WPA2 compatibility issue with WPA2/WPA3 Setting

[Smokindog]

RT-BE96U

I recently replaced an RT-AX88U with a RT-BE96U.

There appears to be a backward compatibility issue with some WPA2 devices when the wireless is set to WPA2/WPA3 Personal.

I've been up and running on Merlin now for a couple of days. As it was with my RT-AX88U on Merlin, the WPA2/WPA3 Personal selection creates connection issues with some of my IOT devices and streaming devices. On my AX88U I reverted to WPA2 only and the problem went away. That's not really an option on the RT-BE96U in my setup.

I've got almost 50 IOT devices, all homed to my main network SSID along with another 50 or more tablets, phones, laptops, desktops, cars, ................ I VERY MUCH want to AVOID going back to rehome one or the other groups of devices. Along with the main router I have in AP mode 2 AX88U, 1 AX86S and 2 remote AC3100 nodes to cover my house, shop, and property that I don't want to have to reconfigure.

I don't know if this is a MERLIN issue or an ASUS-WRT issue that the WPA2/WPA3 Personal is NOT backward compatible with some WPA2 devices.

Does anyone know if ASUS-WRT exhibits similar issues? I suppose I could go reflash a node to stock and experiment but thought I'd ask first.

 

[dave14305]

Merlin doesn’t modify much with WiFi at all, especially something as low-level as Wireless authentication.

 

[bennor]

Does anyone know if ASUS-WRT exhibits similar issues? I suppose I could go reflash a node to stock and experiment but thought I'd ask first.

Reflash to stock and find out.
Generally the WiFi is closed source from Asus so problem with WiFi in Asus-Merlin are likely present in stock Asus firmware.
Some of us have discovered some WiFi devices (in my case IoT devices) have trouble when using the WPA2/WPA3-Personal WiFi setting on Asus firmware, and instead have to change it to use WPA2-Personal.

 

[Smokindog]

Reflash to stock and find out.
Generally the WiFi is closed source from Asus so problem with WiFi in Asus-Merlin are likely present in stock Asus firmware.
Some of us have discovered some WiFi devices (in my case IoT devices) have trouble when using the WPA2/WPA3-Personal WiFi setting on Asus firmware, and instead have to change it to use WPA2-Personal.

Ya, that's also what I did on my RT-AX88U and my friend's RT-AX88U PRO. Unfortunately the WPA2 Personal isn't an option in the setup on the RT-BE96U.

I opened a support chat with ASUS. Guy claims I found 2 bugs that he's escalating. According to him the WPA2 Personal SHOULD be available and it appears to be a GUI bug. He also agrees that since I saw it on both a 3004 and a 3006 firmware on the two separate RT-AX88U flavors AND switching both to WPA2 Personal fixed things that they need to look into the WPA2/WPA3 Personal firmware for the issue.

Should I have this thread moved to ASUS WRT, start a new one there, or just wait to see what happens?

 

[bennor]

Unfortunately the WPA2 Personal isn't an option in the setup on the RT-BE96U.

The Asus stock firmware indicates WPA2-Personal is or was an option. At least it was back in 2023 with ASUS RT-BE96U Firmware version 3.0.0.6.102_32882.

Version 3.0.0.6.102_32882 61.89 MB 2023/12/08
1. Fixed android 14 compatibility issue while using WPA2-personal.
2. Fixed compatibility issue of 6GHz WiFi devices.

RT-BE96U｜WiFi Routers｜ASUS Global

Discover RT-BE96U's cutting-edge WiFi 7 router, featuring 320MHz bandwidth, Multi-link operation, dual 10G ports & comprehensive VPN – upgrade your tech experience!

www.asus.com

 

[GWTechTalk]

I have the same problem on my BE96U when the main network has Wifi 7 mode on, and MLO off. I just used the network tab to make an IOT network under the same subnet inside the guest network area I was not using for the main SSID for all my IOT devices. It will have to have a different SSID than primary but works fine so far in this respect.

Only issue I'm dealing with is something keeps happening on the router that locks up all Wi-Fi connections. Sometimes it takes 1-2 hours sometimes a few days. I dirty flashed ASUS new firmware release over merlin and though maybe it was that but I'm not sure. I have a few idea what it could be but I have to catch it in the act. Just rebooting the Wi-Fi part of the router clears the issue. Hardlines are not affected in terms of traffic, but hey don't want to hijack your whole thread.

My two hypothesis are, debug log level fill storage too fast. Or JIFF being on and used at one point on this fork was kept because of the dirty flashing. Even though factor resets it seems. SO I flashed back to this variant and diff a full factory reset. So far all good for last few hours but sometime it takes a day to pop up.

Also, there was some sort of crazy DST error that spammed the crap out of my syslog.

 

[xwildx]

I had the same issue with my previous AX88U hardware v1.0, I also tested another AX88u hardware v1.1 same issue was happening, if it was on wpa2/wpa3 sometime randomly the wifi was disconnecting and wasn't able to reconnect (i needed to power off/on the router) , when it was set on wpa2 there was no more issue. I upgraded to BE88U and the WPA2/WPA3 mode is stable.

I also tested a Asus ROG GT-AX6000 and wpa2/wpa3 was stable too. (I was using it for almost a year)