RT-AC68U in Media Bridge Mode losing connection to main router

[HariSeldon]

My two RT-AC68Us in Media Bridge Mode are losing the connection to my main router. This seems to be a common problem with this router mode and I'm surprised I haven't found a reliable solution yet. I'm at the point of looking for workarounds and ways to reconnect automatically. I'm running Merlin 384.6 on two identical RT-AC68U. They both exhibit the same behavior no matter what firmware version I've tried. I finally got the routing and DHCP server issues sorted out in my other thread https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-in-media-bridge-mode-responding-to-dhcp-requests.48259/

I've tried setting up the routers to ping the default gateway on a cron job every 5 minutes, but that doesn't seem to keep the connection alive.

Right now on my 192.168.1.3 (Media bridge) router with an old laptop directly via ethernet and I show
Bridge status - disconnected
Band 5GHz
Link Rate 1300Mbps
RSSI 0 dBm

I don't know of any other way to reconnect to the bridge other than rebooting or trying to go through the media bridge setup again, which would require me to pick the SSID I'm connecting to and rebooting anyway.

Is there some way through scripts that I could check for the connection status of the bridge and if it is down, cycle just the bridge adapter rather than reboot? I'm open to other ideas to keep it from dropping the connection in the first place, but I have a file server (Plex/NAS) that needs a constant connection. I've tried the powerline adapter route, but the throughput is just horrible in the house I'm renting, and I can't fiddle with wiring.

 

[neoshi]

I have the exact same issue with my two ac68s in bridge mode. The main router (not mine) is a Netgear WNDR3400 V2, which could be the culprit. So many other reported cases of the media bridge disconnects since the 3.0.0.4.378.4850 (or Merlin 378) firmware, but we can't downgrade under without doing a whole recovery. Would REALLY like to see a solution, but I think the only way is to go back to 3.0.0.4.378.4850 firmware. A guy set his bridges to reboot every night at midnight as a temp fix (https://www.snbforums.com/threads/w...s-bridge-losing-connection-every-24hrs.28061/). I did step back down to using the 2.4 side of things to have less frequent disconnects because the higher channel you are on, it seems that you will disconnect more frequently.

 

[HariSeldon]

I have the exact same issue with my two ac68s in bridge mode. The main router (not mine) is a Netgear WNDR3400 V2, which could be the culprit. So many other reported cases of the media bridge disconnects since the 3.0.0.4.378.4850 (or Merlin 378) firmware, but we can't downgrade under without doing a whole recovery. Would REALLY like to see a solution, but I think the only way is to go back to 3.0.0.4.378.4850 firmware. A guy set his bridges to reboot every night at midnight as a temp fix (https://www.snbforums.com/threads/w...s-bridge-losing-connection-every-24hrs.28061/). I did step back down to using the 2.4 side of things to have less frequent disconnects because the higher channel you are on, it seems that you will disconnect more frequently.

I managed to keep my bridge online for 2 weeks straight by doing a ping -t from my "NAS" Windows 7 computer to the gateway .1 from behind the .2 bridge. Unfortunately ping appears to have some type of memory leak or something and didn't like running 24/7. I was restarting it when I noticed it stopped but eventually it crashed and my bridge lost connection. I started it up again and it was good for a few days then the .2 bridge locked up. I couldn't ping it or SSH, so I'm not sure what exactly happened. I might try a 1 minute cron job for a multiple ping script to see if that works better than just from the Windows host.

 

[neoshi]

I managed to keep my bridge online for 2 weeks straight by doing a ping -t from my "NAS" Windows 7 computer to the gateway .1 from behind the .2 bridge. Unfortunately ping appears to have some type of memory leak or something and didn't like running 24/7. I was restarting it when I noticed it stopped but eventually it crashed and my bridge lost connection. I started it up again and it was good for a few days then the .2 bridge locked up. I couldn't ping it or SSH, so I'm not sure what exactly happened. I might try a 1 minute cron job for a multiple ping script to see if that works better than just from the Windows host.

This kind of makes me wonder... My second ac68 stays up longer and the only thing different is that it has a Chromecast on it. Maybe that's keeping the connection alive much much longer because it's constantly feeding data for background pictures.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[agilani]

I have two ac68 repeaters running latest stock solidly connected to an ac88 router running the latest merlin on 5ghz which has the least amount of conflict. If you don't have different ssid for 2.4 and 5ghz, expect to have problems.

My backhaul is 5ghz ssid because even though it has the least distance, it also has the most bandwidth and least channel conflict. Also i had to do a complete wipe after upgrading the ac68 to the latest code base. Also look at the signal strength and make sure its good when its connected. Having a repeater with a weak signal backhaul is kinda pointless and may be more prone to dropping the connection.

You may also want to select the channel to use instead of relying on auto channel selection. I had a lot of problems with that. I can imagine its worse with equipment and software from two different vendors.

 

[HariSeldon]

I have two ac68 repeaters running latest stock solidly connected to an ac88 router running the latest merlin on 5ghz which has the least amount of conflict. If you don't have different ssid for 2.4 and 5ghz, expect to have problems.

My backhaul is 5ghz ssid because even though it has the least distance, it also has the most bandwidth and least channel conflict. Also i had to do a complete wipe after upgrading the ac68 to the latest code base. Also look at the signal strength and make sure its good when its connected. Having a repeater with a weak signal backhaul is kinda pointless and may be more prone to dropping the connection.

You may also want to select the channel to use instead of relying on auto channel selection. I had a lot of problems with that. I can imagine its worse with equipment and software from two different vendors.

I highly doubt it is interference on my situation because the connection is pretty much rock solid at 1300mbps. The distance is maybe 30 feet going through 2 drywalls and a door. I'll investigate some different channels, but I'm convinced now that there just has to be traffic or the connection will drop. I'm not saying it has anything to do with the Merlin firmware. It is likely on the TP-Link side in my case. Just for another data point I powered up my bridge last night and checked tonight and it is disconnected. I didn't move my office LAN behind it, so no traffic = disconnections.

 

[HariSeldon]

View attachment 14490
Like I said earlier. I have mine up for almost a month now with no issues on the 5g

Would you post your device list? I'm betting you have some devices that have constant traffic.

 

[agilani]

Do you not have any devices connected to the repeater/bridge? Almost every device will generate some bit of traffic, broadcast or otherwise? I would try manually assigning and a channel and make sure the tplink is not sharing the same ssid between 2 and 5 ghz.

just my two bit

 

[Squall Leonhart]

This has been fixed in the mainstream firmware for 2 builds now.

 

[neoshi]

This has been fixed in the mainstream firmware for 2 builds now.

Hmm I've tried Merlin 386.4 and it still does it. I'll go back to the Asus fw see if it's resolved.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[neoshi]

Well so i tried the latest asus fw and it is still dropping. I've since decided to redeploy my n56us running padavan. Client bridge security flaw? Sure, but reliable uptime, heck yeah.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[neoshi]

Well, all I can say is mine works flawless.

Care to share more about your setup? Like what are you using for your main router? Or have you changed any settings from default? We know very well yours works but it isn't helping us that are still having the issues despite trying numerous firmwares.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[barney007uk]

I have a very similar issue but mine is in modem mode. and I am on stock firmware

 

[Kacy]

Add me to the list of folks who need a daily reboot in media bridge mode.

For what it's worth I'm forced to use an arris modem/router from Spectrum as my Router. I think is my issue but I can't bridge it to test because of my environment. I wonder if those of us having issues are using something besides an Asus router for step one...

 

[Grisu]

did you try repeater mode instead, hide SSID and set strong different password if you dont want clients to connect on its WiFi?

 

[Grisu]

Why should it?

If you dont use it for clients the full bandwith will be used for bridging, there is no difference beside the ability to use its Wifi too if you want to!
For this you can setup a guest wifi on parent router only known to the repeater, no clients will connect to it.

 

[RMerlin]

@RMerlin im assuming you don’t have a bridge?

I don't, no.

 

[Kacy]

Why should it?

If you dont use it for clients the full bandwith will be used for bridging, there is no difference beside the ability to use its Wifi too if you want to!
For this you can setup a guest wifi on parent router only known to the repeater, no clients will connect to it.

I've always understood it this way as well. If I'm using a repeater with only wired clients connected I don't suffer the halved bandwidth. I may be off base though.

And yes, I've found the solution to this problem to be using repeater mode instead of bridging

 

[Grisu]

I've always understood it this way as well. If I'm using a repeater with only wired clients connected I don't suffer the halved bandwidth. I off base though.
And yes, I've found the solution to this problem to be using repeater mode instead of bridging

Correct! Who should half your speed as there is no client attached?
Half speed is when client needs same bandwith (half the time full bandwith) for transmitting to repeater and repeater needs half time for transmission to the main router.
Here is no client as it is on LAN.
Its as easy as add 1+1 (or here 1/2 and 1/2) ...

 

[Grisu]

My project is to continue to use bridges with access points, connected to another bridge and access point and so on

so your AP is connected via LAN to his related bridge, and you will get full WiFi speed in this situation too!