Wireless can't connect -one- *BAND* (AC5300/weird)

[lindros2]

So I've been an Asus and Merlin user for years. Currently on 384.19 across all devices (AC5300 and two AC68U).
I'm having an issue where - after some time like a day or two - I cannot connect to ONE of my three channels on an AC5300 (5Ghz-high).
Connecting to the others (2.4Ghz and 5.4Ghz-low) continues, until they eventually fail (kicking off cameras, thermostats, etc.).

What fixes it? Reboot, power cycle, and changing the wireless channel (i.e. 149 > 161 or anything).

Recently (over the past year) it got worse - especially as Apple decided to go private with MAC addresses.
But not all of these devices are on 5.4Ghz-high - I reserve that for my repeaters (which continue to work) and some critical devices.

 

[ColinTaylor]

"can't connect -one- channel" is misleading. A "channel" would be 149 for example. Asus uses the term "band" to distinguish between 2.4GHz, 5GHz-1 and 5GHz-2.

 

[lindros2]

"can't connect -one- channel" is misleading. A "channel" would be 149 for example. Asus uses the term "band" to distinguish between 2.4GHz, 5GHz-1 and 5GHz-2.

Thank you for correcting semantics. Now do you have any help/input on a solution?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Thank you for correcting semantics. Now do you have any help/input on a solution?

Sorry, I don't. It's not something I've come across on my router. Hopefully the corrected title might attract the attention of others who have had this problem.

 

[lindros2]

Sorry, I don't. It's not something I've come across on my router. Hopefully the corrected title might attract the attention of others who have had this problem.

It's odd that only one band is denying clients.
Changing the channel kicks it in the nuts and fixes it (sometimes), but my extenders then go offline.
It's been an issue with 384.16, 17, 18, and 19... and I'm leery to install 386.1 beta.

 

[L&LD]

What customizations are you doing on your router? What scripts, options, and/or features are you using? When was the last time you fully reset the network and router, including formatting the JFFS partition and the USB drive used for the amtm + swap file and doing a clean install of all scripts used? And using new SSID's that are 8 alphanumeric characters long with no spaces, smiley faces, or other special characters (and a 16-character password with the same characteristics)?

How many concurrent clients are on the network, maximum?

A good description of the items requested above along with a few screenshots of your settings will go a long way to narrowing down this issue for you.

The following link may also be useful to ensure/rule out that the hardware isn't failing too.

Fully Reset Router and Network

 

[lindros2]

What customizations are you doing on your router? What scripts, options, and/or features are you using? When was the last time you fully reset the network and router, including formatting the JFFS partition and the USB drive used for the amtm + swap file and doing a clean install of all scripts used? And using new SSID's that are 8 alphanumeric characters long with no spaces, smiley faces, or other special characters (and a 16-character password with the same characteristics)?

How many concurrent clients are on the network, maximum?

A good description of the items requested above along with a few screenshots of your settings will go a long way to narrowing down this issue for you.

The following link may also be useful to ensure/rule out that the hardware isn't failing too.

Fully Reset Router and Network

Zero scripts and customizations. 40 clients on the network. What options and features? Come on dude.

Everything worked fine, and then started acting up. I've reset my router (on average) once every nine months.
I format the JFFS partition once a month, if not more often. When I do that, I lose usage data, which I don't like.

More importantly, your post is bordering on demeaning. The questions are valid, but the tone is an attack.

Simple question: "What would [could] cause one band to stop accepting clients?"

 

[L&LD]

???

If you want help, you can at least accept what is offered. Start by actually answering the questions fully.

There is no 'tone' to my inquiries. We can only help on facts.

 

[lindros2]

Fact - I’m running as plain a configuration as possible.
Only areas touched (in initial setup) are subnet (changed from default 192.168.1.1), WiFi (names - each band is separate), and (post initial reboot) fixed/static addresses for 15 devices which get pissy (printer, desktop, lights, cameras).

I do not have 16 character passwords, but I’ve used similar passwords for years.

The issue appears classic “out of DHCP leases”, but only on one band. Which is odd.

My “solution” is a combo of auto nightly reboots and as few clients on 5G-2 as possible. Also maniacally chasing down (disabling) stupid iOS 14 privacy MAC addresses. This will be a problem for everyone, especially “campus” environments including hotels, schools, work/office, etc - once people start returning.

finally, I’m not uploading screenshots of my settings for a host of privacy reasons. This is a plain vanilla use of Merlin - no scripts, no gaming, no ssh, nothing.

I even turned off QoS and Trend to no avail.

 

[ColinTaylor]

The issue appears classic “out of DHCP leases”, but only on one band. Which is odd.

If you are running out of DHCP leases you will see messages to that effect in the router's syslog.

 

[lindros2]

If you are running out of DHCP leases you will see messages to that effect in the router's syslog.

Yeah I know - should have been precise - the behavior appears to act as if I’m out of DHCP leases, but it’s not allowing known or static devices on, and only on that band.
max number of concurrent clients is under 50, including smart crap - lights, echo, speakers, etc which I try to put on the 2.4Ghz band.

 

[videovillain]

I have this same issue. I always have. The second 5GHz band only rarely shows up as available to my devices, and more often than not just never shows up at all (it is set to be visible). Restarts sometimes worked, and I'd have a window of a few seconds before the SSID would disappear from the list to connect. If I did connect, it would work for a while, but eventually just stop working and I'd have to reboot the router again.

Eventually I stopped even trying, but now I've got more devices using the 5GHz band and I want to balance them out a bit. I've tried again to get this band to work but to no avail. Some other people must have noticed this happening right?

None of the firmware updates have ever addressed it though.

As you can see in the wifi analyzer, the second band just doesn't even show up. The only setting difference is Group Key Rotation Interval set to 0 for 5GHz-2 simply because I was trying something to see if it made a difference and didn't swap back before screenshotting (it didn't help)

 

[videovillain]

Ahh, I should clarify, I am not using the Asuswrt-Merlin firmware, just the latest update made available to me. But this thread seemed to fit my issue.

 

[ColinTaylor]

As you can see in the wifi analyzer, the second band just doesn't even show up.

Look at System Log > Wireless Log (and also System Log > General Log) for clues as to why the second band isn't working.

What country are you in?

 

[lindros2]

I have this same issue. I always have. The second 5GHz band only rarely shows up as available to my devices, and more often than not just never shows up at all (it is set to be visible).

...

None of the firmware updates have ever addressed it though.

My issue appears to be “solved” by scheduled (or manual) rebooting twice a week. Also I moved a number (~20) of devices to the 2.4Ghz band.
For you, I’ve had the same issue with standard Asus firmware and Merlin.
Note that an earlier issue (not posted here) was my AC68U extenders dropping and refusing to connect (regardless of 5Ghz band), especially during video calls (Zoom, etc) on machines plugged into the extender.
Finally, I’ve had Nest cameras disconnect and refuse to reconnect.

 

[videovillain]

Look at System Log > Wireless Log (and also System Log > General Log) for clues as to why the second band isn't working.

What country are you in?

Oh, that's something I didn't think about, I'm in Japan, do they cap the channels?

Here is the log:

 

[ColinTaylor]

Oh, that's something I didn't think about, I'm in Japan, do they cap the channels?

Here is the log:

According to Wikipedia and the Linux WiFi database channels 149 and above are not allowed in Japan. I'm surprised the router's GUI allowed you to set that channel in the first place.

 

[videovillain]

According to Wikipedia and the Linux WiFi database channels 149 and above are not allowed in Japan. I'm surprised the router's GUI allowed you to set that channel in the first place.

OMG that is so annoying...

And I can't set it to anything less than 149 it seems, unless there is a hack I don't know about.

 

[ColinTaylor]

And I can't set it to anything less than 149 it seems, unless there is a hack I don't know about.

Ouch. That doesn't sound right. What about changing the Control Channel to Auto? Do you see any options to include DFS channels?

 

[videovillain]

Ouch. That doesn't sound right. What about changing the Control Channel to Auto? Do you see any options to include DFS channels?

No, auto doesn't help. And the manual change only lets me pick from the following