AX92U keeps getting fatal error on WL1 (5 Ghz #1) - any advice

[Gilad]

Hi,
I'm about to give up on these routers as they are giving me hell.
Two AX92U with a network cable backhaul (AI mesh) setup with 3 separate SSIDs (2.4Ghz, 5Ghz and Wifi 6 only 5Ghz).
Routers run latest formal firmware (3.0.0.4.386_43084) but the same happened with previous two versions as well.
I did a clean manual install with a settings restore and re-added the mesh node after the upgrade to ensure a clean start.

The mesh is setup to reboot daily (5 AM) and I get a crashed 5Ghz wifi (no Internet) randomly every two-three days with the log saying:
kernel: wl1: fatal error, reinitializing, total count of reinit's[1]

Only a reset helps resolve this but I'm pretty sick and tired of not being able to trust the network to stay up.

Did anyone face this issue and resolved it?
I've already tweaked the settings over and over without any change to stability.

I suspect it's either a design flaw or a heat related issues (it can get hot here - around 30 Celsius when the AC is off).

Any ideas or advice before kicking the routers and getting something more reliable?

 

[tglesel]

Try (as a test) to disable the 2,4ghz wifi to see if the fatal error messages disappears. It worked for me, and I do not need 2,4ghz Wi-Fi and the fatal errors in the log disappears. If I enable 2,4ghz again the messages reappears.

 

[Gilad]

Thanks and I wish I could but I got a lot of devices here (smart home devices) that support only 2.4Ghz so I can’t disable it without loosing a lot of house functions.

 

[KevinM99]

I'm facing the exact same thing. Running Firmware Version : 3.0.0.4.386_41712-gf4ae027. Have a near identical setup as you. Two devices, connected via wired backhaul, running all three bands (most smart home devices on 2.4Ghz network). The only difference I have is I'm not using AI Mesh on the Access Point. I have it set up as a stand alone access point, but with the same network names as the main router, so it kind of acts like a mesh where devices can bounce between the signal from the Router and the AP, without being in Mesh mode.

I keep experiencing the same Kernel errors as you on the main router, and some of the devices on the 5Ghz-1 band keep losing their connection. 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz-2 seem to be ok and keep their connections. It's only the 5Ghz-1 band that seems to have the issue.

I also have both the Router and AP set to reboot themselves nightly at 4am, and I still get this occasionally during the day every few days. It's just a huge dump of Kernel errors messages all of a sudden.

Have you bee able to figure anything out?

Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: phydebug :
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x31 0x31 0x31 0x31
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x71 0x71 0x71 0x71
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x31 0x31 0x31 0x31
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x31 0x31 0x31 0x31
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x31 0x31 0x31 0x31
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x31 0x31 0x31 0x31
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x0 0x0 0x0 0x0
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x31 0x31 0x31 0x31
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: pktproc 0x10e pktproc 0x10e pktproc 0x10e pktproc 0x10e
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: psm stack_status : 0x10
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: psm stack_entries:
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x00dc
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x1472
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x1399
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x17ea
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x149f
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x1d7b
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x14b2
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: 0x1fa3
Sep 22 06:44:40 kernel: wl0: fatal error, reinitializing, total count of reinit's[4]
Sep 22 07:00:56 kernel: 8A:27:9C:61:3C:B7 not mesh client, can't update it's ip
Sep 22 07:20:11 kernel: 8A:27:9C:61:3C:B7 not mesh client, can't update it's ip
Sep 22 07:20:11 kernel: 8A:27:9C:61:3C:B7 not mesh client, can't update it's ip
Sep 22 07:21:29 kernel: 8A:27:9C:61:3C:B7 not mesh client, can't update it's ip
Sep 22 07:28:12 kernel: eth2 (Ext switch port: 1) (Logical Port: 9) (phyId: 9) Link UP at 100 mbps full duplex

(this is just a small portion - my log has pages and pages of this)

 

[leerees]

Are you using a wireless backhaul?

 

[KevinM99]

No. Connected via WIRED backhaul. Router and AP setup.

 

[leerees]

No. Connected via WIRED backhaul. Router and AP setup.

All of the issues seem to be from people who use ethernet backhaul or operate them as AP's.

If you are using Router and AP mode, it negates the point of having the AX92u's.

The 92u's are for people who want to setup a full wireless mesh environment.

I imagine the reason you are having problems is because Asus didn't anticipate people would use them as AP's. I know it offers it in the admin but this is Asus.

If I was in your situation, I'd probably swap the 92u's for either an 86u or an 89x and combine with a good AP.

Obviously this is not the answer you want. All I can say is in full mesh mode with no ethernet backhaul they do work perfectly, the latency is only 1ms - 2ms more than ethernet.

 

[Thw0rted]

An anecdote that could maybe help. I had 3x 92u configured in AP mode (can't set ISP router to bridge/modem...) with one in wireless and one ethernet backhaul. There were two problems: the DHCP server was wired to the wired node, and the wired node backhaul was very slightly flaky (old CAT5, 100baseT link). I had all sorts of problems, nodes dropping off, clients dropping off, you name it.

I moved the DHCP server to be plugged into the fixed LAN (ISP router), and I switched the ethernet backhaul node to wireless. Since then I had over 100 days of uptime and almost no drop-outs.

 

[KevinM99]

All of the issues seem to be from people who use ethernet backhaul or operate them as AP's.

If you are using Router and AP mode, it negates the point of having the AX92u's.

The 92u's are for people who want to setup a full wireless mesh environment.

I imagine the reason you are having problems is because Asus didn't anticipate people would use them as AP's. I know it offers it in the admin but this is Asus.

If I was in your situation, I'd probably swap the 92u's for either an 86u or an 89x and combine with a good AP.

Obviously this is not the answer you want. All I can say is in full mesh mode with no ethernet backhaul they do work perfectly, the latency is only 1ms - 2ms more than ethernet.

Thanks for the response. For probably the last 6 months, everything was working fine. Seems to be something that has started only in the last month, but have not changed anything on the network (same devices, same usage).

The problem with using the 92u's in wireless backhaul is I thought that it used the 5Ghz-2 (AX) band for the backhaul. So if you use it wireless, you only get to utilize 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz-1 for devices. I currently have 2.4Ghz for home smart devices, 5Ghz-1 for AC capable devices, and then 5Ghz-2 for AX capable devices. Did Asus change it so that the 5Ghz-2 band is still usable even when using Wireless backhaul?

 

[Thw0rted]

AFAIK, you've always been able to use 5GHz-2 for clients. Wireless -> 5GHz-2 -> Hide SSID has been exposed for as long as I've had the device (probably about a year?), if you unhide the SSID and give it a known password, any clients can use it. It's better to avoid for most users, IMHO, but in some cases it might still be helpful. In my case, I make the AX clients use the AC (5GHz-1) band because AC is plenty fast enough to saturate my ISP connection, low enough latency for in-home streaming, etc etc.

(Dedicating the entire channel to wireless backhaul means that the routers have full control over the channel. Remember, wireless medium is just like ethernet in that only one device can "talk" at a time, and you quickly escalate to wasting a bunch of bandwidth on overhead if a lot of people are shouting at once.)

 

[KevinM99]

Looking into it more, it appears it used to be that way where the 5Ghz-2 band was used as a dedicated backhaul exclusively if you did wireless AIMesh, but then ASUS provided an update that changed it. Now, the 5GHz-2 band can still be used as a dedicated backhaul exclusively if you want, as a client channel exclusively, or a combination of the two. Now, you there is a switch in the settings you can turn on/off to make the 5GHz-2 dedicated for backhaul.

[AiMesh] How to use RT-AX92U's Wi-Fi 6 band on AiMesh mode? | Official Support | ASUS USA

I may have to check out this option.

I also just installed a new Firmware version yesterday afternoon that I saw came out on 9/22, and seems to call out fixing some bug in the 5Ghz-1 channel (which is where I was getting the issue). There wasn't a lot of detail what the bug actually was, but I'm hoping that maybe that was my issue, and ASUS fixed it. Been running 24 hours now, and no 5Ghz-1 channel Kernel errors so far. Fingers crossed.

 

[leerees]

You can share the backhaul with the clients. If you set it to AX only, you will get really fast speeds.

The backhaul connects at 2gbps - 2.5gbps. If shared, that means it can support a 1gbps internet connection before it runs into any saturation issues. OFDMA will help if you need to transfer faster than 1gbps on the shared backhaul.

You definitely want your clients to use the 5g2 radio as the range is phenomenal, even better than the 2.4 ghz. Another plus is the throughput stays high at long distances.

The 5g1 radio is AC 2x2 so best used as a last resort for legacy AC devices. It'll only offer around 500mbps.