Wifi dropping on 5G band

[starkiller]

I have the rt-n66u. When I connect my Android Samsung Galaxy S4 phone to the 2.4 band, my connection seems solid. When I connect to the 5g band it connects, however, randomly it will drop signal, no rhyme or reason and I can be right in front of the router. It may go hours and be fine or it may drop it few times an hour. When trying to reconnect, it will sometimes give me an authentication error. Only seems to happen on 5g band. I have both bands set up with default settings and have tried every channel. This has happened with every firmware release. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[RogerSC]

Can you please mention what firmware and version that you're using?

One thought is whether you did a firmware upgrade without clearing the nvram after the upgrade, but before manually re-entering your settings?

Personally, I use my Android phone on the 2.4GHz. band, since I need the longer range for using my phone anywhere in my house. Haven't had any problems on 2.4GHz. That's a typical thing that I'd do with the 2.4GHz. band, phone, iPad, laptop email and internet surfing, etc., as opposed to the 5GHz. band that I tend to think of for streaming media, etc. where occasional interference is more of a problem.

 

[starkiller]

Stock Asus Firmware Version 3.0.0.4.374.257. How do you clear the nvram? Only thing I did was hold the reset button for about 10 seconds after updating firmware. I appreciate your help.

 

[RogerSC]

Stock Asus Firmware Version 3.0.0.4.374.257. How do you clear the nvram? Only thing I did was hold the reset button for about 10 seconds after updating firmware. I appreciate your help.

I'm not too sure that the reset button does the full job for this router. What I hear works are these:

1. Press the "Restore" button in "Administration" -> "Restore/Save/Upload Settings" tab.

2. Press the WPS button before you power the router on, and hold it for a few seconds after powering on.

3. Telnet into the router and use this command "mtd-erase -d nvram". This clears the nvram, and after rebooting the router and coming back into the web admin GUI you can re-enter your settings. This is the one that I always use, but that's because I'm comfortable with it.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

To 100% clear NVRAM do this. http://192.168.1.1/Main_AdmStatus_Content.asp Then enter this > mtd-erase -d nvram
nvram commit

 

[starkiller]

I'll give it a shot, thanks.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

I would reset and reconfigure after the NVRAM reset. And if your still having issues im sure more members will chime in.

 

[starkiller]

Thanks for the help, did as instructed. Will report back tomorrow.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Ok Starkiller good luck !!

 

[bluepoint]

I'm not too sure that the reset button does the full job for this router. What I hear works are these:

1. Press the "Restore" button in "Administration" -> "Restore/Save/Upload Settings" tab.

2. Press the WPS button before you power the router on, and hold it for a few seconds after powering on.

3. Telnet into the router and use this command "mtd-erase -d nvram". This clears the nvram, and after rebooting the router and coming back into the web admin GUI you can re-enter your settings. This is the one that I always use, but that's because I'm comfortable with it.

I'd like to add a step after any of the steps above(each step have the same results, I use 3.)
A. After clearing the NVRAM and rebooting the router, remove the profile, reboot the smartphone then connect to 5G.

 

[RMerlin]

To 100% clear NVRAM do this. http://192.168.1.1/Main_AdmStatus_Content.asp Then enter this > mtd-erase -d nvram
nvram commit

Actually, it's better to power cycle the router after running mtd-erase, without running nvram commit. Otherwise, you might end up just rewriting all the cached nvram content on top of the just-formatted partition.

 

[starkiller]

Actually, it's better to power cycle the router after running mtd-erase, without running nvram commit. Otherwise, you might end up just rewriting all the cached nvram content on top of the just-formatted partition.

I already did the whole thing with commit... Should I do it again as you suggested just doing > mtd-erase -d nvram then reboot router? SHould I reset all the settings again to default?

Thanks

 

[THRIZZLE]

I have the rt-n66u. When I connect my Android Samsung Galaxy S4 phone to the 2.4 band, my connection seems solid. When I connect to the 5g band it connects, however, randomly it will drop signal, no rhyme or reason and I can be right in front of the router. It may go hours and be fine or it may drop it few times an hour. When trying to reconnect, it will sometimes give me an authentication error. Only seems to happen on 5g band. I have both bands set up with default settings and have tried every channel. This has happened with every firmware release. Any ideas? Thanks.

I have a RT-N66U and Samsung Galaxy S4 too. When I connect to the 5 GHz band, the wifi on my S4 functions, but seems to take a long time to load web pages for some reason. When I connect my S4 to the 2.4 GHz band, it runs like lightning! My laptop runs fine on the 5 GHz band. It almost seems like Wireless-AC is the only 5 GHz signal that would make my S4 happy. It's not a big deal, since my PS3 doesn't want to share the 5 GHz band anyway!

 

[RMerlin]

I already did the whole thing with commit... Should I do it again as you suggested just doing > mtd-erase -d nvram then reboot router? SHould I reset all the settings again to default?

Thanks

If you router did came back with all default settings (such as the SSID) then you should be fine.

 

[bigcid10]

I have a RT-N66U and Samsung Galaxy S4 too. When I connect to the 5 GHz band, the wifi on my S4 functions, but seems to take a long time to load web pages for some reason. When I connect my S4 to the 2.4 GHz band, it runs like lightning! My laptop runs fine on the 5 GHz band. It almost seems like Wireless-AC is the only 5 GHz signal that would make my S4 happy. It's not a big deal, since my PS3 doesn't want to share the 5 GHz band anyway!

that is my issue also ,to the T

 

[starkiller]

If you router did came back with all default settings (such as the SSID) then you should be fine.

I just redid it as per your instructions and resetting everything. I will keep you posted as to the results. Thanks.

 

[starkiller]

Did as instructed and still getting drop outs. What I also don't get is why it gives me an authentication error when trying to reconnect. Also, while this is no means scientific, I stumbled onto the following. Whenever my Galaxy S4 would disconnect and fail to reconnect, I would simply turn my phone sidewise, with the home button on the left side and ear piece facing the right and sure enough the phone would reconnect without issue. To further test this, I would turn the wifi off then back on while holding it sideways and every time it connected almost immediately no issues. However doing the same test holding normal in the upright position, it was a mixed bag of results, sometimes it would connect and sometimes would give me authentication error. Searching online led me to many other people having the same issue not only with the Samsung phone but with other brands as well. Perhaps 5G just isn't stable enough to be used with phones? Anybody have any success with 5G on their phone without encountering any drop outs? I appreciate all your help and responses.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Not a phone but my Galaxy 10.1 tablet works great on 5G no drops. But im also using the Merlin build and that has the older drivers. I will wait for Asus to come up with a more stable firmware before I leap in and flash it.

 

[RMerlin]

with the home button on the left side and ear piece facing the right and sure enough the phone would reconnect without issue. To further test this, I would turn the wifi off then back on while holding it sideways and every time it connected almost immediately no issues. However doing the same test holding normal in the upright position, it was a mixed bag of results, sometimes it would connect and sometimes would give me authentication error. Searching online led me to many other people having the same issue not only with the Samsung phone but with other brands as well. Perhaps 5G just isn't stable enough to be used with phones?

That's some interesting findings. Might be worth checking if there wouldn't be an issue with either the S4 5 GHz implementation, or various smartphones 5G implementation. The positioning you describe somewhat reminds me of the issues the iPhone had if you held it in a certain way, due to the positionning of the antenna.

I remember a few months ago various phone models running some version of Jellybean (I forgot if it was 4.1 or 4.2) has a lot of issues with wifi in general (not specific to Asus routers). I remember some people blamed a bug in Android/the driver for this, but I never really followed up on this story.

My Xoom (which I no longer use) always worked great on the 5 GHz band. My Nexus 4 also supports 5 GHz, but I prefer to use the 2.4 GHz band instead for increased range, so I never really tested it on the 5 GHz band. I only use 5 GHz with my laptop, where performance is more important than range.

 

[starkiller]

That's some interesting findings. Might be worth checking if there wouldn't be an issue with either the S4 5 GHz implementation, or various smartphones 5G implementation. The positioning you describe somewhat reminds me of the issues the iPhone had if you held it in a certain way, due to the positionning of the antenna.

I remember a few months ago various phone models running some version of Jellybean (I forgot if it was 4.1 or 4.2) has a lot of issues with wifi in general (not specific to Asus routers). I remember some people blamed a bug in Android/the driver for this, but I never really followed up on this story.

My Xoom (which I no longer use) always worked great on the 5 GHz band. My Nexus 4 also supports 5 GHz, but I prefer to use the 2.4 GHz band instead for increased range, so I never really tested it on the 5 GHz band. I only use 5 GHz with my laptop, where performance is more important than range.

I appreciate all of your help. I guess the best thing to do is jump back to the 2.4G band. Whats weird though, is I found best throughput and range on 5G in my home as opposed to 2.4G. Nonetheless, I'd rather have stability at this point.