AC68U/P Router/Repeater setup

[ColinTaylor]

Not sure how MEDIA SERVER is relevant. Perhaps you mean Media Bridge?

 

[Digitald00d]

Not sure how MEDIA SERVER is relevant. Perhaps you mean Media Bridge?

Yea. That’s what I meant. What the GUI interface says. MB. But if you have other input, I’m all antennas. ;^)


Sent using my handheld communicator

 

[kfp]

Maybe try avoiding repeater mode (if that’s feasible with your network)? Media bridge and AP modes have been working well for me.

 

[TAR]

Yea. That’s what I meant. What the GUI interface says. MB. But if you have other input, I’m all antennas. ;^)


Sent using my handheld communicator

Try John’s fork on the repeater. I’ve used it and it worked fine.
33E7

 

[Digitald00d]

Try John’s fork on the repeater. I’ve used it and it worked fine.
33E7

Sounds good, I’ll give it a go. Never used that fork. I’ll read up but generally, is it applied just like Merlin? Just flash it?


Sent using my handheld communicator

 

[Digitald00d]

Before giving Johns fork a go, seems like I’ve been seeing more threads stating issues since they’ve moved to 384.5 & 384.6. Some have went back to Asus stock and had good luck. Since this is basically a vanilla REP, I’m going to try the Asus stock first before John. I’ll keep an eye on all the threads to see if latest Merlin changes with 2G fixes (not saying Merlin is at fault yet).

 

[Grisu]

Sounds good, I’ll give it a go. Never used that fork. I’ll read up but generally, is it applied just like Merlin? Just flash it?

no difference, but when changeing to John you should load it after factory reset with restauration tool to prevent possible problems (related to NVRAM changes). I had no problem with dirty flash but didnt test much and not recommended!
Same would be if you use older asus or merlin firmwares before 382.

 

[Digitald00d]

Before giving Johns fork a go, seems like I’ve been seeing more threads stating issues since they’ve moved to 384.5 & 384.6. Some have went back to Asus stock and had good luck. Since this is basically a vanilla REP, I’m going to try the Asus stock first before John. I’ll keep an eye on all the threads to see if latest Merlin changes with 2G fixes (not saying Merlin is at fault yet).

Ok. Back to the Asus current firmware. Boy does the GUI seem sloooower! Test for awhile and see what happens.

 

[Digitald00d]

Well, been back to the stock Asus for a couple weeks. The REP continues the hesitation after reconnecting from iPhone setting overnight. Seems to happen on both 2G and 5G. Same old iPhone swipe up/disconnect net/reconnect net always seems to kick start it to working. Got some new log entries I don’t remember from before. See below. Also been reading lots of complaints across several threads stating issues after Merlin upgrades. Now mine is still acting weird even going back to current stock so maybe not Merlin. Out of options, guess I’ll wait until next version comes out before trying again and continue SwipeUp/Disconnect/Reconnect.

 

[TAR]

I'm on latest stock on main and repeater. Same thing. Spinning wheel no internet. Have to disconnect and reconnect. I can't find a pattern.
Was gone for over a week. Was connected to a Netgear router and had zero problems on either band. There was no repeater in the Netgear setup.

 

[Digitald00d]

TAR,
Have you messed with the AiMesh function in the latest stock?

 

[TAR]

TAR,
Have you messed with the AiMesh function in the latest stock?

Nope. I’ve used repeater mode for years with no problems. Hopefully an update fixes this.
It’s definitely an iPhone Asus repeater problem.
My wireless log look like yours
Add client to monitor list

 

[Digitald00d]

UPDATE: Today I updated to the latest Asus stock. Same old issue with the 2G and 5G REP clients. Worse with iPhone. MacBook and Roku less noticeable but still there. Time to research an alternative me thinks!

 

[TAR]

UPDATE: Today I updated to the latest Asus stock. Same old issue with the 2G and 5G REP clients. Worse with iPhone. MacBook and Roku less noticeable but still there. Time to research an alternative me thinks!

I have had some good luck with this lately. I'm running stock 32738 on the main router and stock 21140 on the repeater. Iphone is running the latest public beta ios 12. I have not had to toggle the wifi on my iphone at all. Been up for a few days. Turn off airplane mode phone connects no problem. I've been using 5G and haven't tried 2G yet. Before both were a mess and several times a day I would have to toggle wifi to get a connection. The phone showed connected but just a spinning wheel and no internet. Also the phone would not show up in the clients list on the repeater when it was having trouble. Toggle wifi and it would be on the list and internet worked.
For some reason 32738 on the repeater you cannot change wifi channels or settings. The links don't work. On 21140 you can click each ssid at the top and make changes. No idea why.

 

[Digitald00d]

I have had some good luck with this lately. I'm running stock 32738 on the main router and stock 21140 on the repeater. Iphone is running the latest public beta ios 12. I have not had to toggle the wifi on my iphone at all. Been up for a few days. Turn off airplane mode phone connects no problem. I've been using 5G and haven't tried 2G yet. Before both were a mess and several times a day I would have to toggle wifi to get a connection. The phone showed connected but just a spinning wheel and no internet. Also the phone would not show up in the clients list on the repeater when it was having trouble. Toggle wifi and it would be on the list and internet worked.
For some reason 32738 on the repeater you cannot change wifi channels or settings. The links don't work. On 21140 you can click each ssid at the top and make changes. No idea why.

Thanks for the update Tar! I can put my two units to the stock you’re talking about, but the beta iOS 12 is not available to the general public, correct?
Did you try the same setup with iOS 11 (latest)? If not, I may have to wait on 12 to show up before I get good results.

Thanks again for your feedback!
-les

 

[TAR]

iOS beta 12 is available to the public. Just search Apple beta. Sign up nothing to it. iOS 12 runs great.
I did try the setup without the beta and same problem. Had to toggle iPhone. Only iPhone. Everything else was fine.

 

[Digitald00d]

TAR, one last question before I change things. Did you try 32738 on both RTR and REP before putting 21140 on REP. I ask because I already have 32738 on REP and I’d have to downgrade. Wondering.

 

[TAR]

TAR, one last question before I change things. Did you try 32738 on both RTR and REP before putting 21140 on REP. I ask because I already have 32738 on REP and I’d have to downgrade. Wondering.

Yes I did. 32738 on the repeater did not let me select WIFI channels etc when clicking their SSIDs on the repeater. That’s why I am using the older firmware on the repeater.
Using newest on the router

 

[TAR]

TAR, one last question before I change things. Did you try 32738 on both RTR and REP before putting 21140 on REP. I ask because I already have 32738 on REP and I’d have to downgrade. Wondering.

Can u change channels etc on 32738 on the repeater? I tried everything w no luck on mine. Links did nothing.

 

[Digitald00d]

Can u change channels etc on 32738 on the repeater? I tried everything w no luck on mine. Links did nothing.

Just finished setup with 32738 on both. Cannot change channels on REP. Musta been a feature that was fixed. This is weird though; after RTR was done I had 2G set to Ch11 20M and 5G to Ch149 80M. When I set REP up, it now has the exact same settings, like it got them from RTR. I tried changing on RTR to see if REP switched. It didn’t automagically, and I really didn’t want to reboot REP again since it seems smooth for time being. We’ll see what happens.