RT-N66 in Repeater Mode - roaming assist disables radio?

[tomicjr]

Running 3.0.0.4.374.39_0-em

Performed a reset via the HW reset button.

Configured device to operate in Repeater Mode - connecting to AC68 on 5GHz band.

Set unique SSIDs to distinguish from main router by adding -EXT suffix.

Works great...until I try to enable roaming assistant on 2.4GHz! (my understanding is that this would disconnect clients below an RSSI threshold to switch back to the other router when in better range)

The Wireless Log shows "2.4 GHz radio is disabled"

Disabling the roaming assistant does not re-enable the radio, and nothing I tried short of another full reset / reconfigure would re-enable it.

On a side note, when switching operation mode (Router, Repeater, AP, etc.), is it a best practice to first perform a reset or does it do that automatically as part of the switch? The reason I ask is because there are MANY more settings in Router mode GUI vs. Repeater mode, and I wonder if values could be set in nvram that you can no longer access from the Repeater limited GUI...

 

[L&LD]

I think a reset to defaults will only power up the router again in Router mode.

What I think is worth trying is clearing the nvram while in Repeater mode.

This could be a bug, though I'd be surprised if nobody had noticed it till now.

 

[jetx]

I can confirm this bug.

I have two RT-N66U's... both running 374.40. Using one as main router, with the second configured as a repeater, connecting to the main router on 5Ghz band. On the repeater, I did set unique SSIDs on both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands.

If I enable roaming assistant (on the repeater) for the 5Ghz band, the 5Ghz radio is disabled. Turning off roaming assistant does not re-enable the 5Ghz radio.

Had to reset to defaults and redo setup to get it working again.