Rt-ax86U disconnects frequently

[bbunge]

just registered to post a similar issue, but with AX82U, and found this thread. In my case, I got 2 x AX82U in AiMesh setup, and the ISP's router just as modem.

For several weeks now, I have experienced disconnections as well. Losing about 30-50 ping probes in a row and then recovering again for some time. Happening any device, using wireless or ethernet.

Initially, I thought this was caused due to a little twist I have in my fiber wire, as people say fiber is very fragile, but today I did a test connecting directly to my ISP's router, and 30000 out of 30000 probes succeeded, while the other computers connected to the AX82U had a loss ratio of 1-2%.

So, it's definitively something related with the Asus devices. But... what? What could I do?

1. Check the Ethernet cable connection the AX82U to the ISP router.
2. Do you have the ISP router in bridge mode?
3. There are some reported issues with Asus firmware released about the time your recent firmware, 3.0.0.4.386.46061 of 12JAN22, was released. The bandwidth monitor did not work well and there were occasional DNS issues. Neither of these caused disconnect issues with my AX86U.

Suggestions are to factory reset the router and AiMesh node. Configure manually. Leave the WIFI settings at default with SSID and passphrase of upper and lower case letters and numbers only. No special characters and 8 to 10 digits long with no spaces. Recommended to turn WPS off and set the 2.4 GHz to 20 MHz. Use reliable DNS upstream resolvers such as Quad9 or Cloudflare Secure.

 

[TexasFlood]

Bad Ethernet cables can occur. It's rare, but I once had an issue trace back to a flakey cable.

 

[yzT]

I did change the cable too, just to be sure. Sadly, that's not the root of the issue.

IIRC, I couldn't configure my ISP's on bridge mode, so what I did was to disable DHCP, APs and basically everything, and configure as DMZ host the AiMesh router.

It has been working like that for a year without issues, until "recently". I'm not sure about the DNS issue though, because I'm pinging to IPs directly (Google's 8.8.8.8 for example)

 

[pb9]

aaargh......the disconnect happened again this morning while I was in a meeting and I don't have the logs for it because I changed it to "notice" on Log only messages more urgent than. Changed it back to "All". Will send the log once another disconnect happens.

 

[pb9]

while I wait for your recommendation, I set the channel to 64 and unchecked the 160MHz channel

 

[ColinTaylor]

Couple more disconnects .... log attached. Thanks in advance Gurus.

Are you still connecting wirelessly? I thought I told you to debug the Ethernet connection problem. You've been going around in circles with WiFi since the middle of February.

 

[pb9]

Are you still connecting wirelessly? I thought I told you to debug the Ethernet connection problem. You've been going around in circles with WiFi since the middle of February.

Have had absolutely no Ethernet issues after I rebooted the Modem and router. In fact, my wife is working while connected to the Ethernet with absolutely no issues currently while I am experiencing these disconnects on WifI. The log I attached above will show this hopefully. Thanks.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Have had absolutely no Ethernet issues after I rebooted the Modem and router. In fact, my wife is working while connected to the Ethernet with absolutely no issues currently while I am experiencing these disconnects on WifI. The log I attached above will show this hopefully. Thanks.

Then what is the device in the log that's disconnecting? Is it TXAUSLTCD154572 (192.168.50.148)?

 

[pb9]

Then what is the device in the log that's disconnecting? Is it TXAUSLTCD154572 (192.168.50.148)?

It is the CCICPF2C1MMS. I can't find it in the log though while it shows connected on 2.4GHz.

 

[ColinTaylor]

It is the CCICPF2C1MMS(192.168.50.17). I can't find it in the log though while it shows connected on 2.4GHz.

View attachment 40475

There is nothing in the log that shows that device disconnecting. It renews it's key at 09:07:17 so it was connected at that time. What is/was the "Access Time" shown to the right of your screen shot?

Are you absolutely sure it's disconnecting from the WiFi and you're not simply loosing connectivity to the internet?

 

[pb9]

The screen shot was taken at the time I posted the reply and after the disconnects. If it was the internet issue, shouldn't my wife working while connected to the Ethernet have had an issue also? She had no interruptions at all.



New log attached after I enabled 160MHz again (and the disconnects started again after a brief lull while I had it disabled)

 

[ColinTaylor]

The screen shot was taken at the time I posted the reply and after the disconnects.

That wasn't the question I asked. Oh well.

If it was the internet issue, shouldn't my wife working while connected to the Ethernet have had an issue also? She had no interruptions at all.

It depends on what this issue might be. It could be site or protocol specific.

View attachment 40477

New log attached after I enabled 160MHz again (and the disconnects started again after a brief lull while I had it disabled)

OK so it has 3 goes at connecting to the 2.4GHz band, then switches to the 5GHz band when it becomes available. Monitor the situation and see what happens. Each time you experience a disconnect make a note of the time. It's almost impossible for us to correlate the events in the log otherwise, especially what we're in different time zones.

 

[pb9]

OK so it has 3 goes at connecting to the 2.4GHz band, then switches to the 5GHz band when it becomes available. Monitor the situation and see what happens. Each time you experience a disconnect make a note of the time. It's almost impossible for us to correlate the events in the log otherwise, especially what we're in different time zones.

Will note down the times. Also, see saw a weird device connect to the router at the time the disconnects happened. "Wistron Neweb Corp" ? Wondering if this is my Roku TV. I have had the device connect off on the Roku for a while now - still see this.

1. I have since unplugged the Roku TV and wrapped up the remote in an aluminum foil. I could connect Roku TV to ethernet but I want to keep it off for 15 to 20 days and see if the disconnects continue. Another option is to disable WiFi on the Roku and use a FireTV on it and Fire remote.
2. Also, changed the band to 80Mhz for 5g and set it to channel 48.
3. Rebooted the modem and router after this and cleared the router log.

Will note down the disconnect times and post the log. Thanks again.

 

[TexasFlood]

Wistron Neweb Corp supplies wireless hardware for a lot of home devices. I found such a device on my network and tracked it down. It was harmless. In my case I believe it was a Sony Blu-ray player, or maybe a DirecTV receiver, can't recall which for sure. It could be a wide variety of other devices from a Panasonic AC unit to a Sony PS4 or TV.

You could cut the device off from Internet access and see what device stops working. Or just unplug devices that might be the culprit, then plug them back in and see if the device listing on the router comes and goes along with the device being powered on and off. I think the latter is what I did to identify my device.

@ColinTaylor certainly seems to have strong troubleshooting skills. Don't assume anything, gather available evidence and follow it. Looks like you're in good hands. I know what good troubleshooting looks like but don't always have the discipline to follow it. It's all too easy to jump to a conclusion and look for evidence to back that up rather than follow where the facts lead you.

 

[Zhyn]

Skimmed through this thread and not sure if this will help. I just got the AX68U and was having issues with the 5ghz dropping. Have you tried downgrading your firmware? Your issue does sound different than mine, maybe more knowledgeable users can chime in if this is even worth a try.

AX68U 3.0.0.4.386.45911 (2021/10/25) and above broke my 5ghz. It looks like AX86U 3.0.0.4.386.45375 (2021/08/31) is the equivalent update. Maybe downgrading to a version before that is worth a try? (3.0.0.4.386.42095).

 

[pb9]

Skimmed through this thread and not sure if this will help. I just got the AX68U and was having issues with the 5ghz dropping. Have you tried downgrading your firmware? Your issue does sound different than mine, maybe more knowledgeable users can chime in if this is even worth a try.

AX68U 3.0.0.4.386.45911 (2021/10/25) and above broke my 5ghz. It looks like AX86U 3.0.0.4.386.45375 (2021/08/31) is the equivalent update. Maybe downgrading to a version before that is worth a try? (3.0.0.4.386.42095).

Didn't consider that option as it was not one of the suggestions provided to my issue. Have had no disconnections since I turned off the Roku TV. Will keep monitoring before I change anything else.

 

[TexasFlood]

Just FYI I've been running the latest official RT-AX86U firmware since it was released with nearly all my devices on 5Ghz and no noticable disconnects.

 

[pb9]

@ColinTaylor I stand corrected. The "disconnections" when connected via Ethernet also. Please see attached log and kindly advise next steps to fix issue(understand that I have to change the approach to get this fixed while connected to Ethernet). Thanks for your help

8:26 AM CT	disconnect on Wifi when wife connected her laptop
8:29 AM CT	disconnect - not known why
8:34:00 AM ct	disconnect onWifi
8:34:00 AM CT	connected to Ethernet
8:46:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet
8:47:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet
8:50:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet
8:54:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet
8:58:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet

 

[ggeinec]

@ColinTaylor I stand corrected. The "disconnections" when connected via Ethernet also. Please see attached log and kindly advise next steps to fix issue(understand that I have to change the approach to get this fixed while connected to Ethernet). Thanks for your help

8:26 AM CT	disconnect on Wifi when wife connected her laptop
8:29 AM CT	disconnect - not known why
8:34:00 AM ct	disconnect onWifi
8:34:00 AM CT	connected to Ethernet
8:46:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet
8:47:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet
8:50:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet
8:54:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet
8:58:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet

With this additional information I would be looking at the modem.

I had similar but not the same disconnect issues with my AC86U a few months ago. After a lot of debugging I finally had Comcast come out and check their gateway\modem. Turns out it was bad and they replaced it. Problems fixed.

 

[ColinTaylor]

@ColinTaylor I stand corrected. The "disconnections" when connected via Ethernet also. Please see attached log and kindly advise next steps to fix issue(understand that I have to change the approach to get this fixed while connected to Ethernet). Thanks for your help

8:26 AM CT	disconnect on Wifi when wife connected her laptop
8:29 AM CT	disconnect - not known why
8:34:00 AM ct	disconnect onWifi
8:34:00 AM CT	connected to Ethernet
8:46:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet
8:47:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet
8:50:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet
8:54:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet
8:58:00 AM CT	disconnected while connected to ethernet

OK that's useful.

How are you "connecting" the Ethernet? I'd expect to see messages like this in the log when you plug in the cable:

Mar 31 17:26:58 kernel: eth1 (Ext switch port: 0) (Logical Port: 8) (phyId: 8) Link Up at 1000 mbps full duplex
Mar 31 17:26:58 kernel: br0: port 4(eth1) entered forwarding state

But I'm not seeing that. So either you've changed the log level again or you're leaving the Ethernet cable plugged in while you're using the WiFi. If you're leaving the Ethernet cable plugged in I recommend that you don't do that (even if it's disabled in software) and only plug it in when you have disabled the WiFi adapter. Windows can sometimes get confused when it has two network adapters.

At the moment I'd agree with the previous poster that this looks more like an ISP or modem issue. There's nothing in the logs at the times of your Ethernet issues to suggest a problem with the router or the connection to the PC. Look in the modem's log.

Can you describe in detail exactly what happens on the PC when you experience the Ethernet disconnection.