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Asuswrt-Merlin 384.15 disables wifi on RT-AX88U

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xpablo

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Asus RT-AX88U updated it to Asuswrt-Merlin 384.15 from 384.13, once installed there is no wifi, even though the radio's are on on 2.4 & 5GHZ, and according to the router the radio's are working just fine even though no clients are connected and a wifi scan doesn't show the SSID's from this router. upon some testing I managed to get 2.4 working by disabling the 2.4 Guest network, but then 5G still doesn't work, upon the logs
the BSSID for 5G are 00:00:00:00:00:00 and of course no signal. the same happens for 2.4G when the guest network is enabled. Originally I performed a dirty flash, afterwards factory reset and inputed settings manually, then I went and rest again and installed latest firmware from ASUS 3.0.0.4.384.7997. this got both radio's working properly, then I decided to flash back to 384.15 and problem came back, tried 384.16 afterwards no change to wifi status. I currently have it flashed to 384.14 and it's working normally with that. I'm concerned about future releases of Asuswrt-Merlin for this router. I searched the forums here seems nobody else has this issue. I have no vlans set or VPN on this router.
 
Are you setting fixed Control Channels?

What settings do you configure/change after a factory reset?
 
Are you setting fixed Control Channels?

What settings do you configure/change after a factory reset?

No channels are set to Auto, I did set them to various channels but it made no difference.

2.4
Mode: N Only b/g protection Checked (made no difference unchecked)
Bandwidth 20/40Mhz (made no difference if just set to 20Mhz, none of my clients recognize 40)
WPA2 Encryption
Protected Mgmt Frames : Capable
Group Key: 3600

5
Mode: Auto (made no difference adjusting this setting)
802.11ax/wi-fi6 mode : Disabled (currently have no AX capable clients)
Channel BW: 20/40/80/160
Control Channle: Auto
WPA2
Protected Mgmt Frames : Capable
Group Key: 3600

No Mac Filters, Except for Guest Network has MAC filter enabled (with a list of permitted MAC's)

Any adjustments on the settings made no difference as far as getting radio to work, OTHER than disabling 2.4 Guest Network, gets 2.4G Only working, yet both are enabled.
I have NO 5G Guest Network setup.

Once I reverted router back to 384.14 everything worked as it should.
 
It would be easiest to remove all USB devices from the router, reset to factory defaults/Initialize all settings and then do a manual configuration with minimal changes to the defaults (as outlined in the link in my signature below in the M&M Config guide).

This is for both the AX and the AC '88U's above. :)

Do not change settings to 'what previously worked before'. Use the defaults and change one setting at a time, testing continuously as you go, until you discover what breaks things in your environment.

I would also recommend using new (never before connected to) SSIDs that are 8 alphanumeric characters long with no spaces, punctuation, special characters or smiley faces. The passwords should be 16 characters with the same attributes.

Do not hide SSIDs, do not use mac address filtering while you're testing. Actually, don't use these at all as they are effectively obsolete at keeping your network safe and can cause random-seeming issues too.
 
It would be easiest to remove all USB devices from the router, reset to factory defaults/Initialize all settings and then do a manual configuration with minimal changes to the defaults (as outlined in the link in my signature below in the M&M Config guide).

This is for both the AX and the AC '88U's above. :)

Do not change settings to 'what previously worked before'. Use the defaults and change one setting at a time, testing continuously as you go, until you discover what breaks things in your environment.

I would also recommend using new (never before connected to) SSIDs that are 8 alphanumeric characters long with no spaces, punctuation, special characters or smiley faces. The passwords should be 16 characters with the same attributes.

Do not hide SSIDs, do not use mac address filtering while you're testing. Actually, don't use these at all as they are effectively obsolete at keeping your network safe and can cause random-seeming issues too.

Thanks for the tips, I'll play with this router later when the world or North America at least returns to normal, after all these quarantines and lock downs etc.. I don't want to end having to RMA the router while the repair centers are shutdown or operating at limited capacity.
It's working just fine with the current firmware. I know that MAC Filtering is not a great security, but for my use it will do for now. Once I reconfig router I'll eliminate the Guest network.

So for now, If it's not Broken, Don't "Fix it", is going to be my mantra.
 
Some problem for me. As soon as the guest account (2G only) is activated, the 5G connections drop. Max speed then 173.3 mbps, 866 mbps with guest account deactivated.
 
The 5Ghz on my RT-AX88U didn't work after I first turned it on and it updated. No light either. The 2.4 was fine. I updated to Merlin's and there was no change. After reading in this forum I changed the "Auto" wifi channel to one of the low numbers and it started working and has been fine since then. That was about a month ago. So that problem is in the Asus firmware. I have been wondering if they will fix it.
 

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