Posted: Mon May 02, 2022 20:17 Post subject: 2.4GHZ WiFI keeps disconnectiing every few hours
Just replaced a standard Netgear router with a Linksys WRT3200ACM running DD-WRT v3.0-r48607 std (04/08/22).
I have a ESP32 MCU that only has a 2.4 GHZ radio. It has been reliably connected to the Netgear WiFi for many months without issue. When I connect to the DDWRT Linksys it disconnects and then reconnects every few hours. The log in the ESP32 shows it only disconnects for 3 seconds each time and probably takes 2.5 seconds of that time to reconnect, so it is just a really quick disconnect and then reconnect.
If I put the old netgear back in it stays reliably connected. Not sure if it is a hardware issue or DDWRT issue since I didnt test before switching firmware.
I'v tried to make the DDWRT WiFI settings as conservative as possible. I tried all 3 channel widths, I tried B only, G only, N only. I also tried changing the channel from 'auto' to a fixed channel since I'm in the heart of New York City with a lot of WiFi.
Any ideas?
(I'm also going to post on the ESP32 forum)
Doubt DD-WRT issue, well known Marvell open source drivers issues, ESP, IoT, smart switches & home automation.
The workarounds have been repeated on these forums, and easiest solution is an Ethernet connected access point.
So I disabled WMM (one of the only settings I didn't initially play with!) and I stopped getting hourly disconnects but I was still having a issue when communicating with the device.
If I pinged or tried to communicate with the device after some period of inactivity the first few pings or communication attempts would fail, then work for repeated attempts for a while. It almost felt like something was in a sleep or low power mode and had to "wake up"
In addition to turning off WMM I also switched to 802.11 G only as the link you provided suggested and this cleared up all issues. Been working at 100% for 24 hours now with no issues.
Just to reiterate for anyone reading this switching to G only without disabling WMM didn't fix the problem, I needed both settings.