on the old router?

Yes — that is a bonus. Anything plugged into them sits directly on your main network, effectively giving you extra switch ports for free.