WNDR3700v4 19.07.3 stable, unstable, zero signal on 5GHz

I just started using Openwrt on a Netgear WNDR3700v4. I am running 19.07 stable. Initially on 19.07.1 the radios seemed to be "unstable" ie. approximately every 24 hrs I would have to either restart the radios or cycle the router to get wireless access. If i was connected via ethernet I could still access the router (ie. to restart the radios). Now, I've upgraded to 19.07.3 and the 5ghz radio (Atheros AR9580 802.11an) is detected but has zero signal (even after cycling the router.) I'm not sure if it's still unstable.

Should I file I bug report? Is there a best way to file a bug report? Is there anything I can try?

Just to be sure. Did you do a full reset after upgrade from stock firmware and/or from 19.07.1 to 19.07.3?
If not do a full reset and don't make any configuration settings. Just enable WLAN (set a password before if router is connected to internet) and test if it is stable with plain settings.
My guess is that you simply have choosen the wrong channel according to the allowed frequencies/channels in your country (country code in OpenWrt). E. g. 100-140 is not allowed within US. 149 and above is not allowed within EU. Try a channel within the range 36-64.

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I reset it this morning. Last time I had to reboot it behaved like there was a process getting bogged down: could barely log in, LuCi was glacially slow and dysfunctional. Will see... thanks.

However, the 5Ghz radio is still putting out 0 signal (it defaults to channel 36 but I moved it around with no change.) Looking through dmesg output I noticed:

[   11.653435] ath9k ar934x_wmac: Direct firmware load for soc_wmac.eeprom failed with error -2
[   11.662054] ath9k ar934x_wmac: Falling back to user helper
[   12.097998] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x0
[   12.098008] ath: EEPROM indicates default country code should be used
[   12.098013] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[   12.098029] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x3a
[   12.098035] ath: Country alpha2 being used: US
[   12.098039] ath: Regpair used: 0x3a
[   12.112281] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[   12.114358] ieee80211 phy0: Atheros AR9340 Rev:2 mem=0xb8100000, irq=47
[   12.121272] pci 0000:00:00.0: using irq 40 for pin 1
[   12.126392] PCI: Enabling device 0000:00:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
[   12.133332] ath9k 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for pci_wmac0.eeprom failed with error -2
[   12.142132] ath9k 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   13.798989] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x0
[   13.798999] ath: EEPROM indicates default country code should be used
[   13.799003] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[   13.799020] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x3a
[   13.799026] ath: Country alpha2 being used: US
[   13.799031] ath: Regpair used: 0x3a

Also, the 2.4Ghz radio is listed as "Generic 802.11bgn" whereas the 5Ghz is "Atheros AR9580 802.11an". Is the Atheros driver a kernel module and isn't loading correctly but it will run 2.4 out of kernel directly?

Thanks for looking at this... Should I file a bug report?

What would you report? Without any basic research for the reason causing this issue would not make much sense because you would just post sth. like "5GHz Wifi not running on WNDR3700v4". :wink: ... It could be also a hardware problem.

Please post the full kernel log and the output of uci show network && uci show wireless (after a reset without any settings). Please use a service like pastebin to make it better readable.

Beside that: What link/file did you use to install OpenWrt on your device and did you install over GUI or over TFTP? Did you upgrade from another custom firmware already or did you upgrade from stock?

https://dev.archive.openwrt.org/ticket/13023.html

There is also a script added:

Czy nie można tego jakoś dodać do /etc/uci-defaults aby po pierwszym właśnie starcie wykonywał coś w ten deseń (wzorowałem się na /etc/uci-defaults/02-networks):

#!/bin/sh

[ -e /etc/config/wireless ] && exit 0

CZYTAM_PAMIEC=devmem 0x180600b0

case "$CZYTAM_PAMIEC" in

    "0x002F055A") echo "radio1 jest ok" ;;
    "0x002F051A") echo "radio1 jest nieobecne - wykonuje reboot" && reboot ;;
    *) echo "nie wykonano skryptu"

esac

uci commit wireless

exit 0

Basically the device is rebooting as long it is not getting a working 5GHz radio. oO

So YES it is a bug. And YES they are aware of this bug. But I think it will not be fixed because it is not possible to fix (existing since over 5 years). Just the "workaround" mentioned above.

EDIT: I would recommend to deactivate the 5GHz radio and use 2,4GHz only.

I installed 'openwrt-19.07.1-ar71xx-nand-wndr3700v4-ubi-factory.img' downloaded from the openwrt.org table of hardware from the gui in the stock firmware and then upgraded using 'openwrt-19.07.3-ar71xx-nand-wndr3700v4-squashfs-sysupgrade.tar' from LuCi.

I mention filing a bug report because on 19.07.1 the 5Ghz did work, but was unstable ie. after several hours devices connected at 5ghz would lose connection, but would work again if you restarted the 5ghz radio from LuCi. But, with 19.07.3, while the 5ghz radio appears to be detected, the signal is at -93db and is not detected by any devices. With both versions the radio appears to be detected and can be enabled so I'm not sure the previous bug you mentioned applies.

Thanks for your time. I'm getting the sense that maybe this device isn't very well supported...

Here is 'uci show wireless':

typwireless.radio0=wifi-device
wireless.radio0.type='mac80211'
wireless.radio0.channel='11'
wireless.radio0.hwmode='11g'
wireless.radio0.path='platform/ar934x_wmac'
wireless.radio0.htmode='HT20'
wireless.default_radio0=wifi-iface
wireless.default_radio0.device='radio0'
wireless.default_radio0.network='lan'
wireless.default_radio0.mode='ap'
wireless.default_radio0.key='*********'
wireless.default_radio0.ssid='lakeofennui'
wireless.default_radio0.encryption='psk2'
wireless.radio1=wifi-device
wireless.radio1.type='mac80211'
wireless.radio1.hwmode='11a'
wireless.radio1.path='pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0'
wireless.radio1.htmode='HT40'
wireless.radio1.channel='44'
wireless.radio1.disabled='1'
wireless.default_radio1=wifi-iface
wireless.default_radio1.device='radio1'
wireless.default_radio1.network='lan'
wireless.default_radio1.mode='ap'
wireless.default_radio1.key='********'
wireless.default_radio1.ssid='5lakesofennui'
wireless.default_radio1.encryption='psk2'
wireless.default_radio1.disabled='1'

Here is 'uci show network':

network.loopback=interface
network.loopback.ifname='lo'
network.loopback.proto='static'
network.loopback.ipaddr='127.0.0.1'
network.loopback.netmask='255.0.0.0'
network.globals=globals
network.globals.ula_prefix='fd3f:d45b:6efd::/48'
network.lan=interface
network.lan.type='bridge'
network.lan.ifname='eth0.1'
network.lan.proto='static'
network.lan.ipaddr='192.168.1.1'
network.lan.netmask='255.255.255.0'
network.lan.ip6assign='60'
network.lan_eth0_1_dev=device
network.lan_eth0_1_dev.name='eth0.1'
network.lan_eth0_1_dev.macaddr='28:c6:8e:c0:94:b1'
network.wan=interface
network.wan.ifname='eth0.2'
network.wan.proto='dhcp'
network.wan_eth0_2_dev=device
network.wan_eth0_2_dev.name='eth0.2'
network.wan_eth0_2_dev.macaddr='28:c6:8e:c0:94:b2'
network.wan6=interface
network.wan6.ifname='eth0.2'
network.wan6.proto='dhcpv6'
network.@switch[0]=switch
network.@switch[0].name='switch0'
network.@switch[0].reset='1'
network.@switch[0].enable_vlan='1'
network.@switch[0].ar8xxx_mib_type='0'
network.@switch[0].ar8xxx_mib_poll_interval='500'
network.@switch_vlan[0]=switch_vlan
network.@switch_vlan[0].device='switch0'
network.@switch_vlan[0].vlan='1'
network.@switch_vlan[0].ports='1 2 3 4 0t'
network.@switch_vlan[1]=switch_vlan
network.@switch_vlan[1].device='switch0'
network.@switch_vlan[1].vlan='2'
network.@switch_vlan[1].ports='5 0t'

Here is the kernel log output:

[    0.000000] Linux version 4.14.180 (builder@buildhost) (gcc version 7.5.0 (OpenWrt GCC 7.5.0 r11063-85e04e9f46)) #0 Sat May 16 18:32:20 2020
[    0.000000] bootconsole [early0] enabled
[    0.000000] CPU0 revision is: 0001974c (MIPS 74Kc)
[    0.000000] SoC: Atheros AR9344 rev 2
[    0.000000] Determined physical RAM map:
[    0.000000]  memory: 08000000 @ 00000000 (usable)
[    0.000000] Initrd not found or empty - disabling initrd
[    0.000000] Primary instruction cache 64kB, VIPT, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes.
[    0.000000] Primary data cache 32kB, 4-way, VIPT, cache aliases, linesize 32 bytes
[    0.000000] Zone ranges:
[    0.000000]   Normal   [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000007ffffff]
[    0.000000] Movable zone start for each node
[    0.000000] Early memory node ranges
[    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000007ffffff]
[    0.000000] Initmem setup node 0 [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000007ffffff]
[    0.000000] On node 0 totalpages: 32768
[    0.000000] free_area_init_node: node 0, pgdat 80536ba0, node_mem_map 81000020
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 256 pages used for memmap
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 0 pages reserved
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 32768 pages, LIFO batch:7
[    0.000000] random: get_random_bytes called from 0x8053a740 with crng_init=0
[    0.000000] pcpu-alloc: s0 r0 d32768 u32768 alloc=1*32768
[    0.000000] pcpu-alloc: [0] 0 
[    0.000000] Built 1 zonelists, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 32512
[    0.000000] Kernel command line:  board=WNDR3700_V4 console=ttyS0,115200 mtdparts=ar934x-nfc:256k(u-boot)ro,256k(u-boot-env)ro,256k(caldata)ro,512k(pot),2048k(language),512k(config),3072k(traffic_meter),2048k(kernel),23552k(ubi),25600k@0x6c0000(firmware),256k(caldata_backup),-(reserved) rootfstype=squashfs noinitrd
[    0.000000] PID hash table entries: 512 (order: -1, 2048 bytes)
[    0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
[    0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
[    0.000000] Writing ErrCtl register=00000000
[    0.000000] Readback ErrCtl register=00000000
[    0.000000] Memory: 124100K/131072K available (4256K kernel code, 176K rwdata, 528K rodata, 216K init, 213K bss, 6972K reserved, 0K cma-reserved)
[    0.000000] SLUB: HWalign=32, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=1, Nodes=1
[    0.000000] NR_IRQS: 51
[    0.000000] Clocks: CPU:560.000MHz, DDR:400.000MHz, AHB:200.000MHz, Ref:40.000MHz
[    0.000000] clocksource: MIPS: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 6825930166 ns
[    0.000010] sched_clock: 32 bits at 280MHz, resolution 3ns, wraps every 7669584382ns
[    0.008316] Calibrating delay loop... 278.93 BogoMIPS (lpj=1394688)
[    0.084944] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
[    0.090078] Mount-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.097139] Mountpoint-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.106948] clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 19112604462750000 ns
[    0.117467] futex hash table entries: 256 (order: -1, 3072 bytes)
[    0.125189] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[    0.131326] MIPS: machine is NETGEAR WNDR3700v4
[    0.136370] ar71xx: using random MAC address for eth0
[    0.374537] registering PCI controller with io_map_base unset
[    0.393756] PCI host bridge to bus 0000:00
[    0.398128] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [mem 0x10000000-0x13ffffff]
[    0.405495] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [io  0x0000]
[    0.411425] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [??? 0x00000000 flags 0x0]
[    0.418663] pci_bus 0000:00: No busn resource found for root bus, will use [bus 00-ff]
[    0.427121] pci 0000:00:00.0: [168c:0033] type 00 class 0x028000
[    0.427138] pci 0000:00:00.0: invalid calibration data
[    0.432658] pci 0000:00:00.0: reg 0x10: [mem 0x00000000-0x0001ffff 64bit]
[    0.432715] pci 0000:00:00.0: reg 0x30: [mem 0x00000000-0x0000ffff pref]
[    0.432798] pci 0000:00:00.0: supports D1
[    0.432809] pci 0000:00:00.0: PME# supported from D0 D1 D3hot
[    0.433022] pci_bus 0000:00: busn_res: [bus 00-ff] end is updated to 00
[    0.433051] pci 0000:00:00.0: BAR 0: assigned [mem 0x10000000-0x1001ffff 64bit]
[    0.440851] pci 0000:00:00.0: BAR 6: assigned [mem 0x10020000-0x1002ffff pref]
[    0.452012] clocksource: Switched to clocksource MIPS
[    0.458465] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[    0.464083] TCP established hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.471505] TCP bind hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.478332] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 1024 bind 1024)
[    0.485247] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.491479] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.498459] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[    0.503187] PCI: CLS 0 bytes, default 32
[    0.506159] Crashlog allocated RAM at address 0x3f00000
[    0.513144] workingset: timestamp_bits=30 max_order=15 bucket_order=0
[    0.525324] squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
[    0.531531] jffs2: version 2.2 (NAND) (SUMMARY) (LZMA) (RTIME) (CMODE_PRIORITY) (c) 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
[    0.552891] io scheduler noop registered
[    0.557068] io scheduler deadline registered (default)
[    0.563029] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 16 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
[    0.571941] console [ttyS0] disabled
[    0.595860] serial8250.0: ttyS0 at MMIO 0x18020000 (irq = 11, base_baud = 2500000) is a 16550A
[    0.605060] console [ttyS0] enabled
[    0.612489] bootconsole [early0] disabled
[    0.628076] nand: device found, Manufacturer ID: 0x2c, Chip ID: 0xf1
[    0.634576] nand: Micron NAND 128MiB 3,3V 8-bit
[    0.639173] nand: 128 MiB, SLC, erase size: 128 KiB, page size: 2048, OOB size: 64
[    0.646905] Scanning device for bad blocks
[    0.654827] random: fast init done
[    0.736167] 12 cmdlinepart partitions found on MTD device ar934x-nfc
[    0.742638] Creating 12 MTD partitions on "ar934x-nfc":
[    0.747950] 0x000000000000-0x000000040000 : "u-boot"
[    0.754401] 0x000000040000-0x000000080000 : "u-boot-env"
[    0.761822] 0x000000080000-0x0000000c0000 : "caldata"
[    0.768366] 0x0000000c0000-0x000000140000 : "pot"
[    0.775253] 0x000000140000-0x000000340000 : "language"
[    0.781844] 0x000000340000-0x0000003c0000 : "config"
[    0.788976] 0x0000003c0000-0x0000006c0000 : "traffic_meter"
[    0.796071] 0x0000006c0000-0x0000008c0000 : "kernel"
[    0.803192] 0x0000008c0000-0x000001fc0000 : "ubi"
[    0.809469] 0x0000006c0000-0x000001fc0000 : "firmware"
[    1.171259] 0x000001fc0000-0x000002000000 : "caldata_backup"
[    1.178754] 0x000002000000-0x000008000000 : "reserved"
[    1.186617] libphy: Fixed MDIO Bus: probed
[    1.196059] switch0: Atheros AR8327 rev. 4 switch registered on ag71xx-mdio.0
[    1.865561] libphy: ag71xx_mdio: probed
[    2.493367] ag71xx ag71xx.0: connected to PHY at ag71xx-mdio.0:00 [uid=004dd034, driver=Atheros AR8216/AR8236/AR8316]
[    2.504769] eth0: Atheros AG71xx at 0xb9000000, irq 4, mode: rgmii
[    2.513599] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[    2.523755] Segment Routing with IPv6
[    2.527586] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[    2.532205] bridge: filtering via arp/ip/ip6tables is no longer available by default. Update your scripts to load br_netfilter if you need this.
[    2.545930] 8021q: 802.1Q VLAN Support v1.8
[    2.554074] UBI: auto-attach mtd8
[    2.557471] ubi0: attaching mtd8
[    2.838869] ubi0: scanning is finished
[    2.858821] ubi0: attached mtd8 (name "ubi", size 23 MiB)
[    2.864362] ubi0: PEB size: 131072 bytes (128 KiB), LEB size: 126976 bytes
[    2.871335] ubi0: min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048/2048, sub-page size 2048
[    2.878238] ubi0: VID header offset: 2048 (aligned 2048), data offset: 4096
[    2.885318] ubi0: good PEBs: 184, bad PEBs: 0, corrupted PEBs: 0
[    2.891409] ubi0: user volume: 2, internal volumes: 1, max. volumes count: 128
[    2.898751] ubi0: max/mean erase counter: 4/1, WL threshold: 4096, image sequence number: 1942060648
[    2.908032] ubi0: available PEBs: 0, total reserved PEBs: 184, PEBs reserved for bad PEB handling: 20
[    2.917454] ubi0: background thread "ubi_bgt0d" started, PID 372
[    2.925153] block ubiblock0_0: created from ubi0:0(rootfs)
[    2.930729] ubiblock: device ubiblock0_0 (rootfs) set to be root filesystem
[    2.937857] hctosys: unable to open rtc device (rtc0)
[    2.950874] VFS: Mounted root (squashfs filesystem) readonly on device 254:0.
[    2.959254] Freeing unused kernel memory: 216K
[    2.963804] This architecture does not have kernel memory protection.
[    3.653898] init: Console is alive
[    3.657602] init: - watchdog -
[    4.706063] kmodloader: loading kernel modules from /etc/modules-boot.d/*
[    4.778986] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[    4.784699] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[    4.790176] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[    4.800718] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
[    4.809127] ehci-platform: EHCI generic platform driver
[    4.814578] ehci-platform ehci-platform: EHCI Host Controller
[    4.820458] ehci-platform ehci-platform: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[    4.830625] ehci-platform ehci-platform: irq 3, io mem 0x1b000000
[    4.862061] ehci-platform ehci-platform: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
[    4.869257] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    4.873507] hub 1-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[    4.878735] kmodloader: done loading kernel modules from /etc/modules-boot.d/*
[    4.889062] init: - preinit -
[    5.496782] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[    5.529952] random: procd: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
[    6.523286] eth0: link up (1000Mbps/Full duplex)
[    6.528059] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[    8.808542] UBIFS (ubi0:1): background thread "ubifs_bgt0_1" started, PID 443
[    8.935469] UBIFS (ubi0:1): recovery needed
[    8.974162] random: crng init done
[    9.220988] UBIFS (ubi0:1): recovery completed
[    9.225647] UBIFS (ubi0:1): UBIFS: mounted UBI device 0, volume 1, name "rootfs_data"
[    9.233624] UBIFS (ubi0:1): LEB size: 126976 bytes (124 KiB), min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048 bytes/2048 bytes
[    9.243715] UBIFS (ubi0:1): FS size: 16379904 bytes (15 MiB, 129 LEBs), journal size 1015809 bytes (0 MiB, 6 LEBs)
[    9.254235] UBIFS (ubi0:1): reserved for root: 773663 bytes (755 KiB)
[    9.260776] UBIFS (ubi0:1): media format: w4/r0 (latest is w5/r0), UUID 1E6F0584-CF0C-4C08-BE32-80A30464ADA1, small LPT model
[    9.274206] mount_root: overlay filesystem has not been fully initialized yet
[    9.281963] mount_root: switching to ubifs overlay
[    9.316710] urandom-seed: Seed file not found (/etc/urandom.seed)
[    9.496748] eth0: link down
[    9.512835] procd: - early -
[    9.515903] procd: - watchdog -
[   10.184644] procd: - watchdog -
[   10.188173] procd: - ubus -
[   10.337780] procd: - init -
[   11.088144] kmodloader: loading kernel modules from /etc/modules.d/*
[   11.214949] ip6_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[   11.242324] Loading modules backported from Linux version v4.19.120-0-gfdc072324f3c
[   11.250095] Backport generated by backports.git v4.19.120-1-0-g60c3a249
[   11.274603] ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[   11.300844] nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (2048 buckets, 8192 max)
[   11.429670] xt_time: kernel timezone is -0000
[   11.535458] urngd: v1.0.2 started.
[   11.567704] PPP generic driver version 2.4.2
[   11.583083] NET: Registered protocol family 24
[   11.653435] ath9k ar934x_wmac: Direct firmware load for soc_wmac.eeprom failed with error -2
[   11.662054] ath9k ar934x_wmac: Falling back to user helper
[   12.097998] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x0
[   12.098008] ath: EEPROM indicates default country code should be used
[   12.098013] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[   12.098029] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x3a
[   12.098035] ath: Country alpha2 being used: US
[   12.098039] ath: Regpair used: 0x3a
[   12.112281] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[   12.114358] ieee80211 phy0: Atheros AR9340 Rev:2 mem=0xb8100000, irq=47
[   12.121272] pci 0000:00:00.0: using irq 40 for pin 1
[   12.126392] PCI: Enabling device 0000:00:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
[   12.133332] ath9k 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for pci_wmac0.eeprom failed with error -2
[   12.142132] ath9k 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   13.798989] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x0
[   13.798999] ath: EEPROM indicates default country code should be used
[   13.799003] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[   13.799020] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x3a
[   13.799026] ath: Country alpha2 being used: US
[   13.799031] ath: Regpair used: 0x3a
[   13.810408] ieee80211 phy1: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[   13.812587] ieee80211 phy1: Atheros AR9300 Rev:4 mem=0xb0000000, irq=40
[   13.846242] kmodloader: done loading kernel modules from /etc/modules.d/*
[   75.604145] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[   75.611421] eth0: link up (1000Mbps/Full duplex)
[   75.622101] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[   75.656456] device eth0 entered promiscuous mode
[   75.666803] br-lan: port 1(eth0.1) entered blocking state
[   75.672358] br-lan: port 1(eth0.1) entered disabled state
[   75.678173] device eth0.1 entered promiscuous mode
[   75.736203] br-lan: port 1(eth0.1) entered blocking state
[   75.741695] br-lan: port 1(eth0.1) entered forwarding state
[   75.747601] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): br-lan: link is not ready
[   76.682553] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): br-lan: link becomes ready
[  716.645056] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[  716.701058] br-lan: port 2(wlan0) entered blocking state
[  716.706462] br-lan: port 2(wlan0) entered disabled state
[  716.712353] device wlan0 entered promiscuous mode
[  717.225511] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[  717.232325] br-lan: port 2(wlan0) entered blocking state
[  717.237747] br-lan: port 2(wlan0) entered forwarding state
[  771.455000] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan1: link is not ready
[  771.521993] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered blocking state
[  771.527455] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered disabled state
[  771.533260] device wlan1 entered promiscuous mode
[  772.193196] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan1: link becomes ready
[  772.200053] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered blocking state
[  772.205486] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered forwarding state
[  808.287698] device wlan1 left promiscuous mode
[  808.292447] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered disabled state
[ 2558.284452] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan1: link is not ready
[ 2558.337421] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered blocking state
[ 2558.342889] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered disabled state
[ 2558.348708] device wlan1 entered promiscuous mode
[ 2558.888105] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan1: link becomes ready
[ 2558.895059] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered blocking state
[ 2558.900532] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered forwarding state
[12158.760046] device wlan1 left promiscuous mode
[12158.764812] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered disabled state
[12545.818953] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan1: link is not ready
[12545.858777] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered blocking state
[12545.864243] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered disabled state
[12545.870003] device wlan1 entered promiscuous mode
[12546.646839] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan1: link becomes ready
[12546.653663] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered blocking state
[12546.659087] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered forwarding state
[12605.149691] device wlan1 left promiscuous mode
[12605.154581] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered disabled state
[23803.083420] conntrack: generic helper won't handle protocol 47. Please consider loading the specific helper module.

I should have said the signal/noise for the 5ghz radio in 19.07.3 is --|93db ie. no signal.

I didn't know that. But you could try to file a bug with this explanatory statement. Maybe someone will have a look into and revert it to the old state if possible with passable effort.

EDIT: But before you could try out a master build if there it is fixed/better.

FWIW I'm running a WNDR3700v4 and 5GHz wifi has been fine. It's fine for me today on 19.07.0, and it was fine for me 5 years ago when running a much older version of openwrt...

I bought and am running this hardware in the UK if that is any difference.

wireless.radio1.disabled='1
wireless.default_radio1.disabled='1'

I cannot see any error in logs. Beside this config error? Or was this set/disabled on purpose?

here's the kernel log with the 5ghz radio enabled... this is actually from 19.7.0 and the 5ghz radio is still zero signal. given that this version appears to work for someone else's wndr3700v4 and this one is mysteriously unstable I guess the preponderance of evidence is some kind of hardware fault...

oh well...

[    0.000000] Linux version 4.14.162 (builder@buildhost) (gcc version 7.5.0 (OpenWrt GCC 7.5.0 r10860-a3ffeb413b)) #0 Mon Jan 6 16:47:09 2020
[    0.000000] bootconsole [early0] enabled
[    0.000000] CPU0 revision is: 0001974c (MIPS 74Kc)
[    0.000000] SoC: Atheros AR9344 rev 2
[    0.000000] Determined physical RAM map:
[    0.000000]  memory: 08000000 @ 00000000 (usable)
[    0.000000] Initrd not found or empty - disabling initrd
[    0.000000] Primary instruction cache 64kB, VIPT, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes.
[    0.000000] Primary data cache 32kB, 4-way, VIPT, cache aliases, linesize 32 bytes
[    0.000000] Zone ranges:
[    0.000000]   Normal   [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000007ffffff]
[    0.000000] Movable zone start for each node
[    0.000000] Early memory node ranges
[    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000007ffffff]
[    0.000000] Initmem setup node 0 [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000007ffffff]
[    0.000000] On node 0 totalpages: 32768
[    0.000000] free_area_init_node: node 0, pgdat 80536ba0, node_mem_map 81000020
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 256 pages used for memmap
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 0 pages reserved
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 32768 pages, LIFO batch:7
[    0.000000] random: get_random_bytes called from 0x8053a740 with crng_init=0
[    0.000000] pcpu-alloc: s0 r0 d32768 u32768 alloc=1*32768
[    0.000000] pcpu-alloc: [0] 0 
[    0.000000] Built 1 zonelists, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 32512
[    0.000000] Kernel command line:  board=WNDR3700_V4 console=ttyS0,115200 mtdparts=ar934x-nfc:256k(u-boot)ro,256k(u-boot-env)ro,256k(caldata)ro,512k(pot),2048k(language),512k(config),3072k(traffic_meter),2048k(kernel),23552k(ubi),25600k@0x6c0000(firmware),256k(caldata_backup),-(reserved) rootfstype=squashfs noinitrd
[    0.000000] PID hash table entries: 512 (order: -1, 2048 bytes)
[    0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
[    0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
[    0.000000] Writing ErrCtl register=00000000
[    0.000000] Readback ErrCtl register=00000000
[    0.000000] Memory: 124100K/131072K available (4253K kernel code, 178K rwdata, 528K rodata, 216K init, 213K bss, 6972K reserved, 0K cma-reserved)
[    0.000000] SLUB: HWalign=32, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=1, Nodes=1
[    0.000000] NR_IRQS: 51
[    0.000000] Clocks: CPU:560.000MHz, DDR:400.000MHz, AHB:200.000MHz, Ref:40.000MHz
[    0.000000] clocksource: MIPS: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 6825930166 ns
[    0.000010] sched_clock: 32 bits at 280MHz, resolution 3ns, wraps every 7669584382ns
[    0.008318] Calibrating delay loop... 278.93 BogoMIPS (lpj=1394688)
[    0.084944] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
[    0.090080] Mount-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.097149] Mountpoint-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.107004] clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 19112604462750000 ns
[    0.117516] futex hash table entries: 256 (order: -1, 3072 bytes)
[    0.125240] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[    0.131414] MIPS: machine is NETGEAR WNDR3700v4
[    0.136464] ar71xx: using random MAC address for eth0
[    0.374593] registering PCI controller with io_map_base unset
[    0.393780] PCI host bridge to bus 0000:00
[    0.398154] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [mem 0x10000000-0x13ffffff]
[    0.405517] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [io  0x0000]
[    0.411450] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [??? 0x00000000 flags 0x0]
[    0.418689] pci_bus 0000:00: No busn resource found for root bus, will use [bus 00-ff]
[    0.427155] pci 0000:00:00.0: [168c:0033] type 00 class 0x028000
[    0.427172] pci 0000:00:00.0: invalid calibration data
[    0.432697] pci 0000:00:00.0: reg 0x10: [mem 0x00000000-0x0001ffff 64bit]
[    0.432754] pci 0000:00:00.0: reg 0x30: [mem 0x00000000-0x0000ffff pref]
[    0.432836] pci 0000:00:00.0: supports D1
[    0.432847] pci 0000:00:00.0: PME# supported from D0 D1 D3hot
[    0.433068] pci_bus 0000:00: busn_res: [bus 00-ff] end is updated to 00
[    0.433098] pci 0000:00:00.0: BAR 0: assigned [mem 0x10000000-0x1001ffff 64bit]
[    0.440895] pci 0000:00:00.0: BAR 6: assigned [mem 0x10020000-0x1002ffff pref]
[    0.452038] clocksource: Switched to clocksource MIPS
[    0.458527] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[    0.464153] TCP established hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.471581] TCP bind hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.478404] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 1024 bind 1024)
[    0.485320] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.491554] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.498529] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[    0.503252] PCI: CLS 0 bytes, default 32
[    0.506224] Crashlog allocated RAM at address 0x3f00000
[    0.513195] workingset: timestamp_bits=30 max_order=15 bucket_order=0
[    0.525466] squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
[    0.531673] jffs2: version 2.2 (NAND) (SUMMARY) (LZMA) (RTIME) (CMODE_PRIORITY) (c) 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
[    0.552898] io scheduler noop registered
[    0.557075] io scheduler deadline registered (default)
[    0.563045] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 16 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
[    0.572097] console [ttyS0] disabled
[    0.595968] serial8250.0: ttyS0 at MMIO 0x18020000 (irq = 11, base_baud = 2500000) is a 16550A
[    0.605167] console [ttyS0] enabled
[    0.612597] bootconsole [early0] disabled
[    0.628130] nand: device found, Manufacturer ID: 0x2c, Chip ID: 0xf1
[    0.634627] nand: Micron NAND 128MiB 3,3V 8-bit
[    0.639222] nand: 128 MiB, SLC, erase size: 128 KiB, page size: 2048, OOB size: 64
[    0.646943] Scanning device for bad blocks
[    0.654926] random: fast init done
[    0.736034] 12 cmdlinepart partitions found on MTD device ar934x-nfc
[    0.742501] Creating 12 MTD partitions on "ar934x-nfc":
[    0.747813] 0x000000000000-0x000000040000 : "u-boot"
[    0.754273] 0x000000040000-0x000000080000 : "u-boot-env"
[    0.761710] 0x000000080000-0x0000000c0000 : "caldata"
[    0.768273] 0x0000000c0000-0x000000140000 : "pot"
[    0.775147] 0x000000140000-0x000000340000 : "language"
[    0.781756] 0x000000340000-0x0000003c0000 : "config"
[    0.788865] 0x0000003c0000-0x0000006c0000 : "traffic_meter"
[    0.795967] 0x0000006c0000-0x0000008c0000 : "kernel"
[    0.803103] 0x0000008c0000-0x000001fc0000 : "ubi"
[    0.809398] 0x0000006c0000-0x000001fc0000 : "firmware"
[    1.171152] 0x000001fc0000-0x000002000000 : "caldata_backup"
[    1.178650] 0x000002000000-0x000008000000 : "reserved"
[    1.186557] libphy: Fixed MDIO Bus: probed
[    1.195975] switch0: Atheros AR8327 rev. 4 switch registered on ag71xx-mdio.0
[    1.865550] libphy: ag71xx_mdio: probed
[    2.493393] ag71xx ag71xx.0: connected to PHY at ag71xx-mdio.0:00 [uid=004dd034, driver=Atheros AR8216/AR8236/AR8316]
[    2.504791] eth0: Atheros AG71xx at 0xb9000000, irq 4, mode: rgmii
[    2.513712] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[    2.523834] Segment Routing with IPv6
[    2.527662] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[    2.532284] bridge: filtering via arp/ip/ip6tables is no longer available by default. Update your scripts to load br_netfilter if you need this.
[    2.546006] 8021q: 802.1Q VLAN Support v1.8
[    2.554150] UBI: auto-attach mtd8
[    2.557545] ubi0: attaching mtd8
[    2.842766] ubi0: scanning is finished
[    2.862744] ubi0: attached mtd8 (name "ubi", size 23 MiB)
[    2.868238] ubi0: PEB size: 131072 bytes (128 KiB), LEB size: 126976 bytes
[    2.875263] ubi0: min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048/2048, sub-page size 2048
[    2.882162] ubi0: VID header offset: 2048 (aligned 2048), data offset: 4096
[    2.889222] ubi0: good PEBs: 184, bad PEBs: 0, corrupted PEBs: 0
[    2.895326] ubi0: user volume: 2, internal volumes: 1, max. volumes count: 128
[    2.902669] ubi0: max/mean erase counter: 5/1, WL threshold: 4096, image sequence number: 1942060648
[    2.911927] ubi0: available PEBs: 0, total reserved PEBs: 184, PEBs reserved for bad PEB handling: 20
[    2.921336] ubi0: background thread "ubi_bgt0d" started, PID 372
[    2.929050] block ubiblock0_0: created from ubi0:0(rootfs)
[    2.934687] ubiblock: device ubiblock0_0 (rootfs) set to be root filesystem
[    2.941757] hctosys: unable to open rtc device (rtc0)
[    2.954883] VFS: Mounted root (squashfs filesystem) readonly on device 254:0.
[    2.963252] Freeing unused kernel memory: 216K
[    2.967760] This architecture does not have kernel memory protection.
[    3.655390] init: Console is alive
[    3.659097] init: - watchdog -
[    4.706862] kmodloader: loading kernel modules from /etc/modules-boot.d/*
[    4.779588] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[    4.785312] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[    4.790796] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[    4.801500] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
[    4.809888] ehci-platform: EHCI generic platform driver
[    4.815344] ehci-platform ehci-platform: EHCI Host Controller
[    4.821222] ehci-platform ehci-platform: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[    4.831376] ehci-platform ehci-platform: irq 3, io mem 0x1b000000
[    4.862087] ehci-platform ehci-platform: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
[    4.869298] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    4.873539] hub 1-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[    4.878792] kmodloader: done loading kernel modules from /etc/modules-boot.d/*
[    4.889065] init: - preinit -
[    5.495362] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[    5.528662] random: procd: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
[    6.523308] eth0: link up (1000Mbps/Full duplex)
[    6.528086] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[    8.813039] UBIFS (ubi0:1): default file-system created
[    8.819812] UBIFS (ubi0:1): background thread "ubifs_bgt0_1" started, PID 443
[    8.974944] random: crng init done
[    9.023068] UBIFS (ubi0:1): UBIFS: mounted UBI device 0, volume 1, name "rootfs_data"
[    9.031030] UBIFS (ubi0:1): LEB size: 126976 bytes (124 KiB), min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048 bytes/2048 bytes
[    9.041141] UBIFS (ubi0:1): FS size: 16379904 bytes (15 MiB, 129 LEBs), journal size 1015809 bytes (0 MiB, 6 LEBs)
[    9.051653] UBIFS (ubi0:1): reserved for root: 773663 bytes (755 KiB)
[    9.058210] UBIFS (ubi0:1): media format: w4/r0 (latest is w5/r0), UUID BFD04441-0E83-44D0-A23C-8284F22544F3, small LPT model
[    9.072275] mount_root: overlay filesystem has not been fully initialized yet
[    9.080009] mount_root: switching to ubifs overlay
[    9.114497] urandom-seed: Seed file not found (/etc/urandom.seed)
[    9.294738] eth0: link down
[    9.310008] procd: - early -
[    9.313846] procd: - watchdog -
[    9.981642] procd: - watchdog -
[    9.985272] procd: - ubus -
[   10.135734] procd: - init -
[   10.885296] kmodloader: loading kernel modules from /etc/modules.d/*
[   10.963016] urngd: v1.0.0 started.
[   11.018416] ip6_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[   11.042135] Loading modules backported from Linux version v4.19.85-0-gc63ee2939dc1
[   11.049821] Backport generated by backports.git v4.19.85-1-0-g8a8be258
[   11.084670] ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[   11.108361] nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (2048 buckets, 8192 max)
[   11.234267] xt_time: kernel timezone is -0000
[   11.327425] PPP generic driver version 2.4.2
[   11.334467] NET: Registered protocol family 24
[   11.375932] ath9k ar934x_wmac: Direct firmware load for soc_wmac.eeprom failed with error -2
[   11.384559] ath9k ar934x_wmac: Falling back to user helper
[   11.615963] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x0
[   11.615973] ath: EEPROM indicates default country code should be used
[   11.615977] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[   11.615993] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x3a
[   11.615999] ath: Country alpha2 being used: US
[   11.616003] ath: Regpair used: 0x3a
[   11.630189] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[   11.632391] ieee80211 phy0: Atheros AR9340 Rev:2 mem=0xb8100000, irq=47
[   11.639301] pci 0000:00:00.0: using irq 40 for pin 1
[   11.644410] PCI: Enabling device 0000:00:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
[   11.651372] ath9k 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for pci_wmac0.eeprom failed with error -2
[   11.660177] ath9k 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   12.646280] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x0
[   12.646290] ath: EEPROM indicates default country code should be used
[   12.646294] ath: doing EEPROM country->regdmn map search
[   12.646311] ath: country maps to regdmn code: 0x3a
[   12.646317] ath: Country alpha2 being used: US
[   12.646321] ath: Regpair used: 0x3a
[   12.657732] ieee80211 phy1: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[   12.659869] ieee80211 phy1: Atheros AR9300 Rev:4 mem=0xb0000000, irq=40
[   12.693542] kmodloader: done loading kernel modules from /etc/modules.d/*
[   36.489735] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[   36.497069] eth0: link up (1000Mbps/Full duplex)
[   36.501769] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[   36.538488] device eth0 entered promiscuous mode
[   36.559135] br-lan: port 1(eth0.1) entered blocking state
[   36.564683] br-lan: port 1(eth0.1) entered disabled state
[   36.570498] device eth0.1 entered promiscuous mode
[   36.635823] br-lan: port 1(eth0.1) entered blocking state
[   36.641328] br-lan: port 1(eth0.1) entered forwarding state
[   36.647232] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): br-lan: link is not ready
[   37.562437] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): br-lan: link becomes ready
[  590.415046] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[  590.466985] br-lan: port 2(wlan0) entered blocking state
[  590.472453] br-lan: port 2(wlan0) entered disabled state
[  590.478196] device wlan0 entered promiscuous mode
[  590.989904] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[  590.996733] br-lan: port 2(wlan0) entered blocking state
[  591.002177] br-lan: port 2(wlan0) entered forwarding state
[  638.123294] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan1: link is not ready
[  638.157994] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered blocking state
[  638.163463] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered disabled state
[  638.169353] device wlan1 entered promiscuous mode
[  638.942633] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan1: link becomes ready
[  638.949420] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered blocking state
[  638.954905] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered forwarding state
[  792.265977] device wlan1 left promiscuous mode
[  792.270823] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered disabled state
[14676.550067] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan1: link is not ready
[14676.589077] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered blocking state
[14676.594812] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered disabled state
[14676.600965] device wlan1 entered promiscuous mode
[14677.182781] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan1: link becomes ready
[14677.189588] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered blocking state
[14677.195079] br-lan: port 3(wlan1) entered forwarding state

Well I would at least try to flash a factory image over tftp before I would dump this unit. But as you said you had to restart 5GHz Wifi on older build already and infinity0 indicating no problems with the current build I would assume that the unit has a defect also.

I just wanted to give a data point, not imply a particular diagnosis. There is that bug report also, that someone else experienced your issue too. It may not be a hardware problem - does the fault occur with other non-openWRT software?

That's true but we can only say that some units have issues with 5GHz WLAN and some not (since 5+ years). The only workaround is either disable 5GHz WLAN or restart WLAN as long as the value from above script is correct. Last option would be a bug report in hope that they have forgotton/dropped some patches for this device which could be re-added/backported.
As I said above I would try a master branch build via tftp to see if master with kernel 5.4? (don't know if this device is already ported) is working. If not I (personally) would just disable 5GHz. Otherwise file a bug or dump the unit. Maybe reverting to stock firmware or to DD-Wrt will solve the problems.

So... coming home I noticed that the wireless was down. I was able to connect to the router via ethernet and discovered that dhcpv6 was using 70% of the cpu. I "hung up" (kill -HUP?) dhcpv6 via LuCi and immediately the wireless came back. However, now the 5Ghz radio was working, devices connected and getting data, and the 2.4Ghz radio was at zero signal. This is still on 19.7.0 and I guess I must have left the 5ghz radio on this morning after I was done playing with it. After rebooting, the 5Ghz radio was back at zero signal and the 2.4ghz was up.

I think I have enough projects to work on right now so I'm going to get another router, but I'm leaving this for any poor soul finding themselves wandering down this path... hardware failure? bug in openwrt? corrupted nonvolatile memory? I will never know. Thanks all.

WNDR3700 v4 is already ported to ath79 and snapshot images are available.

@ennuibz I would give it one last try with a snapshot. If that doesn't work for you, then get a different device.

and btw, AFAICS this question has not been answered yet:

I upgraded to 19.07.4 a while back on my wndr3700v4, but noticed that the 5GHz radio drops out from time to time. I ended up forcing the TX power to 22dBm because the driver default would end up moving it down to 17 (which doesn't give much range).

Come to find out, even after forcing the TX power setting, the power setting would still sometimes go back to "driver default" (17dBm) after a router reboot (even though the config file still shows 22).

So, I added a cron job task that would check for the power setting .. and if "tx power" is not found, then it would restart the 5Ghz radio (hint: if the power setting reverts to "driver default", then "txpower" doesn't show in the radio status).

5 * * * * if [ -n "$(wifi status radio1 | grep "txpower")" ]; then echo "nothing to do"; else wifi reload radio1; echo "restarted 5g radio"; fi

This seems to have fixed my 5GHz issues, although I've only tested for a couple of days with this change.