RT-AC68U router with Merlin - A wireless device disconnects when..

[Mar Vi]

Hey guys,

I have the RT-AC68U router using 384.11_2 Merlin firmware. My main device (desktop connected via ethernet) seems to interfere with another device (laptop connected via wifi) each time I start up a game to play or perhaps stream. The laptop is connected using the 2.4 wifi band. This problem occurs just about every single time. I contacted my ISP and they checked to make sure that all is functional with my gigabit service. Not much they can do since I am using a 3rd party router. The laptop is a bit old, it's a win 7 laptop, so I was wondering if changing the mode to wireless mode to Legacy (currently auto) under the router admin page would help any. The device is usually around 15 feet from the router. I have no issues with other devices or my main pc.

Can anyone give any tips or assist me in eliminating this problem?

 

[martinr]

Can you expand on “seems to interfere with another device”. What form does the “interference” take? Would “interacts” be a better word because “interference” has radio frequency connotations and I’m not sure that’s what you mean.

Can you describe the symptoms and any troubleshooting you’ve done?

 

[Mar Vi]

Can you expand on “seems to interfere with another device”. What form does the “interference” take? Would “interacts” be a better word because “interference” has radio frequency connotations and I’m not sure that’s what you mean.

Can you describe the symptoms and any troubleshooting you’ve done?

Sure. If the laptop is connected, as soon as I use my pc to play a game or watch video, the laptop disconnects. I say interfere because all other devices connected to the network doesn't affect this laptop at all. It's only when I use my device is when it knocks the laptop off or disconnects it and can't use the internet.

 

[dave14305]

Sure. If the laptop is connected, as soon as I use my pc to play a game or watch video, the laptop disconnects. I say interfere because all other devices connected to the network doesn't affect this laptop at all. It's only when I use my device is when it knocks the laptop off or disconnects it and can't use the internet.

Does your desktop use dhcp or is it assigned manually on the pc? Wondering if there’s an IP address conflict, somehow, somewhere. Do you use QoS and the FreshJR script?
Anything in the syslog when this happens?

 

[Mar Vi]

Does your desktop use dhcp or is it assigned manually on the pc? Wondering if there’s an IP address conflict, somehow, somewhere. Do you use QoS and the FreshJR script?
Anything in the syslog when this happens?

Both devices use static IP, I made sure that each device has its own ip, and I don't have QOS enabled. Im not sure about the FreshJR script. The syslog there.

 

[dave14305]

Both devices use static IP, I made sure that each device has its own ip, and I don't have QOS enabled. Im not sure about the FreshJR script. The syslog there.

Change your 5Ghz WiFi from auto to something safe, like channel 36. That would avoid the scans from the log.

 

[Mar Vi]

Change your 5Ghz WiFi from auto to something safe, like channel 36. That would avoid the scans from the log.

Awesome, thanks for that. Here's my sys log now. Also, what can I do to remove some devices off the list? I blocked amazon firestick 2 days ago, but the router still picks it up.

 

[dave14305]

Awesome, thanks for that. Here's my sys log now. Also, what can I do to remove some devices off the list? I blocked amazon firestick 2 days ago, but the router still picks it up.

Is it yours? Why do you want to block it? Can you delete the WiFi profile from the device?

This all doesn’t explain yet your 2.4Ghz issues. On Wireless log page, is your laptop connecting as n, ac, etc in the PHY column?

 

[Mar Vi]

Is it yours? Why do you want to block it? Can you delete the WiFi profile from the device?

This all doesn’t explain yet your 2.4Ghz issues. On Wireless log page, is your laptop connecting as n, ac, etc in the PHY column?

Yes it is. Someone in my household lost the remote to it. But yes you're right, it doesn't correct my main issue. It is connecting as n in wireless log.

 

[dave14305]

Yes it is. Someone in my household lost the remote to it. But yes you're right, it doesn't correct my main issue. It is connecting as n in wireless log.

Good, because it would have been impossible for it to connect to 2.4 as ac. I really wanted to confirm it wasn’t old like g or b.

So can you reproduce the issue and show us the syslog before, during and slightly after the laptop disconnects? An ipconfig /all from both machines would be useful if you don’t mind. Might also help to “forget” the WiFi profile on the laptop and reconnect fresh.

What does it take for the laptop to reconnect?

 

[bbunge]

Upgrade your laptop to Windows 10!
Set your 2.4 GHZ to 20 mhz channel 1, 6, or 11
Set the 5 GHZ to a fixed channel
Remove the static IP addresses from the devices and use the router DHCP to assign IP addresses to the devices.
Lastly, make sure the laptop is upgraded to Windows 10! This is for your network security! Yes, your games will still run well in spite of what you have heard.

Sent from my SM-T380 using Tapatalk

 

[ApexRon]

Typically Windoze (all versions) adds a lot of protocol baggage to the adapter being used. Review for each Windoze device and eliminate what you don't need.

 

[Mar Vi]

Good, because it would have been impossible for it to connect to 2.4 as ac. I really wanted to confirm it wasn’t old like g or b.

So can you reproduce the issue and show us the syslog before, during and slightly after the laptop disconnects? An ipconfig /all from both machines would be useful if you don’t mind. Might also help to “forget” the WiFi profile on the laptop and reconnect fresh.

What does it take for the laptop to reconnect?

I'll try to when it happens again.

Upgrade your laptop to Windows 10!
Set your 2.4 GHZ to 20 mhz channel 1, 6, or 11
Set the 5 GHZ to a fixed channel
Remove the static IP addresses from the devices and use the router DHCP to assign IP addresses to the devices.
Lastly, make sure the laptop is upgraded to Windows 10! This is for your network security! Yes, your games will still run well in spite of what you have heard.

Sent from my SM-T380 using Tapatalk

I changed the channel from auto to 1 for 2.4Ghz, changed channel to 36 for 5Ghz. I will remove static IP if this helps the device from disconnecting.
The laptop is used by someone in my household that does work and saves some files. There's light gaming done on it. Do you really suggest that it should be upgraded to Win10? Does anyone else agree with this? I only ask because I am not the primary user for that laptop, but if more ppl truly suggest it should upgrade to Win 10 then I'll tell them to upgrade. Thanks for the replies!!

 

[martinr]

....if more ppl truly suggest it should upgrade to Win 10 then I'll tell them to upgrade. Thanks for the replies!!

“After January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or support for PCs running Windows 7”.
That’s only 6 months away, so the time is soon approaching when some form of action will need to be taken. (Most likely a new laptop unless you want a wild goose chase looking for Windows 10 compatible drivers for an old laptop and the expense of a copy of Windows 10.) However, at present you don’t even know if the fault lies in the laptop: it may well lie in the router. And if it does lie in the laptop, there may well be a simple fix, which many of us are excitedly waiting for dave14305 to pull out of the hat for you.

 

[bbunge]

Do you really suggest that it should be upgraded to Win10? Does anyone else agree with this? I only ask because I am not the primary user for that laptop, but if more ppl truly suggest it should upgrade to Win 10 then I'll tell them to upgrade. Thanks for the replies!!

Windows 7 is no longer considered a safe operating system. As for the drivers, I have had few issues upgrading from Windows 7 or 8. None of my PC's, laptops included, were acquired new as I volunteer with a not for profit that accepts used computers and refurbishes what we can with Windows 10. Many laptops are abused and have hardware issues and therefore are recycled. I can honestly tell you that we've installed Win 10 on some old machines and they run just fine. If you have 2 GIG RAM and a dual core processor Win 10 32 bit will run fine. The other advantage of Windows 10 is once it is installed on a PC it is easy to reinstall, say if your hard drive fails, without an install key as the PC processor is registered with Microsoft and the OS will self register when connected to the internet. This comes in handy when upgrading from a 32 bit to 64 bit OS. And, Win 10 has a good antivirus/anti malware included!

 

[dave14305]

And if it does lie in the laptop, there may well be a simple fix, which many of us are excitedly waiting for dave14305 to pull out of the hat for you.

LOL. I’m just killing time until @ColinTaylor arrives to save the day!

 

[dave14305]

Do you really suggest that it should be upgraded to Win10? Does anyone else agree with this? I only ask because I am not the primary user for that laptop, but if more ppl truly suggest it should upgrade to Win 10 then I'll tell them to upgrade. Thanks for the replies!!

It’s wise to stay on an OS that will still receive security patches, so that is a good long-term recommendation, IMO. However, I don’t think there’s a compelling reason to think your older laptop with Win7 can’t work properly with an older router like the AC68U. What OS runs on the PC?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Do you really suggest that it should be upgraded to Win10? Does anyone else agree with this?

No, not at the moment. I'd agree with all the other suggestions that @bbunge made, but if you're actually trying to determine the cause of the problem making random wholesale changes to things won't teach you anything. One might equally say "Reformat your hard drive and reinstall Windows" (the solution to every problem according to the Microsoft support forum ). Sure, it'll probably make the problem go away but you won't know why.

P.S. I'm still using Windows 7.

 

[Mar Vi]

“After January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or support for PCs running Windows 7”.
That’s only 6 months away, so the time is soon approaching when some form of action will need to be taken. (Most likely a new laptop unless you want a wild goose chase looking for Windows 10 compatible drivers for an old laptop and the expense of a copy of Windows 10.) However, at present you don’t even know if the fault lies in the laptop: it may well lie in the router. And if it does lie in the laptop, there may well be a simple fix, which many of us are excitedly waiting for dave14305 to pull out of the hat for you.

Great to know. Thanks.

Windows 7 is no longer considered a safe operating system. As for the drivers, I have had few issues upgrading from Windows 7 or 8. None of my PC's, laptops included, were acquired new as I volunteer with a not for profit that accepts used computers and refurbishes what we can with Windows 10. Many laptops are abused and have hardware issues and therefore are recycled. I can honestly tell you that we've installed Win 10 on some old machines and they run just fine. If you have 2 GIG RAM and a dual core processor Win 10 32 bit will run fine. The other advantage of Windows 10 is once it is installed on a PC it is easy to reinstall, say if your hard drive fails, without an install key as the PC processor is registered with Microsoft and the OS will self register when connected to the internet. This comes in handy when upgrading from a 32 bit to 64 bit OS. And, Win 10 has a good antivirus/anti malware included!

Great.

It’s wise to stay on an OS that will still receive security patches, so that is a good long-term recommendation, IMO. However, I don’t think there’s a compelling reason to think your older laptop with Win7 can’t work properly with an older router like the AC68U. What OS runs on the PC?

My PC runs Win 10.

No, not at the moment. I'd agree with all the other suggestions that @bbunge made, but if you're actually trying to determine the cause of the problem making random wholesale changes to things won't teach you anything. One might equally say "Reformat your hard drive and reinstall Windows" (the solution to every problem according to the Microsoft support forum ). Sure, it'll probably make the problem go away but you won't know why.

P.S. I'm still using Windows 7.

I understand. So far the laptop isn't disconnecting while I'm using my main pc. Only changes done was change the wifi channels, a call from the ISP to which they rebooted on their end. I'll keep you all posted. Thx.

 

[martinr]

Great to know. Thanks.

Great.

My PC runs Win 10.

I understand. So far the laptop isn't disconnecting while I'm using my main pc. Only changes done was change the wifi channels, a call from the ISP to which they rebooted on their end. I'll keep you all posted. Thx.

Look forwards to your updates.

I updated the OS on my Sony Vaio, now 8 years old, from W7 to W10. Sony support ended years ago. One driver, the touchpad, was a problem; after a lot of searching, I found an HP driver that works. For the other drivers, I went direct to the different manufacturers’ support sites. One driver, clearly not critical, can’t be updated; it has a yellow warning triangle against it, and if I stay out of Device Manager, I forget about it and resist the temptation to “fix” it. And thanks to Open Shell Menu, the laptop still looks and feels exactly like Windows 7.

But for all the reasons Colin stated, this is all a bit if a distraction.