Devices connected to ASUS RT-AC66_B1 media bridge do not work with rest of network

[aveamurechi]

Hi,

I have the following network set-up:
Main Router: ASUS RT-AC87, connected to ISP via PPPoE
- this router provides 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz Wi-Fi
ASUS RT-AC66 connected to primary router on the 5Ghz , working in Media Bridge mode
- this router has connected to it (wired): DENON receiver, a DENON BD player, a HTPC and a SONT TV
ASUS RT-AC66_B1 connected to primary router on the 5Ghz , working in Media Bridge mode
- this router has connected to it (wired): a desktop PC and a laptop (with docking station)
There are other devices around the house (one computer, various IoT devices, a printer, mobile phones, ...) connected to the primary router wirelessly, on either 2.4Ghz or 5GHz.

My problem is:
- devices connected to the network via media bridge do not work well with each other.
- e.g: the laptop can print and works well with the printer when out of docking station and connecting directly to primary router, but as soon as I put it in docking station and connects via media bridge, it no longer works:
- I can ping the printer from the docked laptop (so they see eachother), but:
- when I send a document for print, it only prints part of the document if anything
- the "scan to computer" feature of the printer randomly disconnects/reconnects, and it never works to actually do a "scan to computer"
- additionally I notice some strange behaviors:
- e.g.: immediately after media bridge set-up (via the regular wizard, after a full reset), I see the media bridge router as a client in the client list of the main router; after a while of messing with the settings to resolve the printer topic, and several reboots of the media bridge router, the media bridge router is no longer visible as a client in the main router client list.
- internet connectivity works fine for the computers behind the bridge, but not for the AV equipment behind the bridge (receiver, BD player, TV)

Any ideas what might be the problem? Anybody else has these issues?

Many thanks in advance,
Andrei

 

[OzarkEdge]

Hi,

I have the following network set-up:
Main Router: ASUS RT-AC87, connected to ISP via PPPoE
- this router provides 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz Wi-Fi
ASUS RT-AC66 connected to primary router on the 5Ghz , working in Media Bridge mode
- this router has connected to it (wired): DENON receiver, a DENON BD player, a HTPC and a SONT TV
ASUS RT-AC66_B1 connected to primary router on the 5Ghz , working in Media Bridge mode
- this router has connected to it (wired): a desktop PC and a laptop (with docking station)
There are other devices around the house (one computer, various IoT devices, a printer, mobile phones, ...) connected to the primary router wirelessly, on either 2.4Ghz or 5GHz.

My problem is:
- devices connected to the network via media bridge do not work well with each other.
- e.g: the laptop can print and works well with the printer when out of docking station and connecting directly to primary router, but as soon as I put it in docking station and connects via media bridge, it no longer works:
- I can ping the printer from the docked laptop (so they see eachother), but:
- when I send a document for print, it only prints part of the document if anything
- the "scan to computer" feature of the printer randomly disconnects/reconnects, and it never works to actually do a "scan to computer"
- additionally I notice some strange behaviors:
- e.g.: immediately after media bridge set-up (via the regular wizard, after a full reset), I see the media bridge router as a client in the client list of the main router; after a while of messing with the settings to resolve the printer topic, and several reboots of the media bridge router, the media bridge router is no longer visible as a client in the main router client list.
- internet connectivity works fine for the computers behind the bridge, but not for the AV equipment behind the bridge (receiver, BD player, TV)

Any ideas what might be the problem? Anybody else has these issues?

Many thanks in advance,
Andrei

Hmm...

Can you wire the printer or test docked printing with it wired?

Did you disable Airtime Fairness in the router for each band? It can cause issues with some lessor network adapters.

If you switch OFF the 66U media center media bridge, can you dock and print?

OE

 

[aveamurechi]

Hmm...

Can you wire the printer or test docked printing with it wired?

Did you disable Airtime Fairness in the router for each band? It can cause issues with some lessor network adapters.

If you switch OFF the 66U media center media bridge, can you dock and print?

OE

I can do those tests, but first some clarification:
- Do you mean to wire the printer to the media bridge of the docked laptop?, or to the main router?
- by disable Airtime Fairness, you mean to disable it in the main router?

The RT-AC66U media bridge (the one with AV gear) is switched off since a while because I was trying to reduce my network size, in order to isolate the problem.

 

[aveamurechi]

Concerning Airtime fairness, I just checked, it is disabled (seems to be the default setting, since I do not remember touching it).

Anyway, it's worth mentioning: all routers on default settings, all with latest ASUS firmware (no Merlin yet....)

 

[OzarkEdge]

I can do those tests, but first some clarification:
- Do you mean to wire the printer to the media bridge of the docked laptop?, or to the main router?
- by disable Airtime Fairness, you mean to disable it in the main router?

The RT-AC66U media bridge (the one with AV gear) is switched off since a while because I was trying to reduce my network size, in order to isolate the problem.

So, 66U is OFF for isolation.

Airtime Fairness is OFF... not the issue. I would leave it OFF.

I mean to wire the printer, if possible, to remove some variables. And to unburden your WiFi... wired to the router would help this.

The issues are:

o docked printing... can you scan to the wireless laptop like you can print from it?

o no Internet access for 66U AV clients... how about for a PC wired to this bridge? Maybe this bridge needs to be reset and installed again.

o flaky router client list... is not unusual, so may not be an issue.

OE

 

[aveamurechi]

Thanks for the hints. I'll report back when I'm done with the experiments you mentioned.

 

[Grisu]

try with repeater mode instead of bridge mode, is it working then?

 

[aveamurechi]

Hmm...

Can you wire the printer or test docked printing with it wired?

Did you disable Airtime Fairness in the router for each band? It can cause issues with some lessor network adapters.

If you switch OFF the 66U media center media bridge, can you dock and print?

OE

Hi OE,

Results are in:

As mentioned before,
- Airtime Fairness for the 2.4Ghz band is OFF (the option is not available for the 5GHz band in the main AC-RT87U router)
- AP isolation is OFF for both bands in the AC-RT87U main router
- The AC-RT66U which I use as a media bridge in the media center area is turned OFF since a while to try to isolate the printer problems
- I wired the printer to the AC-RT66U_B1 media bridge (the one where I have connected a desktop and laptop with docking station).

- when the Laptop is undocked and wirelessly connected to the 2.4GHz band of the RT-AC87U main router, I am consistently unable to print or scan to computer
- when the Laptop is undocked and wirelessly connected to the 5GHz band of the RT-AC87U main router, I am sometimes able to print or scan to computer (I was not able to observe a pattern)
- when the Laptop is docked and therefore wired connected to the AC-RT66U_B1 (same as printer), I am consistently able to print and scan to computer.​

In all cases however, I am able to ping the printer and it will reply.

Just as a reminder: the printer is only 2.4GHz capable, and the AC-RT66U_B1 media bridge is connected to the AC-RT87U main router via 5GHz band.

 

[aveamurechi]

try with repeater mode instead of bridge mode, is it working then?

Hi Grisu,

A quick "Google is your friend search", gave me this relatively simple explanation of the differences between the media bridge and the repeater mode.

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/wireless-bridge-vs-repeater

While my use case is 100% consistent with the media bridge mode (I want to make non-wireless equipment connect to the wi-fi), I will give repeater mode a try and report back asap.

Andrei

 

[Grisu]

I know, and repeater mode on Asus is not real repeater mode, as it will connect LAN-clients too, so it is bridge-mode combined with repeater mode if you use Asus repeater mode.
So if you dont use it to connect WiFi clients it matches perfect your requirements and give you the possibility to extend your WiFi too.
Known problem is bridge mode, maybe because DHCP is not turned off or something similar (I dont know exactly why) which makes troubles in this mode since long time now.
Only there are many similar postings from many users regarding bridge ...

 

[aveamurechi]

try with repeater mode instead of bridge mode, is it working then?

Posting back on the Repeater topic:
I tried to configure the RT-AC66U_B1 as repeater three times, and got 3 different results:

1st try:
Step 1: with the router in media bridge mode, simply change the mode to repeater mode in the administration tab.
Result was that the router did seem to switch mode (gave me some busy screens, and some QIS screens with instructions), but eventually when the router said he was finished, none of the repeated SSIDs were visible to devices around the house. Since I could also no longer reach the router configuration anymore (opening the IP address in the browser was giving page not found responses), I cycled power (with 5-7 minutes in between), and then the router reverted by himself to media bridge mode.

2nd try:
Step 1. reset router
Step 2. Set Router operation mode in QIS (but do not connect it to internet)
Step 3. Set Repeater mode in the Administration tab with the main router RT-AC87U as primary access point to internet
Result was that I got the 2 repeated SSIDs visible to the various devices around the house, and the devices would connect to them, but were displaying "Connected, No Internet Access" types of messages. Also, the 2 wired clients (desktop + Laptop) could not connect via wire. (reading your last post, they are not even supposed to in true Repeater mode, except for ASUS maybe not sticking to standards)

3rd try:

Step 1. reset router
Step 2. Set Repeater operation mode in QIS with the main router RT-AC87U as primary access point to internet
Result was that the QIS wizard eventually told me that the RT-AC66U_B1 could not connect to the internet through the primary access point (RT-AC87U).

I am now lost. It seems that the various operation modes other than straight-up router are very unstable.... I am now feeling kinda sorry I spent the money on these routers... If anyone can give me some more informed ideas.... would be grateful.​

 

[Grisu]

That's weird!
It should work in all 3 cases for you, and yes wired clients on node LAN should work too.
Reset before is allways good to do!

You can test one more case and I think (hope) it will work like this.
Setup your node in router mode (use a long LAN connection for that on node-WAN port), you will have double nat, when everything is working like it should change channels to same as 87U, then plug off LAN and in admin window change to repeater mode.
Maybe the router got problems changing directly between bridge and repeater.

I am thinking about selling mine (68 an 86) and take a cheap Fritz (repeater) instead, have one as modem and older modem as node in perfect mesh with all features I want to have on both, guest wifi on nodes, 160MHz 5G bandwith (running perfect with no problems!!!), STABLE WiFi, different channels on main and node, no problems with USB-ports and devices there, NAS function, secure external access to my intranet and DDNS.

I have enough from Asus, sorry, troubles since 1 year after I got my first!
Had my full house covered in 2014 and then all the problems began when they limited power from 500mW to 31mW for EU.
I want things running and not all the time have to solve new or repeating troubles!!!

 

[aveamurechi]

That's weird!

You can test one more case and I think (hope) it will work like this.
Setup your node in router mode (use a long LAN connection for that on node-WAN port), you will have double nat, when everything is working like it should change channels to same as 87U, then plug off LAN and in admin window change to repeater mode.
Maybe the router got problems changing directly between bridge and repeater.

I have some progress to report on my bridge problems:

1. I kind of gave up on the printer/scaner losing connections to the computer topic. I have now a strong feeling it's a flaky driver from HP, because the Windows10 default driver seems to work just fine.
2. I now have both routers (RT-AC66U and RT-AC66U_B1) running in media bridge mode, and things seem to be running fine:
- the two computers (desktop + notebook) behind the RT-AC66U_B1 are able to see each other, and share folders and media between each-other (but I still have a problem there - see below)
- the AV receiver behind the RT-AC66U bridge is able to connect to the internet.
- the desktop computer behind the RT-AC66U_B1 bridge is able to stream via AirPlay to the receiver behind the RT-AC66U bridge
- the Blue Ray player behind the RT-AC66U bridge is able to connect to the Internet, and is also able to play a movie stored on the desktop behind the RT-AC66U_B1 bridge running as DLNA server.

What I did to get this running:
Step 1: set-up the RT-AC87U - reset then default settings. (with all bridges turned OFF, using the Notebook wired connected to it)
Step 2: reset then set up the RT-AC66U_B1 as media bridge (using the Notebook wired connected to it)
Step 3: reset then set-up the RT-AC66U as media bridge (using the Notebook wired connected to it)
- at this point I noticed that after turning ON the RT-AC66U and setting it up as media bridge, for some reason, the RT-AC66U_B1 started having the IP address 192.168.1.1, same as the main AP RT-AC87U
Step4: reboot the RT-AC66U_B1 from the web interface
- at this point I noticed that the RT-AC66U_B1 now has a plausible IP address, but now the RT-AC87U will not show me a login page at 192.168.1.1. I also could not connect to it via the mobile app. Therefore:
Step 5: Turn OFF the ON the RT-AC87U.
- at this point everything stabilized, RT-AC87U responds with a ;login page, it can connect to it via mobile app, and all devices work as above.

What still is not working right:
- the 2 computers behind the RT-AC66U_B1 bridge (desktop + notebook) can see each other, as in the desktop will see the shared folders of the notebook without issues, but the notebook will not see the shared folders of the desktop.
- strange is that the RT-AC66U bridge lights up the 2.4Ghz led, even though it is connected to the RT-AC87U AP via 5GHz (the RT-AC66U_B1 lights up only the 5GHz led as expected)
- strange is that the RT-AC66U_B1 shows that it is connected to an SSID that has a name reminiscent of the fumbling around I was doing with the RT-AC66U_B1 in repeater mode, although it is clearly connected to the SSID of the main AP RT-AC87U, and no longer running in repeater mode.

Sorry for wall of text post, but I am trying to document what I did maybe someone else can use it.
If anyone has some hints about the notebook not being able to see the shared folders on the desktop, I'm all ears.

 

[L&LD]

aveamurechi,

Thank you for the detailed update!

 

[aveamurechi]

- the 2 computers behind the RT-AC66U_B1 bridge (desktop + notebook) can see each other, as in the desktop will see the shared folders of the notebook without issues, but the notebook will not see the shared folders of the desktop.

What I notice about this particular topic is that it has to do with the order in which I turn the two computers ON. That is:
- If I turn the desktop ON first, then the notebook, the desktop will see the shared folders on the notebook without a problem, but the notebook will not see the shared folders on the desktop, no matter what I do
- If however, I turn on the notebook first, then the desktop, the notebook will see the shared folders and media on the desktop without a problem, but the desktop will no longer be able to access the notebook.

Very strange. Anybody has some hints what to do to get this to work both ways?

Thanks.