Thermostat network problem, RT-AX88U Pro on 3006.102.4

[The_Bishop]

Just did a complete wipe on my 88U-Pro and upgraded it to 3006.102.4. Re-configured everything from scratch, and so far all my IOT stuff reconnected with no issues... Except for my Honeywell Wifi Thermostat. I've tried several different wifi options with no changes, it won't connect and I get this repetitive message in the logs:

Jun 30 19:36:40 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Jun 30 19:36:40 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.50.146 XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Jun 30 19:36:48 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Jun 30 19:36:48 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.50.146 XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Jun 30 19:36:58 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Jun 30 19:36:58 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.50.146 XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

They're all the same MAC address and that's the honeywell thermostat.

I've tried several settings. Authentication method, Channel bandwidth, TX bursting, beamforming... Nothing helps. Anyone have any suggestions? Or should I just call it a day and get a new thermostat?

Settings are:

 

[dave14305]

Disable both Beamforming options and set Modulation Scheme to MCS 7.

 

[The_Bishop]

Just did that, and tried to set up the thermostat wifi. Still no connection. This thermostat has been a constant pain in getting it connected, thinking it might just be too damn old.

New log entries:
Jun 30 20:02:11 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d
Jun 30 20:02:11 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.50.146 b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d
Jun 30 20:02:21 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(662): wl0.2: Disassoc B8:2C:A0:04:9B:4D, status: 0, reason: Disassociated because sending station is leaving (or has left) BSS (8), rssi:0
Jun 30 20:02:21 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(645): wl0.2: Deauth_ind B8:2C:A0:04:9B:4D, status: 0, reason: Deauthenticated because sending station is leaving (or has left) IBSS or ESS (3), rssi:0
Jun 30 20:02:21 hostapd: wl0.2: STA b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Jun 30 20:02:21 hostapd: wl0.2: STA b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Jun 30 20:02:28 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(685): wl0.2: Auth B8:2C:A0:04:9B:4D, status: Successful (0), rssi:0
Jun 30 20:02:28 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(722): wl0.2: Assoc B8:2C:A0:04:9B:4D, status: Successful (0), rssi:-40
Jun 30 20:02:28 hostapd: wl0.2: STA b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d IEEE 802.11: associated
Jun 30 20:02:28 hostapd: wl0.2: STA b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d RADIUS: starting accounting session 78F98226C0C14A69
Jun 30 20:02:28 hostapd: wl0.2: STA b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Jun 30 20:02:28 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d
Jun 30 20:02:28 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.50.146 b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d
Jun 30 20:02:30 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d
Jun 30 20:02:30 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.50.146 b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d
Jun 30 20:02:33 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d
Jun 30 20:02:33 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.50.146 b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d
Jun 30 20:02:40 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d
Jun 30 20:02:40 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.50.146 b8:2c:a0:04:9b:4d

 

[Tech9]

Try also disabling WMM APSD and non-standard TX Bursting, see what happens.

Your router also has IoT network option with better compatibility 2.4GHz band settings.

 

[bbunge]

Many homw WIFI enabled thermostats have old hardware. Even the ones sold recently. I had an Ecobee, actually two of them, that worked very well. If I remmember one of them was dual band. My current thermostat a Johnson Controls (York) HX3 has an 802.11G radio. That is the oldest WIFI technology in the house. The older WIFI clients do not like WPA3-Personal or WPA2/WPA3-Personal. Some do not like AES WIFI encryption which is the only offering on the recent Asus routers.

One workaround is to set up a guest WIFI on the 2.4 GHz with WPA2-Personal. Also set the 2.4 GHz to 20 MHz bandwidth. Do not mess with the other default WIFI settings. Keep the SSID of the guest WIFI to upper and lower case letters and the password to eight characters letters and numbers only. No special characters or spaces! Worse case you may have to set up a WIFI with WPA-WPA2-Personal.
If you get to the place for a new thermostat I recommend Ecobee. They are adaptable to just about any heating/cooling system including multi stage heat pumps. They also have good tech support.

 

[Tech9]

Also this one:

Lock the channel. Usually 2.4GHz band is busy and the router will start hunting for better channel on Auto. This will create client disconnections and some may not want to re-connect after. See what channel the router uses most often on Auto and lock it.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Just did a complete wipe on my 88U-Pro and upgraded it to 3006.102.4. Re-configured everything from scratch, and so far all my IOT stuff reconnected with no issues... Except for my Honeywell Wifi Thermostat. I've tried several different wifi options with no changes, it won't connect and I get this repetitive message in the logs:

Jun 30 19:36:40 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Jun 30 19:36:40 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.50.146 XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Jun 30 19:36:48 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Jun 30 19:36:48 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.50.146 XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Jun 30 19:36:58 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPDISCOVER(br0) XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Jun 30 19:36:58 dnsmasq-dhcp[6859]: DHCPOFFER(br0) 192.168.50.146 XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

They're all the same MAC address and that's the honeywell thermostat.

I've tried several settings. Authentication method, Channel bandwidth, TX bursting, beamforming... Nothing helps. Anyone have any suggestions? Or should I just call it a day and get a new thermostat?

Settings are:
View attachment 66446


View attachment 66447

I had the same issues with my Honeywell from around 2015-2016. Same connection issues and I tried all the recommended solutions, but nothing worked. In my case I took an old travel router connected it to my AX88 Pro as an AP and the travel router let me set the WPA encryption as AES-TKIP. The AX88-Pro even though it lists the option of AES-TKIP will not actually provide this type of encryption. Rock solid WiFi connection to the Thermostat ever since using the AP. The AP is connected to one of the guest networks from the AX88Pro so it like all my other IoT devices is separated from my primary network. Using a cheap old router as an AP is probably much less expensive solution than a new thermostat.

 

[sfx2000]

I wonder if this is more a Broadcom/Asus optimization issue... most devices "should work" with some basic defaults...

Having dug into the Broadcom closed source WL drivers - they do things their way...

 

[The_Bishop]

After trying all of the suggestions (aside from using another router just for the thermostat) it just will not connect. I'll be swapping it out to a newer thermostat in the morning. Looking at the Emerson Sensi line, guess we'll see how that goes.

 

[JGrana]

As another poster mentioned, the ecobee thermostats work well with Asuswrt-merlin. I tried a few programmable wifi thermostats and the ecobee worked the best and had a very good app.
BTW, it’s designed and supported out of Toronto Canada. And we know how well Canadians are with WiFi ;-)

 

[The_Bishop]

Just got back from the illustrious Home Depot now, installing as we speak.

 

[bbunge]

Hope you did not get the Emmerson. They are junk in my opinion. I got one, installed it and it was up for about an hour. Was sent back the same day.
FWIW I was an HVAC service tech for 20 years. Specialized in control setup. Most of these thermostats today are not worth the money.

 

[The_Bishop]

I did get the Emerson. The Sensi touch 2. Install was quick and easy. Programming in the schedule was easy, as well.

The networking was a different story. I ended up reverting to 3004.388.8_4. There's something wrong with the 2.4 networking in 3006.102.4, at least with the AX88U Pro. I had multiple devices giving me issues connecting, no matter what I settings I changed.

One thing that was pretty annoying is loading the configuration file I saved from 3004.388.8_4 before updating wouldn't work. When I loaded the saved configuration, the administration tab wouldn't load and the guest network would only half load with a thing about 'facebook network' but would otherwise be frozen. This was despite doing the 'Power on while holding the WPS button until the power light goes out, then power off and on again' reset procedure prior to loading the cfg file.

 

[Tech9]

Did the new thermostat managed to connect?

 

[The_Bishop]

With 3006.102.4, no. It wouldn't connect. Didn't matter what combination of settings I tried.

Once I reverted to 3004.388.8_4, with the network settings at the defaults, it connected immediately.

This is a wipe before update, update, wipe, configure from scratch on 3006.102.4, and same procedure downgrading to 3004.388.8_4.

 

[Tech9]

At least you found the issue... and have a newer model thermostat now.

 

[The_Bishop]

Yeah but not the way I wanted to find out and could have really gone without the cost of the thermostat upgrade, haha.

 

[Tech9]

But... you had good pointers already where the issue is coming from:

About to pull my hair out - RT-AX88U Pro 2.4 Wireless clients dropping

I've seen other messages about this but never a resolution. Just got an RT-AX88U Pro, running the latest Asus firmware. Completely fresh reset, configured from scratch. At random times, I'll have an issue with the 2.4 network. I have three devices that will drop off and lose connection, with...

www.snbforums.com

Wasn't it the same issue discussed in Jan 2024 with stock 3006 firmware?

 

[The_Bishop]

I guess that foolishly I expected it to be better/fixed a year and a half later?

Also, I even have Wifi 6 still enabled on 2.4 and no issues.

 

[Tech9]

New firmware fixing cycle takes about 2 years with Asus. Have patience and enjoy your new thermostat for now.