RT-N66U, 5Ghz, rMBP problems

[RMerlin]

Since I upgraded the firmware on my Asus RT-N66U router I have had significant connection issues to the 5GHz band. I was connected briefly, but for about 10 days I have been struggling.
The Macbook Pro (Retina-late 2012) will not connect. I receive a timeout message consistently. All of our other machines, including a Macbook Pro (non retina) and a Macbook Air connect without issue.
While I am more inclined to blame Maverick for this issue, it seems to have occurred after the Asus firmware upgrade.
This is a significant issue as I am running at 145MBps instead of 450MBps, big problem with large file transfers.

Switch to the SDK5 build.

 

[stdaparks]

5GHz goeth

Switch to the SDK5 build.

Ok, will check. I am running the latest firmware. What I have done in the short-term is configured my Netgear WNDR4500 as an access point. My MBP-Retina has no issue connecting to the 5GHz band, rock-solid stable, and I am showing 450MBps.
The issue is with the Asus Firmware and however it interacts with the MBP radio. Just odd that its exclusive to the Retina, but it is a newer wireless.

And here I promised to reduce the amount of wires, equipment and radios in the house. Good thing its her machine that is causing the issue.

 

[djc6]

I just picked up an RT-N66U and am having problems using 5Ghz on my 15" Mid-2012 Retina MacBook Pro.

Downgrading from the latest firmware to 3.0.0.4.374.720 helped with the random disconnects across all of my macs (All running Mtn. Lion). Now atleast my mac mini stays connected on 5Ghz.

However, my retina laptop still is very flaky on 5Ghz but rock solid on 2.4Ghz. I no longer show disconnects in the logs, but instead the laptop seems to stop passing traffic. Wi-Fi indicator shows all bars, but I won't be able to ping the router or ping anything on the internet. Absolutely nothing in the logs while this is going on. Disconnecting/Reconnecting will fix the issue for a little while.

I finally tried 2.4Ghz SSID, and its been fine for over a day which is a record.

 

[DeltaHF]

I also purchased a RT-N66U and am having problems with my 15'' Retina MacBook Pro (first-gen, mid-2012).

The laptop is only about 5 feet away from the router, but I'll randomly get high latency of 500-1000ms. All other devices on 5GHz and 2GHz work fine at the same time. I've had the MacBook plugged in with Ethernet (using Apple's USB-to-Ethernet adapter) and experienced no problems.

The issue seems to come up about once or twice a day, and can be "fixed" temporarily by turning Wifi off and on again in the OSX settings.

What version of OS X are you guys running? I'm still on 10.8.5.

Hopefully we can figure this out.

 

[djc6]

I'll randomly get high latency of 500-1000ms.

I too was seeing this on 5Ghz with my Mid-2012 Retina, even after downgrading to 3.0.0.4.374.720. Going to 2.4Ghz addressed this as well. I'm also on 10.8.5.

I have a Mid-2011 Mac Mini w/10.8.5 that works fine on 5Ghz since downgrading to 3.0.0.4.374.720 - prior to this I had disconnect issues.

 

[steve23094]

New info! It looks like it's a different problem.

Old post I'm resurrecting from the dead, but I started it.

I'm back with some new info and I need your help.

The reason for the long time between posts is that these connection problems manifest themselves when I'm online gaming. I grow bored of the game and stop playing so it's no longer the most important thing in my life. I suspect these issues occur when web browsing but I tend not to notice it.

A summary of the problem:- On an irregular basis my wireless connection just locks up for approximately 30 seconds at a time, more than 10 times a day (so a lot). This happens on 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz. This is a nightmare when playing online games.

Here is a map of my network:-

All items in blue are located in the living room. Those in green are in one bedroom. All connections use Cat5e cables. The exception is the Homeplugs which connect to each other via the mains, this results in a 100Mb link. Each wired network device has a manually assigned IP address via the router.

We have a total of 8 wireless devices that are used throughout the house (bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom etc). Two laptops, three tablets and three mobile phones. Some wireless devices have a manual IP address.

The reason for this setup is that I can get signal straight from the RT-N66U in the bedroom but it's weak and slow. In that situation I can't stream movies from my NAS because of buffering and any file transfers to and from my NAS are slow. I installed the Homeplugs and the Airport Express to give better wireless coverage in the bedroom and this definitely improves speeds. The RT-N66U and Airport Express are set with the same SSID so devices can simply switch from one to the other when moving around the home. I understand this is an acceptable method to achieve my aim.

From the bedroom devices can 'see' and connect to the Asus router, and from the living room devices can 'see' and connect to the Airport Express so there is some wireless overlap. Devices do let go of the weak signal and hook onto the stronger when moving around the house.

For the longest time I assumed the fault was with my Retina Macbook Pro and I tried all sorts of stuff to fix it. I used the OS X (v10.9.2) Wireless Diagnostics app to watch my wireless connection and I could see something happening each freeze but I couldn't understand what it was telling me (very technical). So I thought to check the RT-N66U logs and bingo!

Each and every time I experience a freeze this is in the RT-N66U log:-

kernel: eth1: received packet with own address as source address

or

kernel: eth2: received packet with own address as source address

I did some research and I believe this may be related to the two different wireless access points conflicting with each other.

The Airport Express has three MAC address. One for ethernet, one for 2.4Ghz and one for 5Ghz. The ethernet has a reserved IP address on the router, the wireless MAC addresses have been blacklisted on the RT-N66U.

So how do I figure this out?

1) Why does the RT-N66U have such a fit and cause the connection to freeze when encountering this problem? It's a serious pain, is there any way to fix it?

2) I want to keep the same SSIDs on the Airport Express and RT-N66U so my devices can roam. If I change them the signal is weak but not enough so the devices drop it to hook onto the stronger.

Thanks for taking the time to read and I hope you can help. Any ideas, no matter how crazy are welcome.

 

[steve23094]

Oh BTW, I thought you might find this amusing. This is a list of the wireless networks in my neighbourhood that my laptop picks up. There are about seven more scrolling off the bottom of the screen. Crazy huh? Can anyone beat that? (But please stay on topic to try to solve this problem).

 

[ColinTaylor]

Hi Steve,

Haven't really got a solution for you, but I have almost exactly the same setup.

Each and every time I experience a freeze this is in the RT-N66U log:-

kernel: eth1: received packet with own address as source address

or

kernel: eth2: received packet with own address as source address

I did some research and I believe this may be related to the two different wireless access points conflicting with each other.

This message is generated when your client device drops off one access point and connects to the other. The ASUS then sees the clients MAC address appear on a different interface. This creates conflicting ARP cache entries.

The Airport Express has three MAC address. One for ethernet, one for 2.4Ghz and one for 5Ghz. The ethernet has a reserved IP address on the router, the wireless MAC addresses have been blacklisted on the RT-N66U.

I don't see the point of the blacklisting as the second access point is not connecting as a wireless client to the ASUS. Unless I am misunderstanding you.

1) Why does the RT-N66U have such a fit and cause the connection to freeze when encountering this problem? It's a serious pain, is there any way to fix it?

The ASUS probably doesn't know how to route the traffic because of the conflicting ARP entries. It probably ends up flushing the cache. Is there any way to fix it? - Not that I can see, it's an inherent problem with your network design. (Unless someone knows better, in which case I too would like to know)

 

[bill1228]

nvram set wl0_reg_mode=h

This will enable enable 802.11d+h. I use a RT-N66U together with a MBA (2012). I use Merlins FW (26b). 802.11d was not enabled on the RT-N66U. After the command mentioned above, I have this:

(standard input):wl0_reg_mode=h
(standard input):wl1_reg_mode=off
(standard input):wl_reg_mode=off

Not sure what 802.11d (and h) are about, something with sending the country codes from the router to clients.

On the wireless professional tab you can set d+h for 5g and d on 2.4g. This is true in Merlin's 374.40 and 41 beta1. Its called regulation mode.
--bill

 

[steve23094]

Hi Steve,

Haven't really got a solution for you, but I have almost exactly the same setup.

Thanks for getting back to me Colin. Do you have similar problems or does everything run okay in your network?

This message is generated when your client device drops off one access point and connects to the other. The ASUS then sees the clients MAC address appear on a different interface. This creates conflicting ARP table entries.

Any idea why my rMBP would be dropping off the access point? When this happens I am not moving around. When first connecting to the AP my rMBP always correctly chooses the closest AP. I possibly spoke too soon to say that my rMBP can 'see' and connect to the Airport Express in the bedroom whilst I am in the living room. As I type now it can't see it at all (possibly because of interference in the evening as my neighbours come home from work to use their networks?).

I don't know how well you know OS X, is there anything I can do to force my rMBP to maintain it's connection?

Is this the only reason for these messages?

I don't see the point of the blacklisting as the second access point is not connecting as a wireless client to the ASUS. Unless I am misunderstanding you.

This was just suggested in another thread here on the forum. That thread implied that it was an issue with the RT-N66U and Airport Express talking to each other and getting confused. I'm willing to try anything.

The ASUS doesn't know how to route the traffic because of the conflicting ARP entries. It probably ends up flushing the table. Is there any way to fix it? - Not that I can see, it's an inherent problem with your network design. (Unless someone knows better, in which case I too would like to know)

Okay. Do you have any suggestions on how my network should be set up then? If I have to I will change SSID but if my laptop is already dropping off one network and connecting to another I can't imagine a change in SSID will stop that? I need to be able to connect to both access points, so all the wireless devices will remember both.

From my limited understanding I thought that having the same SSID should allow roaming. Is that not true? Is all this network advice I have read over the web rubbish? Moving from one access point to another must be incredibly common the world over both at home and in business so I really don't understand why the RT-N66U can't handle that without locking up. If what you are saying is correct then access point roaming on a RT-N66U is all but impossible.

I am so exasperated.

Thanks very much.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Thanks for getting back to me Colin. Do you have similar problems or does everything run okay in your network?

No I don't have the same problems but my device usage is probably different.

Any idea why my rMBP would be dropping off the access point? When this happens I am not moving around. When first connecting to the AP my rMBP always correctly chooses the closest AP. I possibly spoke too soon to say that my rMBP can 'see' and connect to the Airport Express in the bedroom whilst I am in the living room. As I type now it can't see it at all (possibly because of interference in the evening as my neighbours come home from work to use their networks?).

I may have gotten completely the wrong end of the stick! I'd assumed you were moving from room to room.

Having said that; Roaming does not behave the way some people think it does. Once the client has connected to one access point it will stick with it even if the signal level and throughput drops to a really low level. It will only scan again if it loses connection, at which point it will connect to the strongest signal.

So if you move from the bedroom to the living room you should disable and enable the wireless adapter to ensure you are connected to the strongest signal.

I don't know how well you know OS X, is there anything I can do to force my rMBP to maintain it's connection?

I don't know OSX but to force my Blu-Ray player to connect the correct access point I blacklist it's MAC address in the other access point. But then the Blu-Ray never moves!

Is this the only reason for these messages?

There's probably other reasons that I'm unaware of. Of course it's quite possible that the messages are a complete red herring and the solution is as bill1228 suggested above. Try it.

Okay. Do you have any suggestions on how my network should be set up then? If I have to I will change SSID but if my laptop is already dropping off one network and connecting to another I can't imagine a change in SSID will stop that? I need to be able to connect to both access points, so all the wireless devices will remember both. roaming.

From my limited understanding I thought that having the same SSID should allow roaming. Is that not true? Is all this network advice I have read over the web rubbish? Moving from one access point to another must be incredibly common the world over both at home and in business so I really don't understand why the RT-N66U can't handle that without locking up. If what you are saying is correct then access point roaming on a RT-N66U is all but impossible.

See above about roaming. It's not a problem with the ASUS per se. I've seen it on other kit. But if your rMBP is disconnecting and reconnecting multiple time whilst you are just sitting next to the router then the problem is something more fundamental and nothing to do with roaming.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Once the client has connected to one access point it will stick with it even if the signal level and throughput drops to a really low level.

Just spotted this option: Wireless > Professional > Roaming assistant

 

[steve23094]

See above about roaming. It's not a problem with the ASUS per se. I've seen it on other kit. But if your rMBP is disconnecting and reconnecting multiple time whilst you are just sitting next to the router then the problem is something more fundamental and nothing to do with roaming.

Yeah, I really thought it was my Macbook that was causing the problem by dropping the connection. I have spent a long time concentrating on that angle. The thing is, you have explained that the RT-N66U is getting confused because my rMBP is connecting through the different AP. But why would it do that, if it dropped the connection why wouldn't it just try to connect back up to the same AP?

Just spotted this option: Wireless > Professional > Roaming assistant

That's a good tip. If I could figure out what it did. Searching all I can find is the release notes from ASUS:- Added roaming assistant: allow to set the minimum RSSI to disconnect clients and let clients reconnect to Ap with better signal. But it's worth a try. I think I'm going to try changing the SSID in the bedroom too, because in OS X you can set the network preference order.

If you have any other thoughts please let me know.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Yeah, I really thought it was my Macbook that was causing the problem by dropping the connection. I have spent a long time concentrating on that angle.

That could still be the problem.

The thing is, you have explained that the RT-N66U is getting confused because my rMBP is connecting through the different AP.

I wouldn't say that it's confused exactly. It is spotting the change and reconfiguring itself accordingly. If you were to walk from one access point to the other I would expect it to take a bit of time (guess: less than a minute) to sort itself out. What I wouldn't expect to see is it flip-flopping between two access points!

But why would it do that, if it dropped the connection why wouldn't it just try to connect back up to the same AP?

a) It shouldn't drop the connection in the first place.
b) Yes it should just reconnect to the strongest access point.

Can you confirm that when you are stationary and near the access point:

1) How frequently does it disconnect.
2) Does it alternate connections between access points or is it reconnecting to the same one.
3) Does the problem only occur when you are next to one of the access points but not the other?

Showing us your syslog might help us to understand a bit more of what is happening.

UPDATE: Do you think this problem is only effecting your rMBP or does it effect other wireless devices?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Each and every time I experience a freeze this is in the RT-N66U log:-

kernel: eth1: received packet with own address as source address

or

kernel: eth2: received packet with own address as source address

Doh! Just spotted the blindingly obvious: eth1 is the 2.4GHz adapter and eth2 is the 5GHz one.

As an experiment try turning off 5GHz on both access points and see if that fixes your problem.

 

[steve23094]

Doh! Just spotted the blindingly obvious: eth1 is the 2.4GHz adapter and eth2 is the 5GHz one.

As an experiment try turning off 5GHz on both access points and see if that fixes your problem.

Hi Colin,

Thanks for your help so far. I'll get back to you with an answer to all your questions in the next few days. First I'm going to try changing the SSID in the bedroom. Then I'll try your idea above. It will take me a few days to test both options and see if it makes a difference and track any consistency in disconnections.

If I post my System Log do I need to remove any information that is private (e.g. MAC addresses)?

 

[ColinTaylor]

If I post my System Log do I need to remove any information that is private (e.g. MAC addresses)?

No. The only thing I can think of that you might want to remove if you're paranoid would be the IP/MAC address of your WAN interface (eth0). As far as I can see these aren't in the syslog anyway.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Hi steve23094

Did you ever find a solution to this problem?