AC8260 & AC8265 major connection issues with Asus routers ...

[MSerm]

I have tried 2 separate HP Laptops, one with AC8260 and one with AC8265 cards,

and both have issues sustaining a solid connection to my RT-AC1900P (RT-AC68U)

Asus router on the 2.4Ghz band. The connection will randomly lose pings to the router

for about 20 seconds then fix itself, however the wireless link remains connected.

Laptops are Spectre x360 (one Pro - older model) and one newest Intel 8th Gen.

This is on both laptops running latest drivers 20.40.0.4 (also tried many older ones),

and Windows 10 Pro x64 (latest updates). The wireless network has a strong connection

and it's always full bars and 144/144 Mbps (this is running on a 20 Mhz channel width),

although I've tried many other options, including changing power options in the Intel

Wireless drivers as recommended on Intel Technical Bulletins, without success.

New installs of Windows 10, as well as factory resets, tried everything ...

Sometimes the issues happens every minute, sometimes every ~10 minutes.

The same cards seem to work fine with an Asus RT-N66U on 2.4Ghz band.

What's the next step for troubleshooting this issue ?

Thanks in advance!

[MSerm]

*** Update 3 ***

I've pretty much now confirmed there's an issue between ALL RT-AC68U routers (including RT-AC1900P) and ALL Intel Wireless adapters in 2.4 ghz.

I am seeing the exact same disconnects at work on a RT-AC68U with my 8265 adapter, as well as a Wifi Link 5100 adapter, and also a 8260 adapter.

The issues are completely random, sometimes happen few times within 10 minutes and sometimes not for a few hours,

and they usually make a single domain unresponsive (no pings) and after a while the default gateway unresponsive as well,

and the issues resolves itself in about 10-30 seconds.

I have now tried 4 or 5 Intel wireless cards, and 3 RT-AC68U type routers, and they all have the same issues,

and no issues when using the routers with other wireless cards, from iPads to Macbooks, and cell phones, etc.

Thanks.

[MSerm]

I am guessing the issue is the same as this, but don't tell me running a custom firmware is the only solution:

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ac68u-was-tm-ac1900-connection-on-2-4ghz-drops-for-a-few-minutes-every-few-hours.32992/ https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ac68u-was-tm-ac1900-connection-on-2-4ghz-drops-for-a-few-minutes-every-few-hours.32992…

[idata]

Hello escape75,

Thanks for the updates. As we mentioned before and was confirmed by other communities users, the issue doesn't seem to have the described range.For further assistance, we recommend to keep working with your router manufacturer. Best regards,Eugenio F.

[MSerm]

The issues seem to be directly related to the Asus RT-AC68U, and it *looks like* older wireless drivers (used in previous firmwares) didn't have those issues.

I assume most people that have a combination of an Intel WiFi card, and a RT-AC68U run in 5ghz or don't update their firmwares

Asus has a 25% WiFi market share, and out of that 25% on AC1900, Intel probably 15% WiFi market share, but 90% people run on 5ghz,

so in the end I expect one issue for every 10'000 customers, although I've seen the issue at my home, and also at work on a tech laptop ...

I would also expect most people would simply not notice the issue, because no visual indication of a disconnect happens.

With Intel WiFi adapters getting more popular every day I find it hard to believe manufacturers aren't more willing to perform interoperability tests.

I have emailed Asus directly so hopefully someone there will look into this.

Thanks!

[ATell1]

Intel has way more than 15% as vast majority of laptops especially mid to high end units I have seen have Intel cards with a few having Qualcomm Atheros (ie Killer 1435

/1535 aka rebadged QCA6174A) or Broadcom cards (ie Dell Wireless 1820/1830 and others). Apple uses Broadcom though. As for 1900AC I believe the R7000 actually outsold the AC68U. Though overall you are right Asus has a bigger market share than Netgear. Regardless of brand I find the Qualcomm QCA9984 based routers to be the best range/performanc/stability wise. (ie Netgear R7800 / Synology RT2600AC / Asus BRT AC-828)

Anyway yeah with consumer routers being low margin items testing / support isnt very through, not to mention usage of outadated packages and chipset firmwares. Yet old is gold with consumer routers with newest units pretty much being beta and consumers effectively being testers. Takes up to a year to fix major issues. The AC68U is a pretty good unit with no currently known issues like that at this point as it's been out for a while. Even I'm stumped. Try reaching out to Asus and ask for a lvl2 tech.

[MSerm]

Yes exactly, AC68U should be solid,... Intel should be solid,... together they should be solid,... but they are not

As far as Intel's share market, hard to say, I was counting tablets, cell phones, etc.,

and I know people that have 2 iPads + 2 iPhones, but no laptops, so again hard to say

Quite a lot of business users plug them in via wired connections as well ...

I have emailed Asus directly via a contact email I had, so hopefully it will get forwarded to the right department.

[MSerm]

It appears these Asus routers are "problematic" with Intel adapters :

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ac8260-ac8265-major-connection-issues-with-asus-routers.46205/# post-401070 https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ac8260-ac8265-major-connection-issues-with-asus-routers.46205/# post-401070

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ac68u-was-tm-ac1900-connection-on-2-4ghz-drops-for-a-few-minutes-every-few-hours.32992/ https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ac68u-was-tm-ac1900-connection-on-2-4ghz-drops-for-a-few-minutes-every-few-hours.32992…

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/random-disconnect-question.41536/ https://www.snbforums.com/threads/random-disconnect-question.41536/

How are the new routers with Intel chipsets, I hear they still have some bugs to iron out ...

For example: https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Networking/Blue-Cave/ https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Networking/Blue-Cave/

[ATell1]

Not very great, its more of a show peace. Some of that maybe due to Asus's design and internal antennas. The Intel chipset is probably good just not Asus's implementation.

Currently the best 5Ghz range/performance unit is the R7800 using the Qualcomm QCA9984 WiFi chip and its siblings like the Synology RT2600AC and Asus BRT-AC828 all of which use the same hardware.

[MSerm]

I have purchased a Synology rt2600ac ...

Wow, very interesting router, combined ssid option is interesting.

I still need to test with my Intel adapter, but I expect no issues

Thanks!

[AWalk8]

Hi Escape75

I have an HP EliteBook x360 1020 G2 with intel Wireless AC8265 with exactly the same issue.

My router is however not an Asus. It is an NBN supplied, Huawei. Also, this issue happens at my work which has Aruba Wifi Access Points. Not sure of the model.

My issue is characterised as only occurring when the laptop is idle for about 10 minutes or more. Let me be clear, the laptop is not in sleep mode or hibernate mode. Just screen has turned off.

To resolve I need to turn off the wifi on the laptop then turn it back on for the issue to resolve.

It occurs on both 2.4g and 5g connections.

I am on windows 10 april 18 update with insider preview. Nothing seems to have fixed this issue. I have also tried clean driver installs.

I've also confirmed that Huawei firmware is current to this year (Feb 2018)

If someone could please help troubleshoot this that would be great.

Regards

Adam

[idata]

Hello walkadwill,

Thank you for your response. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please submit a new thread since we handle every case individually and every scenario is different even if the same product is being used. The next agent will be able to further assist you on this matter.Regards,David V

[SlimShaggy]

I have a similar problem with RT-AX88U and Intel 5100 AGN at 5 GHz. Wi-Fi remains connected, but there's a yellow exclamation point and no internet. The workaround is to disable either WMM No-Acknowledgement or WMM APSD in Wireless -> Professional. The disconnects seem to occur only when both these options are enabled, and the router firmware is newer than 3.0.0.4.384_9579.