2.4Ghz wifi works, then refuses to connect, then works again?

[Rob Q]

I'm confused. All my devices can connect to the 2.4GHz network no trouble at all, then all of a sudden everything refuses to connect and Windows gives me 'Can not connect', huh? What's that about?
Funny thing is, I grabbed my wire and plugged it in the port to check the logs and then all of a sudden all of the 2.4GHz devices connected automatically.
Is this a bug with the ASUS routers?
However.. I loaded inSSIDer and my network was overlapping with the router next door. Not sure if that's what caused the issue.

(check signature for router info)

 

[JabberTech]

I have the exact same issue..it's driving me nuts because my SmartPlugs all use 2.4ghz and they are constantly disconnecting. Not to mention my legacy devices that use 2.4ghz annot connect, the Guest network as well. This all happened after updating to the 384.4.x
It has to be a bug with the 2.4ghz antenna...hopefully it gets resolved in he next release.

 

[Jack Yaz]

Have you disabled airtime fairness?

Screenshots of config + professional tabs will be a massive help.

Is the model and f/w info in your signature still accurate?

Router: ASUS RT-AC1900P
Operation Mode:Wireless router
Firmware Version: Merlin 384.4_2

 

[JabberTech]

yes airtime fairness is disabled. I'll get some screenshots soon

 

[JabberTech]

Seems like enabling the Guest Wifi network (either 2.4 or the 5.1) will render the entire 2.4ghz network useless and clients cannot connect. Yes I am using the ac-rt3200 with 384.4_2

*update* Even with leaving Guest network disabled, 2.4ghz will not allow clients to connect

 

[Rob Q]

Have you disabled airtime fairness?

Screenshots of config + professional tabs will be a massive help.

Is the model and f/w info in your signature still accurate?

Here are my pictures and yes that information in my signature is accurate.

 

[Jack Yaz]

Seems like enabling the Guest Wifi network (either 2.4 or the 5.1) will render the entire 2.4ghz network useless and clients cannot connect. Yes I am using the ac-rt3200 with 384.4_2

*update* Even with leaving Guest network disabled, 2.4ghz will not allow clients to connect

I've seen reports that disabling Spanning Tree Protocol makes a difference on the 3200, so worth a try if it's enabled? Under LAN -> Switch Control

Here are my pictures and yes that information in my signature is accurate.

The only setting I would query there is the Ack Suppression. If your WiFi is experiencing interference/lots of overlapping networks it would be better to disable it.

 

[Rob Q]

The only setting I would query there is the Ack Suppression. If your WiFi is experiencing interference/lots of overlapping networks it would be better to disable it.

So, just disable 'Optimize ack suppression'?

 

[Jack Yaz]

So, just disable 'Optimize ack suppression'?

If you're still having problems then I'd give it a go!

 

[Rob Q]

If you're still having problems then I'd give it a go!

I disabled it, just in case.
Will I notice anything different with the Wifi speeds with the Ack thing disabled?

I've attached an inSSIDer screenshot of the 2.4GHz band in case you are wondering about channel overlaps.

 

[retzer]

I had a vexing issue with 2.4 disconnects on my trusty Win7 machine that eventually was solved by setting the channel bandwidth to 20 MHz.

 

[eastavin]

Seems like enabling the Guest Wifi network (either 2.4 or the 5.1) will render the entire 2.4ghz network useless and clients cannot connect. Yes I am using the ac-rt3200 with 384.4_2

*update* Even with leaving Guest network disabled, 2.4ghz will not allow clients to connect

I have seen the same thing on and off over several versions the past few months on a 68u. I think though that the problem is more with the clients than the router. I have several Android devices that cant seem to decide which network to lock onto when there is both a Guest SSID and regular SSID cause it keeps flipping back and forth or being stuck in a state of indecision. I think Google changed their android f/w a few years ago to try and better test the reliability of a wifi signal before it unlatches from a cellular data connection leading to this.

Try forgetting the Guest ssid in your devices and if your clients have a wifi setting that offers the option to notify you of open networks disable that and disable any feature that may latch on automatically to an open wifi. If that does nothing try 384.4_0 and see if it goes away. I suspect it wont make much difference though. I have at least one event a day where everything seems to pause on the network for no apparent reason for a minute or so and this feels like its different from the client firmware story I told above. By the time I react its gone.

Others may have better advice.

 

[JabberTech]

Thanks for that but that is not the root of the issue. All of this started after the 384.x update. I have narrowed down the issue a bit more. Legacy devices that are only 2.4ghz do not have an issue connecting to the 2.4ghz ONLY SSID. The issue arises when newer devices with both radios try and connect to the 2.4ghz network, they fail and never connect. Connect these same devices to the 5Ghz network, and they connect as easy as 1,2,3. So the issue is when a device has both radios and tries to connect to the 2.4ghz network, the router will not allow them to connect, almost as if it doesn't know how to handle them. Also the guest 2.4ghz SSID doesn't seem to work at all, when that is activated it basically kicks all 2.4ghz devices off the network, regardless of whether or not they are on the guest or non guest network. But the 5ghz Guest network is just fine. So somehow the entire 2.4Ghz frequences are all messed up now