I recently enabled the 5GHz radio on my device (details below); it worked for a couple of days, but today it seems the radio is being turned off. In the web interface, System -> System Log, I can see entries like so:
Mon May 8 13:41:48 2023 daemon.notice netifd: Network device 'wlan1' link is down
Mon May 8 13:41:48 2023 daemon.notice netifd: Wireless device 'radio1' is now down
So now I'm trying to determine why, so I started poking around the file system via a SSH connection, but I'm not smart enough to find the logs. I am smart enough to tail log file and such, but it I can't find the log files, I'm stumped.
I'm hoping someone can tell me how to determine what's causing the 5GHz radio being turned off.
Maybe this old workhorse Linksys needs replacing? Modern suggestions that are OpenWRT compatible welcome.
Some relevant info:
Model Linksys WRT1900AC v1
Architecture ARMv7 Processor rev 2 (v7l)
Target Platform mvebu/cortexa9
Firmware Version OpenWrt 21.02.3 r16554-1d4dea6d4f / LuCI openwrt-21.02 branch git-22.083.69138-0a0ce2a
Kernel Version 5.4.188
My first guess is that you're using a DFS channel, and it's getting radar hits and powering down for regulatory reasons.
However, that's only a guess... we need to know more about your setup.
Please copy the output of the following commands and post it here using the "Preformatted text </> " button:
Remember to redact passwords, MAC addresses and any public IP addresses you may have:
ubus call system board
cat /etc/config/network
cat /etc/config/wireless
root@ROUTER1:~# cat /etc/config/network
config interface 'loopback'
option device 'lo'
option proto 'static'
option ipaddr '127.0.0.1'
option netmask '255.0.0.0'
config globals 'globals'
option ula_prefix '???????:6a2d::/48'
config device
option name 'br-lan'
option type 'bridge'
list ports 'lan1'
list ports 'lan2'
list ports 'lan3'
list ports 'lan4'
option ipv6 '0'
config device
option name 'lan1'
option macaddr '??:??:??:67:cd:36'
config device
option name 'lan2'
option macaddr '??:??:??:67:cd:36'
config device
option name 'lan3'
option macaddr '??:??:??:67:cd:36'
config device
option name 'lan4'
option macaddr '??:??:??:67:cd:36'
config interface 'lan'
option device 'br-lan'
option proto 'static'
option netmask '255.255.255.0'
option ipaddr '192.168.2.1'
option delegate '0'
config device
option name 'wan'
option macaddr '??:??:??:67:cd:36'
config interface 'wan'
option device 'wan'
option proto 'dhcp'
option type 'bridge'
config interface 'wan6'
option device 'wan'
option proto 'dhcpv6'
root@ROUTER1:~# cat /etc/config/wireless
config wifi-device 'radio0'
option type 'mac80211'
option channel '11'
option hwmode '11g'
option path 'soc/soc:pcie@82000000/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:02:00.0'
option cell_density '0'
option country 'CA'
option txpower '20'
option htmode 'HT40'
config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
option device 'radio0'
option network 'lan'
option mode 'ap'
option macaddr '??:??:??:67:cd:37'
option ssid 'SleepDeprivationLabs'
option key '<redacted>'
option encryption 'psk2'
option macfilter 'allow'
list maclist '??:??:??:09:36:25'
list maclist '??:??:??:09:43:8E'
list maclist '??:??:??:09:69:B9'
list maclist '??:??:??:74:5D:FD'
list maclist '??:??:??:A5:B3:61'
list maclist '??:??:??:A7:19:8E'
list maclist '??:??:??:7F:2A:8F'
list maclist '??:??:??:78:89:61'
list maclist '??:??:??:19:7A:E9'
list maclist '??:??:??:BE:23:C0'
list maclist '??:??:??:88:40:E5'
list maclist '??:??:??:32:B6:BE'
list maclist '??:??:??:F9:19:AE'
list maclist '??:??:??:53:8B:D2'
list maclist '??:??:??:DE:39:F8'
list maclist '??:??:??:CA:A7:BC'
list maclist '??:??:??:23:45:17'
list maclist '??:??:??:DC:FA:E0'
list maclist '??:??:??:CA:87:54'
list maclist '??:??:??:60:50:60'
list maclist '??:??:??:31:C7:C2'
list maclist '??:??:??:1E:E6:2C'
list maclist '??:??:??:E6:1C:FC'
list maclist '??:??:??:33:B3:73'
list maclist '??:??:??:9F:D2:1F'
list maclist '??:??:??:F7:19:4D'
list maclist '??:??:??:CB:B7:0B'
list maclist '??:??:??:87:FC:7B'
list maclist '??:??:??:9C:43:CA'
list maclist '??:??:??:9C:47:BE'
list maclist '??:??:??:9C:4B:5C'
list maclist '??:??:??:9B:B0:E8'
list maclist '??:??:??:A7:9F:AA'
list maclist '??:??:??:A7:93:CD'
list maclist '??:??:??:5A:06:33'
list maclist '??:??:??:70:11:39'
list maclist '??:??:??:18:66:13'
list maclist '??:??:??:94:E3:E7'
list maclist '??:??:??:1C:49:0B'
list maclist '??:??:??:AA:74:89'
list maclist '??:??:??:3B:CD:83'
list maclist '??:??:??:DA:9F:29'
list maclist '??:??:??:00:80:D4'
list maclist '??:??:??:45:67:76'
list maclist '??:??:??:0C:7D:74'
list maclist '??:??:??:94:63:5D'
list maclist '??:??:??:B9:78:B2'
list maclist '??:??:??:E4:7D:B6'
list maclist '??:??:??:B4:AC:16'
list maclist '??:??:??:1D:EE:B8'
list maclist '??:??:??:1F:33:02'
list maclist '??:??:??:67:CD:36'
list maclist '??:??:??:67:CD:37'
list maclist '??:??:??:32:54:D0'
list maclist '??:??:??:37:E3:84'
list maclist '??:??:??:73:76:15'
list maclist '??:??:??:E0:3F:11'
list maclist '??:??:??:F1:3C:49'
list maclist '??:??:??:13:EC:12'
list maclist '??:??:??:5D:02:A6'
list maclist '??:??:??:D6:B8:2D'
list maclist '??:??:??:8D:44:23'
list maclist '??:??:??:C3:F9:17'
list maclist '??:??:??:D1:68:15'
list maclist '??:??:??:D2:24:D5'
list maclist '??:??:??:1E:2C:DC'
list maclist '??:??:??:1E:2C:DD'
list maclist '??:??:??:0E:4E:7D'
list maclist '??:??:??:1E:33:8E'
list maclist '??:??:??:CA:A2:C4'
list maclist '??:??:??:06:85:FB'
list maclist '??:??:??:07:4B:63'
list maclist '??:??:??:AD:4C:68'
list maclist '??:??:??:A0:A3:20'
list maclist '??:??:??:C2:79:51'
list maclist '??:??:??:B9:92:70'
list maclist '??:??:??:0E:D6:6F'
list maclist '??:??:??:0F:BF:E3'
list maclist '??:??:??:0F:BF:E4'
list maclist '??:??:??:45:4B:A0'
list maclist '??:??:??:09:28:4F'
list maclist '??:??:??:0A:57:8B'
list maclist '??:??:??:83:7A:4B'
list maclist '??:??:??:7B:89:FE'
list maclist '??:??:??:01:F8:32'
list maclist '??:??:??:01:F6:BB'
list maclist '??:??:??:7B:8A:56'
list maclist '??:??:??:6A:71:03'
list maclist '??:??:??:E5:14:8E'
list maclist '??:??:??:8C:A1:79'
list maclist '??:??:??:F6:24:9B'
list maclist '??:??:??:3C:8B:76'
config wifi-device 'radio1'
option type 'mac80211'
option hwmode '11a'
option path 'soc/soc:pcie@82000000/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/0000:03:00.0'
option htmode 'VHT80'
option cell_density '0'
option channel '100'
option country 'CA'
config wifi-iface 'default_radio1'
option device 'radio1'
option network 'lan'
option mode 'ap'
option macaddr '??:??:??:67:cd:38'
option ssid 'SleepDeprivationLabs-5GHZ'
option encryption 'psk2'
option key '<redacted>'
OK, so I've set channel 36, since (if I read that Wikipedia link correctly) since no "DFS" is mentioned for Canada. Then power cycle and check... sure enough, I see it on my "WiFi Analyzer" app on my tablet, and I can connect to it and it works fine.
So now I need to wait a few day(s) to be sure it's working correctly?
Yeah.... give it a few days and report back with the status.
When you come back, if your problem is solved, please consider marking this topic as [Solved]. See How to mark a topic as [Solved] for a short how-to.
Thanks!
(and if not, obviously tell us what you're expereincing and we'll keep troubleshooting).
So far so good. I've moved 6 of my devices to the 5Ghz radio (4 Echo Dots, 1 phone, 1 tablet). Will beat on it for a day or so and then add some more devices each day.
Can you recommend a way to monitor the realtime performance of WiFi networks? My router is pretty much stock OpenWRT firmware. I know there are many packages available for install, but it's a bit of a mystery to me.
I know there's Status -> Realtime Graphs -> WLAN1, an example of which is attached. I expected to see a large increase, but this graph doesn't seem to see the SpeedTest running on the phone.
Thank you so much for this. I was on the verge of junking my old WRT1200AC because I could no longer get a 5GHz WLAN working any more. Pointing it at a specific channel without DFS/TPC issues as shown on that page fixed the problem instantly.
