WiFi Issues hAP ac

RouterOS Wireless Networking
1

I posted this in the Beginners area a few days ago, perhaps this is a more appropriate forum.

I have been using a couple of RB951G-2HnD’s for the last year- one as an AP, the other as a station.
These have been running solidly with no problem.

I recently purchased an hAP ac- as an upgrade in bandwidth - have to admit, bandwidth not really an issue on the current devices though.

I get a weird problem, where one of my computer drops about 5 pings to the hAP (or beyond) every 10-15 pings. My other computers are not affected, nor is my iPhone.
Although I drop pings, I don’t lose the wifi connection, and I can remain connected to the hAP using Winbox throughout (MAC Address?)

ip arp print shows the laptop’s MAC address, but if I run it while pings are being dropped, the mac address is not present for the laptop

I have tried SW 6.36.4, 6.37.2, and 6.37.3. Also Firmware 3.31 and 3.34. I get the same issue on all.
I’ve also tried the 2.4 and 5Ghz radio- same issue on both.

I’ve tried factory default settings, and also some of the QuickSet settings, again same issue.

The laptop having issues is a Dell XPS15 with the latest Network drivers (Dell Wireless 1830 802.11ac )

So, to recap, this laptop has no issues with the RB951G-2HnD’s, but doesn’t play nicely with the hAP ac.

Open to suggestions, additional log collection, things to try…

Andrew

2

Send us the registration table output, taken when the issue happens. It would show the signals and noise.
Have you tested with other laptops? Does the issue happen to all devices, at the same time?

3

Here is the registration table. The first output when pings are dropping, the second when pings are replying.

So, other clients do not drop pings to the hAP at all (even when the DELL XPS is dropping pings).

I only have two laptops and an iPhone at home.

/interface wireless registration-table print

INTERFACE RADIO-NAME MAC-ADDRESS AP SIGNAL-STRENGTH TX-RATE UPTIME

0 wlan1 18:4F:32:F7:CC:D5 no -47dBm@24Mbps 405M... 8m7s
1 wlan1 A0:88:B4:AD:50:E0 no -35dBm@HT20-7 144.... 3m22s

/interface wireless registration-table print

INTERFACE RADIO-NAME MAC-ADDRESS AP SIGNAL-STRENGTH TX-RATE UPTIME

0 wlan1 18:4F:32:F7:CC:D5 no -47dBm@24Mbps 405M... 8m13s
1 wlan1 A0:88:B4:AD:50:E0 no -35dBm@HT20-7 144.... 3m29s



Sample ping from XPS below:
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=64
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=492ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=112ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.88.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64

4

The XPS (problem client) is18:4F:32:F7:CC:D5 . So from the registration table, the WiFi is not disconnecting, just IP level traffic dropping. Even Winbox stays connected (and responds to commands) to the hAP from the XPS when pings are dropping (if I connect to the MAC of the hAP).

5

Have you tried to disable one of the chains? I have seen difference in the performance of some clients with hAP AC in 2.4 GHz when one chain is disabled. With all three enabled, some clients would not even connect or the connection would be unstable.

6

I’ll try this (and I appreciate the suggestion).

7

tried reducing to 2 then 1 set of chains- no difference.

Received a second hAP today. Tested it at work with the XPS (machine that drops pings), no issue. So then I thought, maybe the first hAP is faulty. I get the hAP home, test it, and pings dropping.

Could something be de-authenticating of blocking the hAP at home?
I don;t live in a particularly crowded area. I have no problem connecting to my RB951G, yet have these issues on 2 hAP’s on 2.4 and 5G ranges.

8

So maybe not solved, but another piece for the puzzle.

If I tick Add ARP for Leases in the DHCP server on the hAP- no pings are dropped.
If I remove the tick, the intermittent ping drops returns pretty quick.

9

While I might not have figured out exactly what the issue was, the problem is gone.

As soon as I turned off the two existing MTiks (951’s) I could get a solid ping. So I guess it was interference.