[RT-AC3100] IPTV Killing Internet (Was: Running Hot)

[emgee]

UPDATE (February 9, 2017)

I previously thought/was concerned that my AC3100 might have been running too hot and causing Wifi and even wired LAN woes. However, turns out it's not...


Thanks to everyone for your input and sorry I haven't checked back sooner, I haven't been receiving notficiations for some reason.

I found the problem, but not sure why it's a problem...

I use the AC3100 for IPTV to feed two Telus STB (Cisco's). The wifi would go down when the TV STB was turned on and would eventually crash the LAN (wired) too. So from my reading it's likely multicast packet flooding borking everything (the TV would freeze, pause, pixelate). I used the same settings I had set for my N66U which ran flawlessly for 2 years with IPTV. And the AC3100 was running fine the first 1 month or so, as I mentioned in my original post. However, maybe it wasn't and we just weren't watching much TV or doing anything demanding internet wise to notice (quite possible).

So not sure if it was a firmware update that introduced the problem, some update to the STB from Telus that has introduced an issue or some configuration issue on the AC3100.

I use Merlin on both the N66U and the AC3100; not saying it's Merlin but rather any underlying code changes made by ASUS. And I know it's not Merlin's stuff as I tried the native ASUS firmware and the same problem; also I'm pretty certain I read Merlin stating he hasn't touched the IPTV stuff.

I reinstalled the Actiontec 1200H, bridged to port 1 so that it feeds the WAN on my AC3100 and I use the coax from the 1200H to feed my STBs. All seems to be good again. However, not happy that I need to have an additional box running when it worked w/o it using the N66U.

Under the IPTV I had the following set

ISP Profile: None
STB port: None
DHCP routes: Microsoft
Enable multicast routing: Enabled
Enable efficient multicast forwarding: Enabled
UDP Proxy(Udpxy): 0

Which is what I had configured on my N66U. I do not use any Telus STB via Wifi though I tried Enabling IGMP on both wifi channels as well and that had no effect (but wanted to try).

This weekend I will try out my N66U to see if using it for IPTV feeds causes the same issues.

Any feedback/suggestions on configuring the AC3100 for IPTV support would be great!

Thank you,
Mark

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[ORIGINAL POST below]

Hi All

For the first 20-30 days of using my new AC3100 it ran pretty solid, no issues that I knew about. However, quite recently it started having poor wifi speed, going as low as 0.1Mbps.

I took at look in the admin app and my temps seemed quite high and the unit was very warm to the touch. The unit is located in a 8x5 room, air all around but no forced air movement in the room.

Temperatures seen were
2.4GHz - 58C
5GHz - 63C
CPU - 82C

At these temps even wired connections were dropping (and IPTV was stuttering/pausing frequently).

I did a full factory reset and reconfigured the router manually this evening. And no dice, the router started to run hot after a couple hours. I'm running Merlin FW v 380.64_2.

Currently I have a fan pointed at it to cool the unit (and I have a laptop cooler on the way).

However, I'm concerned this might be a band-aid solution. Can any one recommend anything else I should try out configuration-wise to see if it helps?

Or is this likely to be a case where I need to RMA the unit?

Thank you!

PS: no complaint against the Merlin FW, I've been running it for many years. I just recently upgraded from my RT-N66U which had no issues whatsoever. Ran quite warm to and was in an enclosed cabinet and no connection issues wired or wireless. Much thanks @RMerlinDev, love the firmware!

 

[effortless]

Your temps are normal, the CPU is slightly elevated but not abnormal. Check to see if the CPU core (either 1 or 2) is stuck at 100%. If so, perform a normal reboot.

 

[emgee]

Your temps are normal, the CPU is slightly elevated but not abnormal. Check to see if the CPU core (either 1 or 2) is stuck at 100%. If so, perform a normal reboot.

Thanks for the reply. Neither CPU is pegged at 100%, cores are sitting b/w 0-2% as I type this and am streaming on twitch

 

[pete y testing]

The unit is located in a 8x5 room, air all around but no forced air movement in the room.

but what about the ambient room temp has it got warmer of late , here in oz its mid summer and its getting much warmer and in some areas well over 100 f , not much electronics like playing in that heat

 

[emgee]

but what about the ambient room temp has it got warmer of late , here in oz its mid summer and its getting much warmer and in some areas well over 100 f , not much electronics like playing in that heat

The ambient room temperature sits at 22-23C, not much fluctuation throughout the year.

 

[doczenith1]

My 3100 is in an 21C room and is at 2.4 GHz: 48°C - 5 GHz: 53°C - CPU: 80°C. I have not noticed any issues. I've been using the router for about a month now.

I just added 4 Linux distros to my torrent client to stress the cpu (hit 760 Mb/s ). CPU core 1 was maxed at 100% load. The cpu temp went to 82C while the download was active. Shortly after the torrents were done downloading it settled back to 80C.

 

[emgee]

@doczenith1

Thanks for the info. Yeah my router is hitting those temperatures but then the wifi connections begin performing poorly and even wired performance starts going down. And the CPU cores are running under 2% when I have temperatures that high.

If yours is performing properly at those temps then I think I may need to RMA my unit. Darn.

 

[emgee]

@doczenith1

What firmware and version are you running on your AC3100? Thanks.

 

[doczenith1]

Asuswrt-Merlin 380.64_2

 

[sfx2000]

emperatures seen were
2.4GHz - 58C
5GHz - 63C
CPU - 82C

That's within norms...

Don't worry so much...

 

[sfx2000]

but what about the ambient room temp has it got warmer of late , here in oz its mid summer and its getting much warmer and in some areas well over 100 f , not much electronics like playing in that heat

Stop and think... where is Asus - China and Taiwan...

Ain't nothing hotter than that in the middle of summer - been there, done that. Except perhaps Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the hot season - 121F in the shade - been there for that as well (Desert Storm vet here)... anyways, folks worry too much.

Mentioned this to @RMerlin - pulling this out of WebGUI - but since it's there, many more would protest if he removed it.

Asus won't release a product that will melt-down... look at the vents and heat sinks - more than enough.

 

[sfx2000]

For the first 20-30 days of using my new AC3100 it ran pretty solid, no issues that I knew about. However, quite recently it started having poor wifi speed, going as low as 0.1Mbps.

Fire up InSSIDer or similar (Acrylic WIFI is an excellent alternative) - look for interference if things were working fine, and then not...

Somebody near by is probably on the same channel.

 

[pete y testing]

Stop and think... where is Asus - China and Taiwan...

Ain't nothing hotter than that in the middle of summer - been there, done that. Except perhaps Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in the hot season - 121F in the shade

its irrelevent where its made , its where its used and its standard operating range which as stated in the specs is 0 - 40 deg c , 121 deg f is way to hot , infact in most cases ambient temps above 35 deg c or 95deg f is pushing it and i would certainly recommend some form of active cooling

there is nothing wrong with knowing the temp stats of the router , but understanding them is the key , perhaps it would be better if some info was shown on the page about max temps and normal operating levels

 

[emgee]

Updated original post with new information, seems it is IPTV related. Not heat, like some told me not to be concerned about (they were correct).

 

[messerchmidt]

i have a usb powered laptop cooler below each of my routers. helps avoid issues

 

[emgee]

@messerchmidt

Yeah, I got a laptop cooler as well. But it wasn't due to the temperature (as I though it might be and others said not to be concerned with). Once disable IPTV from my AC3100 and have the STB running off the ActionTec 1200H, all is good.

I'm just at a loss why with the N66U IPTV ran just fine and no LAN/wi-fi issues... but no luck with the AC3100.

 

[System Error Message]

Your router is actually running a bit hot. Wifi should stay around 50C or lower, at 60C issues can start to happen. CPU can handle a lot of heat but its the other components part of the CPU or near it that cant take the heat.

When your install RMerlin firmware you must make sure to reset the router first than install and reset again incase the wrong configurations are being used. When it comes to iptv you need 10Mb/s just for 1080p and 20-40Mb/s for 4k but it is also very dependent on the service provider and the sort of encoding they use. Make sure to verify with a speed test.

Check your QoS settings. Is auto QoS on?

 

[emgee]

Your router is actually running a bit hot. Wifi should stay around 50C or lower, at 60C issues can start to happen. CPU can handle a lot of heat but its the other components part of the CPU or near it that cant take the heat.

When your install RMerlin firmware you must make sure to reset the router first than install and reset again incase the wrong configurations are being used. When it comes to iptv you need 10Mb/s just for 1080p and 20-40Mb/s for 4k but it is also very dependent on the service provider and the sort of encoding they use. Make sure to verify with a speed test.

Check your QoS settings. Is auto QoS on?

Thanks for the input. With the cooler the temps were nice and low (< 40C for wifi, < 60C for CPU) but it would still crap out as soon as a STB was turned on. The temperature on the router seems to only go up when it was doing IPTV work. Without any STB active, the temps stayed decent even without active cooling (wifi < 50C, CPU < 70C).

I updated to the current version of Merlin and did a full reset to be safe but haven't tried IPTV via the AC3100, still running the STB off the ActionTec 1200H on their own subnet. I have Telus Fiber so I'm getting 150/150 (speedtest.net numbers: 168Mbps down 167Mbps up).

Not 100% sure about QoS, though I think it's disabled currently. I'll have to verify that.