Asuswrt-Merlin RT-AC5300 Unstable Wifi

[DKW]

I just bought a new Asus RT-AC5300 router. Using stock firmware (Latest Update v3.0.0.4.384_20648), using Tri-Band mode (or even separating into 3 separate bands with 3 SSID's), if anything connects to 5Ghz-1 band, it destabilizes my 2.4Ghz and 5Ghs-1 bands. They keep going off-line and then back on-line. Wired through router never stops working. Upper 5Ghz band (5Ghz-2) seems to mostly stay up. Asus tech support is giving me the runaround. I have been able to duplicate the issue without problem. Fresh flash, hardware reset, basic configuration, no advanced features enabled. Using a WiFi analyzer on my phone and tablet, show the signals are there, then drop and then come back and drop, every few seconds or minutes.

The system logs says "Fatal Error" and "Resetting Ai" whenever this occurs.

If I keep devices from connecting on the 5Ghs-1 band and force everything to connect to 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz-2 (Upper), everything stabilizes. WiFi never drops. Rock solid. And even when I enable all advanced features (QoS, Trend Protection, Parental Control, full traffic analysis, everything). Of course I had to load Asuswrt-Merlin, to get that stability. But I have lost my 5Ghz-1 band. I have that band set to only allow 802.11ac. But since I don't have any 802.11a/b/g/ac devices, so that doesn't hurt me, but I have lost 1/3 the functionality of this router due to losing that lower 5Ghz-1 band.

I have read a lot of posts about the instability of this product. What I have found, even with stock firmware, if anything hits that 5Ghz-1 band, 2.4Ghz and lower 5Ghz-1 band both start going up and down constantly.

Tri-Band is working great (one SSID). as long as I don't use that lower 5Ghz-1 band. I had to adjust the Smart Connect rules to not let anything move to 5Ghz-1 (lower) band (Invert 5Ghz-1 and 5Ghz-2 rules). And it mostly works. Not all my 5Ghz capable devices always stay at 5Ghz, but generally. Some float back to 2.4Ghz.

How do I get my router to stabilize and use all 3 bands? I just tried the latest Asuswrt-Merlin beta (384.5 Beta), and it also destabilized my router in its currently configuration, so I had to go back to the last version. 384.4_2, which again stabilized it. This is obviously a firmware issue when using the lower 5Ghz-1 band. No reason why one firmware would be stable and another one would get Fatal Errors and have to reinitialize the Ai.

I have also notices that I am unable to get the 2.4 to use 40Mhz width. I have use 40Mhz for years with my old router as all my equipment supports that, but in TriBand mode, I lose the ability to set any "Control" channels and I drop to 20Mhz bandwidth on 2.4Ghz. My 5Ghz bands default to 80 all the time, which is good.

Any suggestions?

 

[mikelees2]

I have my WIFI set to Tri Band smart connect on my setup and have had no problems. I am running Asuswrt-Merlin 384.5-beta 1 .
If this is a new router you are setting up you should have no problems as long as you don't try to restore the setup and you reset the router first. Under the wireless pro tab set the Reducing USB 3.0 interference to enable.
If you have done all of this then i would look at the hardware.

 

[DKW]

I am working with Asus tech support (not very successfully) and am seriously wondering if it is hardware. But when I put the new Merlin Beta on, all WiFi again destabilized. 2.4 and 5 going up and down constantly. This kind of points to firmware issues. If one firmware is stable on 2 of 3 radios, and another firmware, using exact same settings, can't keep radios working. So when trying the Beta, that almost took the hardware off the list of issues, as one firmware was 66% stable (2 radios), and new beta was 100% unstable on all radios.

 

[mikelees2]

I am working with Asus tech support (not very successfully) and am seriously wondering if it is hardware. But when I put the new Merlin Beta on, all WiFi again destabilized. 2.4 and 5 going up and down constantly. This kind of points to firmware issues. If one firmware is stable on 2 of 3 radios, and another firmware, using exact same settings, can't keep radios working. So when trying the Beta, that almost took the hardware off the list of issues, as one firmware was 66% stable (2 radios), and new beta was 100% unstable on all radios.

Try to reset and then setup again.

1. are you using a USB storage device? if so remove it until you are done setting this up.
2. Upload 384.5 b1 software
3. Turn off and unplug the router. Hold the WPS button and plug the router back in. Continue to hold the WPS button for about a minute or two ( LEDs will flash) then let go of the WPS button and allow the router 10min to complete a boot.
4. reboot the router and finish the setup.
you should be good

 

[DKW]

That I haven't tried. I'll give that a try after work today (as I am using it via VPN for work right now). Hate to rename all my devices and reload into DHCP again, but if that cleans out the cobwebs, and gets all 3 radios working and all advanced features working without dropping, it is worth the try. If not, I will be sending this back and purchasing a new one to see if it was hardware all along.

 

[DKW]

As a followup question, what does holding in the WPS button do that pressing the reset button on the back, doesn't do? Does it clear NVRAM or something like that?

 

[ross]

I got the same old problem. RT-AC5300. The only firmware that works 100% for me is 380.65_4. As soon as I flash newer firmware (for example 384.4_2) I get an issue with the wireless computers in my network. All notebooks, laptops etc. which use Wi-Fi connection to connect to our network cannot open shared folders on other computers. Then I flash back 380.65_4 and everything is back to normal.

 

[DKW]

This link seems to indicate the WPS button will clear nvram that could be left behind.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/faq-nvram-and-factory-default-reset.22822/

 

[DonnyJohnny]

This link seems to indicate the WPS button will clear nvram that could be left behind.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/faq-nvram-and-factory-default-reset.22822/

Only applicable if you are already on Merlin firmware.

 

[DKW]

Well, tried the beta and used the WPS button combination in the order you said to totally reset the router. The 2.4 and 5-1 keep going down and up and down and up still. However, I don't show any errors in the event logs now. Before I would show Fatal Error and the radios reinitialize and when they reinitialize, the signal would drop and come back. So the Beta is even less stable than what I initially was using (384.4_2). So, I am flashing my router back to that to get it stable again. And again, I will lose the lower 5Ghz-1 channel. But at least 2/3 of the router is usable.

If Asus tech support can't find anything with the new logs I sent them today, I am going to package this up and send back and order a new one. I can only hope the new one doesn't have these issues. (Of course, I had to reset to factory and load their firmware on it and enable wifi logging via telnet, to perform their new set of tests.)

After I performed the tests for Asus, I wiped it again, put on the beta, used WPS button and procedure you listed above, and it appeared initially stable, but then as kids started to stream from internet, wifi started to go down and up. So I just flashed it back to 384.4_2 and now the router is again as stable as I have been able to get it. Just have to keep everything off 5Ghz-1 channel.

This has to be a defective unit.