WAX630 deauthorizing printer connection

[Brian86]

I started upgrading my network last summer by adding a new WAX630 WiFi AP.  At which point I started having problems printing to my Epson ET-2760 printer over WiFi -- I could print right after turning on the printing but it would loose the connection shortly after startup.  I hadn't solved the problem when I ran out of time to work on it.  To keep things working, I re-enabled an older WiFi AP on the network for the printer to use.  Unfortunately, I now need to get rid of the old WiFi access point.

At this point I've removed the old WiFi AP so my printer now uses the WAX630 and the printing problem is back.  With this configuration in place, I can turn the printer on, see it connect to the network on the 2GHx channel, and I can print to it for a short period of time.  After 2 to ~15 minutes things stop working.  Looking at the printer, it thinks it is connected, but no application will find it and print.

Looking at the WAX630 logs I can see where the printer connects to the network (I also see a related notification).  Then after a period of time (about 10 min in the log examples below), I see the WAX630 deauth the printer.  (Note the printer's name is "EPSON606969" and its MAC is "F8-D0-27-60-69-69.)

The WAX630 is clearly telling the printer it's being deauthed for reason code 34.  While I can't find a Netgear published definition of that code, it seems to mean, "excessive frame loss rates and/or poor conditions on current operating channel." 

The default configuration of the WAX630 seems to be doing something different than the old AP, an Apple Airport Extreme.

I'm not sure how to fix this.  Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks
Brian

Notification

EPSON606969 (F8-D0-27-60-69-69) wireless client disconnected

3:07 pm Jan 20th, Friday 2023

Related Logs

Jan 21 15:07:52 nddmp[3681]: alarm : seqNo-[5663], level-[INFO], info-[EPSON606969 (F8-D0-27-60-69-69) wireless client disconnected]
Jan 21 15:07:52 hostapd: wifi0vap0: STA f8:d0:27:60:69:69 IEEE 802.11: disconnected
Jan 21 15:07:52 hostapd: wifi0vap0: STA f8:d0:27:60:69:69 IEEE 802.11: disassociated
Jan 21 15:07:52 kernel: [532210.686997] ieee80211_send_deauth: [wifi0vap0]: Sending deauth to f8:d0:27:60:69:69 with reason 34

Notification

EPSON606969 (F8-D0-27-60-69-69) wireless client connected

2:57 pm Jan 20th, Friday 2023

Related Logs

Jan 21 14:57:49 nddmp[3681]: alarm : seqNo-[5659], level-[OTHER], info-[{"ip":"10.0.1.27","mac":"F8-D0-27-60-69-69","hname":"EPSON606969","txR":"1 Mbps","rxR":"1 Mbps","ssid":"deux-chats","dOs":"Nokia S40","dType":"Mobile/Tablet","mode":"11NG","status":"Authenticated","bssid":"C8-9E-43-10-C8-01","chnl":"11","chWidth":"20 MHz","rssi":"37","state":"QOS/ERP/HT","type":"wpa2","idle":"0","time":"00:00:00","txB":"0","rxB":"451","pmf":"none","vlanID":"1","Username":"Not Applicable","radio":"0"}]
Jan 21 14:57:49 nddmp[3681]: alarm : seqNo-[5658], level-[INFO], info-[EPSON606969 (F8-D0-27-60-69-69) wireless client connected]
Jan 21 14:57:49 hostapd: wifi0vap0: STA f8:d0:27:60:69:69 WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Jan 21 14:57:49 hostapd: wifi0vap0: STA f8:d0:27:60:69:69 WPA: received EAPOL-Key frame (4/4 Pairwise)
Jan 21 14:57:49 hostapd: wifi0vap0: STA f8:d0:27:60:69:69 WPA: sending 3/4 msg of 4-Way Handshake
Jan 21 14:57:49 hostapd: wifi0vap0: STA f8:d0:27:60:69:69 WPA: received EAPOL-Key frame (2/4 Pairwise)
Jan 21 14:57:49 hostapd: wifi0vap0: STA f8:d0:27:60:69:69 WPA: sending 1/4 msg of 4-Way Handshake
Jan 21 14:57:49 hostapd: wifi0vap0: STA f8:d0:27:60:69:69 IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
Jan 21 14:57:49 hostapd: wifi0vap0: STA f8:d0:27:60:69:69 IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Jan 21 14:57:49 configd[3608]: EEM: Received Event: NEW_STA_ASSOC_EEM

[schumaku]

These unsolicited deauth don't make any sense ... hope Netgear engineering can figure out what is going wrong there.

[Brian86]

Thanks for the confirmation of sorts.  Meaning it sounds like neither of us get what's happening.

I did call support and send them a pcap file, but I can't see anything wrong there either (but I don't look at these much and could be missing something).

Do you know if I am right in my interpretation that the AP thinks it sent messages which were not answered and issued the deauth request as a result?  As opposed to this indicating that that printer initiated this somehow?

[Brian86]

Note, I found https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi-Wi-Fi-5-AC-and-Orbi-with/Orbi-RBR40-RBS40-V2-1-4-16-mesh-netwo... which seemed like a similar issue where, "the network drops the connection to an Apple iMac."  I've tried the fixes suggested in the post but they didn't help.

[matt7277]

Had very similar issues with my HP OfficeJet printer (would say connected but wouldn't be usable after a while, requiring printer reboot to fix it). Examined the logs and also noticed a TON of Deauth messages for the printer and other devices. Tried everything under the sun (disabling InstantWiFi optimization scans, increasing the frequency of InstantWiFi optimizations, using specific channels, disabling 5ghz/6ghz for certain SSIDs to no avail. Ended up break out some old equipment and now my 2 WAX630Es are expensive paperweights. Really surprising that this is still an issue as (IMHO) these types of bugs are total deal breakers and make the products unusable 

[Brian86]

update:  I'm still having the issue and am in touch with netgear support to help solve the issue.  Hopefully the logs and packet captures I've sent them help.  I will post a resolution when I have one.

[JTinFL]

I have a old 2.4GHz device (a Logitech Duet music player) that would connect to my WAX620, but deauthorize and fall off a few minutes later. I was using an SSID that serviced both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.

What worked for me: create a separate SSID with ONLY 2.4GHz and connect those old 2.4GHz problem devices to that SSID. 

Hope that helps.

[Brian86]

JTinFL, thx for idea. I tried that, or at least a version of that, awhile back without success.

I just sent updated diagnostic file to netgear today after disabling the 802.11ax setting for the 2.4 GHz channel. Hopefully that leads to a solution. If not, I’ll give your idea another try.

Brian

[Brian86]

update:  I tried using a separate SSID with ONLY 2.4GHz enabled.  That didn't help.

So far NetGear support has not solved this problem.  I believe they are getting ready to close my request without a resolution.

My only consistent workaround is to connect directly to the printer via USB cable.  That works for the laptops I support but doesn't work for the iPhones or Chromebooks.

I've asked NetGear to provide a configuration option to prevent the connection from being dropped so aggressively (e.g. reason code 34), but didn't hear anything back.

I would like to say I appreciate the effort NetGear has put into collecting data and analyzing it.  It is certainly well beyond so many other customer support experiences in today's world.  They get an A+ in this area.

If they close this ticket without a resolution, I'm not sure what I'll do next.  Perhaps buy a new printer (one that I can return if it doesn't solve the problem).  That's a bit expensive just to solve a software bug, but it might be my only remaining choice.