AP-STA-DISCONNECTED constant disconnects in log only specific devices

Installing and Using OpenWrt Network and Wireless Configuration
1

Ive searched on here that AP-STA-DISCONNECTED seems to be quite common but still no real solution for specific devices.
I have a Tuya 2.4GHz plug that ive connected to my wifi. every 5minutes you can see in the log below that it keeps disconnecting.
Ive tried the following:

  • Disabling Inactivity Polling
  • Station Inactivity Limit set to 36000

yet after these settings, it still disconnects after every 5 minutes. why? why does it do that even if i changed the Limit? I even rebooted the router and still nothing.
Constant spam every 5 minutes in the log.

Fri Jul 22 15:14:46 2022 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1-1: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:14:46 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Fri Jul 22 15:14:46 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
Fri Jul 22 15:14:46 2022 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1-1: AP-STA-CONNECTED xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:14:46 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Fri Jul 22 15:14:48 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPDISCOVER(wlan1-1) xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:14:48 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPOFFER(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:14:48 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPREQUEST(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:14:48 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPACK(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx TuyaPlug
Fri Jul 22 15:19:43 2022 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1-1: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:19:43 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Fri Jul 22 15:19:43 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
Fri Jul 22 15:19:43 2022 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1-1: AP-STA-CONNECTED xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:19:43 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Fri Jul 22 15:19:45 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPDISCOVER(wlan1-1) xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:19:45 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPOFFER(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:19:45 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPREQUEST(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:19:45 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPACK(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx TuyaPlug
Fri Jul 22 15:24:45 2022 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1-1: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:24:45 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Fri Jul 22 15:24:45 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
Fri Jul 22 15:24:45 2022 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1-1: AP-STA-CONNECTED xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:24:45 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Fri Jul 22 15:24:47 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPDISCOVER(wlan1-1) xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:24:47 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPOFFER(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:24:47 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPREQUEST(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:24:47 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPACK(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx TuyaPlug
Fri Jul 22 15:29:46 2022 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1-1: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:29:46 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Fri Jul 22 15:29:46 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
Fri Jul 22 15:29:46 2022 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1-1: AP-STA-CONNECTED xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:29:46 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Fri Jul 22 15:29:48 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPDISCOVER(wlan1-1) xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:29:48 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPOFFER(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:29:48 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPREQUEST(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:29:48 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPACK(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx TuyaPlug
Fri Jul 22 15:34:44 2022 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1-1: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:34:44 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
Fri Jul 22 15:34:44 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
Fri Jul 22 15:34:44 2022 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan1-1: AP-STA-CONNECTED xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:34:44 2022 daemon.info hostapd: wlan1-1: STA xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx WPA: pairwise key handshake completed (RSN)
Fri Jul 22 15:34:46 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPDISCOVER(wlan1-1) xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:34:46 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPOFFER(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:34:46 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPREQUEST(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Fri Jul 22 15:34:46 2022 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[16137]: DHCPACK(wlan1-1) 192.168.1.12 xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx TuyaPlug

This also happened on my laptop, on the 2.4GHz network. However since connecting my laptop to 5GHz network, the problem disappeared.
All other devices on the network doesnt have this issue.

Please advise what is causing this and why the inactivity polling settings don't work?

WRT1900ACv2
OpenWrt 21.02.3 r16554-1d4dea6d4f

2

isn't the 2.4GHz wifi very b0rked on the Marvell platform ?

Read all about it in Cannot connect IoT wifi module since installing OpenWrt - #2 by slh

3

3 things to know:

a lot of Linksys WRT1900,3200,32X owners had a lot of WiFi issues with several 21.03.xx releases. Even though WRT is not the best WiFi hardware, 21 was on top a bit messed up. You might want to try first, if 22.03.rc5 solves your issues.

The WRT series uses FullMAC chips, where the WiFi firmware is a closed source blob that prevents OpenWRT from accessing low level WiFi parameters (almost like a virtual machine infrastructure, where OpenWRT is only allowed to control the VM host, but not the hosted virtual machine blob which is responsible for the WiFi).
Now LuCi is just a generic frontend and may show WiFi parameters or parameter combinations that are ignored by the WRT FullMAC driver. So if you are wondering, why certain parameters have no effect, it is likely because of that. You may also need to carefully select parameters, to not cause issues, e.g. WPA3 is unfortunately not supported by the WRT FullMAC driver, but can be selected in the LuCi GUI.

The last (and saddest) part is, that the Linksys WRT WiFi firmware blob is severly outdated and several WiFi bugs have never been fixed in the closed source FullMAC firmware, e.g. with WPA3 or ESP32 based IoT devices and several more.
Linksys has basically abandoned the series and wont fix such issues in the WRTs firmware blob. Many users keep using the WRTs for routing purpose due to the powerful CPU, but have added an additional dumb AP hardware for WiFi.

4

Yeah ive read through this, so bottom line is there no solution to this specific problem on IOT devices?
Will the packages listed here work for my router by any chance? Cannot connect IoT wifi module since installing OpenWrt - #8 by eduperez

5

No, as mentioned before, there hasn't been any kind of development on mwlwifi for at least three years - accordingly no further improvement are to be expected; it's dead, Jim.

6

Since the router have USB ports, you could buy a capable USB wifi stick, and use that as a replacement for the built in 2.4 GHz radio.