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Forum Discussion
usafmary
Nov 17, 2024Aspirant
Losing the wi-fi randomly
I have an RAX50 router purchased in 2021. We have 2 PCs that randomly lose the wi-fi and at different times. When PC1 is affected, I can't ping the router and PC2 can't ping PC1. The router also r...
usafmary
Nov 17, 2024Aspirant
Both 2.4 and 5 GHz are set up on the router. Smart connect is not enabled - Enable AX is selected. I'll have to find out what the differences are and try smart connect the next time one of the PCs loses connection. Most, if not all, of the settings on the router are from the factory.
As for DFS frequency range, I'm not familiar with that. I'll have to see if I can find that on the router.
Thank you for your suggestions.
Kitsap
Nov 17, 2024Master
usafmary wrote:Both 2.4 and 5 GHz are set up on the router. Smart connect is not enabled - Enable AX is selected. I'll have to find out what the differences are and try smart connect the next time one of the PCs loses connection. Most, if not all, of the settings on the router are from the factory.
As for DFS frequency range, I'm not familiar with that. I'll have to see if I can find that on the router.
Thank you for your suggestions.
Smart connect combines both 2.4 and 5 GHz frequency band SSIDs into one and lets the router decide what to connect. In my experience, smart connect does more harm than good. There are differing opinions. Had it been enabled, I would have recommended you disable it.
Some very good background reading on Wi-Fi can be found here. https://www.wiisfi.com/
Includes explanations for DFS and the AX band.
Unless you have a specific device you are trying to connect to the AX band, it would be good to disable it and see if it corrects your problem.
- usafmaryNov 18, 2024Aspirant
Thank you for your suggestion about the AX band. One more thing to try.
Regarding the 2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies, when I sign on to the router, PC1 is on 2.4 and PC2 is on 5. Could be because PC2 is further from the router?
Odd thing is that I can see either PC as a connected device on the router even though that PC may not have the internet. Pinging the router from the PC times out and pinging the PC from the other one sometimes times out and sometimes responds - weird. Both PCs have a full set of bars so it's not like one or the other is too far away.
Thank you again for your suggestions,
-mary
- KitsapNov 18, 2024Master
Recommend you manage the Wi-Fi connections on both PCs. Forget the connection to the 2.4 GHz band. Unless they are both some distance from the router, they should be able to connect to the 5 GHz band with auto reconnect enabled. When different devices on the same Wi-Fi network are connected to different frequency bands, it is not unusual for the devices to not be able to see each other over the network.
In the Wi-FI router configuration, what channel are you using in the 5 GHz band?
- usafmaryNov 18, 2024Aspirant
Looks like PC1 wi-fi adapter can only use the 2.4 band.
On the router, channel selection is set to Auto.
Thank you for all of your suggestions but, after spending over a week on this, I think it might be easier to just try a new router.😒