ASUS RP-AC56 1200mbit extender completely not working in AP mode?

[Peter Gustavsson]

Hi All.

I purchased two RP-AC56 extenders to use in AP mode in my house (4 floors, basement included).

Here is the setup:
- All rooms have Gigabit ethernet outlets, all wired through the house to a patch-panel in the basement.
- Using CAT6 cables only.
- Basement: Asus RT-AC3200 router
- Floor 1: Installed RP-AC56 here, 1gbit lan connection. Using AP mode.
- Floor 2: Installed second RP-AC56 here, 1gbit lan connection. Using AP mode.
- Floor 3: Asus RP-AC52 in AP-mode (bad thing with this one, in AP mode limited to 100mbit due to RJ-plug not being gigabit, hence why I purchased the AC56 ones).
I use same SSID on all wireless APs/Router. But not using Roaming feature in the aps/router ( I have tried both settings, and without works best in my house or they drop and reconnect to slow between em).

Now the 2 new RP-AC56 I realized that no clients could connect thru them.
In general no clients can get on to my WIFI network through these ones and/or they are connected but get no IP.

Both RP-AC56 have their DHCP servers turned off. Since the RT-AC3200 handles it.

I have tried all this and the issue is the same (no connection from clients, or super unstable):
1. Turned off DHCP server on RT-AC3200. Setup one on linux running. : No difference.
2. Tested the AC56s in Repeater mode (repeating WIFI from AC3200): No difference
3. Changed LAN cables : No difference
4. Changed LAN outlet in the house: No Difference
5. Testing one AP 1 meter from the AC3200 with a 0.5m Ethernet cable between them. No difference
6. Upgraded to latest firmware : No difference with old or new fw from Asus
7. Only using 2.4ghz 20mhz, all auto, only 5ghz etc etc: No difference. Tried all combos there was.
8. Tried connecting with PCs, Android phones, Macs, Ipads, Iphones. No difference, all have trouble.
9. Manual channels, auto channels: No difference
10. Unencrypted, enrypted (WPA2 Personal): No difference.
11. Fixed IP on clients (to rule out dhcp issues): No difference. No connectivity at all.
12. Tried separate SSID on the APs to rule my ordinary SSID out: No difference, impossible to connect.

At one stage I could get 1 phone to connect , but it took 1.5 minutes for it to get connected, and it was truly unstable. But I did manage to do a internet-speed test and got up to 200mbit. But only on the 5ghz band, 2.4ghz did not work at all to connect to.

It feels like either is the AC56 blocking DHCP signals, or it has some tremendous problems in its firmware.
But I ruled out the DHCP thing I truly feel with both using another DHCP server, then using static for clients, then even trying the AC56 in repeater mode instead of AP mode. Still same problem.

I used the same cables and everything and used my old Apple Airport Extremes: Works directly with all clients.
I also used the AC52 and moved it around: Works like a charm for all clients.

One thing which is weird: The AC56 come hardcoded to Wifi-Country "FR" as in France. I live in Sweden. The AC3200 has no country at all set. I had them on and changed all my Apple stuff that I connected for testing puposes to also be FR , and they work perfectly, but the second I try to connect to the ASUS RP-AC56 , my clients say they cannot connect, or they are connected but with no IP (trying static makes no difference).

Since I have 2 brand new RP-AC56, I am ruling out they both are broken from the factory.
My old RP-AC52 works just perfect, but as you know, the LAN-port is 100mbit only so AP mode is no fun when you have AC wifi-connectivity.

Any ideas?
What more can I do? I feel like returning them and continue using my old Apple stuff instead, at least they worked .

 

[rototiller]

Gotta ask but I am sure you know...Are you making sure your ethernet cables are connected to a LAN port on your AP routers and not the WAN port?

My set up in my house is similar to yours. My house is wired for ethernet but it is Cat 5e. My main router is an Asus RT-AC68P w/ RMerlin's FW and I have an Asus RT-AC56U set up in AP mode w/ RMerlin's FW also.

I have my AP router on a static IP and my NAS on a static IP. But I use different SSIDs on each of my different radio frequencies so I know for sure which router I am connected to.

It works like a charm, sorry yours is not working right. The Asus ac 56 routers that you are using for APs should automatically themselves shutdown/turn off DHCP when you put them in AP mode so, that shouldn't be the problem.

Are you making sure you use the 3 non overlapping channels on your 2.4 ghz radios? 1, 6, and 11

You should create static IPs for your APs outside of your DHCP server range. My set up is that my DHCP server range is: x.x.x.100 to x.x.x.199. My AP is statically set for an IP above 199 and my NAS is set statically for an IP below 100.

 

[Peter Gustavsson]

Gotta ask but I am sure you know...Are you making sure your ethernet cables are connected to a LAN port on your AP routers and not the WAN port?

My set up in my house is similar to yours. My house is wired for ethernet but it is Cat 5e. My main router is an Asus RT-AC68P w/ RMerlin's FW and I have an Asus RT-AC56U set up in AP mode w/ RMerlin's FW also.

I have my AP router on a static IP and my NAS on a static IP. But I use different SSIDs on each of my different radio frequencies so I know for sure which router I am connected to.

It works like a charm, sorry yours is not working right. The Asus ac 56 routers that you are using for APs should automatically themselves shutdown/turn off DHCP when you put them in AP mode so, that shouldn't be the problem.

Are you making sure you use the 3 non overlapping channels on your 2.4 ghz radios? 1, 6, and 11

You should create static IPs for your APs outside of your DHCP server range. My set up is that my DHCP server range is: x.x.x.100 to x.x.x.199. My AP is statically set for an IP above 199 and my NAS is set statically for an IP below 100.

Hi. Thanks for your input.
The APs have static Ips outside the DHCP scope.
I have tested the non-overlapping radio channels without success.
Ethernet-cables are not connected the WAN ports, the RP-AC56 is a wifi-extender/AP without any WAN capabilities. It only has 1 ethernet port.

I am thinking on returning these and buying some other brand, that is not brand new on the market. After 10 hours of trial and error, the products doesnt feel fun anylonger

 

[Classe]

Hi Peter
I have exactly the same problem and tried everything. It works for a while but then my devices (ios devices) starts to get problem connecting. They never connect completely, just stays with the "circle" trying to connect...
I tried both firmware version that is available, no luck. I have done reset onm the AP, no luck. I tried it on AP mode, Express mode or standard, no luck.
My ASUS Router does NOT have the same problem so its very strange, must be a firmwareproblem on the RP-AC56?
Does ASUS read this forum?
Claes

 

[Peter Gustavsson]

Hi Peter
I have exactly the same problem and tried everything. It works for a while but then my devices (ios devices) starts to get problem connecting. They never connect completely, just stays with the "circle" trying to connect...
I tried both firmware version that is available, no luck. I have done reset onm the AP, no luck. I tried it on AP mode, Express mode or standard, no luck.
My ASUS Router does NOT have the same problem so its very strange, must be a firmwareproblem on the RP-AC56?
Does ASUS read this forum?
Claes

I ended up putting them in the closet (turned off) and wait for firmware upgrades.
Right now I use my AC3200 router , and rewired the ethernet to have it in the middle floor. It performs quite well over the whole house. On the top floor I have my old Time Capsule in AP mode. This works at least, and the AC RP-56s will not be used until I see some firmware upgrades available. Hopefully ASUS will read this and release updates to the APs.

 

[David Almquist]

Hi Peter and Classe,
I also have the exact same problem, nothing seems to help. If you find a resolution to the problem feel free to contact me! Konstigt att det bara verkar vara vi svenskar som har problem

 

[Peter Gustavsson]

It is weird that we all are Swedish and are not able to get these APs to work properly.
Are your units saying they are FR (France) APs?. That I cannot understand in my case at least, since no neighbour is broadcasting France as country, nor does my other stuff do that.
I did try to change all my units to France, and my clients could connect to all the "France"-APs except these 2 that are truly not working as they should. its like 250 USD waste of money getting 2 of these for the money.

 

[perjoh]

Hello

I have the same problem and it seems to be a problem with dhcp, and my unit is also has the country code FR(living in Sweden).

If use my old tp-link with dd-wrt in ap mode it works fine, but then i don't have any 5 GHz...

 

[Perra]

Hello
I also have the same problem (living in Sweden) . Have a ac68U as the main router and RP-AC56 as AP. Are there any custom roms available?

 

[MikkiB]

Very nice to find this thread as i've been feeling like an idiot running up and down while troubleshooting this at a clients home network. Similar setup as other here:

- RT-AC66U in bottom floor - Working fine
- RP-AC56 in second floor, ethernet connection - working bad
- RP-AC56 in third floor, ethernet connection - working bad

And yeah, Sweden! We only had Macbooks and iPhones available while testing, but after a while i noticed something very strange in the RP-AC56. If i connect to a RP-AC56 (wireless) and set a static IP, i can connect to the access point itself but cannot access anything else. When i log on to the access point and take a look at the connected wireless clients (in the log i think, don't have access to them right now) i can see that my computer does not show the right MAC address, and it's a very weird one..

It can look like this: 00:00:00:00:AB:CD, and the funny thing is, every time i hit refresh, it's a new number! Like it's counting up or something. I guess this is why it won't receive an ip adress if it's behaving like this.. Have the same problem with both access points.

Can anyone else confirm this behavior? And what type of device you're using. I will talk with Asus support.. must be something seriously wrong with the firmware.

 

[Peter Gustavsson]

Just to let everyone know: I am having a dialoge with Asus in Sweden trying to resolve this.
And now we are even one more in Sweden. So something truly is wrong for Sweden in these APs.
I will keep you all updated as Asus progress.

 

[Snailcookie]

Having the same setup, the same problem and....living in Sweden. Putting the RP-AC56 in extender-mode in range of my RT-AC68U for now. But really would prefer having the RP-AC56 in AP-mode.

 

[Peter Gustavsson]

Having the same setup, the same problem and....living in Sweden. Putting the RP-AC56 in extender-mode in range of my RT-AC68U for now. But really would prefer having the RP-AC56 in AP-mode.

Can you get it to work in Extender-mode? My 2 cannot perform in any setup at all .
Well we are now close to 10 different people in Sweden suffering the same issues. Hopefully Asus fixes this quick.

 

[Snailcookie]

Can you get it to work in Extender-mode? My 2 cannot perform in any setup at all .
Well we are now close to 10 different people in Sweden suffering the same issues. Hopefully Asus fixes this quick.

Yeah my RP-AC56 works fine in Extender-mode. But in AP-mode some devices can't access SSID at all (can't obtain IP-address), while other can connect but then get no access to the internet.
/Andreas

 

[Perra]

I have problems in AP mode and extender mode. Talked to Asus and they suggested to have the same SSID as the router but it didn't helped...! Runnning my old AP now without problems and waiting for a new firmware for the RP AC56....

 

[Dave Barnes]

The RP-AC56 does not work in Access Point mode. I'm using the RT-AC68W for my Wi-Fi router and that works fine, but I can't get any devices to connect to the RP-AC56 for more than a few seconds.

I have the device connected via ethernet and set up as an Access Point. I've tried using the default SSIDs as well as making all the SSIDs the same, to no avail.

Is ASUS aware of this issue, and when do they expect to provide a firmware update?

 

[sfx2000]

I purchased two RP-AC56 extenders to use in AP mode in my house (4 floors, basement included).

They're repeaters, not AP's... perhaps that's your problem..

Set them to the SSID of the primary AP, and they repeat the wireless signal...

 

[perjoh]

I can see that Asus has removed the firmware that im running, 3.0.0.4.378_6717-g14c8d38.

 

[MikkiB]

Yep it's gone, hopefully there will be a new fixed one up soon!

 

[Peter Gustavsson]

They're repeaters, not AP's... perhaps that's your problem..

Set them to the SSID of the primary AP, and they repeat the wireless signal...

The Repeaters we discuss here support 3 modes: AP, Repeater, Media link. In all 3 there are issues.
The older RP-52 runs perfectly in AP mode. So it is something with the new devices AC56 that are not working properly.