In some dire need of assistance (AX86U)

[CaptainSlow]

I didn't realize there was a firmware update.

Updated to 3.0.0.4.386_41535 and called Asus support. They told me to monitor after a day or two and report back. Hopefully this fixes it.

Caught this in log...fix?

RT-AX86 Series(RT-AX86U/RT-AX86S)

ASUS gaming routers provide the very best gaming experience, with an arsenal of features and tools designed to improve online gaming performance and give you the competitive edge you need to win.

www.asus.com

- Client device reconnect, make the device to offline and online again.

 

[shadowfiber]

I didn't realize there was a firmware update.

Updated to 3.0.0.4.386_41535 and called Asus support. They told me to monitor after a day or two and report back. Hopefully this fixes it.

Caught this in log...fix?

RT-AX86 Series(RT-AX86U/RT-AX86S)

ASUS gaming routers provide the very best gaming experience, with an arsenal of features and tools designed to improve online gaming performance and give you the competitive edge you need to win.

www.asus.com

- Client device reconnect, make the device to offline and online again.

Hey there, interesting find; I have not yet tried that firmware and running Merlin Beta 3 - which I believe came out prior to 41535, I think Beta 3 comes from 41157 - could be wrong. I do still have the issue on Beta 3 however (although I've noticed it's lessened? Idk).

Please report back with what you find - Merlin may have Beta 4 out eventually and it will likely be the latest GPL too.

Thank you!

 

[shadowfiber]

Applied beta4 last night, it seems all the devices in my environment (google homes) are pretty unhappy and disconnecting frequently.

 

[pixelplated]

Created an account just to post here. Having near identical issues to you (AX86u getting constant DHCP errors/ disconnect, also using several smart home products). I've been debugging this for a couple days and have never seen anything like this. Will probably go return the router later today (which is a shame because I like it otherwise), however, it seems like this has been an ongoing issue with Asus so I can't hold out hope for a fix.

I have currently reset the router, created a new/temporary SSID and wired my PC into the router, with the goal of seeing if this allows for more stability having 0 wireless clients on the router. We'll see how it goes....

 

[pixelplated]

@shadowfiber have you tried making a new network SSID name and re-hooking up your smart devices? I realized I hadn't tried this since it's a chore, naturally. I copied over my old SSID to avoid the process, but wondering if this could be the cause of the issues. Trying it myself, will report findings.

 

[L&LD]

Anyone with issues and wanting to test RMerlin 386.1 Beta 4 properly should try with the suggestions below.

Fully Reset Router and Network

 

[BreakingDad]

I find this really strange, I have an AX86U, I followed L&LDs setup process when I first got it (mostly, i didnt use a new ssid, and i have 2.4 and 5 on the same id cos thats how i roll), I use beta 2 firmware, and I have 2 nest minis, 2 google minis, and a fatboy google and can report no problems on any.

I use static dhcp manually asigned with diff names for all devices on the router, i dont use pihole for dhcp, on the dns page of pi hole just point it to the router ip I have drunk a fair amount of wine tonight, but I have loaded this thread in my brain and am thinking on it. I dont use WPS keys either, l have that feature 100% disabled. Airtime fairness off, 2.4ghz on 20mhz only, 5ghz on 40/80/160mhz

This is my pi hole set up, not great pics but you can see almost nothing selected. What I would suggest is fully update pihole and use the settings below, wipe the router and use beta 2 firmware using the guide above, assign manual DHCP to all devices and try again.

 

[pixelplated]

fwiw, creating a brand new SSID has been completely stable for me now. I re-added all my wireless clients to it and i havent experienced instabilities like I was before (dropouts anywhere between 5min - 4hours requiring modem + router reboots). We'll see how things go, but hopefully OP tried the same since I notice we both had near identical situations.

 

[SoCalReviews]

fwiw, creating a brand new SSID has been completely stable for me now. I re-added all my wireless clients to it and i havent experienced instabilities like I was before (dropouts anywhere between 5min - 4hours requiring modem + router reboots). We'll see how things go, but hopefully OP tried the same since I notice we both had near identical situations.

It is my understanding that old SSID information that was sent by your previous router and/or it's Wifi settings can remain stored or buffered in the wireless clients. Hence creating a brand new SSID gives those Wifi clients a clean slate.

 

[shadowfiber]

Thanks for the update @pixelplated - I h ave not yet done a new SSID completely, will add to my list - have a lot of devices, so going to need to do some planning >_< Will report back

 

[CaptainSlow]

I updated the OEM firmware on Thursday night, and *knocking on wood* and without jinxing myself, no disconnects yet as of Sunday afternoon. I'm hoping the update fixed it but I'll keep monitoring.

For those curious, I have not modified the 5Ghz band at all, and have all my Google IoT devices connecting to 2.4GHz. They are separate SSIDs.

Modified the 2.4 by:

- Disable Smart Connect
- Disable 802.11ax/Wi-Fi 6 mode
- Disable Target Wake Time
- Disable Airtime Fairness
- Disable Roaming Assistant
- Set Preamble Type to Long
- Set Modulation Scheme to MCS 9
- Disable Multi-User MIMO
- Disable Explicit Beamforming
- Disable Universal Beamforming

 

[CaptainSlow]

I updated the OEM firmware on Thursday night, and *knocking on wood* and without jinxing myself, no disconnects yet as of Sunday afternoon. I'm hoping the update fixed it but I'll keep monitoring.

For those curious, I have not modified the 5Ghz band at all, and have all my Google IoT devices connecting to 2.4GHz. They are separate SSIDs.

Modified the 2.4 by:

- Disable Smart Connect
- Disable 802.11ax/Wi-Fi 6 mode
- Disable Target Wake Time
- Disable Airtime Fairness
- Disable Roaming Assistant
- Set Preamble Type to Long
- Set Modulation Scheme to MCS 9
- Disable Multi-User MIMO
- Disable Explicit Beamforming
- Disable Universal Beamforming

As I posted this....they disconnected. Gave Asus another call and they made me change the the channel bandwidth to 40Mhz and the control channel to 6 for 2.4Ghz and 80Mhz and 44 for 5GHz.

Will monitor again and let you know.

 

[shadowfiber]

As I posted this....they disconnected. Gave Asus another call and they made me change the the channel bandwidth to 40Mhz and the control channel to 6 for 2.4Ghz and 80Mhz and 44 for 5GHz.

Will monitor again and let you know.

Ask be to escalated to the dev teams. They know about the issues - changing bandwidth and control channel settings really shouldn't have much of an impact in most environments and this type of tech. (if you're super saturated, possibly - from what I've seen it's minimal)

 

[CaptainSlow]

As I posted this....they disconnected. In going to give Asus another call.

Ask be to escalated to the dev teams. They know about the issues - changing bandwidth and control channel settings really shouldn't have much of an impact in most environments and this type of tech. (if you're super saturated, possibly - from what I've seen it's minimal)

Thanks, I just escalated it. About to fill out their form and such and will troubleshoot with them.

What timing! I was just about to cancel cable and go full cord cutting using the Chromecasts and this happens.

 

[CaptainSlow]

Just a quick update, I'm still waiting for the tier 2/3 to get back to me.

My chromecast has been relatively solid for the past 2-3 days, but the Mini/Nest speakers are a nightmare. I did come across this though:

[Updated] Google Nest Mini Wi-Fi disconnecting issue still troubles users

Google Nest Mini users are still complaining about the Wi-Fi disconnecting issue a year later since its launch and there's still no fix.

piunikaweb.com

 

[Ancaster]

I updated the OEM firmware on Thursday night, and *knocking on wood* and without jinxing myself, no disconnects yet as of Sunday afternoon. I'm hoping the update fixed it but I'll keep monitoring.

For those curious, I have not modified the 5Ghz band at all, and have all my Google IoT devices connecting to 2.4GHz. They are separate SSIDs.

Modified the 2.4 by:

- Disable Smart Connect
- Disable 802.11ax/Wi-Fi 6 mode
- Disable Target Wake Time
- Disable Airtime Fairness
- Disable Roaming Assistant
- Set Preamble Type to Long
- Set Modulation Scheme to MCS 9
- Disable Multi-User MIMO
- Disable Explicit Beamforming
- Disable Universal Beamforming

Did a few of those I wasn't doing, thanks. fwiw a few of my Kasa switches were disconnecting when I was meshing AC86U+AX86U. However running AX86U alone, they've stayed connected about a month so far, have 50 devices online.

If we move and I add a few more IoT, I might run a 2nd router with dedicated SSID/control channel for them. Not interested in Zigbee/Lutron, don't need the whole house done.

 

[shadowfiber]

So far I have been on the latest beta and have not (yet) had any disconnects, will report back if anything changes of course. I did notice initially on Beta4 they had problems, I power cycled all the minis and then they were fine since... On about 5 days or so now.

 

[MatynK]

Created an account just to post here. Having near identical issues to you (AX86u getting constant DHCP errors/ disconnect, also using several smart home products). I've been debugging this for a couple days and have never seen anything like this. Will probably go return the router later today (which is a shame because I like it otherwise), however, it seems like this has been an ongoing issue with Asus so I can't hold out hope for a fix.

I have currently reset the router, created a new/temporary SSID and wired my PC into the router, with the goal of seeing if this allows for more stability having 0 wireless clients on the router. We'll see how it goes....

I had exactly the same issue with my AX88U in AP mode with a AC68U running AiMesh with a wired backhaul.
The Merlin versions just dumped over DHCP for some reason and devices could not get to my DHCP server running on a Windows 2019 Server.
Even the guest network stopped working, all I could do to overcome this issue is go back to the latest stock firmware from ASUS which works OK.

 

[CaptainSlow]

Another update, it's been about 5 days and no Chromecast disconnects. It's been working fine apart from the Mini's. One thing I did was add the Mac addresses to "WOL: Wake on LAN", and while I doubt this affected anything, they've remained connected.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

I hadn't seen any mention of this ....
Has anyone thought to check the PiHole DNS logs to see whats being blocked to the Google-Home-Mini's ?
They are expected to "phone home" once in a while for updates/syncing.
When they can't call home they think the internet is down and start reconnecting.
Think of it as Googles way to ensure they get full access to the internet.