Asus rt-ac68u. Usb 3.0 wifi interference setting

[NeymarJr]

Hi.

My usb3 flash drive is not working on the usb 3.0 port.

I read on this forum that disabling this parameter can solve my issue :
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/u...-reducing-usb3-0-interference-disabled.35871/

But i cant find the parameter in wireless/professional/2.4ghz menu.
I have 3.0.0.4.384_21045 firmware.
Maybe the name of the parameter changed ?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Grisu]

you will find it on startpage large USB3.0 icon, only if a device is connected.

 

[NeymarJr]

you will find it on startpage large USB3.0 icon, only if a device is connected.

Hey

Is it done by switching to usb2 to usb 3 mode ?
I plugged another usb drive and did that but still my usb 3.0 drive does not show.

Maybe my drive is damaged, would be strange as it was alaways plugged to the router.

 

[bbunge]

Hey

Is it done by switching to usb2 to usb 3 mode ?
I plugged another usb drive and did that but still my usb 3.0 drive does not show.

Maybe my drive is damaged, would be strange as it was alaways plugged to the router.

I have had a couple of USB 3 drives fail suddenly. They were PNY and not more than a month old!

Sent from my P01M using Tapatalk

 

[NeymarJr]

My usb 3.0 drive works fine if plugged on the usb 2.0 port. I tried another usb 3 drive and got no pb on usb 3 port.

Maybe it got damaged like yours.

 

[PeteS457]

I have a RT-AC88U router running the latest stock firmware 3.0.0.4.384_21045. I also have a USB 3.0 drive I've attached to the front 3.0 port that doesn't work properly. If the router is not recognizing the drive, I can unplug the router for a few seconds, boot up the router and it will recognize the drive (most of the time). But the drive recognition will be short-lived. This USB 3.0 drive works in any other computer or device I plug it into without fail. I've also tried other USB 3.0 drives and it will not recognize them either. However, the port seems to work with all non-3.0 drives. I cannot find any USB 3.0 reduce interference parameter anywhere in the firmware. I do see a USB mode (2.0 or 3.0) when you click on the large USB 3.0 icon on the Network Map page. (It's on USB 3.0 mode by default.) Any suggestions on how to resolve this problem? Thanks in advance.

 

[Grisu]

I cannot find any USB 3.0 reduce interference parameter anywhere in the firmware. I do see a USB mode (2.0 or 3.0) when you click on the large USB 3.0 icon on the Network Map page. (It's on USB 3.0 mode by default.)

Reduce USB3.0 interference has mooved from WiFi-prof setting to USB3.0 icon on network map now, it is just the same setting as before, but now only shown if a USB3.0 device is connected.

 

[PeteS457]

Reduce USB3.0 interference has mooved from WiFi-prof setting to USB3.0 icon on network map now, it is just the same setting as before, but now only shown if a USB3.0 device is connected.

Thanks for your help, but I do not see any "Reduce USB3.0 Interference" parameter when I click on the large USB 3.0 icon on Network Map. I have a USB 3.0 device connected. There is a "USB Mode" drop-down box where you can choose USB 3.0 or USB 2.0, but that's the only thing I see.

 

[Grisu]

that's it, it's the same!

 

[James62370]

Thank you letting us know that "Reducing USB 3.0 Interference" has moved. I was wondering what happened to that option. So in order to get the quickest speeds of my USB NAS Drive connected to this port. Should it be set to USB 3.0 or USB 2.0?

I appreciate your help.

 

[Grisu]

So in order to get the quickest speeds of my USB NAS Drive connected to this port. Should it be set to USB 3.0 or USB 2.0?

What do you think is faster and newer standard?

 

[OzarkEdge]

Thank you letting us know that "Reducing USB 3.0 Interference" has moved. I was wondering what happened to that option. So in order to get the quickest speeds of my USB NAS Drive connected to this port. Should it be set to USB 3.0 or USB 2.0?

I appreciate your help.

The USB Mode 3.0 setting will enable USB 3.0 speeds (fastest), and will likely interfere with 2.4 GHz WiFi, causing the Tx/Rx rates to drop.

The USB Mode 2.0 setting will restrict to USB 2.0 speeds (slower), and presumably will reduce or eliminate any 2.4 GHz interference.

It's a trade off. Your needs and usage patterns might find a happy compromise. For example, if you need your NAS always ON and don't care about any old 2.4 GHz wireless clients, use USB Mode 3.0.

OE

 

[James62370]

The USB Mode 3.0 setting will enable USB 3.0 speeds (fastest), and will likely interfere with 2.4 GHz WiFi, causing the Tx/Rx rates to drop.

The USB Mode 2.0 setting will restrict to USB 2.0 speeds (slower), and presumably will reduce or eliminate any 2.4 GHz interference.

It's a trade off. Your needs and usage patterns might find a happy compromise. For example, if you need your NAS always ON and don't care about any old 2.4 GHz wireless clients, use USB Mode 3.0.

OE

Thank you for your clear and detailed explanation. It is much appreciated.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Thank you for your clear and detailed explanation. It is much appreciated.

It's possible a well-shielded USB 3.0 cable may help... but I have no insight into that yet.

I wonder if one could add a spare/retired router with WiFi disabled to host the USB device at a distance? This assumes the USB 3.0 EMI is range-limited.

OE

 

[James62370]

Would using USB 2.0 mode get better 2.4 GHz WiFi distance? I'm thinking about getting a Wifi Garage Opener/Closer and was hoping it might increase the signal, or is only transfer speeds affected...

 

[Grisu]

you have to test it with your equipment and location, nobody can say it.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Would using USB 2.0 mode get better 2.4 GHz WiFi distance? I'm thinking about getting a Wifi Garage Opener/Closer and was hoping it might increase the signal, or is only transfer speeds affected...

As I see it... the problem is interference. The high-speed USB 3.0 transmissions at the router interfere with the 2.4 GHz WiFi transmissions at the router. This interference reduces the effective throughput (communication rates) of the 2.4 GHz WiFi as it struggles to complete its transmissions in the presence of EMI/interference.

Your 2.4 GHz WiFi will likely still reach the same distance, power-wise, but things get garbled by the EMI and the router may compensate by slowing down the WiFi communications. Or something like that.

It's possible that the impaired 2.4 GHz WiFi is still effective enough to serve its wireless clients' communication needs, particularly slow/simple IoT devices like a garage door opener.

So, try USB Mode 3.0 and see how things work. USB 2.0 will reduce/eliminate the EMI, but will not affect the WiFi range/coverage, a function of transmission power which is not necessarily affected by EMI. If you need more 2.4 GHz range, you need a more powerful WiFi radio or need to locate the radio closer to the wireless client... but 2.4 GHz WiFi travels pretty far so you likely don't have a distance issue... and you may have a tolerable USB 3.0 EMI issue.

I wonder... if the USB 3.0 device hibernates, does the USB 3.0 link still operate and generate EMI? Maybe the EMI will only be a factor when the NAS is awake.

OE

 

[venomo160]

Something interesting that might help others. My RT-AC86U is on the latest firmware 3.0.0.4.384_21140
I have two external portable HDD connected via a powered USB hub to the USB 3.0 port of the router. I noticed that the USB Mode for these two HDDs were on USB 2.0, so changed it to USB 3.0. But then I noticed a significant lag or a complete lack of responsiveness in my Philips Hue lights. Even resetting the Hue Bridge did not improve things. However, once I changed the USB Mode back to USB 2.0, things went back to normal and Hue light became responsive again.

 

[radurus]

Short story...
Adding a USB3.0 hub works for the disks but the 2.4GHz network became unusable.

My findings:
- I have ASUS RT-AC66U-b1 with Merlin fw since 1.5 years
- from the beginning I attached one Seagate 1TB disk on USB3.0 port
- it works well 35-37MB/s highest transfer speed over SAMBA gigabit wired connection
- no issues on 2.4GHz networks

I bought another Seagate 2TB disk thinking to use a USB3.0 hub to connect both disks on USB3.0 port.
Well it worked for the disks but the 2.4Ghz networks started to be unusable (access denied, dissappear, asks for the previously known password).
I removed the usb hub, moved the 2TB disk on usb 2.0 port and the 2.4GHz networks started to work properly.

For my curiosity I switched the USB3.0 to USB2.0 mode and did some speed tests on 2.4GHz connection to compare with the USB3.0 mode (you know... the interference).
Well... with USB3.0 mode active I got 90/80Mbps (DL/UL). With USB 2.0 mode active I got unstable DL ~50-70Mbps speed and 80-85Mbps UL.

I left the system with USB3.0 active then.
The second disk works well on USB2.0 with ~28MB/s transfer.