Help with RT-AC68 and/or R7000

[Fam Money]

I recently bought both a RT-AC68 and a R7000 to upgrade from e3000 running Tomato RAF. I basically wanted a router that is a little more robust that the e3000.

Right now I run it with 2.4GHz set to G only and 5GHz set to N only. I live in a 3 level townhome with the router located on the 2nd level at the front of the house. This is on a slab so no basement. The house is roughly 60 feet long. I have not run Ethernet and don’t really plan on it at this point. I also know that the router placement is not ideal but again I no plans to move it right now.

My biggest wireless problem is that I can't reliably reach my Linksys Media Center Extender on the 3rd level and Chromecast+HP Media Center Extender on the 1st level. Both devices are located at the rear of the house. I’m able to connect to both devices this way and stream it’s just not stable. Right now I worked around the 3rd level issue with a pair of Netgear 200Mbps poweline adapters. The 3rd level I just grin and bear it.
I figured one of these beasts, with their external antennae, would allow me the extra oomph I need to stabilize these connections. The problem is I can’t even get it to replicate the setup I have right now. I have 2 other Media Center Extenders in rooms directly above the e3000 that connect on 5GHz and stream just fine. For some reason the extenders refuse to connect to both routers on 5GHz when trying to set them up. On the 2.4GHz band they’re only able to connect to the R7000 though this does not provide enough bandwidth to stream.

When I setup the connection on the HP extender it can’t grab and IP and sets a private 169.254.* address. Setting it up with a static IP allows the setup to complete with no connectivity. On the Linksys extender it just tells me the network is no longer there when completing the setup. My laptop and Galaxy S4 both connect to 5GHz just fine, the laptop as an N client and the S4 as an AC client.

I’ve tried various firmwares and have ran them as routers and APs where the IPs are pulled from the e3000.

Firmwares Used:
Nighthawk
V1.0.2.194_1.0.15
V1.0.3.12_1.1.18 Beta
r23460 Kong
r23490 Kong
AC68
3.0.0.4.374_583
3.0.0.4.374.39 Merlin

This is what I get over and over from the R7000 when I have DD-WRT loaded and try to connect the HP extender:

Feb 2 23:58:01 dnsmasq-dhcp[22359]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:01:*:*:*:*
Feb 2 23:58:01 dnsmasq-dhcp[22359]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.3 00:01:*:*:*:*
Feb 2 23:58:07 dnsmasq-dhcp[22359]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:01:*:*:*:*
Feb 2 23:58:07 dnsmasq-dhcp[22359]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.3 00:01:*:*:*:*
Feb 2 23:58:13 dnsmasq-dhcp[22359]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:01:*:*:*:*
Feb 2 23:58:13 dnsmasq-dhcp[22359]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.3 00:01:*:*:*:*
Feb 2 23:58:19 dnsmasq-dhcp[22359]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:01:*:*:*:*
Feb 2 23:58:19 dnsmasq-dhcp[22359]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.1.3 00:01:*:*:*:*

This is what it looks like on the e3000 which is working correctly:
Feb 3 10:17:18 RT-98FC* daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[941]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) 00:01:*:*:*:*
Feb 3 10:17:18 RT-98FC* daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[941]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.2.69 00:01:*:*:*:*
Feb 3 10:17:18 RT-98FC* daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[941]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.2.69 00:01:*:*:*:*
Feb 3 10:17:18 RT-98FC* daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[941]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.2.69 00:01:*:*:*:* HP-Extender-2


Does anyone have any ideas? Is this a compatibility issue?

 

[Fam Money]

Bueller, Bueller? Does anyone have any suggestions? I'd like to get one of these going before the return period ends.

 

[overdrive31]

At a loss as to why stock firmware behaves the same as DD-WRT on the new routers, but an E3000 functions as normal??? Sounds to me like you have a setting miss-configured someplace. Try disabling wifi security, then if it works, use only WPA2 AES, not mixed mode TKIP/AES.

 

[Fam Money]

Thanks. I forgot to add that it's set up for WPA2 w/ AES. I have tried no encryption as well with no luck. Also, most of my testing is occurring with a HP extender no more than 10 feet from the routers with clear line of sight.

I just can't understand for the life of me why they won't work.

 

[overdrive31]

Is the Network Mode on 5GHz set to Mixed? Maybe the laptop and android can handle the mixed mode fine, but the extenders cannot. Try NA-mixed or just N-only, you will lose AC capability, but you may gain functionality with the extenders.

Surely you could afford running cat5 if you have the budget for either of those routers. If all else fails, you should really consider it.

 

[sfx2000]

Don't run DD-WRT - simply put.

Go back to factory firmware and do a hard reset and see where things go from there.

Your device is asking for a DHCP address assignment and it's timing out, hence the multiple requests.

This is an old bug...

 

[KGB7]

Im running Kong firmware on two AC68 routers with no issues. Your best bet is to ask this question in DDWRT forums. They have a dedicated thread for R7000 and AC68 routers.


If your 2.4ghz band is set to G, then you wont get the bandwidth that you need, you are literally cutting the bandwidth by half. So set it to N only.

Set 5Ghz to AC, and devices that are 5Ghz N capable will still connect to 5Ghz AC band, but will only operate at N speeds. AC is backwards compatible.

 

[Fam Money]

Is the Network Mode on 5GHz set to Mixed? Maybe the laptop and android can handle the mixed mode fine, but the extenders cannot. Try NA-mixed or just N-only, you will lose AC capability, but you may gain functionality with the extenders.

Surely you could afford running cat5 if you have the budget for either of those routers. If all else fails, you should really consider it.

Some of the firmwares you are not able to specify exactly what you want on the 5GHz band. Those that allow it was set to N only.

Cost of materials for a CAT6 runs is not a deterrent for me.......it's skill/experience in running it that is. I'm by no means handy and fishing wires through walls and crawl spaces intimidates the hell outta me. If I get someone to do it, it has to be done right so $$$$$.

Don't run DD-WRT - simply put.

Go back to factory firmware and do a hard reset and see where things go from there.

Your device is asking for a DHCP address assignment and it's timing out, hence the multiple requests.

This is an old bug...

I originally got this on the factory firmware on the R7000. I tried DD-WRT to see if that'd help but got the same issue. I did not try DD-WRT on the RT-AC68.

It still doesn't make sense to me that on the R7000 it connects just fine on 2.4GHz but never gets an IP on 5GHz. And on the RT-AC68 both bands behave like the 5GHz on the R7000.

Im running Kong firmware on two AC68 routers with no issues. Your best bet is to ask this question in DDWRT forums. They have a dedicated thread for R7000 and AC68 routers.


If your 2.4ghz band is set to G, then you wont get the bandwidth that you need, you are literally cutting the bandwidth by half. So set it to N only.

Set 5Ghz to AC, and devices that are 5Ghz N capable will still connect to 5Ghz AC band, but will only operate at N speeds. AC is backwards compatible.

I'll give their forums a shot.

True, the 2.4 band set to G only would not provide enough bandwidth if I tried to stream over it. I guess the reason I never thought to change it over to mixed is because I want to keep the streaming traffic segregated from the rest of my normal WiFi traffic. I couldn't do N only as I have some devices that are only G.

Thanks for taking the time to reply guys.