RT-AC87U - Frustrations...

[Seanbm]

Hi Everyone
I have just bought a RT-AC87U as my 2nd ASUS router and have lots of issues with wireless (wired is AWESOME!).

Initially I couldnt get the 5ghz wireless to work - after numerous changes to the firmware, resets etc this now seems to be working OK (had both wireless going on sunday for 6 hours then they stopped working). Now the 2.4 wireless seems really bad.

I am currently using 3.0.0.4.376_2769 firmware (sorry Merlin - was having wireless issues with your firmware) and have reset the router and set it up again. At the moment I have 1 device connected - a laptop and it connects fine to the router in 5ghz, and i can use the internet etc at full speed (on last test 101000kbps). The ping times are normal.

However if I connect to the 2.4ghz network the network becomes unstable with very erratic ping results to the router ranging from normal to timeouts to destination host unreachable.... and of course nslookups dont work (its like it cant communicate with the router)

some data.... The routing table looks like this (why is there the 169.*.*.* entry there)
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.2.1 * 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0 WAN
169.254.39.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 LAN
192.168.2.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 WAN
192.168.1.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 LAN
default 192.168.2.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 WAN

I have attached the log from the router in case that helps...

the wireless settings are included in the other attachments...

Any ideas anyone - i am just about fed up with the wireless side of things...

Sean

 

[R@pt0rs]

Hi Everyone
I have just bought a RT-AC87U as my 2nd ASUS router and have lots of issues with wireless (wired is AWESOME!).

Initially I couldnt get the 5ghz wireless to work - after numerous changes to the firmware, resets etc this now seems to be working OK (had both wireless going on sunday for 6 hours then they stopped working). Now the 2.4 wireless seems really bad.

I am currently using 3.0.0.4.376_2769 firmware (sorry Merlin - was having wireless issues with your firmware) and have reset the router and set it up again. At the moment I have 1 device connected - a laptop and it connects fine to the router in 5ghz, and i can use the internet etc at full speed (on last test 101000kbps). The ping times are normal.

However if I connect to the 2.4ghz network the network becomes unstable with very erratic ping results to the router ranging from normal to timeouts to destination host unreachable.... and of course nslookups dont work (its like it cant communicate with the router)

some data.... The routing table looks like this (why is there the 169.*.*.* entry there)
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.2.1 * 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0 WAN
169.254.39.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 LAN
192.168.2.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 WAN
192.168.1.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 LAN
default 192.168.2.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 WAN

I have attached the log from the router in case that helps...

the wireless settings are included in the other attachments...

Any ideas anyone - i am just about fed up with the wireless side of things...

Sean

Hi Sean,

I have had this problem with my RT-AC87U, I see that on your configuration that your pre-shared key has non alpha numeric value. Try simplifying your pre-share key and SSID so that you avoid things like the !@$#%^&*()-<space> characters. This will make things more stable and usable. I posted this earlier when I first got my router on September and I lost a night of sleep on it. Then after some Googling and RMERLIN mentioning this to my post I just simplified my strings. The new RMERLIN firmware is quite awesome and so I kept going with RMERLIN specially since the auto update from Asus (through non-SSL connection) is susceptible to man in the middle attack.

I hope this helps. BTW this router rocks, its expensive but good after you know how to err hmm tweak the thing. Please note I am by no mean a super user that has SAMBA and all the fun stuff but baby steps for me.

 

[Seanbm]

Thanks - well i just did this (and restarted the router) SSID is now na and nb and the pass is a simple text string...

But, unfortunately - 2.4 is still erratic - mostly saying cant ping the router (net unreachable, or timeouts or ping in the 240ms range - very occasionally)

One update: if I move the laptop away about 60cm further than where is was I now get more successful pings, but poor time values - up to 2000ms) - ANy Ideas Why?

2nd Update: shirt... if i disconnect form the 2.4 net it wont reconnect... 5 is fine with great speeds.

3rd update: now time has moved on and my 5 net is starting to see higher pigh time numbers and my speed has dropped from 101000kbps to 11270kbps Ahhhh.

 

[R@pt0rs]

Thanks - well i just did this (and restarted the router) SSID is now na and nb and the pass is a simple text string...

But, unfortunately - 2.4 is still erratic - mostly saying cant ping the router (net unreachable, or timeouts or ping in the 240ms range - very occasionally)

One update: if I move the laptop away about 60cm further than where is was I now get more successful pings, but poor time values - up to 2000ms) - ANy Ideas Why?

2nd Update: shirt... if i disconnect form the 2.4 net it wont reconnect... 5 is fine with great speeds.

3rd update: now time has moved on and my 5 net is starting to see higher pigh time numbers and my speed has dropped from 101000kbps to 11270kbps Ahhhh.

Still at work but will have to check my settings. I generally leave most of the stuff set to the default values. One thing for 2.4 GHz you might want to see how congested is that spectrum in your hood. As a rule of thumb I set my channel to 11 in the 2.4 GHz spectrum. So far where I live not many people in uses that channel, but it might/will be different for you where you live.

But the best thing you can do is to reset to factory defaults and change the SSIDs and pre-shared keys to the simplified values only and see what happens. I will check later tonight at this post. Sorry long day at the office to pay off my hobbies .

 

[dfran1]

you can try to factory default the router (unplug power and hold the WPS while plugging power back in and keep held for 30 seconds, then release the WPS button)
Just type in a passcode, do not change anything else on any wifi setting page, leave all to auto and or whatever is factory default and try.
Also just do a minimum bare at best to get yourself up and running.
Then if stuff is working, then change one thing at a time until it breaks.

 

[Seanbm]

Hi R@pt0rs
Thanks for those suggestions... I have 0 other 5Ghz routers close to me (im using 153+149 (inssider) and I am running on channel 6 or 11 - currently 11 on the 2.4Ghz band with no other networks on that channel.

The router is placed about 2m from a wireless phone (The product operates in the frequency range of 1.88 GHz to 1.90 GHz) so this shouldn't be an issue. There are no other wireless devices in the same room.

Dfran1 - I will do another factory reset (be about the 20-30th since sunday) and see what happens

 

[Seanbm]

Still at work but will have to check my settings. I generally leave most of the stuff set to the default values. One thing for 2.4 GHz you might want to see how congested is that spectrum in your hood. As a rule of thumb I set my channel to 11 in the 2.4 GHz spectrum. So far where I live not many people in uses that channel, but it might/will be different for you where you live.

But the best thing you can do is to reset to factory defaults and change the SSIDs and pre-shared keys to the simplified values only and see what happens. I will check later tonight at this post. Sorry long day at the office to pay off my hobbies .

Hi R@pt0rs
Thanks for those suggestions... I have 0 other 5Ghz routers close to me (im using 153+149 (inssider) and I am running on channel 6 or 11 - currently 11 on the 2.4Ghz band with no other networks on that channel.

The router is places about 2m from w wireless phone station (The product operates in the frequency range of 1.88 GHz to 1.90 GHz) so this should be an issue. There are no other wireless devices in the same room.

Dfran1 - I will do another factory reset (be about the 20-30th since sunday) and see what happens

So now the update - after the reset
5ghz
pings range in time from 2ms to 232ms
Internet test speed average (over 10 min period 5 tests) 16000 kbps down and 650kbps up
at one stage this morning this was 100000kbps down...
Wired is 110000 down and 1400kbps up (8ms ping)

2.4ghz
pings range from 2ms to 1000+ms
Internet test speed (over 10 min period 5 tests) 1300kbps (yes that low) down, 148kbps up ping 62ms

WTH is wrong with this wireless.....

 

[Seanbm]

Final update for a while - I updated to Merlin 376_48_1
2.4ghz and 5ghz wireless speeds are the same and the fluctuating ping times continue

time to return it???

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
If you enabled QoS, try to use traditional QoS or disable QoS altogether and see what happens. Try speed test on the QoS UI web page as well.

 

[R@pt0rs]

Final update for a while - I updated to Merlin 376_48_1
2.4ghz and 5ghz wireless speeds are the same and the fluctuating ping times continue

time to return it???

Back from the salt mine and home sweet playing with COD Advanced Warfare home. I just finished reading your latest post. So just want to make sure I didn't miss a thing (it happens when you logged 11 hours of work). So right now your 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks are now stable in the sense you don't get disconnected right?

Also for your pings are you pinging from whatever machine to the router or to a specific site or to whatever the QoS speed test?

Was the ping time latencies in the past that bad? Those are pretty results you are getting.

 

[Seanbm]

Hi,
If you enabled QoS, try to use traditional QoS or disable QoS altogether and see what happens. Try speed test on the QoS UI web page as well.

Nope - QOS is disabled. THis is a default setup with only the SSID's and passwords changed

 

[Seanbm]

Back from the salt mine and home sweet playing with COD Advanced Warfare home. I just finished reading your latest post. So just want to make sure I didn't miss a thing (it happens when you logged 11 hours of work). So right now your 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks are now stable in the sense you don't get disconnected right?

Also for your pings are you pinging from whatever machine to the router or to a specific site or to whatever the QoS speed test?

Was the ping time latencies in the past that bad? Those are pretty results you are getting.

So far the 5Ghz has been stable with no dropouts that I noticed. 2.4ghz also looks ok. EDIT: 2.4 gets timeouts also - 5 doesnt.
The thing is those latencies! I am pinging from 192.168.1.X to 192.168.1.1 DIRECTLY and the latency on the 2.4 is around 10-1000ms and on the 5ghz is 2-200ms or so. Thats absurd - they should be consistently around 1ms or less. It has to be the router! The wired connection is <1ms consistently!

the speed test is to http://speedtest.syd.optusnet.com.au/

I also note in top the following 2 processes
1043 1 admin R 2100 0.8 0 8.8 /bin/wps_monitor
1120 1 admin S 772 0.3 0 6.6 miniupnpd -f /etc/upnp/config

8.8% add 6.6% of processor

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
You enabled QoS? Try with it disabled or use traditional QoS if enabled.

 

[R@pt0rs]

So far the 5Ghz has been stable with no dropouts that I noticed. 2.4ghz also looks ok. EDIT: 2.4 gets timeouts also - 5 doesnt.
The thing is those latencies! I am pinging from 192.168.1.X to 192.168.1.1 DIRECTLY and the latency on the 2.4 is around 10-1000ms and on the 5ghz is 2-200ms or so. Thats absurd - they should be consistently around 1ms or less. It has to be the router! The wired connection is <1ms consistently!

the speed test is to http://speedtest.syd.optusnet.com.au/

I also note in top the following 2 processes
1043 1 admin R 2100 0.8 0 8.8 /bin/wps_monitor
1120 1 admin S 772 0.3 0 6.6 miniupnpd -f /etc/upnp/config

8.8% add 6.6% of processor

Hi Sean,

The processor looks about right. So I did a quick test on my router and went from the second floor (where the router is) all the way to the basement and I get some of the ping test values. The thing I did notice is that the delay only takes place when I went from one floor and moved around in general.

If I were to hazard a guess, your spikes in delays may be attributed with how Beam Forming works. It does takes a wee amount of time to find the device as you move around. That time is not humanly perceivable but it does takes its toll when you do a ping test and in some cases it might drop a packet or two which did happen to me as I was doing a marathon around my place.

As for the internet speed test (since I live in Canada) the values I get are acceptable considering that the test servers are half way across the world from me. Can you try speedtest.net to see if you can get similar and or better results from servers that are closer to your physical location?

Other than that for actual speed and reliability test I would try file transfers or even download a file (say the Microsoft .Net framework offline installer) to see if you have comparable performance to your old router.

Let me know how that works Sean, good luck bud.

 

[pinkfloyd1173]

So far the 5Ghz has been stable with no dropouts that I noticed. 2.4ghz also looks ok. EDIT: 2.4 gets timeouts also - 5 doesnt.
The thing is those latencies! I am pinging from 192.168.1.X to 192.168.1.1 DIRECTLY and the latency on the 2.4 is around 10-1000ms and on the 5ghz is 2-200ms or so. Thats absurd - they should be consistently around 1ms or less. It has to be the router! The wired connection is <1ms consistently!

the speed test is to http://speedtest.syd.optusnet.com.au/

I also note in top the following 2 processes
1043 1 admin R 2100 0.8 0 8.8 /bin/wps_monitor
1120 1 admin S 772 0.3 0 6.6 miniupnpd -f /etc/upnp/config

8.8% add 6.6% of processor

Hey man, I just got my rt87r 2 days ago, and I have had no issues with the router, I am running Merlin's 376.47 FW, have you tried using that FW instead of the new one he released??

 

[DaveMishSr]

RT-AC87R stable on Beta 376_3561

My problems started when I upgraded from Merlin's 376.48_Beta2 to 376.48_1. Immediately, the 2.4GHz band disappeared. Nothing worked in restoring the 2.4GHz band. The 5GHz band seemed unaffected at first but connectivity quickly deteriorated to the point of uselessness. I took the AC87R out of service and went back to my trusty AC68U which is running Merlin's 376.48_Beta2. The 68U ran without issues.

So I took the 87R and started to load firmwares to see if anything would revive it. I know it sounds silly but on Asus 376_3561 the router appears to be running without issue. I do not use QoS, port forwarding, VPN or any other fancy settings and I do not use downloadmaster. The 87R on 376_3561 works, I can access the web-based GUI without any problems and it streams HD video wirelessly across the house without missing a beat.

There you have it in a nutshell. After several late nights, multiple factory defaults resettings and more tears than I care to remember, this router is working as designed, AFAIK. I intend to leave the 87R alone and see how long it can stay in operation without suffering any issues. So far it is at 1 day 4 hours 16 minutes 45 seconds and all seems fine.

 

[Seanbm]

Hi Sean,

The processor looks about right. So I did a quick test on my router and went from the second floor (where the router is) all the way to the basement and I get some of the ping test values. The thing I did notice is that the delay only takes place when I went from one floor and moved around in general.

If I were to hazard a guess, your spikes in delays may be attributed with how Beam Forming works. It does takes a wee amount of time to find the device as you move around. That time is not humanly perceivable but it does takes its toll when you do a ping test and in some cases it might drop a packet or two which did happen to me as I was doing a marathon around my place.

As for the internet speed test (since I live in Canada) the values I get are acceptable considering that the test servers are half way across the world from me. Can you try speedtest.net to see if you can get similar and or better results from servers that are closer to your physical location?

Other than that for actual speed and reliability test I would try file transfers or even download a file (say the Microsoft .Net framework offline installer) to see if you have comparable performance to your old router.

Let me know how that works Sean, good luck bud.

THe strange things is that from the router at one stage the pings were ok... but as time goes on they get worse. I'll continue to play... and BTW I'm in melbourne Australia so the speedtest is fine for me and wired I get 100000+kbps...... and I saw 1 time only the wireless 5ghz run at this speed so its possible....

 

[Seanbm]

OK I just installed Merlin 346.47
on the 5ghz - ping is now 3-5ms usually with a few higher to 60ms
speed test 90000kbps up

Thats about how it should be... Now we will see how we go from here.

BUT - cant connect to 2.4 EDIT: - it now connects (after a disable, enable the 2.4 radio.) but pings take 600ms + if i get a response at all.... Getting to end of tether now.

Where do i find the 376_3561 firmware?

 

[DaveMishSr]

OK I just installed Merlin 346.47
on the 5ghz - ping is now 3-5ms usually with a few higher to 60ms
speed test 90000kbps up

Thats about how it should be... Now we will see how we go from here.

BUT - cant connect to 2.4 EDIT: - it now connects (after a disable, enable the 2.4 radio.) but pings take 600ms + if i get a response at all.... Getting to end of tether now.

Where do i find the 376_3561 firmware?

I am curious. IIRC, your 5G setting were all auto and on 2.4g you were using "N only". Try setting everything to "auto". Merlin uses that for his wireless settings and it works well for me.

 

[Seanbm]

I am curious. IIRC, your 5G setting were all auto and on 2.4g you were using "N only". Try setting everything to "auto". Merlin uses that for his wireless settings and it works well for me.

Hi
Yes after i reset it all values are auto... The 2.4 net is useless - Huge ping times / timeouts etc. The 5 net is averaging 3-5ms pings now - so thats better