WZR-HP-G300NH wireless disconnects at least once a day

[moshikzur]

Router was good for a few weeks, now wireless hangs at least once a day. When wireless hangs, wired keeps on working.

Tried upgrading to latest Buffalo firmware (1.76) to no avail.

Wireless clients are all Win7, running different Wi-Fi hardware (Atheros, Centrino). Tried disabling “Allow computer to turn off this device..” on all wireless adapters, but that did not help.

Router running with default configuration, WPA2/AES.

DD-WRT firmware has its own issues, so I would like to try and resolve with Buffalo firmware.

 

Here is a log excerpt from the moment the wireless hanged. Computer2 was resuming from sleep, and then wireless was busted:

2010/11/17 20:47:45      DHCPS Request incoming from COMPUTER2(len:9)

2010/11/17 20:43:43      DHCPS Request incoming from COMPUTER2(len:9)

2010/11/17 20:43:40      DHCPS sending ACK to 192.168.11.5

2010/11/17 20:43:40      DHCPS Request incoming from COMPUTER2(len:9)

2010/11/17 20:43:40      DHCPS sending OFFER of 192.168.11.5 COMPUTER2

2010/11/17 20:43:40      DHCPS Request incoming from COMPUTER2(len:9)

2010/11/17 20:43:40      DHCPS sending OFFER of 192.168.11.5 COMPUTER2

2010/11/17 20:43:38      DHCPS Request incoming from COMPUTER2(len:9)

2010/11/17 20:43:38      DHCPS Request incoming from COMPUTER2(len:9)

2010/11/17 20:43:38      WIRED  et0: link up port=0

2010/11/17 20:41:50       AUTH  ath0: STA 00:19:e0:11:d3:7d IEEE 802.11: deassociated

2010/11/17 20:41:50       AUTH  ath0: STA 00:24:d7:43:2b:70 IEEE 802.11: deassociated

2010/11/17 20:41:50       AUTH  ath0: STA 70:1a:04:91:bc:42 IEEE 802.11: deassociated

2010/11/17 20:41:24      DHCPS sending OFFER of 192.168.11.4 COMPUTER2

2010/11/17 20:41:22      DHCPS Request incoming from COMPUTER2(len:9)

2010/11/17 20:41:22      DHCPS Request incoming from COMPUTER2(len:9)

2010/11/17 20:41:20       AUTH  wl0: AUTH: PSK authentication successful: 00:24:d7:43:2b:70

2010/11/17 20:41:20   WIRELESS ath0: had associated successfully : 00:24:d7:43:2b:70

2010/11/17 20:27:31       AUTH  wl0: AUTH: WPA/WPA2 - Group Key handshake successful: 70:1a:04:91:bc:42

2010/11/17 20:27:31       AUTH  wl0: AUTH: WPA/WPA2 - Group Key handshake successful: 00:19:e0:11:d3:7d

2010/11/17 20:27:31       AUTH  wl0: AUTH: Updating group key

2010/11/17 19:43:15      DHCPS sending ACK to 192.168.11.3

2010/11/17 19:43:15      DHCPS Request incoming from COMPUTER1(len:6)

2010/11/17 19:43:14      DHCPS Request incoming from COMPUTER1(len:6)

2010/11/17 19:43:11      DHCPS sending ACK to 192.168.11.3

2010/11/17 19:43:11      DHCPS Request incoming from COMPUTER1(len:6)

2010/11/17 19:43:11       AUTH  wl0: AUTH: PSK authentication successful: 00:19:e0:11:d3:7d

2010/11/17 19:43:10   WIRELESS ath0: had associated successfully : 00:19:e0:11:d3:7d

 

Thanks,

Moshik

[PCPiranha]

What positon is the switch in on the router?  You want to make sure that you set it to "aquire an IP address automatically from a DHCP server" in the web interface.  What happened when trying to update the firmware?

[moshikzur]

The switch on the back is set to ON, and "aquire an IP address automatically from a DHCP server" is enabled.

 

After upgrading to firmware 1.76 the router behave the same, wireless will stop working at least once a day.

 

Is there a way to get more diagnostics information from the router?

 

Could the wireless disconnection be related to router location? It seems as if wireless issues started after moving the router to a different room.

 

Thanks.

[PCPiranha]

Most likely you are experiencing wireless interference.  Have you tried playing around with the wireless channel (1,6 and 11 are generally the best)?

[moshikzur]

I have tried different wireless channels but router stops responding to wireless communication at least once a day.

Any other configuration changes that may reduce the risk of wireless communication getting dropped?

Seems like DHCPS negotiation is the last activity reported before wireless goes down; should I try static IP?

What about diagnostics mode?

[static808]

I'm having the same issue.  For me, it happens when I'm doing some youtube streaming and then 20-30 minutes later the wireless SSID is lost.  connecting to the wired port is fine.

 

have to do a full reboot.  extremely frustrating.

 

settings:

 

WZR-HP-G300NH Ver.1.76 (R2.01/B1.07)

Wireless Channel:  Auto (Current Channel: 2)
300Mbps Mode     Band Width : 20MHz
Extension Channel : 1
Broadcast SSID     Allow

Wireless Authenication:  WPA2-PSK
Wireless encryption:  TKIP

Multicast rate:  54Mbps
DTIM Period: 1
multicast control:  snooping enabled
multicast aging time:  300sec

AOSS and WPS not running

Movie Engine:  ON
Internet IP:  DHCP

 

 

As noted earlier:  Is there a more detailed diagnostic. 

[PCPiranha]

"Wireless Channel:  Auto (Current Channel: 2)"

 

It doesn't look as though you've tried the troubleshooting steps given.  Also make sure it is set to "aquire an IP automtically from a DHCP server" and it didn't just auto setup for DHCP (it makes a difference in my experience).

[PCPiranha]

Mosh,

 

What happened when you tried upgrading to 1.76?

[moshikzur]

This is still the case after the upgrade to 1.76.

The symptoms are more likely a result of a leak, not interference. Lost of SSID tend to repro every ~24 hours, regardless of network activity at the moment.

 

What about advanced diagnostics (core dump alike) when the issue is repro?

I'm also considering a scheduled restart, is there an easy way of doing it?

 

Thanks,

Moshik

[Powerlord]

I'm having the same problem, but with the DD-WRT firmware.  Unfortunately, I haven't enabled logging, as I thought I'd taken care of the problem, but it happened again today while I was at work (my roommates just reset the router).

 

Changing any settings in the router and applying them fixes the problem, but I suspect this is due to it doing a soft reset.

 

Router: WZR-HP-G300NH

Firmware: DD-WRT v24SP2-EU-US (08/19/10) std
Internet Service Provider: Broadstripe Cable
Cable Modem: Motorola SB5120

 

Wireless config:

Radio: Radio is On 

Mode: AP   

Network: Mixed   

SSID: (not transmitted)

Channel:1 (2412 MHz) 

TX Power:14 dBm 

Rate:130 Mb/s 

ACK Timing:35µs (2100m)  

Encryption - Interface ath0:Enabled, WPA2 Personal

PPTP Status: Disconnected

Clients:

Macboox (2008ish) running OSX 10.6

Windows 7 laptop (two, actually)

Nintendo DSi

Wii

PS3

[static808]

Called Support since I kept getting wireless drops.  Very frustrating since I only have a few connections and didn't even turn on my xbox or streaming bluray.  Sometimes I had to reboot twice a day.

 

Went thru the whole setup and changed numerous channels, configs, etc.. but to no avail.

 

Had to return the unit and get something else.

 

It didn't work for me....but doesn't mean it won't work for somebody else.

 

Buffalo support tried to help and did a good job.  thanks for that....at least.

[mcg]

I have experienced the wireless hang with DD-WRT 14998, but not every day.  The wireless light on the router goes solid for me.  Wired access to the internet (AP mode) still works fine.  I have my DD-WRT set to auto-reboot once a day, and that definitely helps avoid the wireless hang most days, but not every day.  It just hung on me again tonight. 

 

Been waiting for a Buffalo-official DD-WRT refresh for this router for quite a while now.

 

 

 

 

[Powerlord]

How do you schedule reboots in DD-WRT?

[mcg]

Administration tab, Keep Alive, Schedule Reboot, At set time.

 

[finbuf]

I am having the same problem as original poster. I have tried changing channels and other settings too.

When WLAN dies, Ethernet connections continue working ok. Some minutes after WLAN crashing, the WLAN SSID can be seen (it appears and disappears randomly) but it is not accessible. Powering the Buffalo off seems to be only solution to get the WLAN back online.

Signal strength is not an issue here (distance is only few meters from devices to Buffalo).

 

My devices are:

- ADSL modem (only brdiging Internet connection for the Buffalo)

- Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH (DHCP+NAT+WLAN, using WPA2/AES, no WPS/WDS/NAS/Movie mode/multi SSID etc. enabled)

- Synology NAS (Ethernet connection to Buffalo, static IP)

- D-Link DCS-2121 IP-camera (WLAN (802.11G) connection to Buffalo, static IP, transfers steady 100-150kbs 24/7 into Synology NAS)

 

 

Above setup runs smoothly at least for five days (steady video is recorded nonstop from the IP camera via WLAN).

When I connect my laptop (Asus NJ53f) to Buffalo via WLAN, crashing starts. Usually WLAN dies in Buffalo at least once a day, sometimes even more often.

 

Is it possible, that my Asus laptop screws the WLAN connection some how and Buffalo is not able to recover from that and the WLAN dies?

(Please note, that D-Link IP camera loses the connection too when WLAN dies. So the WLAN really dies for all WiFi devices, not just the Asus laptop.)

 

 

Edit: Buffalo is running stock firmware Ver.1.76 (R2.01/B1.07) (no DD-WRT).