Wi-Fi Disconnects - Chromebox CN60 + Asus AC3200 [Asuswrt Merlin]

    Howdy!

    Previously I was running my Chromebox CN60 running the UEFI firmware and the 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 an Asus AC3200 running the latest Asuswrt-Merlin which is configured to use SmartConnect. SmartConnect presents one tri-band SSID which automatically assigns devices to 2.4GHz, 5GHz-1 or a second 5GHz-2 band [the latter being for AC compatible devices]. Whilst SmartConnect has rule based steering for the clients, I haven't adjusted these settings because the only device which seems to be encountering issues is my Chromebox. I've also tried using the latest official Asus firmware but see the same issue.

    The ChromeBox connects to the first 5GHz-1 band, sits for 40 seconds, disconnects and then reconnects to the same band. I've tried forcing it onto the 2.4Ghz band 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.

    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 is 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



    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 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.

    I've tried doing some Google'ing based on the wlan chipset and 'denied association (code=18)' and I'm seeing various Ubuntu forum posts in relation to wlan driver, driver parameters and different kernal versions. Alas, there isn't any iwconfig included in LibreElec and I can't seem to find a config file for the driver or adpater and I'm unsure how to troubleshoot this further as I'm no Linux expert.

    It would be nice to know if anyone has experienced a similar issue and what the resolution was, or if anyone is using the same router but doesn't suffer from this and then we can compare settings?

    Also, it would be good to know if there are any known issues around the wlan and if there is a fix in the works? Alternatively if there was a way to adjust any of the config for the wlan driver and be able to force wireless N @ 2.4GHz then I'd be happy? Sadly this can't be done on the router in terms of forcing a device to connect on X band. My only option would be 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'll also put it to the Asuswrt-Merlin author to see if her can shed any light on what might be happening.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated =)

    Edited 2 times, last by 7h1nk (June 14, 2017 at 11:46 PM).