Ac86u not broadcasting channels 36-48

[L&LD]

Test builds - OneDrive (live.com)

From RMerlin's website.

Download | Asuswrt-Merlin

From this link.

Pre-beta test builds (occasionally available, hosted on Onedrive)

And introduced here.

Beta - VPN Director testing | SmallNetBuilder Forums (snbforums.com)

 

[thiggins]

This certainly is a puzzler. I think it will take packet capture to solve, or at least to confirm whether beacons are being sent on 5 GHz.

The only other suggestions I can think of are:
- Disable DFS
- Do not use 160 MHz bandwidth
- Try channel bandwidth of 20 and 40.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Was purchased in 2018 on Amazon.

Production year: 2018

That particular year was not a good year for the AC86. Many people reported radio problems among other issues with some of the AC86s produced in 2018 in China. I would order a replacement and while you are awaiting for its arrival you can continue to try to get the radios working but whatever you do probably isn't going to permanently resolve the issue.

 

[thiggins]

That particular year was not a good year for the AC86. Many people reported radio problems among other issues with some of the AC86s produced in 2018 in China. I would order a replacement and while you are awaiting for its arrival you can continue to try to get the radios working but whatever you do probably isn't going to permanently resolve the issue.

That doesn't explain why he has the same problem with a just-purchased AX68U.

 

[CaptainSTX]

That doesn't explain why he has the same problem with a just-purchased AX68U.

Good point. Does seem strange that two routers would have the same problem.

 

[Silentsoul]

That doesn't explain why he has the same problem with a just-purchased AX68U.

Right! I actually went and purchased a Nighthawk xr1000 to test and low and behold the same issue. So, it has to be some kind of interference but I can't figure out what. I haven't changed anything here and like i said previously, only 1 other 5ghz wifi is even near me. It's also far enough away it only shows up periodically.

 

[Silentsoul]

This certainly is a puzzler. I think it will take packet capture to solve, or at least to confirm whether beacons are being sent on 5 GHz.

The only other suggestions I can think of are:
- Disable DFS
- Do not use 160 MHz bandwidth
- Try channel bandwidth of 20 and 40.

I did try that already on the Asus and Merlin FW.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Right! I actually went and purchased a Nighthawk xr1000 to test and low and behold the same issue. So, it has to be some kind of interference but I can't figure out what. I haven't changed anything here and like i said previously, only 1 other 5ghz wifi is even near me. It's also far enough away it only shows up periodically.

Try taking one of these routers to the opposite end of your house (or a different house) and plugging it in there.

 

[HWDan]

Take the routers to a friend or family members place to test them there.

It could be possible you have a faulty appliance (or a new one) or some other device leaking radio waves. Pretty much any appliance can do that, even LED bulbs although those interfering frequencies tend to be lower.

You can try powering everything off in the house except a circuit to supply the router and test. Worst case, it's external somewhere in the neighborhood but testing the router in another place can confirm that. If it works on the isolated circuit with only the router drawing power, turn on circuits in the breaker box one at a time until the SSID disappears again and then check what devices are plugged in there.