5GHz Dead with Merlin 384.9 on RT-AX88U

[JoshuaVB]

5GHz radio working on AX88U running stock 3.0.0.4.384.5640 AsusWRT firmware. Switched to Merlin 384.9, did a factory reset/initialization and 5GHz radio dead. LED on AX88U doesn't even light and 5GHz network can't be seen even though web interface, which indicates it's enabled.

Tested Merlin 384.8_2 release and 5GHz radio working correctly, but cannot get 5GHz radio to function under Merlin 384.9.

Anyone else experiencing this, is there a work around? I also tried the experimental 384.10 build and 5GHz wouldn't function under that release either. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance for any responses.

Regards,

Josh

 

[Gitsum]

Yes, you have to disable DFS and manually assign a channel on the 5g settings page. I recommend turning off the HE frame support as well. Take a look at this post..
[384.9_Alpha - builds] Testing all variants.

 

[JoshuaVB]

Yes, you have to disable DFS and manually assign a channel on the 5g settings page. I recommend turning off the HE frame support as well. Take a look at this post..
[384.9_Alpha - builds] Testing all variants.

Thank you very much! I had disabled HE frame support as I have no devices that support it. I didn't know about disabling DFS and manually assigning a channel. I scanned the thread you provided the link to, it looked like there was a lot going on in that thread Is the issue I'm experiencing a bug that will be resolved in a future release without this required work around? Thanks for your time in responding.

Regards,

Josh

 

[JoshuaVB]

Can't wait for 5640 to be incorporated into 384.9.....hopefully soon

I just picked up the AX88U yesterday to use as a VPN router so I'm interested in Merlin's release as it support the hardware accelerated co-processor for encryption/decryption found in the AX88U which 5640 currently does not. My open VPN speeds via the AX88U on a 1GB WAN connection with stock 5640 firmware are around 80-90MBs vs around 130-140MBs on 384.9 with the hardware acceleration provided my Merlin. Testing was done using a VPN secured with AES256-bit encryption.

 

[consorts]

my ac3100 5ghz locked up in the past hour...
i saw ??/?? Rx/Tx under the system log,
wireless log 5ghz entries and had to reboot.
nobody was doing anything on the wifi,
so i have no idea what triggered it.
2ghz and wired seemed to work normally.

if i see it happen again, i'll roll back to 384.8_2
cause i'd rather be vulnerable than unreliable.

 

[RDaneel]

Yes, I just got back to the Merlin goodness with my brand-new RT-AX88U minutes ago... and found a) no clients were connecting over 5GHz, and b) on the Administration>Temperature graph, the legend shows 5GHz as "disabled".

This being fairly undesirable, I will be forced to switch back to a "stock" setup soon - but thought I would see if anyone here has comments.

 

[L&LD]

Are you using a manual 5GHz channel that isn't DFS?

 

[RDaneel]

Sorry, I checked back today and found a reply - my profile setting that says to email me on activity/replies here on the forum is clearly non-functional.

I don't know what a "manual 5GHz channel" means... I can say that the one spot on the "5GHz control channel" control area that has a "DFS" checkbox - is OFF.

I will be following the excitement here, but for the meantime I have restored the "stock" firmware - presumably, not for long, as something this weird (and dare I say "broken") seems pretty likely to catch the attention of the wizard.

 

[L&LD]

Sorry, I checked back today and found a reply - my profile setting that says to email me on activity/replies here on the forum is clearly non-functional.

I don't know what a "manual 5GHz channel" means... I can say that the one spot on the "5GHz control channel" control area that has a "DFS" checkbox - is OFF.

I will be following the excitement here, but for the meantime I have restored the "stock" firmware - presumably, not for long, as something this weird (and dare I say "broken") seems pretty likely to catch the attention of the wizard.

The issue that may be at fault here will be present in a future RMerlin update too. You need to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty with a very easy to do test when you have RMerlin firmware installed again.

In the end, you will have learned a little and you'll be enjoying the benefits of the RMerlin firmware, today. There are many here who will help you with those first steps.


In the Wireless section on the 5GHz band, in the General Tab, you want the Wireless Mode to be 'Auto' and the Control Channel to be anything other than 'Auto'.

If you're feeling bored, give it a try. Don't forget that when you flash different firmware onto your router that afterward, you need to do a full reset to factory defaults followed by a minimal and manual configuration of the router too.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/n...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

 

[ASadani]

Would this router fare better with openvpn when compared to the 86u givn both processor base speed is 1.8 ghz?

 

[PoloNes]

Would this router fare better with openvpn when compared to the 86u givn both processor base speed is 1.8 ghz?

I did a test on my router, see.

Spoiler

 

[ASadani]

I did a test on my router, see.

Spoiler

The test you have shown is between the 86u and the 68u. I was interested between 86u and the ax88u

 

[L&LD]

I have read on these forums that the RT-AC86U and the RT-AX88U have the same OpenVPN performance because they share the same processor(s).

 

[RDaneel]

To finish off the thread-let from February 17 - and to reply to the helpful L&LD - I did return to the stock ASUS 5640 to restore my 5 GHz.

Noticing the [relative] flurry of activity from our benefactor on 384.10 BETAs, and the fact that there were now multiple mentions of AX88U updates, I loaded up BETA 3 just now.

Initially, after the new firmware was installed (without "reset"), my 5 GHz was once again not present... however, recalling the comments from L&LD above, I forced my 5G GHz control channel to the same value it was using with the stock firmware: 157.

Et viola, 5 GHz is back! Also, I will note, that at least on the Merlin version (384.10 BETA 3), there is no longer even a mention of "DFS".

Thanks for the help, and now I am relaxing with a "Merlin-ized" ASUS router once again... of course, today, ASUS has started offering downloads of their "5948" version.

 

[ajh]

In the Wireless section on the 5GHz band, in the General Tab, you want the Wireless Mode to be 'Auto' and the Control Channel to be anything other than 'Auto'.

If you're feeling bored, give it a try. Don't forget that when you flash different firmware onto your router that afterward, you need to do a full reset to factory defaults followed by a minimal and manual configuration of the router too.

I'm reviving this nearly year old thread since I just experienced the same issue of dead 5 GHz immediately after I installed Merlin (version 384.14) for the first time on a new RT-AX88U.

Per L&LD's helpful advice, I changed the control channel for the 5 GHz network from auto to 48 (which I picked based upon http://voyager8.blogspot.com/2018/11/configuring-wifi-settings-in-asuswrt.html).

The single change fixed the issue. My 5 GHz network is running fine. Thanks!

 

[htismaqe]

I had the same issue I believe with my brand new AX88U but since one of the first things I do is manually set control channel on both bands, I never actually had enough time to observe anything. I noticed that in the temperature graphs the 5Ghz radio showed offline at first but then came back after I set everything up.