Solved [RT-AX86U] - Weird cron time schedule: am vs. pm

[airgap]

Hi guys,

I bought two RT-AX86U routers. Using one as main router and the other as media bridge for my computer. I love it! It works blazing fast a almost hit my internet connection speed of 1Gbit/s (around 900mb down / 980mb up).

But there is one thing which bothers me and I don't understand why ASUS loves to mess things up on just one stupid simple thing which doens't make any sense - but let me explain:

I configured a scheduled wifi on the main router over the GUI and it works great so far.

The media bridge for some odd reasons has no options for wifi scheduling. Why does ASUS remove it when it's in bridge mode. They strip a lot of settings right away on different mode of the router.

So I researched and found a way to apply my own cron rules on the bridge and it shuts the wifi down and up on the whished time with for example this command for wakeup:

cru a wifi5up "30 05 * * * nvram set wl1_radio=1 && nvram commit && service restart_wireless"

And here we come to core of the issu. It works and works so damn well that it also initates at 17:30 which means that it will restart my wifi connection at 17:30 (5:30pm) like it does at the morning at 05:30am.

Am I the only one facing this strange cron behaviour?

Any suggestions why cron behaves like that and how to fix it?

I am using stock asus firmware 3.0.0.4.384_9318

 

[ColinTaylor]

cron will not suddenly decide to interpret 05:30 as 17:30. You need to look elsewhere for the problem. Try using cru l to ensure that you haven't left any test entries in there. I'd also look in the syslog to try and determine what is triggering the restart.

 

[airgap]

I already checked that one. Nope there exactly to entries which I created for wifi down and wifi up.

I thought at first a bad DST config but the ntp works fine:

admin@RT-AX86U-F840:/tmp/home/root# date
Tue Dec 22 19:00:28 CET 2020

So time and date works fine.

Update:
This is the first line of the log exactly to that time frame:

Dec 22 17:30:11 rc_service: psta_monitor 30943:notify_rc restart_wlcmode 0

and then it does all the restart etc. things

 

[L&LD]

Wouldn't the Wi-Fi disabled on the main router effectively stop the Media Bridge from working too? I don't understand why you need to specifically turn off its radios too?

 

[airgap]

I think it is useless use of ressources when WiFi is not need so it could be shut off. I have other devices which are connected to the main router via LAN and they should operate further. May be I don't want to be brain controlled at night by the government!? The get like Inception into my dreams and try to manipulate me. LOOOL hahahaha ... why should the implement this kind of feature if it would not be not necessary?

If the router doesn't use ressources which are not necessary the whole time - maybe it prolongs the life span of the device?

In the end I just asked if some is able to figure out what kind of bug this cron thing is - and if no one is able to help that's perfectly fine. No everyone can know everything - but there is no need for asking me WHY I want to do X or Y or I don't .. that is the worst kind of help to be honest.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Update:
This is the first line of the log exactly to that time frame:

Dec 22 17:30:11 rc_service: psta_monitor 30943:notify_rc restart_wlcmode 0

and then it does all the restart etc. things

Perhaps you could try the following command to stop that process restarting things. But my guess is that watchdog will restart it.

killall psta_monitor

 

[L&LD]

Asking for the 'why' often helps a lot in providing the proper, 'how'.

Your reasons are not valid, but I can respect them.

My reasons, below.

With many routers lasting (almost) a decade, and at the end of that time they are effectively 'useless', I don't see a need to prolong their lifespan.

I also don't see a big benefit is 'saving' resources either. What benefits, other than not becoming Wi-Fi controlled zombies (which can happen with your neighbor's Wi-Fi just as easily), do you anticipate?

The worst kind of help is when it is offered sincerely and being told it's the worst.

 

[airgap]

Perhaps you could try the following command to stop that process restarting things. But my guess is that watchdog will restart it.

killall psta_monitor

I tried that but as you correctly stated. It will restart anyway.
I am trying to figure out why the cron job is doing this. That is a not usual behaviour of cron to interpret one specific timeframe once as AM and 12 hours later as PM. This is the core of the issue. And I hope that someone has some insight on it. May be it is something which ASUS messed up and we are not able to fix it but before I open a ticket at ASUS I want to be sure that am I the only one who experienced this or more people? If more people then I guess ASUS would take a deeper look on it. We all use our ASUS routers because they are worth it and I hope that ASUS likes to stick to its customers and community.

The worst kind of help is when it is offered sincerely and being told it's the worst.

I appreciate your offer and may be I was a bit offending by saying that it's the "worst help". Nah it's not the worst and you know it for sure. Worst would be to lie and give help which will hurt or damage and I don't see any member here which does that - so that was one of the reasons why I signed here

But still...imho...your question doesn't lead me to my goal of possible solution and you know: sometimes people do strange (or even stupid) things which doesn't make sense in the first place but that is non of our business if they just ask for help right? We can say that what they do is not the best or wise way but still we offer solutions if we have some to offer.

So I hope that this one is clear now and we can focus back on the main (core) issue: CRON

 

[ColinTaylor]

It does not appear to be cron that is doing this. Your previous post suggested it was the psta_monitor process. Perhaps psta_monitor waits 12 hours for the WiFi link to come back up after which it restarts the WiFi. Unfortunately the psta_monitor process is closed source.

 

[airgap]

Sorry was busy a lot and this was not my high priority so I just pushed it aside and lived with the issue. So now I have a litteblit time again to investigate.

I found something out which is interesting but I don't know what I can do with it:

First: I found out that the schedule for 5GHz WiFi might be (I am not 100% sure but I am almost sure) in the wl1_sched_v2.

The difference between my main router (which is in router mode) and my second router (which is bridge mode) is that if type in the comman:

nvram get wl1_sched_v2

I get following results on the main router:
W10100000500<W10123002400<W10200000500<W10223002400<W10400000500<W10423002400<W10800000500<W10823002400<W11000000500<W11023002400<W12000000500<W12023002400<W14000000500<W14023002400

but nothing on the second router.

I don't know what kind of values they represent and how to find out what they mean? I didn't try to insert those values in the second router because I don't know if the values shown are the correct value-type or the represent another kind of value-type which is not shown.

Could someone explain it to me? I could almost pretend that those numbers/values show exact timeframe which forbid or allow wifi to be scheduled on or of and I assume that I could just "copy+paste" but I would like to besure of before trying that.

Update:
I guess I am almost right with my assumptions: I looked in the gui and tried to decipher the values from the CLI which would represent the values in the gui:

Am I on the right path?

For example: W10100000500 would mean for me:

W101 is the day of the week which might be sunday
0000 represent 00:00
0500 represent 05:00

soo..... W10100000500<W10123002400 would be like:
Sunday 00:00 till 05:00 and Sunday 23:00 till 24:00 it will be schedule off.

If that would be correct and my assumption would be right I could implement it and get rid of CRU which messes with the cron and psta_monitor.

 

[dosborne]

No everyone can know everything - but there is no need for asking me WHY I want to do X or Y or I don't .. that is the worst kind of help to be honest.

Sometimes, explaining the reason can help point to solutions you had not thought of. For example, during this "off time" do you need the router running at all? You could use a digital timer to power it off during unnecessary timeslots?

 

[airgap]

Sometimes, explaining the reason can help point to solutions you had not thought of. For example, during this "off time" do you need the router running at all? You could use a digital timer to power it off during unnecessary timeslots?

Sure I did explaint it on Dec 23, 2020

There is a reason why there is such thing like an scheduler. If there would be no need for it then it wouldn't be implemented right?

May be someone has children which should not have wifi access or it's a day care which only want's to provide a certain time access to wifi or whatever kind of reason.

- I don't want to turn my routers off
- I don't want to reboot them
- I don't want to use external tools like "digital timers" etc.
- I want to use the wifi scheduler!!!!!

I would really appreciate it if help is provided by sticking to the technical side of the matter

 

[drblack]

Sure I did explaint it on Dec 23, 2020

There is a reason why there is such thing like an scheduler. If there would be no need for it then it wouldn't be implemented right?

May be someone has children which should not have wifi access or it's a day care which only want's to provide a certain time access to wifi or whatever kind of reason.

- I don't want to turn my routers off
- I don't want to reboot them
- I don't want to use external tools like "digital timers" etc.
- I want to use the wifi scheduler!!!!!

I would really appreciate it if help is provided by sticking to the technical side of the matter

The updated scheduling function is not working at all.

 

[airgap]

The updated scheduling function is not working at all.

I guess it's hopeless. At least I tried but ASUS has weird logic in their software. I think until ASUS doesn't fix it or change some logic there it is not fixable in their current stock software.

 

[drblack]

I guess it's hopeless. At least I tried but ASUS has weird logic in their software. I think until ASUS doesn't fix it or change some logic there it is not fixable in their current stock software.

The problem is: this feature was working perfectly before last November. Once they upgraded the firmware, it's no longer working. After two major firmware upgrades since last winter, this feature is still not working. This is totally not acceptable.

 

[airgap]

The problem is: this feature was working perfectly before last November. Once they upgraded the firmware, it's no longer working. After two major firmware upgrades since last winter, this feature is still not working. This is totally not acceptable.

Totally agree on that but to be honest I think ASUS gives a "f***" about customers otherwise they would look in such forums like this and fix these stupid issues asap instead waiting for a lot of people complain about it on their support site but even if enough people complain there is no guarantee they will fix it anyway

It's not only to ASUS it's the entire mentality of the companies like "if you don't like it - we don't care! a fool is born everyday who will buy our products. go away if you don't like it"

Their product works for normal users and most of average people don't try to use all of the options of a router - so ASUS and other companies don't put a lot of effort in perfecting their products.

End of the story is if you (me or anyone else) want's it to be fixed then you can't rely on the stock rom and try out modified firmware or completely another firmware to put on it which will inevitably throws your waranty out of the window and ASUS will say: "we don't care. nobody forced you to modify it" but the truth is they force the poeple indirectly by creating stupid bugs or unevolved features in their software.

May be one day an ASUS dev finds this thread and thinks: "May be I should restore faith in humanity and fix that damn thing at least I will do something good for the people"

 

[drblack]

Totally agree on that but to be honest I think ASUS gives a "f***" about customers otherwise they would look in such forums like this and fix these stupid issues asap instead waiting for a lot of people complain about it on their support site but even if enough people complain there is no guarantee they will fix it anyway

It's not only to ASUS it's the entire mentality of the companies like "if you don't like it - we don't care! a fool is born everyday who will buy our products. go away if you don't like it"

Their product works for normal users and most of average people don't try to use all of the options of a router - so ASUS and other companies don't put a lot of effort in perfecting their products.

End of the story is if you (me or anyone else) want's it to be fixed then you can't rely on the stock rom and try out modified firmware or completely another firmware to put on it which will inevitably throws your waranty out of the window and ASUS will say: "we don't care. nobody forced you to modify it" but the truth is they force the poeple indirectly by creating stupid bugs or unevolved features in their software.

May be one day an ASUS dev finds this thread and thinks: "May be I should restore faith in humanity and fix that damn thing at least I will do something good for the people"

OK, Tried another method last night, and seems it's working now. I deleted everything under "Parental Control" including "app filter" and "time scheduling". Then added devices one by one in both areas. It's working because my kids came to me asking for the internet by the off-time comes.

 

[airgap]

OK, Tried another method last night, and seems it's working now. I deleted everything under "Parental Control" including "app filter" and "time scheduling". Then added devices one by one in both areas. It's working because my kids came to me asking for the internet by the off-time comes.

Are you sure that you have the exact same issue like me and it's related exactly to the topic here? It sounds like you have/had a general issue with your wifi schedule but that's was/is not my issue. My issue is more specific.