"Hiccups" every 10 minutes on Asuswrt-merlin (RT-AC1900P with AC68U firmware)

[ttorimoto]

Hi guys -

I've got a RT-AC19ooP and have the latest Asuswrt-Merlin installed (for RT-AC68U).

I noticed the last few weeks that during my Zoom calls, I'd have a dropout (video and audio completely freezes; I don't receive or send) for about 5-10 seconds.
Trying to find some pattern, I noticed last Friday that it was very consistent - every 10 minutes on the 2nd minute (xx:x2 AM/PM).

I also remembered that since a few weeks ago, my Google Home started randomly stop streaming a radio station (via TuneIn Radio). So over the weekend, I played it and found that it stopped streaming every 10 minutes on the 7th minute (during any time that ended with xx:x7 AM or PM). I tested the same (radio streamin via TuneIn Radio) on a different Google Home and had the same results - it stopping streaming every 10 minutes on the 8th minute (xx:x8 AM/PM). I had to repeatedly tell it to start streaming again.

So - I took my Google Homes and put them in front of my Asus Router - connecting to the Wifi at the Gateway (I have AT&T Fiber), and the issue disappeared; I'm able to stream TuneIn Radio without it stopping. I had 1 Zoom call today so far, and did not have any issues there either.

Any ideas on what setting on the Router this could be caused by?

 

[appleseed]

you did great homework however you don't say if zoom was over wireless/ethernet or what else is running on the router, or if there is a HDD/USB attached. Since things are very consistent it should be easier to track the source using the log file and/or looking for cpu spikes every 10 minutes on the 2nd minute.

You could also downgrade and see if it continues but that may be overkill, so try the M&M Config https://www.snbforums.com/threads/n...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573 first. I'd doubt it's a hardware problem, but always possible, so check high temps/dust/AC power etc...

 

[appleseed]

also, just found a post from L&LD which might be a consideration:
"Bluetooth and Wi-Fi issues are among the problems with the latest cumulative update for Windows 10"

Maybe this is the issue then?

https://www.windowscentral.com/late...ng-systems-and-breaking-connectivity-some-pcs

 

[ttorimoto]

you did great homework however you don't say if zoom was over wireless/ethernet or what else is running on the router, or if there is a HDD/USB attached. Since things are very consistent it should be easier to track the source using the log file and/or looking for cpu spikes every 10 minutes on the 2nd minute.

You could also downgrade and see if it continues but that may be overkill, so try the M&M Config https://www.snbforums.com/threads/n...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573 first. I'd doubt it's a hardware problem, but always possible, so check high temps/dust/AC power etc...

Ah yes. Forgot to mention - on Friday before I started testing, I did move over to hardwire thinking it was specifically the Wifi causing the issues. But while figuring out the pattern with Zoom on Friday, I was hardwired - which eliminated the Wifi as the culprit (even though the Google Homes all use Wifi). That made me narrow it down to: 1. The Asus Router, 2. The Pace Gateway from AT&T, 3. My AT&T Fiber service. That's when I decided to move my PC and the 2 Google Home minis to the wifi at the Gateway (which was being used as just a pass-through to the Asus Router).

I've got no HDD/USB attached to the Asus Router.

 

[Katmeat]

Could your DHCP Lease Time be the culprit, being set too low?

 

[ttorimoto]

Could your DHCP Lease Time be the culprit, being set too low?

Ah.. I checked and it is set to 86400 which I assume is the number of seconds in 24 hours.

 

[ttorimoto]

So I did one VERY quick change. Thought maybe (Adaptive) QoS could be causing this.
Turning that OFF fixed the Google Home stopping the streaming music for TuneInRadio every 10 minutes.
I will have more time to try out Zoom meetings later this week (took Monday and Tues off from work) and will report back, but...
Any ideas how that could be causing it? I thought QoS would make things better, if anything.
I set it up to prioritize Video Conferencing, VOIP, and Streaming services above everything else.

 

[Kanji-San]

So I did one VERY quick change. Thought maybe (Adaptive) QoS could be causing this.
Turning that OFF fixed the Google Home stopping the streaming music for TuneInRadio every 10 minutes.
I will have more time to try out Zoom meetings later this week (took Monday and Tues off from work) and will report back, but...
Any ideas how that could be causing it? I thought QoS would make things better, if anything.
I set it up to prioritize Video Conferencing, VOIP, and Streaming services above everything else.

Native Adaptive QOS does not necessarily work that great. You should install this mod by FreshJR.

 

[dave14305]

Ah.. I checked and it is set to 86400 which I assume is the number of seconds in 24 hours.

What about your WAN DHCP lease time? 86400 is usually the LAN DHCP lease time.

 

[rjsh]

Hi guys -

I've got a RT-AC19ooP and have the latest Asuswrt-Merlin installed (for RT-AC68U) ...
Trying to find some pattern, I noticed last Friday that it was very consistent - every 10 minutes on the 2nd minute (xx:x2 AM/PM) ... found that it stopped streaming every 10 minutes on the 7th minute (during any time that ended with xx:x7 AM or PM). ... - it stopping streaming every 10 minutes on the 8th minute (xx:x8 AM/PM).

Do you have amtm installed along with any other items such as conmon, scMerlin, spdMerlin, conmon, etc ?

If yes could you ssh to the router and share the output the scheduler's jobs via the following command ?
cru -l

Could be you are seeing a sustained 30 second spike of high CPU utilization when certain scheduled jobs are running that is causing issues ...

 

[solstyce]

I have a similar problem with my AT&T FTTN service and FreshJR adaptive QoS on my AC68U / Pace 5268 (my post)

AT&T uses a 10 minute DHCP lease (argh!). For some obscure-to-me reason, the lease expiration is appearing as a loss of WAN and triggering the Adaptive QoS to restart.

I'm pulling my hair out on this one since my family's Zoom meetings get constant pauses, stuttering, and "your internet connection is unstable" warnings because of the lack of QoS due to the 10 minute cycling.

Hoping someone has a hint on how to stop a DHCP lease expiration from looking like a WAN failure.

For the OP, you might try getting a static IP from ATT instead of using DHCP and that may solve your problem. Unfortunately, not a solution for me since my ISP whitelabel's ATT's service and doesn't offer static IPs.

 

[solstyce]

@ttorimoto this sounds like exactly the same problem I've been having trying to get FreshJR's Adaptive QoS working on my AC68U on ATT Uverse.

@dave14305 helped me find the solution, and my connection no longer drops every 10 minutes and thanks to @FreshJR adaptive QoS is working like a champ. Check out this post for the solution.

Can't wait for my next Zoom meeting.