386.4: AC86U losing 2.4 GHz devices

[pinkgrae]

I took it to mean he set his channel to Auto which works well for me on 2.4 Ghz. This way the router will parodically check for the least busy channel and move to it. If you chose a fixed channel, it may not stay clear.

Morris

Ah you mean he 'cleared' the manual box and ticked auto? My experience was that setting a channel manually improved my wifi reliability, as auto seemed to invariably pick the wrong channels or was too slow to adjust. But whatever works in someone's particular situation works I suppose.

Would be nice to have the power to clear a channel for myself only though. ..

 

[Morris]

Ah you mean he 'cleared' the manual box and ticked auto? My experience was that setting a channel manually improved my wifi reliability, as auto seemed to invariably pick the wrong channels or was too slow to adjust. But whatever works in someone's particular situation works I suppose.

Would be nice to have the power to clear a channel for myself only though. ..

Yes it can take too long. I think it checks every 12 hours. They should detect excess collisions and check immediately or at least once an hour.

As for clearing the air, if the area service is via coax, it's easy yet I will not post how to do it. Also, if they figure it out, you could have some serious legal issues.

 

[heywire]

Still having this problem with the latest ASUS RT-AC86U Firmware 3.0.0.4.386.46092 2022/03/03 . It improved for a few days, but then it throws off all 2.4 devices until I manually restart, again. 3-4 days of uptime seems to be the point where it crashes after testing since this release came out. fracking unbelievable.

 

[Morris]

Still having this problem with the latest ASUS RT-AC86U Firmware 3.0.0.4.386.46092 2022/03/03 . It improved for a few days (3 seems to be the point where it breaks), but then it throws off all 2.4 devices until I manually restart, again. fracking unbelievable.

What is in your log at the time of the disconnect?

Where is your router located and what devices are close to your router?

I suspect an environmental issue and if so, no firmware will fix this. You will need to address the cause by relocating your router or the source of the interference.

Morris

 

[heywire]

What is in your log at the time of the disconnect?

Where is your router located and what devices are close to your router?

I suspect an environmental issue and if so, no firmware will fix this. You will need to address the cause by relocating your router or the source of the interference.

Morris

It's a firmware issue. The whole 2.4ghz band crashes while 5ghz still works, until I restart and then the loop happens all over again. As I stated (and the firmware changelog proports to have improved), but still ends up happening, now after 3-4 days. There are no environmental explanations for this sort of behaviour.

Earlier, I've tried multiple locations and setups, and several identical units, as I bought another 2 that I haven't been able to deploy because I haven't gotten any of them to work. Actually, it has been driving me mad for several months now.

As for the log, it turns out all entries after may 5th 2021 is gone after I restarted the router - literally deleted. There is one entry @ May 5, and then the next is Mar 18.

 

[OzarkEdge]

It's a firmware issue. The whole 2.4ghz band crashes while 5ghz still works, until I restart and then the loop happens all over again. As I stated (and the firmware changelog proports to have improved), but still ends up happening, now after 3-4 days. There are no environmental explanations for this sort of behaviour.

Earlier, I've tried multiple locations and setups, and several identical units, as I bought another 2 that I haven't been able to deploy because I haven't gotten any of them to work. Actually, it has been driving me mad for several months now.

As for the log, it turns out all entries after may 5th 2021 is gone after I restarted the router - literally deleted. There is one entry @ May 5, and then the next is Mar 18.

Could just be another dying AC86U 2.4 radio.

OE

 

[Morris]

It's a firmware issue. The whole 2.4ghz band crashes while 5ghz still works, until I restart and then the loop happens all over again. As I stated (and the firmware changelog proports to have improved), but still ends up happening, now after 3-4 days. There are no environmental explanations for this sort of behaviour.

Earlier, I've tried multiple locations and setups, and several identical units, as I bought another 2 that I haven't been able to deploy because I haven't gotten any of them to work. Actually, it has been driving me mad for several months now.

As for the log, it turns out all entries after may 5th 2021 is gone after I restarted the router - literally deleted. There is one entry @ May 5, and then the next is Mar 18.

Next time save the log before restarting. May 5 is the date used for a restart before the cock is synced from the Internet

You need an open mind to trouble shoot. The assumption that it is firmware could be wrong and since many others have no issue, it's questionable at best.

I lean toward an environmental issue yet also thought about a 2.4 radio issue. Radios dying on Asus routers is more common than we would like

 

[Igor]

Anyone else experiencing this? Any better workarounds than rebooting the router?

I solved my problem by turning off the Beamforming option.

WiFi connection problem

RT-AX68U, fw Merlin 386.4. WiFi connection problem. I don't understand the reasons. I see a successful connection: Mar 1 15:05:21 dnsmasq-dhcp[1489]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.50.22 a0:20:a6:2f:77:57 pzem3 Then many attempts to get the device name: Mar 1 15:06:21 dnsmasq-dhcp[1489]...

www.snbforums.com

 

[Wallace_n_Gromit]

Still having this problem with the latest ASUS RT-AC86U Firmware 3.0.0.4.386.46092 2022/03/03 . It improved for a few days, but then it throws off all 2.4 devices until I manually restart, again. 3-4 days of uptime seems to be the point where it crashes after testing since this release came out. fracking unbelievable.

I was having issues with my wifi--both bands--dropping several times a day (After literally months of near flawless service) I imagine too many dirty updates was causing my router to become unstable.

After making recommended changes (posted by several members which included disabling universal beamforming like @Igor mentioned in the post right before mine) in my Professional Settings for the 2.4GHz/5GHz wifi bands, my router has been running stable for several months now. (Just a few minutes ago dirty upgraded the router to Merlin 386.5) CMF

UPDATE (MAY 07, 2020): Dirty updated my router to Merlin 386.5_2 when version became available. Still running great!

 

[Morris]

I was having issues with my wifi--both bands--dropping several times a day (After literally months of near flawless service) I imagine too many dirty updates was causing my router to become unstable.

After making recommended changes (posted by several members which included disabling universal beamforming like @Igor mentioned in the post right before mine) in my Professional Settings for the 2.4GHz/5GHz wifi bands my router has been running stable for several months now. (Just a few minutes ago dirty upgraded the router to Merlin 386.5) CMF

I'm glad to learn you resolved your issues and your posing your settings will help others.

 

[heywire]

Could just be another dying AC86U 2.4 radio.

OE

I don't buy it. People always talk about the fabled AC86 dying, but then a new firmware release lands that improves the problem substantially... before it crashes again. And then the problem gets worse in the next release. This is inconsistent with a hardware failure that would persist through the firmware updates.

Personally, my theory is that it's just certain older firmware revisions that Asus no longer gives an f about, and is not doing proper testing for- that keeps breaking all of the time because of their evidently absent quality control. Just not giving a bloody f****. That's what's so enraging. If there is a known hardware issue, then recall the damn thing.

 

[Morris]

I don't buy it. People always talk about the fabled AC86 dying, but then a new firmware release lands that improves the problem substantially... before it crashes again. And then the problem gets worse in the next release. This is inconsistent with a hardware failure that would persist through the firmware updates.

Personally, my theory is that it's just certain older firmware revisions that Asus no longer gives an f about, and is not doing proper testing for- that keeps breaking all of the time because of their evidently absent quality control. Just not giving a bloody f****. That's what's so enraging. If there is a known hardware issue, then recall the damn thing.

I'm sorry your router has gone haywire! My AC68U had it's 5 GHz radio die and there had been no firmware upgrade. I've been using Asus routers for at least 10 years and longevity is not as good as it should be.

I suggest you start with the settings that Wallace posted. If that dose not fix your problems then save the log before restarting.

 

[pinkgrae]

I was having issues with my wifi--both bands--dropping several times a day (After literally months of near flawless service) I imagine too many dirty updates was causing my router to become unstable.

After making recommended changes (posted by several members which included disabling universal beamforming like @Igor mentioned in the post right before mine) in my Professional Settings for the 2.4GHz/5GHz wifi bands my router has been running stable for several months now. (Just a few minutes ago dirty upgraded the router to Merlin 386.5) CMF

Same here - had similar issues with devices dropping of the 2.4GHz (only) band. Same issues across various Merlin and stock firmware versions - sometimes better, sometimes worse, but always there.

Turned off all the fancy stuff on the 2.4GHz band (e.g. no universal beamforming, no smart connect, no MIMO, enabled legacy wireless mode), resulting in issues on the 2.4GHz band vanishing.

I only use the 2.4GHz band for IoT devices and one old phone, and suspect that in my case the issues were due to those devices not playing well with the more advanced thingymabobs in the firmware (which they couldn't take advantage of in any case).

 

[OzarkEdge]

I don't buy it. People always talk about the fabled AC86 dying, but then a new firmware release lands that improves the problem substantially... before it crashes again. And then the problem gets worse in the next release. This is inconsistent with a hardware failure that would persist through the firmware updates.

Personally, my theory is that it's just certain older firmware revisions that Asus no longer gives an f about, and is not doing proper testing for- that keeps breaking all of the time because of their evidently absent quality control. Just not giving a bloody f****. That's what's so enraging. If there is a known hardware issue, then recall the damn thing.

Denial is a phase of hardware failure.

OE

 

[Tech9]

From my experience with AC86U routers, most of the time issues like this are hardware failure indicators. I had one with intermittent 2.4GHz issues, the IC was re-flowed to fix and it was working okay for some time, then it failed again. It would perhaps work longer if the IC was re-balled, but I don't have the right stencil for this IC. There are multiple ICs with the same solder on this PCB and the repair is not worth it. I would replace the router.

 

[heywire]

From my experience with AC86U routers, most of the time issues like this are hardware failure indicators. I had one with intermittent 2.4GHz issues, the IC was re-flowed to fix and it was working okay for some time, then it failed again. It would perhaps work longer if the IC was re-balled, but I don't have the right stencil for this IC. There are multiple ICs with the same solder on this PCB and the repair is not worth it. I would replace the router.

Then how come the frequency of the problems vary with firmware versions, across several units with different hardware revisions?

Btw: another example of the atrocious QC with this router now exposed over at the latest firmare-thread - ruins AiMesh setups until you revert to the previous version. Hardware failure there too you think? And this is after they introduced "automatic update". How the hell are we supposed to utilize this functionality knowing that it could brick the network setup at any given point?

 

[Tech9]

units with different hardware revisions

What different hardware revisions?

How the hell are we supposed to utilize this functionality

Send a feedback to Asus. I only play with Asus routers. My main network is completely different hardware.

 

[Morris]

Then how come the frequency of the problems vary with firmware versions, across several units with different hardware revisions?

Btw: another example of the atrocious QC with this router now exposed over at the latest firmare-thread - ruins AiMesh setups until you revert to the previous version. Hardware failure there too you think? And this is after they introduced "automatic update". How the hell are we supposed to utilize this functionality knowing that it could brick the network setup at any given point?

When one's router don't work the best approach is to replace it. That's what I've done with my RT-AC86U and I have not had a problem since.

If you are convinced it's a firmware issue, then load the Asus code and if the old version works and the new one don't contact the cook and tell the cook the food sucks, send me one that taste better