Chromecast might be causing connectivity issues

[makkie2002]

Hi all,

Since more then 6 months I have been experiencing 5Ghz wifi stability issues with my RT- n66u device. Sometimes the 5Ghz SSID even doesn't show up in the wifi discovery of my mobile devices. I think it might be triggered by the Google Chromecast I had installed around the same time. And today this post appeared indicating that indeed my Chromecast device might be the one causing these issues: link. Apparantly several router manufactures already have a FW solution in place. It would be nice to see a solution by ASUS for this issue. I was already looking into buying Ubiquity APs to solve the issue. But of course, I prefer a FW solution by ASUS .

 

[makkie2002]

Apparently many Asus users have issues with this as can be seen on the comments in the dutch tweakers.net forum: https://tweakers.net/nieuws/133965/...wifi-drop-outs-bij-verschillende-routers.html

 

[st3v3n]

Have you considered trying an alternative Chromecast device, Fire, WD, Apple? There are so many these days.

 

[shady64]

This is affecting what seems to be all of Google's products. I've been struggling with this issue for over a month now. At first I thought it was my ISP. Any time I wake my Pixel XL phone, any video streaming would pause for a few seconds before resuming. Google homes were being dropped off of the network as well.

My home contains way too many Google devices to consider avoiding them. I hope Google does something about the situation, but it would also be nice if Asus can do something while we wait.

 

[jowilhnson]

I've been fighting this issue for about 9 months now. Have had an AC66U for quite some time, combined with Merlin firmware has been the best router I've owned. Moved to a new house last spring, and, coincidentally picked up a Chromecast Audio at the same time. So when I started having wifi issues (2.4GHz completely locking up), I first blamed the new location, increase in neighboring wifi APs, etc etc.

In the time since, I've spent a lot of time tweaking settings, etc. But at the same time have continued to add "cast" devices. Vizio Smartcast TV's, Google Home's and minis. I still think the Chromecast Audio is the worst culprit, followed by the Vizio TV's with their built-in chromecast functionality. The Homes and Minis haven't seemed to have increase the problem.

Obviously, not planning to switch to Apple, WD, etc devices. Hopefully now that this issue is making headlines, google will finally do something about it. As it is, TP-Link and Linksys are already putting out patches for their routers, so hopefully Asus will follow suit.

 

[thexile]

This is a colossus cock up by Google. Google should be issuing firmware updates for their Cast devices instead of router vendors. WTF...

 

[shady64]

Per an update just posted to https://9to5google.com/2018/01/15/google-chromecast-home-wifi-outage/amp/,

Google has responded regarding this issue. A spokesperson says that Google’s “team is working quickly to share a solution.”

 

[unsynaps]

Just saw this: https://www.neowin.net/news/googles-hardware-and-software-causing-wi-fi-disconnects

I guess it is only the newer chromecasts? I have the original and have not seen any issues. I have had both for over a year now.

EDIT: Oh wait I barely use my TV/only use my TV when im not using wifi devices (I live alone).

 

[Twiglets]

FYI: This has been picked up by 'The Register' ......
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/...ect_against_google_chromecast_traffic_floods/

 

[jowilhnson]

According to the folks at TP-Link http://www.tp-link.com/us/faq-2050.html
It sounds like the main suspect is Apps on newer Android versions that send out mDNS queries to find devices they can cast to. If the app has been suspended a while, when waking up it may send 100,000 or so packets at once, causing the problem. So may not be dependent on which 'cast' devices you have.

 

[sumasage]

I'm still having wifi problem even after i updated to the latest google play service. Anyone got their problem fixed?

 

[shady64]

Most if not all of my issues are fixed. Wifi doesn't drop, Directvnow streaming without issue, Google home now confirming broadcasts and working properly. Occasionally I have some buffering still on the nexus player.

Are you sure you don't have other android devices in the home that need to be patched? For me it was my Pixel and my son's Nexus 5X.

 

[sumasage]

I just updated my wife's and mine samsung s8. No other phone devices. Did you update the google play service on your phone to fix the problem?

 

[shady64]

Yes, I downloaded the beta from apkmirror to fix it. Do you have some chromecasts or google homes? You can try temporarily unplugging those to see if you still have the issue. If you do then your wifi troubles might be unrelated.

 

[fr33z0n3r]

Does anyone have ideas for scripts that can be run on the router regularly to identify this (or other similar issues)?

I wonder if monitoring all important process PID values would be helpful to know if something is crashing.

 

[jtara]

I've been getting these messages in my log. I wonder if it is related?

below f4:f5:d8.... is my Google Home device.

I've been needing to reboot my router nearly every day. I will have poor/bouncing WiFi in the morning until I reboot. No problem with wired Ethernet.

I'm using 382.1.2. This started happening after I updated, but I can't be sure there is a correlation. I see 384.3 is available. I will give it a shot.

eb 17 11:29:48 kernel: CONSOLE: 053564.455 wl1: Proxy STA f4:f5:d8:bb:b3:aa link is already gone !!??
Feb 17 11:29:48 kernel: CONSOLE: 053564.463 wl1: Proxy STA f4:f5:d8:43:11:6c link is already gone !!??
Feb 17 11:29:49 kernel: CONSOLE: 053566.118 wl1.0: wlc_send_bar: seq 0xa9 tid 0
Feb 17 11:29:49 kernel: CONSOLE: 053566.123 wl1.0: wlc_send_bar: seq 0xa9 tid 0
Feb 17 11:29:49 kernel: CONSOLE: 053566.270 wl1.0: wlc_send_bar: seq 0xb1 tid 0
Feb 17 11:29:52 kernel: CONSOLE: 053568.619 flow_create : bitmap_size=512 maxitems=512
Feb 17 11:29:52 kernel: CONSOLE: 053568.724 flow_create : bitmap_size=512 maxitems=512
Feb 17 11:29:52 kernel: CONSOLE: 053569.027 wl1.0: wlc_send_bar: seq 0x2 tid 0
Feb 17 11:29:52 kernel: CONSOLE: 053569.086 wl1.0: non-802.1X frame to unauthorized station f4:f5:d8:43:11:6c
Feb 17 11:29:52 kernel: CONSOLE: 053569.105 wl1.0: wlc_send_bar: seq 0xa tid 0
Feb 17 11:29:52 kernel: CONSOLE: 053569.297 wl1.0: wlc_send_bar: seq 0x4 tid 0
Feb 17 11:29:53 kernel: CONSOLE: 053569.979 wl1: wlc_ampdu_resp_timeout: cleaning up resp tid 0 waiting forseq 0x17 for 200 ms
Feb 17 11:29:53 kernel: CONSOLE: 053570.104 wl1.0: wlc_send_bar: seq 0xbb tid 0