[RT-AC3100/RT-AC1200G] Connection issues with addition of more wireless devices

[shen_27]

Hi Everyone,

I'm brand-new to the forum here and am having some issues I'm hoping everyone can help me sort out. I'm fairly technically minded, but networking is not my area of expertise.

Problem:

My problem is that I've recently added 9 Google home mini's to my network as part of a whole house audio system, and the result is many things on my network (including the mini's) are constantly disconnecting/reconnect, including the Google home mini's themselves. Things "seemed" to work find for the first few days. I say "seemed" as it's possible there were issues and I just hadn't realized it.

For instance, 2 days ago, music was playing on one of the speakers, and it couldn't seem to get enough bandwidth to play music. It dropped in and out for a second and then wouldn't respond to any commands and stopped playing music. Similarly, last night I tried to give one of the speakers a command and it and another nearby speaker responded that something went wrong.

I then started looking into things a bit more, and noticed through the setup page on my main router that not all the devices I thought were connected were, and that it seems to change quite frequently. Anyway, it seems the mini's are not the problem, so I suspected it's something to do with my router.

Digging in a bit more, I noticed that my main router seems to be only connecting to things on the 2.4GHz network, while the access point only seems to be connecting to things on the 5gz network. I don't know if this is a bug or something in the ASUS software, but it seems very strange. Resetting the AP router made everything jump over to the main router 5Ghz network, before they all came back over to the AP network once it was booted up.

Current set-up:

I currently have a RT-AC3100 main router centrally located in my house (main floor near the back). It's running stock ASUS firmware, and I recently updated it to the latest version (3.0.0.4.384_81116-g709c838) after I started having problems, to see if that would help (and also because it had been a while since I updated).

The main router is currently broadcasting 4 wireless, 2 2.4GHz and 2 5Ghz (we have a 2.4 and 5Ghz guest network since I don't trust my parents computers connecting to...anything).

In addition, I have a RT-AC1200G connected through ethernet to the main router and set-up in access point mode. Its running only 2 networks, a 2.4 and 5GHz, with the same SSID/password as the main router, in theory to allow "seamless" switching between routers. I haven't updated its firmware in a while, or checked if there's a more recent one, but it's current version is 3.0.0.4.382_50624-gdf1b286. This router is located

I don't think it matters, but both routers have multiple wired connections, in addition to the wireless networks.

Not sure if any other details are relevant, but please let me know what you need and I can upload.

Troubleshooting:

After I started having issues, I restarted both routers (in addition to updating the firmware on my main router). This did not solve the issue.

I started keeping a closer eye on my main router, wondering if it was being overworked (before I noticed the split of the 2.4Ghz/5Ghz connections between routers). It will typically show anywhere from 31-35 clients connected at a time. However, this doesn't seem to be stressing it out too much, as CPU/ram usage remains fairly reasonable (currently around 10% CPU on both cores and 37% RAM with 31 devices connected). The stats on my AP router are similarly low.

As mentioned, resetting the AP router does cause all devices on the 5GHz network to connect to the main router, but they jump back on the AP router once it's working again.

I DID have roaming assistant on for my 2.4GHz network on my main router, but NOT for the 5GHz network. I've turned that off, and it hasn't had an effect.

Questions:

- In general - anyone have any thoughts on what might be happening here?
- ASUS came out with the AI mesh stuff a few months after I bought my AP router. Not sure if that would help with the situation or not. If there is something causing all my 5Ghz connections to go to my AP and not my main router, AI mesh would presumably solve this......?

Thanks everyone in advance for the help - much appreciated!

Edited to correct router model number to RT-AC3100 from 3200

 

[OzarkEdge]

Hi Everyone,

I'm brand-new to the forum here and am having some issues I'm hoping everyone can help me sort out. I'm fairly technically minded, but networking is not my area of expertise.

Problem:

My problem is that I've recently added 9 Google home mini's to my network as part of a whole house audio system, and the result is many things on my network (including the mini's) are constantly disconnecting/reconnect, including the Google home mini's themselves. Things "seemed" to work find for the first few days. I say "seemed" as it's possible there were issues and I just hadn't realized it.

For instance, 2 days ago, music was playing on one of the speakers, and it couldn't seem to get enough bandwidth to play music. It dropped in and out for a second and then wouldn't respond to any commands and stopped playing music. Similarly, last night I tried to give one of the speakers a command and it and another nearby speaker responded that something went wrong.

I then started looking into things a bit more, and noticed through the setup page on my main router that not all the devices I thought were connected were, and that it seems to change quite frequently. Anyway, it seems the mini's are not the problem, so I suspected it's something to do with my router.

Digging in a bit more, I noticed that my main router seems to be only connecting to things on the 2.4GHz network, while the access point only seems to be connecting to things on the 5gz network. I don't know if this is a bug or something in the ASUS software, but it seems very strange. Resetting the AP router made everything jump over to the main router 5Ghz network, before they all came back over to the AP network once it was booted up.

Current set-up:

I currently have a RT-AC3200 main router centrally located in my house (main floor near the back). It's running stock ASUS firmware, and I recently updated it to the latest version (3.0.0.4.384_81116-g709c838) after I started having problems, to see if that would help (and also because it had been a while since I updated).

The main router is currently broadcasting 4 wireless, 2 2.4GHz and 2 5Ghz (we have a 2.4 and 5Ghz guest network since I don't trust my parents computers connecting to...anything).

In addition, I have a RT-AC1200G connected through ethernet to the main router and set-up in access point mode. Its running only 2 networks, a 2.4 and 5GHz, with the same SSID/password as the main router, in theory to allow "seamless" switching between routers. I haven't updated its firmware in a while, or checked if there's a more recent one, but it's current version is 3.0.0.4.382_50624-gdf1b286. This router is located

I don't think it matters, but both routers have multiple wired connections, in addition to the wireless networks.

Not sure if any other details are relevant, but please let me know what you need and I can upload.

Troubleshooting:

After I started having issues, I restarted both routers (in addition to updating the firmware on my main router). This did not solve the issue.

I started keeping a closer eye on my main router, wondering if it was being overworked (before I noticed the split of the 2.4Ghz/5Ghz connections between routers). It will typically show anywhere from 31-35 clients connected at a time. However, this doesn't seem to be stressing it out too much, as CPU/ram usage remains fairly reasonable (currently around 10% CPU on both cores and 37% RAM with 31 devices connected). The stats on my AP router are similarly low.

As mentioned, resetting the AP router does cause all devices on the 5GHz network to connect to the main router, but they jump back on the AP router once it's working again.

I DID have roaming assistant on for my 2.4GHz network on my main router, but NOT for the 5GHz network. I've turned that off, and it hasn't had an effect.

Questions:

- In general - anyone have any thoughts on what might be happening here?
- ASUS came out with the AI mesh stuff a few months after I bought my AP router. Not sure if that would help with the situation or not. If there is something causing all my 5Ghz connections to go to my AP and not my main router, AI mesh would presumably solve this......?

Thanks everyone in advance for the help - much appreciated!

Have you ever reset your routers as explained in this link?

OE

 

[shen_27]

Have you ever reset your routers as explained in this link?

OE

Thanks for the quick response.

I haven't done a reset on the routers. I honestly wasn't aware that it's something you should do semi-regularly. I was trying to avoid the factory reset route just to save the trouble and disruption (both myself and my wife work from home and need the internet almost constantly), but will give it a shot unless there are any other suggestions to try first.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Thanks for the quick response.

I haven't done a reset on the routers. I honestly wasn't aware that it's something you should do semi-regularly. I was trying to avoid the factory reset route just to save the trouble and disruption (both myself and my wife work from home and need the internet almost constantly), but will give it a shot unless there are any other suggestions to try first.

The link I posted explains the rationale for a factory default reset after installing firmware and before configuring it.

OE

 

[shen_27]

The link I posted explains the rationale for a factory default reset after installing firmware and before configuring it.

OE

Yes, I read through the post - very informative. I went through the process of factory resetting both routers last night, after updating the firmware. I then manually re-configured both routers back to my original settings. However, my problems still persist. Subjectively, it seems a lot worse, but it just may be the devices that are being dropped now are ones I use most frequently (i.e., my phone).

A few more things I tried/learned in the process:

- Things DO connect to my main router 5GHz network, but just not in any meaningful quantity. For example, I'll see 2 or 3 devices on there once and awhile, while their are 4 or 5 on my AP router. Some devices that are almost right beside my main router are still connecting to the AP, which is across the house, and I'd say most of the time. Currently, nothing is connect to the main 5GHz network.
- I've tried different channels on both of the 5GHZ networks, and have tried having the same channel and different channels for them. No change.
- I did discover that originally on my 5GHz main network that I had roaming assistant on. I've disabled it now, and no change.
- I've tried enabling/disabling beamforming and MIMO - no change.

Another potential piece of the puzzle - I have a wifi app on my phone, and it's able to see both of the 5GHz wifi networks. However, the listed strength for the network is "--- dB". I.e., it's showing zero signal strength, even close to (right next to) the router. It's also not currently showing my 5GHz guest network either....so signs are pointing to an issue with the 5Ghz

I plan next to try changing the SSID on the AP router to see if I can force devices on to the main router. I also plan to try turning off the 5Ghz guest network on the main router to see if that helps.

Oh - also, I've edited my original post and the title of the thread as I had the model of my main router wrong. It's RT-AC3100

Thanks in advance for the help...

 

[OzarkEdge]

Yes, I read through the post - very informative. I went through the process of factory resetting both routers last night, after updating the firmware. I then manually re-configured both routers back to my original settings. However, my problems still persist. Subjectively, it seems a lot worse, but it just may be the devices that are being dropped now are ones I use most frequently (i.e., my phone).

A few more things I tried/learned in the process:

- Things DO connect to my main router 5GHz network, but just not in any meaningful quantity. For example, I'll see 2 or 3 devices on there once and awhile, while their are 4 or 5 on my AP router. Some devices that are almost right beside my main router are still connecting to the AP, which is across the house, and I'd say most of the time. Currently, nothing is connect to the main 5GHz network.
- I've tried different channels on both of the 5GHZ networks, and have tried having the same channel and different channels for them. No change.
- I did discover that originally on my 5GHz main network that I had roaming assistant on. I've disabled it now, and no change.
- I've tried enabling/disabling beamforming and MIMO - no change.

Another potential piece of the puzzle - I have a wifi app on my phone, and it's able to see both of the 5GHz wifi networks. However, the listed strength for the network is "--- dB". I.e., it's showing zero signal strength, even close to (right next to) the router. It's also not currently showing my 5GHz guest network either....so signs are pointing to an issue with the 5Ghz

I plan next to try changing the SSID on the AP router to see if I can force devices on to the main router. I also plan to try turning off the 5Ghz guest network on the main router to see if that helps.

Oh - also, I've edited my original post and the title of the thread as I had the model of my main router wrong. It's RT-AC3100

Thanks in advance for the help...

I use this WiFi Analyzer app on Android. If it did not graph any signal power dBm, I'd suspect a radio... which might explain clients not connecting to the router WLAN.

It is recommended to disable Airtime Fairness per band. And Universal Beamforming, if it is causing connection issues for legacy adapters. But I doubt these are your issue.

OE

 

[shen_27]

I use this WiFi Analyzer app on Android. If it did not graph any signal power dBm, I'd suspect a radio... which might explain clients not connecting to the router WLAN.

It is recommended to disable Airtime Fairness per band. And Universal Beamforming, if it is causing connection issues for legacy adapters. But I doubt these are your issue.

OE

I use a similar app to wifi analyzer (Wifiman). It is currently not showing anything on the 5Ghz network on the main router, so maybe it is a bad radio. However....

For a moment earlier today, I did think it had been fixed - I disabled the 5Ghz guest network on the main router, and for a few hours, things seemed entirely reasonable, which surprised the heck out of me as it was my understanding that guest networks typically don't interfere with the main networks. Regardless, things seemed to be connecting to the "correct" router (i.e., the one I would have expected them to based on distance and potential interference). However, after working like that for a time, things are now back to the way they were (i.e., nothing on the 5Ghz network, 5Ghz network not showing up). The access point appears to be picking up the slack as much as possible and connecting to what it can on 5Ghz, as well as a few 2.4 Ghz as well (which are still mostly on the main router).

For the record, I did try disabling beamforming (both types), with no noticeable improvement.

Is there any way to verify if it's a bad radio? I'm wondering why it's intermittent - could it be overheating or something? It's starting to sound like I'm going to need a new router, but I'd like to verify that before I look at shelling out the money for a new one.

Thanks for all the help OE - appreciate you walking me through this.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I use a similar app to wifi analyzer (Wifiman). It is currently not showing anything on the 5Ghz network on the main router, so maybe it is a bad radio. However....

For a moment earlier today, I did think it had been fixed - I disabled the 5Ghz guest network on the main router, and for a few hours, things seemed entirely reasonable, which surprised the heck out of me as it was my understanding that guest networks typically don't interfere with the main networks. Regardless, things seemed to be connecting to the "correct" router (i.e., the one I would have expected them to based on distance and potential interference). However, after working like that for a time, things are now back to the way they were (i.e., nothing on the 5Ghz network, 5Ghz network not showing up). The access point appears to be picking up the slack as much as possible and connecting to what it can on 5Ghz, as well as a few 2.4 Ghz as well (which are still mostly on the main router).

For the record, I did try disabling beamforming (both types), with no noticeable improvement.

Is there any way to verify if it's a bad radio? I'm wondering why it's intermittent - could it be overheating or something? It's starting to sound like I'm going to need a new router, but I'd like to verify that before I look at shelling out the money for a new one.

Thanks for all the help OE - appreciate you walking me through this.

If you can 'see' the signal drop and can't connect to it, then it's likely not there. I had this condition once after a firmware update. I re-flashed the same firmware, reset, and configured and did not see the issue again. But your hardware may be otherwise failing... you'll have to convince yourself what is not right and decide on it. Maybe flashing an older firmware would be worth the hassle.

Know this... you should be able to boot the default router and connect to its open WiFi.

OE

 

[shen_27]

If you can 'see' the signal drop and can't connect to it, then it's likely not there. I had this condition once after a firmware update. I re-flashed the same firmware, reset, and configured and did not see the issue again. But your hardware may be otherwise failing... you'll have to convince yourself what is not right and decide on it. Maybe flashing an older firmware would be worth the hassle.

Know this... you should be able to boot the default router and connect to its open WiFi.

OE

Ah - good point about the default router wifi. I don't recall if I saw it or not when I reset the router last night. If that doesn't show up with a 5Ghz connection, then the radio must be fried.

I'll give your suggestion a go - I'll try flashing the same firmware again, then roll back to an older one if that doesn't work. I'll attempt to connect to the default wifi during one of the resets and see if that nails down the problem.

 

[shen_27]

Ok, so quick update.

I re-flashed my main router with the latest ASUS firmware. No issues, and everything started up like normal - even the 5Ghz band. A bunch of things connected to it. I reset my access point router, and got most things I would expect to connect to the main router 5Ghz band connected, with a few odds and ends connected to the access point 5Ghz.

It's now about half an hour later, and the 5Ghz band is here one minute, gone the next. When I started writing this post, it wasn't there, and everything was on the AP. I just checked again, and it's back up, and things are re-connecting to it.

I haven't tried a reset or an old type of firmware yet, but given that the problem persisted after the last rest, and the problem originally occurred on the old firmware, I'm not sure either will help. I will still try though - maybe I"ll get lucky.

Regardless, the 5Ghz radio works, at least for a certain amount of time.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Regardless, the 5Ghz radio works, at least for a certain amount of time.

So, working intermittently.

OE

 

[Grisu]

Your 5G-radio passed away, no doubt, return or RMA is the only way to get a good router again.
Maybe 'only' bad soldering of the chip, who knows.

 

[shen_27]

So, working intermittently.

OE

Bingo....if only intermittently was good enough

Thanks again for your help though OE - think it's time to call this as busted, but appreciate your troubleshooting tips regardless.

Your 5G-radio passed away, no doubt, return or RMA is the only way to get a good router again.
Maybe 'only' bad soldering of the chip, who knows.

Yes, I'm slowly waking up to this conclusion as well. The 5Ghz on the main router is completely MIA this morning. It's a few years old (2015 I think), so don't expect I'd get a return or have ASUS care that much. So, on to the router reviews to see what I can replace it with!