Wi-Fi Disconnects - AC3200 + Chromebox CN60

[7h1nk]

Howdy

Previously I was running my Chromebox CN60 [latest LibreElec] connected to a TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750 running OpenWRT on the 2.4GHz band with no issues. I've just upgraded to the AC3200 running the latest Asuswrt-Merlin which is configured to use SmartConnect.

The ChromeBox connects to the 5GHz-1, sits for 40 seconds, disconnects and then reconnects to the same band. I've tried forcing it onto 2.4Ghz but the issue persists. Regardless of whether the ChromeBox is sat idle, or streaming from my NAS, it behaves exactly the same and the connection is useable for the 40 seconds it's up. I've also tried using the latest official Asus firmware but see the same issue.

The ChromeBox is about 15ft from the router in the same room, connects using WPA2-Personal AES, has an IP reserved in DHCP, and I've done the obvious like a wireless survey with a laptop to ensure there isn't any clashing of channels or that there isn't any interference from my other equipment. The signal quality of the 5Ghz-1 band is reported by LibreElec as 72-74%. 2.4GHz is using channels 6+10 @ 40Mhz, 5GHz-1 is using channel 36 @ 80MHz, and 5GHz-2 is using channel 100 @ 80MHz.

I ran dmesg on the ChromeBox, trimmed the top part and have started where it refers to the wlan adapter. I've also changed the MAC addresses to just include the last couple of characters:-

Device Mac Addresses

00:00:00:00:00:20 = 2.4GHz
00:00:00:00:00:24 = 5GHz-1
00:00:00:00:00:28 = 5GHz-2
00:00:00:00:00:F3 = ChromeBox

[ 4.630834] ieee80211 phy0: Atheros AR9462 Rev:2 mem=0xffffc90001e00000, irq=19 [ 4.637791] usb 1-4: new full-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[ 4.650459] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 4.769024] usb 1-4: string descriptor 0 read error: -22
[ 5.006002] wlan0: authenticate with 00:00:00:00:00:28
[ 5.016802] wlan0: send auth to 00:00:00:00:00:28 (try 1/3)
[ 5.017855] wlan0: authenticated
[ 5.021162] wlan0: associate with 00:00:00:00:00:28 (try 1/3)
[ 5.022525] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:00:00:00:00:28 (capab=0x11 status=18 aid=1)
[ 5.022528] wlan0: 00:00:00:00:00:28 denied association (code=18)
[ 7.484528] r8169 0000:01:00.0 eth0: link up
[ 7.484543] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[ 7.489937] 8021q: 802.1Q VLAN Support v1.8
[ 176.864616] wlan0: authenticate with 00:00:00:00:00:24
[ 176.887573] wlan0: send auth to 00:00:00:00:00:24 (try 1/3)
[ 176.888665] wlan0: authenticated
[ 176.897469] wlan0: associate with 00:00:00:00:00:24 (try 1/3)
[ 176.898798] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:00:00:00:00:24 (capab=0x11 status=0 aid=2)
[ 176.898978] wlan0: associated
[ 176.899000] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[ 218.447946] wlan0: disconnect from AP 00:00:00:00:00:24 for new auth to 00:00:00:00:00:28
[ 218.454264] wlan0: authenticate with 00:00:00:00:00:28
[ 218.465028] wlan0: send auth to 00:00:00:00:00:28 (try 1/3)
[ 218.466552] wlan0: authenticated
[ 218.469655] wlan0: associate with 00:00:00:00:00:28 (try 1/3)
[ 218.470997] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:00:00:00:00:28 (capab=0x11 status=18 aid=1)
[ 218.470999] wlan0: 00:00:00:00:00:28 denied association (code=18)
[ 218.783427] wlan0: authenticate with 00:00:00:00:00:24
[ 218.798324] wlan0: send auth to 00:00:00:00:00:24 (try 1/3)
[ 218.799406] wlan0: authenticated
[ 218.806306] wlan0: associate with 00:00:00:00:00:24 (try 1/3)
[ 218.807595] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:00:00:00:00:24 (capab=0x11 status=0 aid=2)
[ 218.807782] wlan0: associated
[ 260.743522] wlan0: disconnect from AP 00:00:00:00:00:24 for new auth to 00:00:00:00:00:28
[ 260.749917] wlan0: authenticate with 00:00:00:00:00:28
[ 260.760650] wlan0: send auth to 00:00:00:00:00:28 (try 1/3)
[ 260.761825] wlan0: authenticated
[ 260.768564] wlan0: associate with 00:00:00:00:00:28 (try 1/3)
[ 260.769953] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:00:00:00:00:28 (capab=0x11 status=18 aid=1)
[ 260.769956] wlan0: 00:00:00:00:00:28 denied association (code=18)
[ 261.076060] wlan0: authenticate with 00:00:00:00:00:24
[ 261.090352] wlan0: send auth to 00:00:00:00:00:24 (try 1/3)
[ 261.091575] wlan0: authenticated
[ 261.092228] wlan0: associate with 00:00:00:00:00:24 (try 1/3)
[ 261.093513] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:00:00:00:00:24 (capab=0x11 status=0 aid=2)
[ 261.093650] wlan0: associated
[ 302.635608] wlan0: disconnect from AP 00:00:00:00:00:24 for new auth to 00:00:00:00:00:28
[ 302.641966] wlan0: authenticate with 00:00:00:00:00:28
[ 302.652721] wlan0: send auth to 00:00:00:00:00:28 (try 1/3)
[ 302.654099] wlan0: authenticated
[ 302.657009] wlan0: associate with 00:00:00:00:00:28 (try 1/3)
[ 302.658347] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:00:00:00:00:28 (capab=0x11 status=18 aid=1)
[ 302.658350] wlan0: 00:00:00:00:00:28 denied association (code=18)
[ 302.971482] wlan0: authenticate with 00:00:00:00:00:24
[ 302.982879] wlan0: send auth to 00:00:00:00:00:24 (try 1/3)
[ 302.985080] wlan0: authenticated
[ 302.986986] wlan0: associate with 00:00:00:00:00:24 (try 1/3)
[ 302.988237] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:00:00:00:00:24 (capab=0x11 status=0 aid=2)
[ 302.988382] wlan0: associated
[ 344.914147] wlan0: disconnect from AP 00:00:00:00:00:24 for new auth to 00:00:00:00:00:28
[ 344.920538] wlan0: authenticate with 00:00:00:00:00:28
[ 344.931296] wlan0: send auth to 00:00:00:00:00:28 (try 1/3)
[ 344.932743] wlan0: authenticated
[ 344.935875] wlan0: associate with 00:00:00:00:00:28 (try 1/3)
[ 344.937222] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:00:00:00:00:28 (capab=0x11 status=18 aid=1)
[ 344.937225] wlan0: 00:00:00:00:00:28 denied association (code=18)
[ 345.249655] wlan0: authenticate with 00:00:00:00:00:24
[ 345.261426] wlan0: send auth to 00:00:00:00:00:24 (try 1/3)
[ 345.262964] wlan0: authenticated
[ 345.265865] wlan0: associate with 00:00:00:00:00:24 (try 1/3)
[ 345.267115] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:00:00:00:00:24 (capab=0x11 status=0 aid=2)
[ 345.267248] wlan0: associated
[ 387.184992] wlan0: disconnect from AP 00:00:00:00:00:24 for new auth to 00:00:00:00:00:28
[ 387.191435] wlan0: authenticate with 00:00:00:00:00:28
[ 387.202251] wlan0: send auth to 00:00:00:00:00:28 (try 1/3)
[ 387.203292] wlan0: authenticated
[ 387.206731] wlan0: associate with 00:00:00:00:00:28 (try 1/3)
[ 387.208057] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:00:00:00:00:28 (capab=0x11 status=18 aid=1)
[ 387.208070] wlan0: 00:00:00:00:00:28 denied association (code=18)
[ 387.520469] wlan0: authenticate with 00:00:00:00:00:24
[ 387.535095] wlan0: send auth to 00:00:00:00:00:24 (try 1/3)
[ 387.537006] wlan0: authenticated
[ 387.539996] wlan0: associate with 00:00:00:00:00:24 (try 1/3)
[ 387.541246] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:00:00:00:00:24 (capab=0x11 status=0 aid=2)
[ 387.541388] wlan0: associated

It appears to get itself stuck in a loop and I'm confused as to why this is. After a little digging the ChromeBox CN60 seems to be capable of 802.11a/b/g/n so I don't know why it can't either settle on 5GHz-1 or drop down to 2.4GHz which I'd be more than happy with. But looking at the log it appears to be trying to connect to 5GHz-2 which is reserved for 802.11ac devices only. I don't know if this has anything to do with how the wlan / driver identifies itself to the router?

I can also see references to IPV6 which is disabled on the router, the ChromeBox and most of my other equipment so this shouldn't be a factor.
Right now my only option is to disable SmartConnect which I'd rather not as my other devices [mobiles, tablets, laptops, games consoles, Firesticks] all work perfectly fine with it enabled.

I've also put this to the LibreElec forums to see if anyone there has come across a similar issue, or know much more about the wlan driver than I do, and if there are any config changes that can be made to it to force it to 2.4GHz.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated =)

 

[sfx2000]

Looks like SmartConnect is trying to band shift you...

Try disabling SmartConnect temporarily on the AC3200, and see if things settle down a bit.

 

[7h1nk]

Thank you for your suggestion =)

Disabling SmartConnect produced predictable results though...

My ChromeBox can connect for upwards of 40 seconds and seems stable on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz-1 bands. It connects to my NAS fine and streams ok for as long as I leave it.

A couple of quick internet speeds tests show the following which I'm happy with:-

2.4GHz

Latency: 15.966 ms
Download: 83.00 Mbit/s
Upload: 9.89 Mbit/s

5GHz-1

Latency: 14.049 ms
Download: 95.79 Mbit/s
Upload: 9.71 Mbit/s

I can also connect to the 5GHz-2 band and stream from my NAS with no issues and again the ChromeBox stays connected for as long as I leave it. I'm guessing this is because without SmartConnect enabled this band isn't being limited to AC devices.

I don't know whether it's relevant or not but 2.4GHz is using channels 8+10 @ 40MHz, 5GHz-1 is using channel 36 @ 80MHz and 5GHz-2 is using channel 100 @ 80MHz which are almost the same as what they were using SmartConnect with the exception of 2.4Ghz which was using channels 6+10.

So it's clearly the SmartConnect 'blackbox' that is causing me some problems here. The question is, what can I do about it? Tweaking SmartConnect rules perhaps although that still feels like more of a workaround than a fix because my other devices work fine - there's always one device that has to be the exception with any major upgrade.

I'm still open to advice if anyone can recommend anything else please? =)

 

[sfx2000]

For SmartConnect Devices like the Ac3200...

What I recommend - disable smartconnect

2.4GHz - WirelessSSID
5GHz-1 - WirelessSSID
5GHz-2 - Wirelsss5GOnly

Guest Networks - if need - bind them to WirelessSSID radios as WirelessGUEST, leaving Wireless5GOnly alone...

Pick channels - 1/6/11 for 2.4, 48/149 is a good place to start for 5GHz

Disable nitroQAM, use narrow channels for 2.4...