Re: Asus router in Media Bridge mode loses connection to Orbi multiple times a day

nick77vet · ‎2018-07-25

I am trying to use my ASUS AC-68U as a media bridge in my home office where I have several gateways that don't have wifi (SolarCity, Honeywell, etc.) plus my work computer connecting via ethernet cable. The ASUS router says it connects fine over the 5GHz band, with a speed around 900Mbps.

However, several times a day, it will lose the wifi connection. All the other devices connected to the Orbi are fine.

Is anyone else having this type of issue?

thombe · ‎2018-07-25

following

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-07-25

What channels are you using? Try manual channels 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4Ghz and any unused channel on 5Ghz.

Any other wifi neighbors near by? If so, how many?

Any other wifi signals from near by devices?

Do other devices exhibit this same issue?

@nick77vet wrote:

I am trying to use my ASUS AC-68U as a media bridge in my home office where I have several gateways that don't have wifi (SolarCity, Honeywell, etc.) plus my work computer connecting via ethernet cable. The ASUS router says it connects fine over the 5GHz band, with a speed around 900Mbps.

However, several times a day, it will lose the wifi connection. All the other devices connected to the Orbi are fine.

Is anyone else having this type of issue?

nick77vet · ‎2018-07-25

I am using channel 48 on the 5GHz band. The only other network being broadcast on the same or similar channel with any amount of power is the Orbi guest network, and I don't see a way to change that in the Orbi interface. Occassionally a neighbor's signal will show up with a power of about 90dBm. Another neighbor is using channel 155. That's it for the 5GHz spectrum.

I have several devices in the house that use the 5GHz signal, including all our phones. None of these devices have any issues with their connections.

I have an ASUS RT-AC66 router that I have also tried in media bridge mode, and it also suffered from dropped connections. Both ASUS routers have their latest fw, as does the Orbi router.

I have not tried a 2.4GHz connection, yet...

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-07-25

Let us know if if the 2.4ghz does the same thing...

nick77vet · ‎2018-07-25

Connected at 2.4GHz... link speed is 130Mbps... far slower than 5GHz. 😞

I'll give a day and see how it does.

nick77vet · ‎2018-07-25

That didn't take long... connection dropped already. 😕

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-07-25

And the Asus routers running in wireless bridge mode are the only devices that seem to have this problem? If other devices don't, I would presume something with the ASUS wifi doesn't like the Orbi Wifi.

nick77vet · ‎2018-07-25

Yeah, I am thinking it's a problem with the ASUS routers rather than the Orbi. Both ASUS routers use the same firmware, and they are the only devices that have a problem. I have just done a factory reset on one, and it's back up and running. Hopefully this solves the issue. I'll report back one way or the other.

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-07-26

Sometimes factory resets are needed. Let us know how it goes.

nick77vet · ‎2018-07-28

Looks like I just needed to do a factory reset on the ASUS router. It's been 2 days now without any wifi issues. I'll come post again if the problem returns. Thanks, FURRYe38!

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-07-29

Awesome, glad the reset worked. Enjoy.

nick77vet · ‎2018-07-30

Looks like I spoke too soon... woke up this morning to a dropped wifi connection. The ASUS router said it was connected to the Orbi, but there was no access to the network or internet. Looking at the ASUS router logs, it looks like it rebooted itself a couple times overnight. There are no log entries just before the router reboots itself...

I've attached the log file (with IP addresses redacted)

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-07-30

This maybe something to bring up to ASUS support and see if anyone there can review this. Seems like something on the ASUS isn't working as expected.

I have a NG WNHDE111 wireless bridge. Its an older 5Ghz N bridge however it connects fine to the satellite in the next room. Mom in law watches DISH joey thru it. You might try a different wireless bridge and see if anything is different.

nick77vet · ‎2018-07-30

Yeah, I contacted ASUS support on Thursday... they said it would be a couple business days before someone would get back to me. 😕

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-07-30

Keep us posted...

nick77vet · ‎2018-07-31

ASUS wants me to send in my router for analysis, but I don't think it is a hardware issue since 2 different models of ASUS routers have shown the same behavior. Both models use the same fw package, though.

So... I'm stuck.

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-07-31

Might be worth them having a look. If there willing to look at it, could be something on there end.

nick77vet · ‎2018-07-31

Before sending a router in at my own cost, I think I am going to try a few setting changes on the Orbi first, though... starting with disabling implicit beamforming. Maybe one of these advanced WiFi features is the culprit...

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-07-31

Let us know how it goes...

nick77vet · ‎2018-08-02

It's been 2.5 days since I turned off implicit beamforming, and there have been no lost connections, and I have not noticed any performance issues with other devices. I'll give it a couple more days before I conclude the issue was the implicit beamforming.

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-08-03

Sounds like IBeamforming isn't liked by the ASUS devices...

nick77vet · ‎2018-08-24

So, I never solved the issue. I tried disabling everything I could on the Orbi, but I still had dropped connections with the ASUS router.

I ultimately changed the ASUS router's operating mode from media bridge to repeater mode. Now I have a new useless SSID being broadcast, but at least the connect doesn't drop between my routers.

GatorBait · ‎2018-09-14

I'm having the same issue with Asus routers in bridge mode. Seems that a firmware update a while back broke it. For me, I might get an hour or even a few days before losing connection. It appears that the router in bridge mode wants to set its ip address back to the factory default no matter if its set to auto obtain or set with a staic ip. Same issue with a GT-AC5300 and RT-AC88U. GT running stock firmware and the RT running Merlin. I believe the issue started with firmware updates back in March or April. It's a known issue with Asus firmware that's affecting pretty much all their routers running newer firmware:

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-and-bridge-mode.47789/#post-418316

Not ideal, but try rolling back the firmware to something released in February 2018 or earlier and see if that works for you. Last working firmware for bridge mode on the GT was 20308 and 384.4_2(Merlin) on the RT. Both of my bridges are working well with the older firmware.

FURRYe38 · ‎2018-09-14

is ASUS and Merlin aware of this issue on there routers?

@GatorBait wrote:

I'm having the same issue with Asus routers in bridge mode. Seems that a firmware update a while back broke it. For me, I might get an hour or even a few days before losing connection. It appears that the router in bridge mode wants to set its ip address back to the factory default no matter if its set to auto obtain or set with a staic ip. Same issue with a GT-AC5300 and RT-AC88U. GT running stock firmware and the RT running Merlin. I believe the issue started with firmware updates back in March or April. It's a known issue with Asus firmware that's affecting pretty much all their routers running newer firmware:

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-and-bridge-mode.47789/#post-418316

Not ideal, but try rolling back the firmware to something released in February 2018 or earlier and see if that works for you. Last working firmware for bridge mode on the GT was 20308 and 384.4_2(Merlin) on the RT. Both of my bridges are working well with the older firmware.