Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2022 18:50 Post subject: RT-N66U 2.4GHz wireles stops working, 5GHz still works
I've had an occasional problem where my Asus RT-N66U with DD-WRT v3.0-r47911 big (12/23/21), kernel Linux 4.4.294 #13252 (12/32/21) will have the 2.4GHz wl0 wireless network be inaccessible for new connections while the 5GHz wl1 network is still fine. On one laptop where the network will be visible attempts co connect just show as refusal to connect to the network, on my cell phone it shows the network visible and "authentication failed" in the info. Devices that were actively on the network the whole time still work fine, this only impacts a device that turns off the radio or otherwise leaves range of the network. I do not know of any way to reproduce this on demand. I haven't been able to identify any pattern to when it happens; I would say occurrence is somewhere in the range of weeks or months. The solution has been to reboot the router. If memory serves I have tried just disabling and re-enabling the wl0 radio but I don't recall that working.
Before the last time this happened I enabled syslogd and klogd to see if anything shows up, and there wasn't anything of note in there. I do still have those running though.
Anyone have any ideas what might be going on? Search of the forum didn't turn up anything (I saw as) related. Usually when this happens I need to get it resolved quickly so I don't typically have the option to go back and forth on the forum actively troubleshooting. If there are any suggestions as to what I should look at/try the next time this happens it would be appreciated.
Are your 2.4 and 5GHz bands using the same SSID or different ones? I suspect a client-side issue or possibility of the power adapter failing outside of that. Some clients are finicky about things, and you may have to try "forget network" and then re-enter / re-join to see if it works again. It is always recommended to be on the current release and do a hard reset and re-configure from scratch / not restoring from backup if you continue to have issues. It might also help if you shared your wifi settings to rule out any possible configuration issues, but I would start with "forget network" if you are using separate SSIDs and work your way forward from there in troubleshooting. _________________ "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost
"I am one of the noticeable ones - notice me" - Dale Frances McKenzie Bozzio
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 14207 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2022 23:01 Post subject:
Nobody in that thread ever acknowledged with screenshots or known good settings for wifi. Guess I missed that one. If you still have your 66, I could always use an(other) Asus in the test bin inventory. _________________ "Life is but a fleeting moment, a vapor that vanishes quickly; All is vanity"
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Are your 2.4 and 5GHz bands using the same SSID or different ones? I suspect a client-side issue or possibility of the power adapter failing outside of that. Some clients are finicky about things, and you may have to try "forget network" and then re-enter / re-join to see if it works again. It is always recommended to be on the current release and do a hard reset and re-configure from scratch / not restoring from backup if you continue to have issues. It might also help if you shared your wifi settings to rule out any possible configuration issues, but I would start with "forget network" if you are using separate SSIDs and work your way forward from there in troubleshooting.
Thanks, but this is definitely router side. It only impacts devices that leave and then try to re-connect to the network (my phones, laptops that get suspended/shutdown, etc.) and not for "always on" devices like my Roku streamers. SSIDs are different and broadcast, pretty sure settings aren't far off from defaults, forgetting the network hasn't helped.
Yeah, sounds like what I'm dealing with. My issues rule out WouldRatherBeFOSS' last post of the issue being resolved "probably [by] a new build" as the version I'm running is newer than those posts. I thought I had tried disabling the 2.4GHz network by changing the Wireless Network Mode from "Mixed" to "Disabled", applying settings, then later putting back to mixed, applying setting again but I don't remember that working... could be mis-remembering. First thing I'll try next time is just doing an "apply settings" in wireless like you had done before. Better for my network than a full router reboot.
Guess I'll look to get in another upgrade to latest release with a reconfigure from scratch, just to get a fresher start. I do have a pair of RT-AC1900Ps I picked up to toy around with but not ready to switch to them yet.
Mixed vs. NG-Mixed (and NA-Mixed or A/N-Mixed, whichever it is, on 5GHz) is probably where you're having issues. If you are also using Auto channel selection, then use a wifi scanner and pick channels. It seems that a lot of people don't use proper settings and then wonder why things don't work. Default settings are nowhere near optimal. _________________ "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost
"I am one of the noticeable ones - notice me" - Dale Frances McKenzie Bozzio
None of the advanced/WDS settings have been touched for either. For both wireless security is WPA2-PSK/WPA-PSK with TKIP+CCMP (AES).
So in poking around I did try the Site Survey option on the Status/Wireless page. When looking at the wl0 2.4 GHz scan I could see a couple other APs on channel 6. Couldn't ID the OID though, DA:31:34. There are a number of other APs that will pop in and out on channel 1. So I'm thinking something to try first would be to jump to a different channel, or just tell DD-WRT to go Auto like I've got set for 5 GHz wl1.
Side note, if you're not logged in and looking at the Status/Sys-Info (Info.htm) page and try to change the wireless interface to look at you are prompted to login. Sort of breaks some of the functionality of that page and being able to use it not logged in. Not a big deal but an observation.
wl1 - 5 GHz
Wireless Mode: AP
Wireless Network Mode: Mixed Change to NA-Mixed
Wireless Network Name: [wl1 specific]
Wireless Channel: Auto Pick a channel after changing extension channel, save; extension channel, save.
Channel Width: 20 MHz Change to 40MHz or 80MHz Extension Channel: Select valid extension channel config
Wireless SSID Broadcast: Enabled
Sensitivity Range (ACK Timing): 500 Change to 1350
Wireless GUI Access: Enabled
Multicast To Unicast: Disabled
Network Configuration: Bridged
None of the advanced/WDS settings have been touched for either. For both wireless security is WPA2-PSK/WPA-PSK with TKIP+CCMP (AES). Use only WPA2 Personal with CCMP-128 (AES)
Side note, if you're not logged in and looking at the Status/Sys-Info (Info.htm) page and try to change the wireless interface to look at you are prompted to login. Sort of breaks some of the functionality of that page and being able to use it not logged in. Not a big deal but an observation.
This is normal behavior, if you have the page set for login to view. I generally set that and disable the info page. _________________ "The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep." - Robert Frost
"I am one of the noticeable ones - notice me" - Dale Frances McKenzie Bozzio
I have a n66u and ac66u - I'm noticing the 2.4 radio do this a lot more now since I'm putting all my iot devices there. This has been an issue for a long time, it's just a lot more noticeable for me now. Apply settings clears this up as does a reboot unsurprisingly.
A device that's connected continues to operate fine, but as soon as it leaves it is unable to rejoin. It's given an auth failure.
I'm hoping someone found a solution ... otherwise I need to move hardware or get a separate set of APs.
I set key renewal to 0 on two separate devices and I've had no issue for well over a week now. It's been the longest span of time without problems. I manually force clients off to make sure they can get back on.
Although not ideal and somewhat of a security risk, I find that to be acceptable.
