AX 200 Client issues

AP is a Linksys E8450 running OpenWrt 22.03.5 r20134-5f15225c1e / LuCI openwrt-22.03 branch git-23.119.80898-65ef406.

Client is an Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 running 22.240.0.6

The client connects, but randomly drops every 5-10 minutes for anywhere between 1-2 seconds and 30-45 seconds. Latency also becomes an issue. If I disable the 802.11 n/ac/ax mode via the driver, the connection becomes significantly more stable, but obviously performs much worse (edit: throughput is worse, stability is better). The client SNR is beteween -55 and -65 dBm, so I don't think it's a distance issue.

Looking for troubleshooting tips on getting this going because right now it's a mess.

did that combo work before? or did the issue start, when you either introduced OpenWRT 22 on 8450 or the intel client in your environment or when you updated the client drivers or some other root cause?

some debugging ideas:

  • any weird OpenWRT Wifi advanced customizations that would justify, to try to reset Wifi config and try a minimal default config with AX for a test run? (of course you fan backup config beforehand)
  • issue happens on any WiFi channel?
  • still happens if distance gets reduced to really close? (you teasered some hints that they may not be that close right now)
  • still happens during an iperf3-loadtest? (so see if maybe a energy save behavior causes the issue)
  • still happens if both devices are used at a different location?

would you be able to alternatively try

  • 23.05rc3
  • the current main snapshot
  • a different AX client device
  • your AX client with a different AX AP?

you disabled the whole 5 Ghz radio for a test? or only disabled AX on 5GHz and had less issues with AC+n on the 5GHz radio? Are you in general using different SSIDs for the 2 radios?

did that combo work before? or did the issue start, when you either introduced OpenWRT 22 on 8450 or the intel client in your environment or when you updated the client drivers or some other root cause?

It's been this way since introducing the 8450. Previously I had a Buffalo WZR-DHP600.

  • any weird OpenWRT Wifi advanced customizations that would justify, to try to reset Wifi config and try a minimal default config with AX for a test run? (of course you fan backup config beforehand)

About the only crazy thing is DAWN, but I have no issues with any other device.

  • issue happens on any WiFi channel?

Yes, channel doesn't matter.

  • still happens if distance gets reduced to really close? (you teasered some hints that they may not be that close right now)

They're about 20 feet away. Signal is very consistent.

  • still happens during an iperf3-loadtest? (so see if maybe a energy save behavior causes the issue)

Have not tested.

  • still happens if both devices are used at a different location?

I don't know. I can't move either, but I do have a different device with an intel AX201 card that has no issues (Running 22.0.1.1 firmware)

  • 23.05rc3

Not sure how to get this on the 8450 as upgrades are a bit wonky with it.

  • the current main snapshot

Same

*a different AX client device

See above regarding the AX201 client that sits about 4 feet away from the one that is a problem.

  • your AX client with a different AX AP?

Anything I might get a signal from is still a different 8450. I don't have anything else here I can bring in.

Try updating the ax200/ ax201 driver, at least iwlwifi on linux was quite laggy (stuttering) (against ipq807x/ qcn5054) with the iwlwifi-so-a0-hr-b0-72.ucode firmware blob, that is now fine with iwlwifi-so-a0-hr-b0-77.ucode or iwlwifi-so-a0-hr-b0-83.ucode; older Windows driver versions might have had similar issues.

I'm using the latest.

Sorry, missed this one. I'm running on 5 ghz with 802.11a and it's stable. I've generally run identical SSIDs, however I have tried it with distinct SSID's and had no improvement.

802.11n and 802.11ac both have the same problems as 802.11ax.

Providing a little more context here. All tests done on 5 Ghz - channel 36. 60 second iperf 3 run for tcp (unlimited bandwidth) and 60 second run for udp (at a rate reasonable for the tcp linespeed shown).

802.11a (Driver configured to 802.11n/ac/ax Wireless mode Disabled)

[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 188 MBytes 26.3 Mbits/sec 177 sender
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 187 MBytes 26.2 Mbits/sec receiver
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Jitter Lost/Total Datagrams
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 143 MBytes 20.0 Mbits/sec 0.000 ms 0/102739 (0%) sender
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 142 MBytes 19.9 Mbits/sec 0.849 ms 453/102718 (0.44%) receiver

802.11n
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 387 MBytes 54.0 Mbits/sec 1508 sender
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 386 MBytes 53.9 Mbits/sec receiver
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Jitter Lost/Total Datagrams
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 322 MBytes 45.0 Mbits/sec 0.000 ms 0/231162 (0%) sender
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 306 MBytes 42.8 Mbits/sec 0.254 ms 11078/231036 (4.8%) receiver

802.11ac
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 2.36 GBytes 337 Mbits/sec 183 sender
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 2.35 GBytes 337 Mbits/sec receiver
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Jitter Lost/Total Datagrams
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 2.10 GBytes 300 Mbits/sec 0.000 ms 0/1541081 (0%) sender
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 1.99 GBytes 286 Mbits/sec 0.008 ms 74104/1541081 (4.8%) receiver

802.11ax
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Retr
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 2.38 GBytes 340 Mbits/sec 196 sender
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 2.38 GBytes 340 Mbits/sec receiver
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Jitter Lost/Total Datagrams
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 2.10 GBytes 300 Mbits/sec 0.000 ms 0/1541081 (0%) sender
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 1.90 GBytes 273 Mbits/sec 0.036 ms 140932/1541040 (9.1%) receiver

For giggles I changed to channel 100 and reran the UDP iperf on AX and it's just as bad.
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bitrate Jitter Lost/Total Datagrams
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 2.10 GBytes 300 Mbits/sec 0.000 ms 0/1541083 (0%) sender
[ 5] 0.00-60.00 sec 1.90 GBytes 273 Mbits/sec 0.012 ms 140279/1541083 (9.1%) receiver