ASUS AC87U doesn't work well with Vizio Smart TV

[tocirahl]

I recently upgraded my router to an ASUS AC87U. Unfortunately, this caused by Smart TV to have network connectivity issues. The internet is fine for about 2-3 minutes after rebooting the router, but then quickly deteriorates to being unusable: apps will either report a timeout, or they will buffer constantly even on low settings.

The way things are hooked up is ASUS AC87U (running latest stable Merlin FW) --> Wireless Bridge (ASUS AC68U over 802.11ac 5GHz) --> Ethernet --> Vizio TV. I have a PC running off the same bridge and it has never had any internet trouble whatsoever, so I don't think it's the wireless/bridge. The bridge also reports a very strong signal.

 

[poor_poor]

Can you test this firmware?

ASUS RT-AC87U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.378.9529

Bug fixes
- Fixed Multicast issue when WAN is PPPoE/ PPTP/ L2TP
- Fixed IPTV GUI issue
- Fixed two guest networks had same mac address problem.
- Fixed view list in network map cannot be closed.
- Fixed network map device icon issue
- Fixed client cannot get new IP when changed router IP and subnet mask.
- Fixed wrong notification when using quick internet setup wizard in static IP environment.
- Fixed wrong notification when client was blocked by Time scheduling.
- Fixed ASUS Router App related issues.
- Fixed DNS response error issue.

Download: Click Here

 

[tocirahl]

Can you test this firmware?
ASUS RT-AC87U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.378.9529

I'm on a more recent firmware than that. Did you want me to try that exact version of firmware?

 

[poor_poor]

I'm on a more recent firmware than that. Did you want me to try that exact version of firmware?

Hi tocirahl,

Which build are you using.

 

[tocirahl]

Hi tocirahl,

Which build are you using.

EDIT: Actually it looks like maybe that's an older firmware... I'll give the ASUS firmware a shot.

Thanks!

Looks like 380.57_0.

Asuswrt-Merlin Changelog
========================

380.57 (24-Dec-2015)
- NEW: Merged with 380_1031 GPL
- NEW: Added RT-AC3100 and RT-AC5300 support
- NEW: Added RT-AC68U HW Revision C1 support
- NEW: Backup/Restore of the content of the JFFS
partition (under Administration Restore/Save Settings)
- NEW: Added DNSSEC support. Can be enabled under LAN -> DHCP.
- NEW: Added custom/postconf support for igmpproxy.conf.
- CHANGED: Increased user account limit from 16 to 32 on
the VPN server pages.
- CHANGED: Updated e2fsprogs to 1.42.13
- CHANGED: Increased maximum entries in Parental Control
(time scheduler) to 32.
- CHANGED: Updated miniupnpd to 1.9.20151119.
- CHANGED: Updated Openssl to 1.0.2e.
- CHANGED: Downgraded Dropbear to 2014.66, too many issues in
the newer releases.
- CHANGED: Improvements to VPN Status page
- FIXED: CTF not automatically disabled when enabling IPTraffic.
- FIXED: Openvpn clients 3 through 5 were all run on the first
CPU core. They are now properly alternated like the
first two (odd on CPU1, even on CPU0)
- FIXED: smb.log generated by networkmap could fill up RAM
- FIXED: upnpc_xml.log generated by miniupnpc could fill up RAM
- FIXED: Inconsistant names used on IPTraffic and Sysinfo page.
Now, we give priority to any description manually entered
on the networkmap, followed by static hostname, then any
current (lease) hostname.
- FIXED: MAC queries sent to the OUI database were broken due to
changes on the IEEE website
- FIXED: Applying changes to OpenVPN client page would start the
client even if it was disabled/stopped.

 

[RMerlin]

Looks like 380.57_0.

Asuswrt-Merlin Changelog
========================

380.57 (24-Dec-2015)
- NEW: Merged with 380_1031 GPL

380 is a separate code branch than 378. Asus develops both of them in parallel, so you can't compare them. 378.9529 is newer than 380.1031 by a few months.

 

[tocirahl]

380 is a separate code branch than 378. Asus develops both of them in parallel, so you can't compare them. 378.9529 is newer than 380.1031 by a few months.

I see. Is it not recommended to use 380.x builds on the AC87U? I see that they're published on the AC68U.

 

[RMerlin]

I see. Is it not recommended to use 380.x builds on the AC87U? I see that they're published on the AC68U.

Actually, no. Asus hasn't published an RT-AC87U firmware based on the 380 codebase yet, so it might not be fully ready for that specific hardware. The Quantenna wifi driver in poor_poor's proposed version might also be newer.

The RT-AC68U was a very special case BTW.

 

[tocirahl]

Actually, no. Asus hasn't published an RT-AC87U firmware based on the 380 codebase yet, so it might not be fully ready for that specific hardware. The Quantenna wifi driver in poor_poor's proposed version might also be newer.

The RT-AC68U was a very special case BTW.

So the way I see it I have three choices here:

• Upgrade to the latest published ASUS firmware posted by poor_poor
• Upgrade to the latest 380.x alpha3 Merlin build for the AC87U
• Downgrade to the latest 378.x Merlin build

Which do you guys think would work best? Or should I just try them all?

 

[sfx2000]

ASUS AC87U (running latest stable Merlin FW) --> Wireless Bridge --> Ethernet --> Vizio TV

What are you using for a Bridge, and is this 5GHz or 2.4GHz, as this is relevant information...

 

[tocirahl]

What are you using for a Bridge, and is this 5GHz or 2.4GHz, as this is relevant information...

I'm using an AC68U as a bridge over 5 GHz Wireless AC

 

[sfx2000]

1) check the ethernet cable from the bridge to the TV
2) check the firmware for the TV
3) If the TV has Wireless connectivity, give that a try

report back results

 

[RMerlin]

So the way I see it I have three choices here:

• Upgrade to the latest published ASUS firmware posted by poor_poor
• Upgrade to the latest 380.x alpha3 Merlin build for the AC87U
• Downgrade to the latest 378.x Merlin build

Which do you guys think would work best? Or should I just try them all?

Try Asus's latest first.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[tocirahl]

1) check the ethernet cable from the bridge to the TV
2) check the firmware for the TV
3) If the TV has Wireless connectivity, give that a try

report back results

I've tried multiple ethernet cables including the one used to hook up my PC. The firmware on the TV is up to date. Wireless-N gives me the same problem, leading me to believe it's the router, not the bridge.

Try Asus's latest first.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Will do.

 

[tocirahl]

I have to step out for a bit here, I'll let you guys know how things work out in a few hours here.

 

[sfx2000]

I've tried multiple ethernet cables including the one used to hook up my PC. The firmware on the TV is up to date. Wireless-N gives me the same problem, leading me to believe it's the router, not the bridge.

Suggests it's the TV - not the router/bridge/cable, as a PC aligned in the same config works fine...

 

[tocirahl]

Suggests it's the TV - not the router/bridge/cable, as a PC aligned in the same config works fine...

The reason I think it's the router is that the TV was working fine until I got my new AC87U. I have a Vizio tech coming out in a few days on the chance that it is the TV.

 

[sfx2000]

The reason I think it's the router is that the TV was working fine until I got my new AC87U. I have a Vizio tech coming out in a few days on the chance that it is the TV

Tell him (Vizio tech) - make it work...

Show him - PC works fine...

(FWIW - Quantenna is actually fairly decent at bridging.... more later...)

 

[tocirahl]

So I flashed the latest ASUS build, reset the NVRAM and re-input all my settings from scratch. Seems to have the same issue albeit slightly better. Netflix still won't play 1080p videos without buffering and dropping audio even though my PC hooked up to the same bridge gets 58 Mbps down. Maybe it is something wrong with the TV? Or I'm still convinced it's some kind of router setting that the TV isn't liking.

 

[sfx2000]

Netflix still won't play 1080p videos without buffering and dropping audio even though my PC hooked up to the same bridge gets 58 Mbps down

Try adjusting the netflix streaming rate - login to Netflix on the PC, go to account settings, and you'll see the menu there - likely it's set to auto - set it to a limit rather than auto, and things will work better...