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AC86U - Link Down / Killing VPN

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sknetwork

New Around Here
I've seen several threads here about people experiencing Link Down messages. I've confirmed that the issue is with my new Asus AC86U (which replaced an aging AC66 that didn't exhibit this problem.)

I'm running the latest version of Merlin (384.14_2).

My work laptop will constantly drop it's VPN connection, I believe whenever it turns the screen off. It doesn't go in to full sleep or hibernate mode, but during inactivity it does turn off teh screen. I will get log entries like this in the router during inactive periods of use of the laptop. The laptop is physically connected via cat6 ethernet cable:


Jan 17 07:06:17 kernel: eth1 (Ext switch port: 0) (Logical Port: 8) Link DOWN.
Jan 17 07:06:26 kernel: eth1 (Ext switch port: 0) (Logical Port: 8) Link UP 1000 mbps full duplex

So, it clearly does something that triggers the port to flick off and back on... but of course, when this happens, my client side VPN disconnects. I've also confirmed that the windows setting says to never disconnect the network during sleep.

I've confirmed that this doesn't happen with the AC66 or my AT&T modem if plugged in directly. I've tried different cables, different ports, etc. It's definitely the AC86, as confirmed by others as well.

My question is, what can I do about it?

This impacts my ability to stay online for work... is there anything I can do to make the AC86U work without disabling and reenabling the port? Otherwise, I'm afraid I need to find an alternative, and I really don't want to do that unless there's no other option. If I am forced to switch, any other suggestions on router alternatives?
 
My work laptop will constantly drop it's VPN connection, I believe whenever it turns the screen off.
I suggest you test this by disabling the screen saver or changing the power options. If you can confirm that it is related to some sort of power saving mode you can look at the following:

Untitled.png Untitled2.png Untitled3.png
 
I suggest you test this by disabling the screen saver or changing the power options. If you can confirm that it is related to some sort of power saving mode you can look at the following:

View attachment 20905 View attachment 20906 View attachment 20907
Thanks, unfortunately, it's a corporate managed (i.e., GPO'd) desktop, so my ability to see things is limited. I was able to get a tech to show me the NIC settings as admin, and there are a few settings I could see...

1) Energy Efficient Ethernet = enabled
2) Selective Suspend = enabled
3) Selective Suspend idle timeout = 5


There was no green ethernet settings. Also, the power setting says not to suspend network during sleep. I also noticed that this doesn't happen immediately when the screen turns off, but at some point after...

Also, I think the key is, this ONLY happens on the AC86U. It does not happen on 2 AC66s or directly to my AT&T modem, so what's different about the AC86U here?
 
Also, I think the key is, this ONLY happens on the AC86U. It does not happen on 2 AC66s or directly to my AT&T modem, so what's different about the AC86U here?
I suspect the difference is that because of their age the chipset inside the AC66s don't support the "green ethernet" features that are required nowadays.

If you run some sort of continuous ping over your VPN connection does that keep it alive?
 
I suspect the difference is that because of their age the chipset inside the AC66s don't support the "green ethernet" features that are required nowadays.

If you run some sort of continuous ping over your VPN connection does that keep it alive?

ha - good question, maybe I'll do a continous ping this afternoon to test, but if it does work - man what a crappy workaround to do EVERY DAY.
 

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