Brand new RT-AC87U, 5Ghz radio always disabled

[chiwalfrm]

I just bought a RT-AC87U from newegg and I was wondering if I got a defective unit or is this something due to a bug in the firmware?

Basically, the 5ghz radio is disabled when the router boots.

I tried both the Asus 12/1 beta firmware (RT-AC87U_3.0.0.4_378_3123-ga595953.trx) and Merlin's RT-AC87U_3.0.0.4_376.48_1.zip.

After the router boots, the 5ghz light is off. But the router shows the radio is enabled in Wireless/Professional Tab (Enable Radio = yes).

In System Log -> Wireless Log, I see at the bottom it says:
"5 GHz radio is not ready"

Using a Wifi scanner, I see it is definitely not broadcasting a 5Ghz signal.

I appreciate any help on this problem.

 

[raphaelogy]

I am unsure if you are referring to the moment when 2.4Ghz is ready, or is it like permanently down for 5Ghz?

Since 2.4 and 5Ghz are controlled by different chipsets, 5Ghz will take roughly a minute more to be ready after 2.4Ghz is ready.

If you mean that 5Ghz is constantly not ready even after waiting for a reasonable period of boot up time, then i guess you should get the device checked.

 

[chiwalfrm]

It is permanently down for 5ghz. Even a factory reset doesn't bring it back. BUT flashing the official Asus firmware 2769 brings back both radios. Could it be something in the latest Asus beta and Merlin firmware that causes this issue?

 

[chiwalfrm]

Well I spoke too soon. After going through the Setup screens, eventually got to LAN -> enable jumbo frames, that reboots the router and now I can't get the 5ghz radio to come back.

This gentleman has the same problem and he says it turned out to be a hardware issue. He didn't get a working unit until the 3rd exchange.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18543

That doesn't give me a lot of confidence I will probably just get a refund because I don't want to play the shipping game back and forth for a unit that works. For a $280 router, I expected more.

 

[RMerlin]

Make sure you only use alphanumerics in your WPA2 keys.

 

[chiwalfrm]

I returned the router this morning so can no longer test.

As a matter of fact, I had the ampersand '&' character in my WPA2 keys. In any case, I doubt I would keep the router even if it was just a limitation of alphanumeric characters in WPA2 keys in the firmware. This router has been out for 5 months and Asus haven't or can't fixed this simple problem?

 

[awwtopsy]

Make sure you only use alphanumerics in your WPA2 keys.

I have had an "!" in my WPA2 key from the beginning and have never had issues with the 5GHZ radio. Just throwing that data point out there.

 

[RMerlin]

I have had an "!" in my WPA2 key from the beginning and have never had issues with the 5GHZ radio. Just throwing that data point out there.

It depends on what particular character. I don't have an exact list of which works and which don't, which is why I go with the lowest common denominator: alphanumerics.

 

[sfx2000]

It depends on what particular character. I don't have an exact list of which works and which don't, which is why I go with the lowest common denominator: alphanumerics.

US-ASCCI 0 thru 9, a thru z, A thru Z are safe - basically anything one would put into a file name on a linux or Windows file system... I would also be wary of any extended ISO/UTF characters - some shells understand them, but some don't

spaces, <, >, |, \, and sometimes :, (, ), &, ;, #, as well as wildcards such as ? and * - these can be unsafe, I would probably add "-" (dash) as well, "_" (underbar) is safe...

certain sequences can cause concerns, like hash bang - not recommended...

 

[toor]

US-ASCCI 0 thru 9, a thru z, A thru Z are safe - basically anything one would put into a file name on a linux or Windows file system... I would also be wary of any extended ISO/UTF characters - some shells understand them, but some don't

spaces, <, >, |, \, and sometimes :, (, ), &, ;, #, as well as wildcards such as ? and * - these can be unsafe, I would probably add "-" (dash) as well, "_" (underbar) is safe...

certain sequences can cause concerns, like hash bang - not recommended...

periods work fine, I've always had one in my passphrase.

 

[Zooloos]

" & ? , : !
I have all this symbols in my pass 22 chars. All fine. But 5ghz is not working sometimes, even it is enables in settings.