RT-AC68U Hw Ver B1 & B2 and Merlin

[sanzaborn33]

I've been using an AC68U H/W Ver B1 in AP mode with Merlin's 384.4_2 branch since it came out and in AP mode, the device works wonderfully! We have all kinds of devices in the house connected to both 2.4/5Ghz radios including iPhones, Macbook Pro's, and Dell and HP business laptops, Xbox One S, Apple TV 4k. The Macbook Pro and my Dell Latitude 7480 are connected to the 5Ghz channel @ 400Mbps, which is good enough. The 2.4Ghz clients typically sit at 130-200Mbps. No disconnects, strong signal throughout my 3500sq ft home, all is well.

For fun, I decided to order a new AC68U and this unit came with H/W Rev B2, knowing I'd give one of the models I didn't use to one family member or another who needs an upgrade. Well, after upgrading the new B2 to Merlin's 384.4_2 branch and using the EXACT same wireless configuration settings that were being used with the H/W B1 unit, in AP Mode, and now both my Macbook Pro and Dell Latitude 7480 will only connect to the 5Ghz radio in Legacy mode @ 54Mbps.

I have tried virtually every conceivable 5Ghz radio setting including disabling/enabling every add-on on the Professional settings, setting the radio to Auto vs N/AC, Legacy; Channel width to all freq vs each one separate (20, 40, 80Mhz), and the only setting that allows my newer devices to connect to the 5Ghz radio are Legacy or Auto, regardless of Channel width, and both laptops connect immediately but @ 54Mbps.

What gives? Can anyone give me insight into what I am doing wrong? Any input or direction would be greatly appreciated and sorry for rambling. Thank you.

 

[bandit8623]

I've been using an AC68U H/W Ver B1 in AP mode with Merlin's 384.4_2 branch since it came out and in AP mode, the device works wonderfully! We have all kinds of devices in the house connected to both 2.4/5Ghz radios including iPhones, Macbook Pro's, and Dell and HP business laptops, Xbox One S, Apple TV 4k. The Macbook Pro and my Dell Latitude 7480 are connected to the 5Ghz channel @ 400Mbps, which is good enough. The 2.4Ghz clients typically sit at 130-200Mbps. No disconnects, strong signal throughout my 3500sq ft home, all is well.

For fun, I decided to order a new AC68U and this unit came with H/W Rev B2, knowing I'd give one of the models I didn't use to one family member or another who needs an upgrade. Well, after upgrading the new B2 to Merlin's 384.4_2 branch and using the EXACT same wireless configuration settings, in AP mode, that were being used with the H/W B1 unit, and now both my Macbook Pro and Dell Latitude 7480 will only connect to the 5Ghz radio in Legacy mode @ 54Mbps.

I have tried virtually every conceivable 5Ghz radio setting including disabling/enabling every add-on on the Professional settings, setting the radio to Auto vs N/AC, Legacy; Channel width to all freq vs each one separate (20, 40, 80Mhz), and the only setting that allows my newer devices to connect to the 5Ghz radio are Legacy or Auto, regardless of Channel width, and both laptops connect immediately but @ 54Mbps.

What gives? Can anyone give me insight into what I am doing wrong? Any input or direction would be greatly appreciated and sorry for rambling. Thank you.

you probably tried this but have you factory reset it and cleared nvsram after the firmware upgrade?

 

[CaptainSTX]

I've been using an AC68U H/W Ver B1 in AP mode with Merlin's 384.4_2 branch since it came out and in AP mode, the device works wonderfully! We have all kinds of devices in the house connected to both 2.4/5Ghz radios including iPhones, Macbook Pro's, and Dell and HP business laptops, Xbox One S, Apple TV 4k. The Macbook Pro and my Dell Latitude 7480 are connected to the 5Ghz channel @ 400Mbps, which is good enough. The 2.4Ghz clients typically sit at 130-200Mbps. No disconnects, strong signal throughout my 3500sq ft home, all is well.

For fun, I decided to order a new AC68U and this unit came with H/W Rev B2, knowing I'd give one of the models I didn't use to one family member or another who needs an upgrade. Well, after upgrading the new B2 to Merlin's 384.4_2 branch and using the EXACT same wireless configuration settings, in AP mode, that were being used with the H/W B1 unit, and now both my Macbook Pro and Dell Latitude 7480 will only connect to the 5Ghz radio in Legacy mode @ 54Mbps.

I have tried virtually every conceivable 5Ghz radio setting including disabling/enabling every add-on on the Professional settings, setting the radio to Auto vs N/AC, Legacy; Channel width to all freq vs each one separate (20, 40, 80Mhz), and the only setting that allows my newer devices to connect to the 5Ghz radio are Legacy or Auto, regardless of Channel width, and both laptops connect immediately but @ 54Mbps.

What gives? Can anyone give me insight into what I am doing wrong? Any input or direction would be greatly appreciated and sorry for rambling. Thank you.

By exact same settings you didn't load your saved configuration file by chance? If yes then do a factory reset and see what happens if you key all the settings in from scratch.

If that doesn't help trying changing the ssids for the radios and then connect to the sites using the new ssids.

 

[sanzaborn33]

Thanks for the responses. After the upgrade to latest Merlin from factory firmware I did a Factory Reset via the control panel, not using the physical reset button and power cycled the device. And I did NOT use a saved config file for configuration, just reset and manually configured the router to the same specs as the older H/W B1 model.

What I have not tried is clearing the nvsram. Any tricks to that?

EDIT: Per the following thread I already reset the NVRAM by doing a Factory Default config via the control panel, correct?

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/faq-nvram-and-factory-default-reset.22822/

 

[CaptainSTX]

Thanks for the responses. After the upgrade to latest Merlin from factory firmware I did a Factory Reset via the control panel, not using the physical reset button and power cycled the device. And I did NOT use a saved config file for configuration, just reset and manually configured the router to the same specs as the older H/W B1 model.

What I have not tried is clearing the nvsram. Any tricks to that?

EDIT: Per the following thread I already reset the NVRAM by doing a Factory Default config via the control panel, correct?

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/faq-nvram-and-factory-default-reset.22822/

If you are using the same ssids as previously then try setting up one of the guest networks on both the the 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz radios. Then see if the reluctant devices can connect at a higher link rate. If the can then you know that the devices saved settings are causing the issue and you will have to change or delete the old ssids.

 

[sanzaborn33]

If you are using the same ssids as previously then try setting up one of the guest networks on both the the 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz radios. Then see if the reluctant devices can connect at a higher link rate. If the can then you know that the devices saved settings are causing the issue and you will have to change or delete the old ssids.

Sorry forgot to respond to this. I am not using the same SSID's as on the B1 device, assigned new SSID's on the new B2 device. Same password, different SSID's. Did NOT try to connect via the guest networks, however...

UPDATE: Connecting to the B2 device via guest network did not make a difference. Both laptops connected fine but @ 54Mbps.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Sorry forgot to respond to this. I am not using the same SSID's as on the B1 device, assigned new SSID's on the new B2 device. Same password, different SSID's. Did NOT try to connect via the guest networks, however...

UPDATE: Connecting to the B2 device via guest network did not make a difference. Both laptops connected fine but @ 54Mbps.

The only other thing I can suggest before you return the router is to do a factory reset and before you change any settings connect to the router using the default settings including ssid and passwords and see what happens.

 

[john9527]

Are you sure the region of the new router matches where you are? Where/how did you buy the router?

 

[sanzaborn33]

The only other thing I can suggest before you return the router is to do a factory reset and before you change any settings connect to the router using the default settings including ssid and passwords and see what happens.

Will try connecting at factory default settings and configuration today to see if this works, thanks for the tip.

Are you sure the region of the new router matches where you are? Where/how did you buy the router?

I purchased the unit from NewEgg and whenever I purchase any computer stuff from them, I always make sure its 'Sold and shipped by NE' so it's not from some wacky marketplace re seller. Outside of settings the time zone, how do I confirm what Region the device is set for??

 

[john9527]

how do I confirm what Region the device is set for??

log in to the router and check the output of

nvram show | grep -E 'ccode|territory'