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AC86U 2.4ghz lost after factory reset on 386.4

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SaBl

Occasional Visitor
Hello, I had recently updated to the 386.4 firmware. I was still running 384.17 or 384.18, can't remember which and I had done a dirty upgrade. Everything was fine, but then some time later the internet stopped working, and reboots did not help. So I set aside time to to a factory reset and followed a guide here on the forums about doing the reboots, unplugging, formatting jffs partition etc and manually reconfigured everything again. Everything ran ok for about a week, then the 2.4ghz radio stopped working. Nothing unusual showed up in the router, it showed channel 1 instead of 0 as some other users that have had issues posted. A reboot seems to have fixed it for now. To be clear, I have never had to do a reboot on this router unless I'm doing firmware upgrades.

After reading some forums posts, it seems that while when I bought this router in 2018 it was considered a favorite at the time, it seems that now the router has a bad reputation of failures, particularly failing 2.4ghz radios. From what I gather the 386 codebase has introduced some issues for this router model, particularly temperatures have increased, I know mine increased about 10 degrees for the cpu.

If the 2.4ghz radio goes out again, would it be best to stay on the outdated 384 codebase? Should I just assume that the 2.4ghz radio was going to start having issues/failing eventually and the new firmware possibly accelerated the timeline? The AX86U seems like a viable upgrade however it seems that it also has hardware issues. I was hoping not needing to upgrade for some time.
 
Radio issues are usually not firmware related. Monitor the behavior and replace the router, if it happens again.
 
f the 2.4ghz radio goes out again, would it be best to stay on the outdated 384 codebase?
The 2.4ghz in my vinrtage 2017 AC86U started acting up under 384, but after updating to the 386 codebase it became even more unstable and I turned it off. This does not appear to be related to firmware or even the Broadcom drivers, perhaps excluding the overheating hypothesis you allude to, in which some updates turned cpu wait off, which could effect temps. In that case you can affect how your cpu operates though the cpu wait and other cli power management settings (which you will have to search for) independently of what codebase you are on, or mount a fan on the rig. This thread is worth searching further:
Should I just assume that the 2.4ghz radio was going to start having issues/failing eventually and the new firmware possibly accelerated the timeline?
Who knows, I don't expect that my radio will work better than it does now with some future update.
 
Thanks for the responses.

Radio issues are usually not firmware related. Monitor the behavior and replace the router, if it happens again.
That's what I figured, but hopefully is not the case. I do have my old N66U so maybe I can use that for the 2.4ghz only devices.

The 2.4ghz in my vinrtage 2017 AC86U started acting up under 384, but after updating to the 386 codebase it became even more unstable and I turned it off. This does not appear to be related to firmware or even the Broadcom drivers, perhaps excluding the overheating hypothesis you allude to, in which some updates turned cpu wait off, which could effect temps. In that case you can affect how your cpu operates though the cpu wait and other cli power management settings (which you will have to search for) independently of what codebase you are on, or mount a fan on the rig. This thread is worth searching further:

Who knows, I don't expect that my radio will work better than it does now with some future update.
I've read posts talking about the common 2.4ghz failing issues but also posts saying that the 386 has a lot of issues with that band and that 384 codebase seems to work (for now). So far it has been over a week and I have not lost 2.4ghz band or internet, I'll keep monitoring the situation. I'll see if I can look into cooling options and possibly the cpu management options if need be, thanks for the tip. If it happens again I'll probably clean install the last 384 firmware and see how it performs from there.
 
Thanks for the responses.


That's what I figured, but hopefully is not the case. I do have my old N66U so maybe I can use that for the 2.4ghz only devices.


I've read posts talking about the common 2.4ghz failing issues but also posts saying that the 386 has a lot of issues with that band and that 384 codebase seems to work (for now). So far it has been over a week and I have not lost 2.4ghz band or internet, I'll keep monitoring the situation. I'll see if I can look into cooling options and possibly the cpu management options if need be, thanks for the tip. If it happens again I'll probably clean install the last 384 firmware and see how it performs from there.
I think it's clearly a firmware issue. The delay in new firmware versions from Asus to the AC86U in particular indicates that there are known issues. Lets hope they finally fix it, it's about damn time.

As for your use-case; a better, more hassle-free solution might be to turn off the AC86U's Wifi and use the N66U altogether for that by running a cable from the LAN port of 86U to WAN port of N66U with the latter running john's LTS fork firmware, which performs very well and stable (as opposed to the AC86U. In that way, you get the scripting/cakeqos possiblities from the AC86U, the wifi stability from the N66U (albeit lower bandwidth), and then you can easily switch back to the AC86U when the new firmware version for AC86U arrives and check whether the problems are fixed.
 
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