shadowfiber
Regular Contributor
Greetings everyone,
Long time lurker, super appreciative of what this community has done for this lurker in the past - Proud user of Merlin in the past. I am hoping someone has some ideas as I am at wits end.
I have been running an AC66U (original non B1) version for several years - running on Merlin 380.70. It was showing its age, randomly had issues here and there and I had decided it was time for an upgrade. Purchased an AX86U prior to Merlin sharing he was going to support the device - and in the timeframe of about 2 months, have been in a continuous loop with ASUS support trying various levels of beta firmware to solve the problem.
When configuring the new device, I had them side by side and chose the same SSID's, similar networking configuration, IP addresses, etc. etc. when deployed in the home. I had a few devices that needed firmware updates to communicate to a newer router, but overall it was a very smooth process. Except for a large component in our home.
We have 5 Google Home Minis and 1 Google Home (OG) (not the Nest Versions) that randomly disconnect from wifi (or so they say) and when attempting to be used say "Hang on while I connect to wifi". These devices are connected on the 2.4Ghz band, and the connection time varies from device to device. On Non-merlin firmware, we were able to see that the connection time would drop randomly and then re-establish to the router - however it would sometimes take hours for the Google Home to figure it out. Long story short - On the AC66U - no issues - none at all, they stay connected seemlessly, no issues at all. On the AX86U, issues all the time. As a test, right this moment, I said "hey Google" to the office Mini - and it says "hang on..." and looking at the router, it shows it's been connected for 15 minutes (last time I made some attempted changes)
If I restart the Google device - it connects with no issues for a period of time - can range from minutes to hours.
Environment Items:
- Smart Connect is OFF
- All the Trend Micro stuff is OFF
- QOS - OFF
- Wireless Config - 2.4: AX Enabled, 20/40MHz bandwidth, control channel: auto, extension channel, auto
- Pi.hole for DNS
- Majority of the items in the home have static IP's (the google homes do)
Here is the list of things we've tried:
- Various levels of firmware fixes and changes with ASUS (Also tried Alpha3 on Merlin (which is what I am running now).
- Connecting to 5.0Ghz Band
- Changing to static control channel and extension channel
- Changing to 20 or 40 MHz bandwidth static
- Various changes to Beamforming configurations, MU-MIMO etc. at the suggestion of ASUS
- Have removed the pi.hole and attempted static dns for the google homes of 8.8.8.8
- Probably several other things I cannot recall at the moment
Debug logs indicate constant DHCP offers and renewals only for the Google Home Devices as well (when they are stuck) - if I reset a device, it seems OK until things break otherwise these loop every minute or so for the associated MAC but never an ACK unless i reset the device:
dnsmasq-dhcp[2941]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0)
dnsmasq-dhcp[2941]: DHCPOFFER(br0)
I am aware of an EXTREMELY long thread in the Google Support forums that speaks about several issues - some of them AX routers (which I am unsure if it's coincidental or not). Google Support is next to useless; so can't bark up that tree. I have purchased a Sonos that has Google Assistant to get more information, my hunch is that it will be fine - but can report in a few days.
So there you have it, I am looking to the smart minds at SNB for some assistance, if anyone has guidance it would be greatly appreciated; if we do get something resolved, you can be assured I would want to throw a coffee in your direction.
Thanks for the read.
Long time lurker, super appreciative of what this community has done for this lurker in the past - Proud user of Merlin in the past. I am hoping someone has some ideas as I am at wits end.
I have been running an AC66U (original non B1) version for several years - running on Merlin 380.70. It was showing its age, randomly had issues here and there and I had decided it was time for an upgrade. Purchased an AX86U prior to Merlin sharing he was going to support the device - and in the timeframe of about 2 months, have been in a continuous loop with ASUS support trying various levels of beta firmware to solve the problem.
When configuring the new device, I had them side by side and chose the same SSID's, similar networking configuration, IP addresses, etc. etc. when deployed in the home. I had a few devices that needed firmware updates to communicate to a newer router, but overall it was a very smooth process. Except for a large component in our home.
We have 5 Google Home Minis and 1 Google Home (OG) (not the Nest Versions) that randomly disconnect from wifi (or so they say) and when attempting to be used say "Hang on while I connect to wifi". These devices are connected on the 2.4Ghz band, and the connection time varies from device to device. On Non-merlin firmware, we were able to see that the connection time would drop randomly and then re-establish to the router - however it would sometimes take hours for the Google Home to figure it out. Long story short - On the AC66U - no issues - none at all, they stay connected seemlessly, no issues at all. On the AX86U, issues all the time. As a test, right this moment, I said "hey Google" to the office Mini - and it says "hang on..." and looking at the router, it shows it's been connected for 15 minutes (last time I made some attempted changes)
If I restart the Google device - it connects with no issues for a period of time - can range from minutes to hours.
Environment Items:
- Smart Connect is OFF
- All the Trend Micro stuff is OFF
- QOS - OFF
- Wireless Config - 2.4: AX Enabled, 20/40MHz bandwidth, control channel: auto, extension channel, auto
- Pi.hole for DNS
- Majority of the items in the home have static IP's (the google homes do)
Here is the list of things we've tried:
- Various levels of firmware fixes and changes with ASUS (Also tried Alpha3 on Merlin (which is what I am running now).
- Connecting to 5.0Ghz Band
- Changing to static control channel and extension channel
- Changing to 20 or 40 MHz bandwidth static
- Various changes to Beamforming configurations, MU-MIMO etc. at the suggestion of ASUS
- Have removed the pi.hole and attempted static dns for the google homes of 8.8.8.8
- Probably several other things I cannot recall at the moment
Debug logs indicate constant DHCP offers and renewals only for the Google Home Devices as well (when they are stuck) - if I reset a device, it seems OK until things break otherwise these loop every minute or so for the associated MAC but never an ACK unless i reset the device:
dnsmasq-dhcp[2941]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0)
dnsmasq-dhcp[2941]: DHCPOFFER(br0)
I am aware of an EXTREMELY long thread in the Google Support forums that speaks about several issues - some of them AX routers (which I am unsure if it's coincidental or not). Google Support is next to useless; so can't bark up that tree. I have purchased a Sonos that has Google Assistant to get more information, my hunch is that it will be fine - but can report in a few days.
So there you have it, I am looking to the smart minds at SNB for some assistance, if anyone has guidance it would be greatly appreciated; if we do get something resolved, you can be assured I would want to throw a coffee in your direction.
Thanks for the read.
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