Some (not all) devices cannot connect to 5GHz after upgrading v6.45.1 to v6.49.15

RouterOS Wireless Networking
1

I’ve got a RB962UiGS-5HacT2HnT that’s been my main 5GHz access point for some time.

I have some ongoing switch/bridge config issues that I was (and still am) investigating, but whilst working on that I upgraded the device from v6.45.1 to v6.49.15.

Having done that, SOME of my devices can no longer connect to the 5GHz network, but others still can. Two Google Home speakers, my (linux) Lenovo laptop, possibly my Neato vacuum all fail to connect. My OnePlus 6T phone, my iPad Mini, my wife’s iPhone, an older-vintage Google Home speaker and a Google Nest Hub display all connected without issue.

I was going to try downgrading again but v6.45.1 doesn’t appear to still be available. I switched to the long-term release which is v6.49.13 but the issue remains.

The only clues I have are from the linux laptop syslog NetworkManager that cycles like this several times:

device (wlp3s0): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> scanning
device (wlp3s0): supplicant interface state: scanning -> disconnected

and then ends with

device (wlp3s0): Activation: (wifi) association took too long, failing activation
device (wlp3s0): state change: config -> failed (reason 'ssid-not-found', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
device (wlp3s0): Activation: failed for connection '<ssid-removed>'

The router in AP Bridge mode, band 5GHz-N/AC, channel width 20/40/80MHz Ceee, freq auto, using WPA2-PSK, aes ccm ciphers. All of these settings are as they were before the upgrade.

What can I investigate to solve this issue?

2

Trying setting a fixed (lower) frequency like 5180?

3

Thanks ips - I’ll give that a go.

What I DID do that fixed the issue was reduce the channel-width from 20/40/80mhx-Ceee to 20/40mhx-eC. All devices then managed to connect without issue. I don’t know why the wider channel worked with the earlier firmware but caused problems with ~50% of the devices with the newer firmware.

4

Maybe changing the width influenced the choice of the channel, which in turn affected connectivity.

5

It is probably interesting to take note of what channel is used with the automatic choice with the 80MHz width and with the modified width.