R7800 lost 5GHz SSID :(

[LeKeiser]

Hello everyone,

Well, I get home, I say "Alexa, what time is it ?" and I see the red circle on the device, "I cannot connect to the Internet"
So I check what WiFi is available, and gone is my 5GHz SSID. There is only the 2.4 SSID available. I log on the router, and everything seems ok. But still, no 5GHz SSID
My only option is to reboot the router. That's what I do. But it takes time to fully reboot. More time than usual. But it does reboot. And the 5Ghz SSID comes back.

My questions are :
_ what do you think cause that ? It's not the first time this happens. But the last time happened 4 or 5 months ago. Is my loving router getting too old ?
_ was there something to do before rebooting the router ? Should I have checked a log or something ? If so, where ?
_ I really need my Internet connection. If my loving router dies on me, which one should I buy fast ? I have about 25 devices connected, ethernet and WiFi.

Oh, I'm using Mr @Voxel latest firmware and Mr @kamoj latest add-on. Beside this WiFi problem, my loving R7800 is working like a charm. I would prefer to keep it that way, for many years still

Thanx a lot for your returns

Cheers

 

[R. Gerrits]

So I check what WiFi is available, and gone is my 5GHz SSID. There is only the 2.4 SSID available. I log on the router, and everything seems ok. But still, no 5GHz SSID
My only option is to reboot the router. That's what I do. But it takes time to fully reboot. More time than usual. But it does reboot. And the 5Ghz SSID comes back.

Which channel is your 5GHz Wifi on?

I vaguely recall a similar thing with my R7800 a few years ago, when I was using one of the DFS channels.
Since I've switched back to one of the standard 5GHz channels, I never had this issue again.

 

[LeKeiser]

Hello
Thanx a lot for your help
If I'm correct, those are the channels the router is using : 36+40+44(p)+48
Everything is set on automatic.

 

[Murtaza12]

Don't want to cause a panic, but the 5GHz radio on one of my R7800s has started to act up as well. Clients can't connect most of the time, and even when they do, they get kicked off within a minute and performance and latency are all over the place within those 60 seconds that they stay connected.

It happens to be the oldest out of my three R7800s and has been running 24x7 for the past 5 and a half years. I've tried everything, multiple different firmware versions, different power supplies and unplugging various appliances in the same room as the router to see if they are causing interference. No dice. Can't replicate the behaviour on my other two and they seem to (thankfully) still be working perfectly fine.

I think it's just gotten old and wonky, so I've put it near the guest bedroom and set it to 2.4GHz only which still works.

 

[LeKeiser]

Damn !
I hope my R7800, which is as old as yours I think, won't let me down. I have another one, as a backup. But I'll have to bring it up to date with the latest @Voxel firmware and the latest @kamoj add-on, and reconfigure all my devices...
Or acquire another router, a newer one with a warranty. But which one. I'd love to get one with Mr @Voxel firmware of course. Or the Merlin firmware, so an Asus router.
Dunno... Till then, my R7800 is working well, since this last hiccup. Crossing fingers, cuz I really love my R7800. Bunches

 

[Candurin]

I purchased my R7800 in October 2016 and working as perfect as the day I installed it. No issues here (just to offer a positive data point).

I have a second R7800 I purchased in April 2000 (set up as access point in our garage) and is also running without hiccups.

 

[Murtaza12]

I purchased in April 2000

I hope you mean 2020

 

[LeKeiser]

Damned !!
I went for a drink at 4am, l launched a command to my Amazon Echo, and it was down, red circle. Meaning no network available. I checked my R7800 and once again, the 5GHz WiFi was down. Using the add-on from Mr @kamoj I noticed that ath0 was down. ath1 (2.4GHz) was still up. So I tried one thing : I changed the 5GHz channel, from 44 to 48. This forced the router to reboot. It took quite some time to restart. I find this weird. But when it was back on again, the channel was back to 44, 5GHz WiFi was back.
Now, what the hell happened, do you think ? What can I do to fix this ? Is my router failing for good ?

If I had to change it, which router should I buy then?

Thanx a lot for your help and counsels

 

[LeKeiser]

Well it happened again yesteday. I was watching a video on my NVidia Shied, that's connected with an ethernet cable. My Echo couldn't log on the network, the 5GHz was down again. The 2.4 was still up. I logged on my R7800 to check the WiFi. I noticed this time that the 5GHz LED was fixed. It wasn't blinking.
I checked all the logs, but couldn't find an error. I checked how many 5GHz devices were connected. If this is right, there were 12 devices. And 15 or so 2.4GHz. The router wasn't overloaded.
I have a spare R7800. I can't remember if I had uploaded the config before, but... It was running My @Voxel 94 firmware. I immediatly installed the 105 version. And I decided to swap the routers. The spare one in place of the "old one" I thought I woul have to configure again all my WiFi devices (Echo, Home, electric plugs, iPads, ...) but they were all already connected to my spare router. I don't understand. It's a different router. It's the same model but not the same router. So if I'm not mistaken, I should have had to register all the devices again, right ?

This morning, everything is working like the day before with this spare router. I'm really happy but I don't understand. So I'm not fully happy.
I'll see if the WiFi stays on. I almost wish it fails again. That would mean that my "old" router is fine, and that there is something else that's bugging.

 

[Kitsap]

Well it happened again yesteday. I was watching a video on my NVidia Shied, that's connected with an ethernet cable. My Echo couldn't log on the network, the 5GHz was down again. The 2.4 was still up. I logged on my R7800 to check the WiFi. I noticed this time that the 5GHz LED was fixed. It wasn't blinking.
I checked all the logs, but couldn't find an error. I checked how many 5GHz devices were connected. If this is right, there were 12 devices. And 15 or so 2.4GHz. The router wasn't overloaded.
I have a spare R7800. I can't remember if I had uploaded the config before, but... It was running My @Voxel 94 firmware. I immediatly installed the 105 version. And I decided to swap the routers. The spare one in place of the "old one" I thought I woul have to configure again all my WiFi devices (Echo, Home, electric plugs, iPads, ...) but they were all already connected to my spare router. I don't understand. It's a different router. It's the same model but not the same router. So if I'm not mistaken, I should have had to register all the devices again, right ?

This morning, everything is working like the day before with this spare router. I'm really happy but I don't understand. So I'm not fully happy.
I'll see if the WiFi stays on. I almost wish it fails again. That would mean that my "old" router is fine, and that there is something else that's bugging.

If you used the same SSID and password for each band, no.

 

[sfx2000]

Have you considered that the AC adapter might be going south?

Intermittent problems like this - number one suspect is the adapter...

 

[Kitsap]

When you changed out the routers, did also change out the AC adapter or leave the original in place?

 

[LeKeiser]

If you used the same SSID and password for each band, no.

Do you mean that I could replace my R7800 for another router, another brand, and if I used the same SSID and the same password, all my devices would connect the same way ?

 

[LeKeiser]

When you changed out the routers, did also change out the AC adapter or leave the original in place?

I just wanted to see what I had to configure on the spare to have my network running, so I kept the same AC adapter. I used the router for a whole day before I swapped it again with the "old" one, Mr @kamoj has sent me some files to use with his great add-on. We'll see if they work.
Thing is, the 5GHz drop happens whenever. It happened twice at night, when I'm not even using the network, meaning I'm not on any computer, I'm sleeping

 

[Kitsap]

Do you mean that I could replace my R7800 for another router, another brand, and if I used the same SSID and the same password, all my devices would connect the same way ?

Yes, I do it on a regular basis with the various Xfinity gateways. Occasionally there may be the odd iOT device that requires a power cycle to re-establish the connection.

 

[Kitsap]

I just wanted to see what I had to configure on the spare to have my network running, so I kept the same AC adapter. I used the router for a whole day before I swapped it again with the "old" one, Mr @kamoj has sent me some files to use with his great add-on. We'll see if they work.
Thing is, the 5GHz drop happens whenever. It happened twice at night, when I'm not even using the network, meaning I'm not on any computer, I'm sleeping

You want to make sure the receptacle/power strip connection is solid. They do age. Do you have pets that could disturb the wiring?

There is almost always a certain amount of network activity whether you are using your computer or not. How many devices to you have connected over Wi-Fi?

An ill behaved device can cause a problem any time. In particular one with a recent firmware update.

 

[LeKeiser]

I have checked my adapter, but beside some dust, everything seems fine. My router is on top of a laptop fan, to keep it cool. It's always around 40°C.
No pet around, and no wife also

I have around 12 5GHz devices, not always connected (my iPads, my laptops, the Amazon Echo, ...) and around 14 2.4GHz devices always connected (Google Home, electrical outlets, ...) The problem started a few months ago, only once. I came home, and the Echo wouldn't connect. I noticed then that the 5GHz radio was down. I restarted the router and everything came back. And then a few days ago, during the night, same thing. There were no new devices, nothing had changed. Everything is working well, till I don't know why, the 5GHz radio goes down, while the 2.4 stays on.
I have no idea how to locate a failing device I always keep them up to date. I am using Mr @Voxel firmware, I'm updating the firmware as soon as it is available. And I also use the great add-on from Mr @kamoj and never had a problem.
I have ordered a new AC adapter especially for the R7800, I seem to have misplaced my spare one

 

[Kitsap]

I do not know what channel you have configured for your 5 GHz band. If it is a DFS channel, a scan may be causing the disconnect or shut down.

If you are not familiar with DFS channels, check out chapter 14 of this reference: https://www.wiisfi.com/.

 

[LeKeiser]

Hello,
I'm using the channel 44.
Should I try a DFS channel? Like 56 ?

 

[Kitsap]

No, stick with the non-DFS channel. DFS channel frequencies are where the radar interference comes in to play.