Problems with Wifi (Merlin)

[mister]

Dear all,
I am using the RT-AC86U 384.10_2 and a wifi Access Point for my S7 edge to Access to the internet. I am using openvpn client on the asus router as well.
Normally my s7 edge is connected with the Access Point and I dont have problems with disconnects.

But for a while (I dont know the exact version of merlin) I have disconnects and reconnects all the time when my mobile is connected directly with the RT-AC86U (and not over the Access Point) although I am sitting directly in front of the router.
The signal is strong enough for sure, I tried to change the wifi modulation without success.
If I am connected via the RT-AC86U I have Internet access. I am able to access the websites, but after few secounds (varies) it terminates the connection and reconnects after few secounds. My wifi pw is very strong with symbols (30 letters) . Could it be related to this?

Any ideas or support? Because if I am connected with the Access Point the connection is stable (without any problems) it seems to be related to the router itself.

In earlier versions of merlin (but I dont know up to which version) I didn't had these problems. .

In the system log you can find :

Apr 7 08:22:41 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Assoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:22:54 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Disassoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:22:58 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Assoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:23:39 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Disassoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:23:45 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Assoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:24:24 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Disassoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:24:30 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Assoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:25:00 rc_service: service 16253:notify_rc restart_letsencrypt
Apr 7 08:25:11 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Disassoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:25:16 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Assoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:25:57 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Disassoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:26:04 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Assoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:26:42 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Disassoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B


Thanks a lot for your support.

 

[Dave Parker]

This is just a wild guess. If you are very close to the 86U your clients transmitter may be overloading the routers receiver causing instability. Try moving 2 or 3 feet further away and see if this helps. Maybe disable the access point while you run tests.

 

[martinr]

Dear all,
I am using the RT-AC86U 384.10_2 and a wifi Access Point for my S7 edge to Access to the internet. I am using openvpn client on the asus router as well.
Normally my s7 edge is connected with the Access Point and I dont have problems with disconnects.

But for a while (I dont know the exact version of merlin) I have disconnects and reconnects all the time when my mobile is connected directly with the RT-AC86U (and not over the Access Point) although I am sitting directly in front of the router.
The signal is strong enough for sure, I tried to change the wifi modulation without success.
If I am connected via the RT-AC86U I have Internet access. I am able to access the websites, but after few secounds (varies) it terminates the connection and reconnects after few secounds. My wifi pw is very strong with symbols (30 letters) . Could it be related to this?

Any ideas or support? Because if I am connected with the Access Point the connection is stable (without any problems) it seems to be related to the router itself.

In earlier versions of merlin (but I dont know up to which version) I didn't had these problems. .

In the system log you can find :

Apr 7 08:22:41 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Assoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:22:54 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Disassoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:22:58 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Assoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:23:39 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Disassoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:23:45 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Assoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:24:24 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Disassoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:24:30 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Assoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:25:00 rc_service: service 16253:notify_rc restart_letsencrypt
Apr 7 08:25:11 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Disassoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:25:16 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Assoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:25:57 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Disassoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:26:04 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Assoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B
Apr 7 08:26:42 WLCEVENTD: eth5: Disassoc 4C:66:41:63:47:1B


Thanks a lot for your support.

“My wifi pw is very strong with symbols (30 letters) . Could it be related to this? ”

That’s a good point; you did well to mention it because I have a vague memory of that having been the cause of a possibly similar problem a couple of years ago, but I may well be wrong. So temporarily change it to something shorter, say, 8 to 12 characters, no special characters just letters and numbers. And your SSID? That’s got no special characters has it? At least then you’ll be able to eliminate that as a cause. Even so, I think 30 characters might be a bit over the top, especially if you ever have to enter them by hand: I increased mine to 22 recently and 3 attempts to get it right is the norm!

 

[mister]

Thanks for the ideas and the replies.
The distance between me and the router are about 3m and I didn't changed the SSID or the wifi Pw a long time ago. As I said, the strong wifi pw worked in the past and is still working with the Access Point .

Because wifi at the RT-AC86U worked in the past and I am able to connect to wifi, that could not be the reason for this strange behaviour .
Is there a possibility to see, why the connection of my Samsung is terminated by the router? That could help me to see why it happens.

Thanks a lot for your support

 

[L&LD]

Thanks for the ideas and the replies.
The distance between me and the router are about 3m and I didn't changed the SSID or the wifi Pw a long time ago. As I said, the strong wifi pw worked in the past and is still working with the Access Point .

Because wifi at the RT-AC86U worked in the past and I am able to connect to wifi, that could not be the reason for this strange behaviour .
Is there a possibility to see, why the connection of my Samsung is terminated by the router? That could help me to see why it happens.

Thanks a lot for your support

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

Have a good read on the link above to know why you may have to change something today, even if it was working for so long for you.

In your case, have you tried 'forgetting' and then re-associating the S7?

If that test fails, then try what @martinr suggested already.

Use a new SSID and a new password. Make sure you have no spaces or any other special characters in either.

Don't use a short SSID either, you want it at least 8 characters (if I remember a past post with this issue correctly).

Don't use dashes (-), don't use underscores ( _ ) and definitely don't use smiley faces either.

If all the above doesn't work, the link above from developer of this firmware has been my inspiration to write (a long time ago now) the M&M Config which is linked in my signature below. This will get your router and the rest of the network to a good/known state.

No guarantees that it will fix your specific issue. But you will be able to do proper troubleshooting from then.

Here is a small excerpt from that link above, from RMerlin himself.

Sometimes, the manufacturer will need to change some of those low-level settings, either to resolve an issue, or to adapt to a newer wireless driver that they started using.

If you fail to do a factory default reset, then your router will still have the old values, and it will keep using them. That can lead to performance issues (especially in changes related to the wireless driver), or flat out odd behaviour (if one of the settings no longer works the same way as before).

I hope that the simpler suggestions work here. Otherwise, a full M&M Config will be the quickest way to resolve the issue fully (one way or another).

 

[Zonkd]

@L&LD and @mister I see the same problem on 2x 86us and 1x 68u for many releases despite always doing clean upgrades and nvram clears with m&m config has no effect. It’s just how it is.

I kept my ssid relatively short and alphanumeric (with only a single underscore that is typical with any router ssid) and alphanumeric password under 21 characters for compatibility with legacy devices on my LAN.

 

[L&LD]

@L&LD and @mister I see the same problem on 2x 86us and 1x 68u for many releases despite always doing clean upgrades and nvram clears with m&m config has no effect. It’s just how it is.

I kept my ssid relatively short and alphanumeric (with only a single underscore that is typical with any router ssid) and alphanumeric password under 21 characters for compatibility with legacy devices on my LAN.

Have you seen the 'sanitize' network link in my signature?

Have you tried the steps on the affected devices outlined in my post above?

A full M&M Config is one which leaves your router at mostly defaults settings (or at least, starts there). If you do a full M&M Config and then (even) manually enter/change all the same defaults to what you were using in a previous build that worked some time ago, that isn't a proper M&M Config anymore.

The options and the way they work and interact with ever-changing devices (they get their own updates too) requires us to occasionally rethink how we set up our routers as 'defaults'.

When we have issues and an M&M Config doesn't seem to fix it, the next steps to determine what the problem really is is to change our 'standard' set up that we use. Sometimes, we can find a way to use what we've always used before, with just small changes. Other times, the old 'standard' needs to get updated to work with the new way that things get done now.