AC86U after a few days has no 5ghz clients.

[Scansbar]

Hey guys,
I'm using 3.0.0.4.384_45149 firmware and have aimesh with a ac68u client with the same firmware. I notice that every few days I have no clients on the 5ghz band. I can't figure out what the problem is but a reboot fixes it temporarily. I have different ssids for each band. Is there some troubleshooting I can do or look for in the log? I must have did a factory re-install a few times. I'm not sure if it's the firmware or unit itself or a setting that I should disable or just reboot every night. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you for your time on reading this and hoping someone out there can relate or help me out.
Thanks again.
Mark

 

[OzarkEdge]

Hey guys,
I'm using 3.0.0.4.384_45149 firmware and have aimesh with a ac68u client with the same firmware. I notice that every few days I have to clients on the 5ghz. I can't figure out what but a reboot fixes it. I have different ssids for each band. Is there some troubleshooting I can do or look for in the log? I must have did a factory re-install a few times. I'm not sure if it's the firmware or unit itself or a setting that I should disable or just reboot every night. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you for your time on reading this and hoping someone out there can relate or help me out.
Thanks again.
Mark

Your post is not clear... can you remove the typos. Is the 68U node dropping?

OE

 

[Scansbar]

Sorry about the OE I should have reread it before posting. No the ac68u is not dropping but notice that the backhaul is only on 2.4 GHz when this issue happens and when everything is fine it's connected to both the 2.4 and 5 GHz.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Sorry about the OE I should have reread it before posting. No the ac68u is not dropping but notice that the backhaul is only on 2.4 GHz when this issue happens and when everything is fine it's connected to both the 2.4 and 5 GHz.

Sounds like the router 5 GHz band might be dropping. The one time I saw this on an 86U, I re-installed the firmware and then reset with a GUI Restore/Initialize before re-configuring from scratch. It's important to reset after installing the firmware and before setting up the AiMesh.

Have you noticed the router 5.0 GHz SSID disappearing?

Have you used a WiFi Analyzer app to 'see' the router 5.0 GHz band missing?

OE

 

[Grisu]

you should edit thread title, says 86U but you got an 68U.

 

[Klueless]

So you've a 68U that you're using as an extender to the 86U (router)?

Sounds like the router 5 GHz band might be dropping. The one time I saw this on an 86U ...

I also have an 86 that did the same thing. Lost 5 GHz, Also lost my 5 GHz SSIDs. I also had an extender.

Forget exactly what all I tried but wound up turning off the extender, turning the 86U's 5 GHz radio off and then back on (under professional settinge) and rebooting. When that looked good I turned the extender back on. It's probably just a happy coincidence but it's been working (knock on wood) ever since (about three months now).

 

[OzarkEdge]

I believe the OP has an 86U AiMesh router and 68U Aimesh node.

What is not clear is... which node is losing its 5 GHz band? There have been other reports of this temporarily affecting an 86U.

OE

 

[Grisu]

Got the same problem on my 86U last weeks, 5G shown but client could not connect, my 86 is in AP mode!
Hope its better now with 384.9 beta
Other 68U with almost same config (AP only with different channels) had never those symptoms.

 

[Scansbar]

I believe the OP has an 86U AiMesh router and 68U Aimesh node.

What is not clear is... which node is losing its 5 GHz band? There have been other reports of this temporarily affecting an 86U.

OE

I have a 86U AiMesh router and 68U Aimesh node. When this issue happens my 5ghz has no clients connected and all of them go on the 2.4ghz. When everything is working I have clients on both bands as well as the wireless aimesh backhaul. I read that OE turned off the TrendMicro so I did the same and the 5ghz has been stable for a day and no more soft crashes in the log. I'll keep you posted as it usually acts up every 3-6 days.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I have a 86U AiMesh router and 68U Aimesh node. When this issue happens my 5ghz has no clients connected and all of them go on the 2.4ghz. When everything is working I have clients on both bands as well as the wireless aimesh backhaul. I read that OE turned off the TrendMicro so I did the same and the 5ghz has been stable for a day and no more soft crashes in the log. I'll keep you posted as it usually acts up every 3-6 days.

I use the Android WiFi Analyzer Classic app to view all WLAN signals around me. It or similar would allow you to 'see' both WLAN signals on each node. If one or both 5.0 GHz WLANs drop, you would be able to see this and know what has happened.

OE

 

[Scansbar]

Thanks, I will use it if it happens again to see if I can make out what happened.

 

[KevTech]

I have been seeing this on my RT-AC68U with latest stock or Merlin firmware on 5GHz about every 5 days or so.
What is strange is all devices still show up in the wireless log as Associated/Authorized but none of them are.
Refresh the log and all devices still show as Associated/Authorized but no connections on any of them.
Turning wireless off/on with the push button will fix it.
To rule out a devices issue I replaced the RT-AC68U with a RT-AC56U I found in my closet for two weeks and it never had this issue.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I have been seeing this on my RT-AC68U with latest stock or Merlin firmware on 5GHz about every 5 days or so.
What is strange is all devices still show up in the wireless log as Associated/Authorized but none of them are.
Refresh the log and all devices still show as Associated/Authorized but no connections on any of them.
Turning wireless off/on with the push button will fix it.
To rule out a devices issue I replaced the RT-AC68U with a RT-AC56U I found in my closet for two weeks and it never had this issue.

I'd like to find routers in my closet!

Have you considered this suggestion?

OE

 

[Scansbar]

I have a 86U AiMesh router and 68U Aimesh node. When this issue happens my 5ghz has no clients connected and all of them go on the 2.4ghz. When everything is working I have clients on both bands as well as the wireless aimesh backhaul. I read that OE turned off the TrendMicro so I did the same and the 5ghz has been stable for a day and no more soft crashes in the log. I'll keep you posted as it usually acts up every 3-6 days.

So with TrendMicro turned off still the soft crashes stopped and the router didn't disconnect the 5ghz clients. . Just for testing I restet both routers and started from scratch according to OE and ran the ac86u as my router and my ac68u as an AP. I turned on TrendMicro and soft crashes occurred so I then turned it off and no issues. So from what I tried and I hope this helps a few people out is turn off trendmicro if you experience the same symptoms I had. Hopefully the next firmware will address it, maybe not, but either way thanks to those that chimed in to help.
Have a great day.

 

[jonnieZG]

Hey guys,
I'm using 3.0.0.4.384_45149 firmware and have aimesh with a ac68u client with the same firmware. I notice that every few days I have no clients on the 5ghz band. I can't figure out what the problem is but a reboot fixes it temporarily. I have different ssids for each band. Is there some troubleshooting I can do or look for in the log? I must have did a factory re-install a few times.
Mark

AC86U here, same firmware, same issue, did a restore and a complete reset, no luck. Annoys the hell out of me.

I will try turning the TrendMicro AiProtection off.

UPDATE: AirProtection turned off, 5GHz network lost again.

 

[jonnieZG]

I have a feeling that our problems might be related to this: DFS events, or Radar interference. Interesting read: http://wifinigel.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-5ghz-problem-for-wi-fi-networks-dfs.html?m=1

My guess is that ASUS is having some serious issues with channel switching due to DFS events, caused either by problematic software, or even hardware.

I just switched to smart connect and set both 5GHz and 2.4GHz to the same SSID, so my network would have a fail safe when the 5GHz goes down.

Another interesting thing is that when my 5GHz WiFi goes down, even the corresponding LED on the router turns off.

EDIT 2019-04-02: Two days after being online, with all the TrendMicro stuff being turned off, the 5GHz again went dead. I am now benching the AC86U and proceeding tests with an AC68U, which got a new firmware update on 2019-03-29. Still there is no corresponding update for the AC86U. I have opened a ticket on ASUS support, still waiting for a response. If this thing keeps on crashing, I am returning it to the store.

 

[jrmtz85]

Did this ever get fixed. Gave my dad an 86u for Christmas. He told me about issues with 5ghz about a month ago. Came and did a fresh wipe, installed latest Merlin, and while I can see the 5ghz, nothing can connect. Have tried disabling beamforming, channels, and many other things, and nothing signs on. Not near my PC now, but will post logs later.

Have my own 86u at my place, also on latest Merlin, and 0 issue. Very frustrating.

 

[CaptainSTX]

For some people, myself included the AC86 has had more than its fair share of issues. The most common radio issue has been with the 2.4 Ghz radio but some individuals have had issues with the 5 Ghz radio.

While there was some hope that these issues had been remedied with AC86s manufactured in 2019 the number of one star reviews on Amazon have continued and now account for 28% of the reviews for this router.

Unfortunately your only option is probably to RMA the router and hope that ASUS sends you a good replacement.

 

[jrmtz85]

For some people, myself included the AC86 has had more than its fair share of issues. The most common radio issue has been with the 2.4 Ghz radio but some individuals have had issues with the 5 Ghz radio.

While there was some hope that these issues had been remedied with AC86s manufactured in 2019 the number of one star reviews on Amazon have continued and now account for 28% of the reviews for this router.

Unfortunately your only option is probably to RMA the router and hope that ASUS sends you a good replacement.

Damnit, I hate having to RMA stuff. What's the warranty length on these in the US?

 

[CaptainSTX]

Damnit, I hate having to RMA stuff. What's the warranty length on these in the US?

One year. You pay to ship it to them in California. In a couple of weeks you get what they say is a refurbished and "tested unit" assuming that they found a problem if no problem they send your unit back. I went through five RMAs before I got an AC86 that seems to run better but it certainly isn't as dependable as my AC1900P.