Chateau LTE18 ax: 2.4GHz Wifi Issue

RouterOS Wireless Networking
1

Hi everyone,
I’ve got a problem with my Chateau LTE18 ax. Since a power outage a few days ago, no 2.4GHz Wifi is working anymore. I checked for firmware upgrades, but I already installed the latest. Here are some details:

  • Firmeware: RouterOS + wifi-qcom Version 7.14.3

Behaviour:

  • wifi1 (5GHz-ax) and wifi2 (2GHz-n) interfaces are configured exactly the same. However, the 5GHz SSID shows up, while the 2.4GHz SSID is not showing up
  • When starting a Wifi scan with wifi1 (5GHz), other networks are found. When scanning on wifi2 (2.4GHz), nothing shows up (but there should).

In my opinion, my problem could have two reasons:

  • Possible Reason 1: wifi2 is broken
  • Possible Reason 2: the router installed a firmware upgrade after reboot, since then, the correct drivers are not installed anymore. However, I manually tried reinstalling the wifi-qcom packet without any change.

Are there any known issues?

2

Maybe, to double check, my current configuration, where Wifi on 2.4GHz is not working:

/interface/wifi/actual-configuration print
 0 ;;; 5GHz Wifi
   name="wifi1" l2mtu=1560 mac-address=xxx arp-timeout=auto 
   radio-mac=xxx
   configuration.mode=ap .ssid="myssid" .country=Austria 
   security.authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk  .passphrase="secret-password" .wps=disable 
   channel.frequency=5300 .band=5ghz-ax .width=20/40/80mhz 
   .skip-dfs-channels=disabled 

 1 ;;; 2.4GHz Wifi
   name="wifi2" l2mtu=1560 mac-address=xxx arp-timeout=auto 
   radio-mac=xxx
   configuration.mode=ap .ssid="myssid" .country=Austria 
   security.authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk 
   .passphrase="secret-password" .wps=disable 
   channel.frequency=2437 .band=2ghz-n .width=20mhz .skip-dfs-channels=disabled
3

What does

/interface/wifi/print detail

output?

4

And to be sure you’re running the latest routerboard firmware as well:

/system/routerboard/print

and check in output if current-firmware and upgrade-firmware matches.

5

You were right concerning the firmware. Current-Firmware and upgrade firmware were not the same. I upgraded, now the firmware is up-to-date, but the issue persists.

/system/routerboard/print   
       routerboard: yes
             model: S53UG+5HaxD2HaxD&EG18-EA
     serial-number: xxx
     firmware-type: ipq6000
  factory-firmware: 7.6
  current-firmware: 7.14.3
  upgrade-firmware: 7.14.3

Here are the wireless settings:

/interface/wifi/print detail
Flags: M - master; D - dynamic; B - bound; 
X - disabled, I - inactive, R - running 
 0 M BR ;;; 5GHz Wifi
        default-name="wifi1" name="wifi1" l2mtu=1560 
        mac-address=xxx arp-timeout=auto 
        radio-mac=xxx configuration=common-wifi-config 
        configuration.mode=ap 
        security=common-pw 
        security.authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk 
        channel=5ghz channel 
        channel.frequency=5300 .skip-dfs-channels=disabled 

 1 M B  ;;; 2.4GHz Wifi
        default-name="wifi2" name="wifi2" l2mtu=1560 
        mac-address=xxx arp-timeout=auto 
        radio-mac=xxx configuration=common-wifi-config 
        configuration.mode=ap 
        security=common-pw 
        security.authentication-types=wpa2-psk,wpa3-psk 
        channel=2ghz channel 
        channel.frequency=2437
6

As indicated in your output, wifi2 interface is not running. Hard to tell the reason. Do you see any errors or information in system log?

7

No, unfortunately, no unusual logs in the system log.

As far as I know, a wireless interface is only marked as running, when a client is connected. Unless, no client is connected, no running flag is displayed.

Any other idea? Could it be a hardware defect?

8

How did you actually scan for your 2.4ghz AP?

9

For quick checking if it works, I am using NetSpot for Android. Not the most professional tool, but still a reliable one.

To really make sure if the 2.4GHz “wifi2” is there (or not), I am disabling the 5GHz “wifi1” on the router and check with my notebook and smartphone if I can find my SSID.

Any other suggestions?

10

analiti for Android

11

Looks like a great app. Thanks for the suggestion.

Anyway, 2.4GHz is still not showing up…

12

As you said initially that wifi2 was working and just after a power outage it was gone - it could possibly be a hardware defect indeed.

Could not harm to contact Mikrotik support → https://mikrotik.com/support
Create a supout.rif and attach it to your helpdesk issue. Maybe even include the URL to this forum topic along with your issue description.

https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/display/ROS/Supout.rif

13

PS:

Have you already tried to use

band=2ghz-ax

instead of

band=2ghz-n

?

14

Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I tried all different kind of settings. Changing the band, channel, or frequency does not help.

15

You can even unset “band” so ROS chooses the newest supported standard by hardware.

16

This is true. It needs at least one connected/active client to get the “R” flag.

17

Unfortunately, this makes no difference. Still no 2.4GHz signal… I contacted MikroTiks support. Hope they can help.

18

Support asked me to reinstall the operating system using NetInstall. After doing that, everything worked fine!

Thanks for all the advice.

19

Nice to hear. And fast response by support as well.