RT-AC3200 - 380.66_2 Wireless Issue (Resolved, see post #8 & 24)

[robgbc]

Hi All, Long term Merlin user here. It seems like there are several reports on the forum recently regarding wireless problems with 380.66x across multiple devices and I've been wrestling with mine all weekend.

Since upgrading to 380.66_2, wireless on my RT-AC3200 has been very unstable, basically unusable. I've reset the router via GUI and Power/WPA many times, re-flashed the firmware and set it up from scratch but to no avail.

After reboot wireless radios drop offline within minutes, tested with multiple devices and new SSID/PW to ensure any one device isn't knocking the radios offline.

When the router wireless starts malfunctioning it interferes with my Bluetooth mouse which develops so much lag that it becomes pretty much unusable until router is power-cycled.

Logging into GUI shows a half lit wireless icon with 2.4g and 5g radios reporting channel 0 or undefined, reboot temporarily restores radios.

I reverted back to 380.65_4 as previously it was stable, however the same wireless symptoms as described above are still occurring after firmware downgrade, factory reset, reboot, router setup. JFFS partition has been formatted.

I also tried installing latest Asus firmware via Firmware restoration utility however no change in radio stability.

It feels like the radios are corrupt as symptoms persist across multiple older firmware versions.

With radios disabled wired connections appear to be stable.

At this point I am at a loss as to what to do next but would appreciate any specific suggestions.

Thank you, Rob

Model RT-AC3200
Firmware Version 380.65_4
Firmware Build Wed Mar 29 04:41:19 UTC 2017 merlin@44495cc
Bootloader (CFE) 1.0.1.6
Driver version wl1: Jun 13 2016 17:17:21 version 7.10.274.33 (r527132) FWID 01-c00758b0

 

[AndreiV]

I reverted back to 380.65_4 as previously it was stable, however the same wireless symptoms as described above are still occurring after firmware downgrade, factory reset, reboot, router setup. JFFS partition has been formatted.

I also tried installing latest Asus firmware via Firmware restoration utility however no change in radio stability.

It feels like the radios are corrupt as symptoms persist across multiple older firmware versions.

With radios disabled wired connections appear to be stable.

At this point I am at a loss as to what to do next but would appreciate any specific suggestions.

Thank you, Rob

Model RT-AC3200
Firmware Version 380.65_4
Firmware Build Wed Mar 29 04:41:19 UTC 2017 merlin@44495cc
Bootloader (CFE) 1.0.1.6
Driver version wl1: Jun 13 2016 17:17:21 version 7.10.274.33 (r527132) FWID 01-c00758b0

As the fault is still there with other firmware versions and branches , it is not necessarily 380.66_2 causing the issue , it sounds more like a hardware problem.

What temperatures are you seeing ?

I have no problem with my AC3200 and I have asked several people I know with the same model and Merlin Fw , they report all is normal .

I have Acrylic traces running on several devices right now, will check them again in a few hours to see if there is any drop.

 

[robgbc]

Hi AndreiV, The router has been completely stable for the past year through many firmware updates up until 380.66_2 was flashed to it, hard to imagine that the radios started failing right at the same time that firmware was updated, seems more like corrupt radio driver/firmware that isn't being updated when the router is re-flashed so issue is persisting as router is reverted to earlier firmware version.

I re-enabled the radios, started a download on 5g and according to the GUI temperature monitor when the radios crashed 5g was 50°C and CPU 60°C

What is your AC3200 showing for bootloader and drivers on 380.66_2?

 

[AndreiV]

What is your AC3200 showing for bootloader and drivers on 380.66_2?

Here we go :

Model RT-AC3200
Firmware Version 380.66_2
Firmware Build Wed May 17 03:01:13 UTC 2017 merlin@b40049c
Bootloader (CFE) 2.0.0.3
Driver version wl1: Mar 20 2017 11:16:50 version 7.10.274.33 (r527132) FWID 01-73f8fee5
Features mssid 2.4G 5G usbX2 update switchctrl manual_stb pwrctrl WIFI_LOGO nandflash smart_connect no_finiwl ipv6 ipv6pt PARENTAL2 dnsfilter dualwan pptpd openvpnd printer modem wimax email webdav rrsut cloudsync media appnet timemachine bwdpi snmp tor diskutility HTTPS ssh vpnc psta wl6 optimize_xbox wifi_tog_btn nfsd dnssec user_low_rssi sparse tcode usericon stainfo cloudcheck realip reboot_schedule
Uptime 5 days 15 hours 26 minute(s) 21 seconds
Temperatures 2.4 GHz: 42°C - 5 GHz: 47°C - CPU: 51°C
CPU
CPU Model ARMv7 Processor rev 0 (v7l) - (Cores: 2)
CPU Frequency 1000 MHz
CPU Load Average (1, 5, 15 mins) 0.34, 0.10, 0.07
Memory
Total 249.58 MB
Free 172.45 MB
Buffers 2.65 MB
Cache 11.61 MB
Swap usage 0.00 / 0.00 MB
Internal Storage
NVRAM usage 57179 / 65536 bytes
JFFS 4.25 / 64.00 MB

I asked my neighbour and a few contacts so that totals 9 AC3200 units that have all updated without issue.

 

[RMerlin]

So i't getting to the point the CFE mini server and restore tool is not really a loader it depends on the firmware your running should be separate but it's not....

From a technical point of view alone, that simply doesn't make any sense. The CFE doesn't care what's on the rootfs partition, since it never even starts to load its content, and will run regardless of what's on that partition. The partition could be completely blank, and the CFE will still work.

 

[KiretoX]

I have no issues at all with 380.66 non _2 and my AC3200. Its been stable since 380.66 has been released and generally very reliable. The only "issue" is that when transferring to its USB 3.0 HDD storage cpu and ram goes to the top, but probably that is normal.

 

[AndreiV]

So Acrylic has been running for 11.5 hours now on 3 devices located in different parts of the house.

Not one single drop on 2.4 GHz or either 5 GHz channels in that time.

 

[robgbc]

Thanks for the router info AndreiV, same values on my router with 380.66_2 beyond NA vs. EU bootloader.

Update:

WPS reset router, let it restart and then unplugged it and let it sit for a while.

Power/reset into recovery mode, installed 380.66_2 via firmware restoration utility, let it restart and then used reset button.

After restart logged in, enabled SSH and then nvram erase/reboot.

Setup router again but but with this time with WiFi Smart Connect active and WiFi seems stable with internet radio on 2.4g, cellphone streaming YouTube on 5g and laptop on 5g downloading at 150MBps from Usenet.

Going to leave Smart Connect on for the day to test stability and then try separate SSID again.

Edit: 23-May

Internet radio on 2.4g has been streaming fine for 3hr+, laptop 5g test is complete after downloading 60GB+ at a steady 140-150MBps, router GUI remains responsive.

Edit 26-May:

Since completing the steps in this post my RT-AC3200 has been back to normal, rock solid WiFi using Smart Connect and separate SSID

Model RT-AC3200
Firmware Version 380.66_2
Firmware Build Wed May 17 03:01:13 UTC 2017 merlin@b40049c
Bootloader (CFE) 1.0.1.6
Driver version wl1: Mar 20 2017 11:16:50 version 7.10.274.33 (r527132) FWID 01-73f8fee5
Temperatures 2.4 GHz: 45°C - 5 GHz: 49°C - CPU: 63°C

 

[ibrubeer]

This brings up a question for me. My RT-AC87U was stable for months on Merlin version 65.4 (I believe). Last week I updated to 66.2, and that's when the problems began. The router would send out a WiFi signal, but no internet. If I rebooted, everything would work for a few hours and then drop off again. It's been solid for a day now, so I'm going for the best.

My question is: what is the best procedure to update the firmware? I assume it is more than simply updating through the browser router interface, since that didn't work smoothly.

Is it something like
- Reboot
- Update firmware
- Factory reset
- Reboot again?
- Restore settings somehow? Build from scratch?


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[jpclarke]

Hi,

This has happened to me too, all was fine until I disabled a guest ssid and now all wifi is disabled.

Any thoughts if this is an issue with the new firmware?

Thanks

 

[Tekneek]

I asked my neighbour and a few contacts so that totals 9 AC3200 units that have all updated without issue.

I recently reverted back to 380.65_4 because of problems with the 380.66 releases. Wireless instability would set in within 12 hours or so. I could not get stability back into the network without doing a full reset and rebuild of the configuration. After a few days of that, I rolled back to 380.65_4 and have been going without incident ever since. There seems to be something about it that doesn't play well for everyone. If the only difference in my network architecture is the version of the firmware, I'm inclined to believe that is the problem.

 

[mis103]

Same issues here with 388.66 but due to others saying there is no issues I am worried this will not be fixed

I have made a thread on this

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/wifi-issues-on-380-66-and-380-66_2-on-rt-ac88u.39257/#post-326574

I dont know how else we can explain, nothing was done different. it just doesn't work since .66

additionally I did what you have done and enabled smart connect, this worked for a day or so then failed again with the same issues.

Please can the developer look into this as its clearly not an isolated incident.

 

[RMerlin]

Please can the developer look into this as its clearly not an isolated incident.

Everything specific to wifi is closed source, and outside of my control.

 

[ross]

From a technical point of view alone, that simply doesn't make any sense. The CFE doesn't care what's on the rootfs partition, since it never even starts to load its content, and will run regardless of what's on that partition. The partition could be completely blank, and the CFE will still work.

HI, Same issue here. Had to flash back 380.65_4. With 380.66_2 the computers that are connected to our network through Wi-Fi cannot see other's shared folders and other PCs cannot open their shared folders. Actually I had this particular issue when I was on STOCK ASUS firmware, before I switched to MERLIN firmware.

 

[RMerlin]

HI, Same issue here. Had to flash back 380.65_4. With 380.66_2 the computers that are connected to our network through Wi-Fi cannot see other's shared folders and other PCs cannot open their shared folders

This is a firewall or configuration issue on your computers, unrelated to the firmware. Make sure your Network Profiles on each computers are Home or Business, and not Public.

 

[Murtaza12]

This is a firewall or configuration issue on your computers, unrelated to the firmware. Make sure your Network Profiles on each computers are Home or Business, and not Public.

Hey merlin, could you please check out my threads, after updating to 380.66, things have become a complete mess.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/5ghz-not-visible-after-380-66-update-on-rt-ac3200.39151/

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/changing-router-region-through-wl_country.39372/

 

[RMerlin]

Already answered about wifi (outside of my control), and regions cannot be changed by the user.

 

[Murtaza12]

Already answered about wifi (outside of my control), and regions cannot be changed by the user.

Is there like a forced downgrade one can do or something? Since flashing 380.65_4 had no effect whatsoever, neither did flashing the stock ASUS firmware, 5GHz still doesn't show on Android phones, however they used to work just fine on 380.65_4 before I upgraded to 380.66.

 

[RMerlin]

Is there like a forced downgrade one can do or something? Since flashing 380.65_4 had no effect whatsoever, neither did flashing the stock ASUS firmware, 5GHz still doesn't show on Android phones, however they used to work just fine on 380.65_4 before I upgraded to 380.66.

If going back and doing a factory default reset doesn't resolve your issue, then chances are it's not related to the firmware.

 

[Murtaza12]

If going back and doing a factory default reset doesn't resolve your issue, then chances are it's not related to the firmware.

One would think that the 5G radios died, but they work perfectly fine on PC and iOS devices which is really weird.



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