Forced to reboot router to allow my laptop to connect to wifi and some other devices to work properly

[jacoscar]

Hi all, I'm using an Asus RT-AC86u which I just bought second hand; I've installed on it the merlin firmware, mainly to be able to selectively run some devices through a VPN tunnel.

This morning I woke up to my Home Assistant instance not functioning properly; it runs on a Raspberry PI4 connected via ethernet and most of the entities were not working.
Also, my laptop couldn't connect to the WiFi network, while my iPhone was still connected.

I initially thought it was a Home Assistant problem, but rebooting the router solved all issues.

I can I check what happened? I can't see anything in the logs (at least after rebooting the router).
Are Merlin firmware unstable? If so, I would probably just go back to the stock firmware

 

[L&LD]

What firmware are you using? When you flashed the RMerlin firmware, did you do a full reset to factory defaults, without importing any old saved backup config file?

 

[Tech9]

Are Merlin firmware unstable?

Both Asuswrt and Asuswrt-Merlin are stable, but your RT-AC86U router is known to develop hardware issues over time. Some of the issues are intermittent and if you stopped by here before the purchase you would know purchasing this router second hand is not the best idea.

 

[jacoscar]

What firmware are you using? When you flashed the RMerlin firmware, did you do a full reset to factory defaults, without importing any old saved backup config file?

Firmware 386.11; I factory reset it when I got it, then setup my wifi setting and port forwarding, one VPN client progile and then I just flashed the merlin firmware

 

[eightiescalling]

Are you using any add ons? YazFi is the one I'm thinking here.

I have some issues with router reboots because of the way YazFi seems to work (could be a guest WiFi1 issue but I haven't moved that to check yet) where a router reboot causes devices on the guest WiFi to get a LAN DHCP address rather than guest YazFi configured.

It clears up on DHCP lease renewal (which I think is 24 hours on a default install - so 12 hours until lease renewal) but can also trip up home assistant integrations depending on their behaviours.

 

[L&LD]

Firmware 386.11; I factory reset it when I got it, then setup my wifi setting and port forwarding, one VPN client progile and then I just flashed the merlin firmware

Yes, this is wrong.

Flash the firmware you want first. Reset to factory defaults. Minimally and manually configure the router to secure it, and connect to your ISP. Testing each change you make post the defaults. Particularly when going from stock to RMerlin firmware, or vice versa.

 

[jacoscar]

Was I not affected by this maybe?

Asus routers around the globe suffered a huge outage - here's what we know

Looks like it’s fixed - but here’s how to force a fix for your Asus router if not

www.techradar.com

 

[L&LD]

Yes, no, maybe.

If you've rebooted the router in the last few days, it shouldn't be affecting you anymore.

If you still have issues, a full reset is still indicated. Do not use a saved backup config file.

 

[jacoscar]

I did a factory reset (while on Merlin 386.11) and then reconfigured the router about a week ago.

Today I again woke up to the home assistant not working properly and my laptop (a Lenovo from 2015) not able to connect to WiFI; both our other 2 work laptops work fine, all Apple devices work fine. Looking at the network map in the router setting, I have 35 connected devices (which looks fine); last time I had this problem they were only around 15 so I thought some devices couldn't connect and that was probably why home assistant was missing a lot of data.
I'm quite sure restarting the router will fix both my home assistant and laptop problem.
Is there anything I can do before rebooting the router?

 

[drinkingbird]

I have done a factory reset (while on Merlin 386.11) and then reconfigured the router about a week ago.

Today I again woke up to the home assistant not working properly and my laptop (a Lenovo from 2015) not able to connect to WiFI; both our other 2 work laptops work fine, all Apple devices work fine. Looking at the network map in the router setting, I have 35 connected devices (which looks fine); last time I had this problem they were only around 15 so I thought some devices couldn't connect and that was probably why home assistant was missing a lot of data.
I'm quite sure restarting the router will fix both my home assistant and laptop problem.
Is there anything I can do before rebooting the router?

There's been mention in other threads about home assistant sending out tons of MDNS traffic and overloading these routers. May or may not be the case here, given the known issues with the 86U and the likely reason the person was selling it.....

Isolating home assistant (and only the devices that need to talk to it) into Guest Wireless 1 and blocking intranet access may help.

 

[jacoscar]

I think, despite the network map showing 35 devices, I cannot connect to any of my Shelly light switches, they all use the 2.4GHz network, same as my Lenovo Laptop. It seems to be a problem with the 2.4GHz WiFi

I just tried changing this option from "Auto" to "20MHz" and everything started working again (no router reboot needed)

 

[drinkingbird]

I think, despite the network map showing 35 devices, I cannot connect to any of my Shelly light switches, they all use the 2.4GHz network, same as my Lenovo Laptop. It seems to be a problem with the 2.4GHz WiFi

I just tried changing this option from "Auto" to "20MHz" and everything started working again (no router reboot needed)

That bounced the wifi so similar to rebooting the router.

The chipsets in lightbulbs are notorious for having and causing issues. I'd put them on their own guest network and isolate them. Ideally get the home assistant on an isolated network too.

 

[jacoscar]

That bounced the wifi so similar to rebooting the router.

The chipsets in lightbulbs are notorious for having and causing issues. I'd put them on their own guest network and isolate them. Ideally get the home assistant on an isolated network too.

but then I won't be able to access home assistant from my laptop/phone?

sorry, does guest network mean guest wifi network? The HA lives on a ethernet connected raspberry

 

[drinkingbird]

but then I won't be able to access home assistant from my laptop/phone?

If you put it on guest wireless 1 using 386 code base (which puts it in different VLANs/Subnets) and leave intranet access enabled, that may help too (and still let you access it from your LAN). That will block broadcasts (including MDNS) so device discovery probably won't work outside of the guest network but it will cut down on a lot of the network noise.

I'm not terribly familiar with home assistant but some of these hubs don't actually even need local communication, they use the internet, however I believe HA needs local communication to discover devices, not totally positive.

My guess is the radio in that router is getting hot, possibly from all the broadcast traffic, possibly just happening no matter what. Known issue with that model. The solder joints get weakened over time and as it heats and cools, the connections are sporadic causing it to lock up.

May want to try leaving your bulbs and/or HA offline for a while and see if the problem goes away, then add stuff back in and see what makes the issue reappear. If the radio is dying, the guest network won't help most likely, if it is broadcasts overloading stuff, guest isolation can make a difference.

35 PCs and phones should be within the ability of that router. But 30+ Chinese IOT devices may not be.

 

[jacoscar]

If I move the IoT devices to a guest network, could it only help if I block intranet access? I am asking because they NEED local access to connect to the MQTT broker
Does it make sense to move them go the guest network and enabling intranet access?

By the way, the seller says he has never used the router and he doesn't think it is faulty, but also that he's not tech savvy. I have another week before I can return it via ebay (despite what the seller thinks)

 

[drinkingbird]

If I move the IoT devices to a guest network, could it only help if I block intranet access? I am asking because they NEED local access to connect to the MQTT broker
Does it make sense to move them go the guest network and enabling intranet access?

If you use Guest Wireless 1 it may still help even if you allow intranet access. This is because it is a different subnet and thus will block broadcast and MDNS traffic between that and your main LAN. Of course with MDNS being blocked, discovery probably won't work, not sure if that is needed or not

 

[jacoscar]

If you use Guest Wireless 1 it may still help even if you allow intranet access. This is because it is a different subnet and thus will block broadcast and MDNS traffic between that and your main LAN. Of course with MDNS being blocked, discovery probably won't work, not sure if that is needed or not

DIscovery isn't needed; however, after having moved everything to the new guest network, all device have retained the same static IP (192.168.0.x), so how can they be in a different subnet?

 

[drinkingbird]

DIscovery isn't needed; however, after having moved everything to the new guest network, all device have retained the same static IP (192.168.0.x), so how can they be in a different subnet?

Sorry, forgot that with intranet access enabled it does not assign the new VLANs and subnets. The only way it will help is if you disable intranet access so it moves it to a new VLAN/subnet (or get into scripting to do your own subnets and firewall rules yourself).

But if you have static IPs set you'll need to change them if you do that. I'm assuming if they're IOT devices you didn't mean to say static IP though.

You're probably better off adding a dedicated wired AP for your IOT devices. Or even put it in router mode which will block the broadcasts and MDNS while still allowing access to the LAN (and from the LAN if you set up port forwarding or DMZ, or disable NAT and set up static routes).

I recall someone with Home Assistant having to set up VLANs and other stuff due to it misbehaving and flooding MDNS traffic like crazy. Maybe look and see if there is a firmware update or fix for it yet.

 

[jacoscar]

Sorry, forgot that with intranet access enabled it does not assign the new VLANs and subnets. The only way it will help is if you disable intranet access so it moves it to a new VLAN/subnet (or get into scripting to do your own subnets and firewall rules yourself).

But if you have static IPs set you'll need to change them if you do that. I'm assuming if they're IOT devices you didn't mean to say static IP though.

You're probably better off adding a dedicated wired AP for your IOT devices. Or even put it in router mode which will block the broadcasts and MDNS while still allowing access to the LAN (and from the LAN if you set up port forwarding or DMZ, or disable NAT and set up static routes).

I recall someone with Home Assistant having to set up VLANs and other stuff due to it misbehaving and flooding MDNS traffic like crazy. Maybe look and see if there is a firmware update or fix for it yet.

the devices (Shelly, Sonoff tasmotised) only need local access and static IP, they don't need any cloud or internet access

 

[drinkingbird]

the devices (Shelly, Sonoff tasmotised) only need local access and static IP, they don't need any cloud or internet access

If you've set a static IP that won't change automatically, static is static.