Dead 5GHz radio, but working 2.4GHZ - is that possible? -> Asus RT-AC66U_B1 (ARMv7)
TL;DR -> Read the title of this post. I can't seem to get the 5GHz radio/bands working despite all my attempts, even using the "wl" command directly (which gives me strange results).
So I've been wrestling with my Asus RT-AC66U_B1 (ARMv7) running TomatoFresh. For quite a while my wireless coverage has been terrible and I finally had some time to investigate. It's been throwing an error on the wireless "(warning: WL driver reports BSSID 00:00:00:00:00:00)" but I just thought it was being overly-dramatic since the wireless was still working. You can find places online if you search that talk about that MAC address error, but all sites seem to suggest it was a bug related to the UI processing the user changes incorrectly, or your MACs being messed up (either not similar enough, or dupes).
I've ruled out all those things with hours of testing, using both original MFG hardware MACs on all devices, as well as setting them directly with nvram commands. Nothing shows int the syslog, even with log settings cranked up to DEBUG. I moved on to playing with the "wl" utility and that gives me some odd results.
When I turn the 2.4GHz radio on/off or bring the adapter up/down, the eth1 "resets" value increases, but when I do the same for the 5GHz eth2 adapter, its counter doesn't increase and stays at "0". The Tomato UI shows the 5GHz radio is enabled, but the status info doesn't jive:
--Reset counter doesn't increase--Radio noise is always 0dBm--The Mode is always "Ad Hoc" even after setting to "Managed"--BSSID never changes from "00:00:00:00:00:00"
I've tried endless combos of NVRAM set & commit, reboots, etc. I haven't reflashed it yet because it's my main router and I don't want to spend the time manually transferring all the configuration settings to my alternate router currently setup as a wireless AP for extended coverage. If the 5GHz radio is actually dead, I don't want to redo that PITA once I decided it's toast.
Thanks!
Here are some interesting outputs from the router, note that I added the stars for emphasis:
Name FreshTomato
Model Asus RT-AC66U B1
Bootloader (CFE) 1.1.2.2
Chipset ARMv7 Processor rev 0 (v7l)
CPU Frequency 1000 MHz (dual-core)
Flash Size 128 MB
=============================
= NOTE: =====================
Adapter eth1 & wl0 -> 2.4gHz
Adapter eth2 & wl1 -> 5gHz
=============================
root@RTAC66UB1:/tmp/home/root# wl -a eth1 dump
wl0: Jan 18 2022 09:11:39 version 6.37.14.126 (r561982)
****************
****************
resets 11
****************
****************
perm_etheraddr bc:ee:7b:57:cc:50 cur_etheraddr 40:b0:76:34:6e:ca
board 0x646, board rev P103
rate_override: A 0, B 0
ant_rx_ovr 3 txant 3
BSS Config 0: "Private_Wireless"
enable 1 up 1 wlif 0x(null) "eth1"
wsec 0x4 auth 0 wsec_index 1 wep_algo 4
current_bss->BSSID 40:b0:76:34:6e:ca
current_bss->SSID ""
BSS Config 1: "My_Guest_Wireless"
enable 1 up 1 wlif 0xce148800 "wl0.1"
wsec 0x4 auth 0 wsec_index 1 wep_algo 4
current_bss->BSSID 42:b0:76:34:6e:cb
current_bss->SSID ""
BSS Config 2: "1n732n37_0f_5h17"
enable 1 up 1 wlif 0xce14c000 "wl0.2"
wsec 0x4 auth 0 wsec_index -1 wep_algo 0
current_bss->BSSID 42:b0:76:34:6e:cc
current_bss->SSID ""
AS_IN_PROGRESS() 0 stas_associated 0
aps_associated 3
BSSID 40:b0:76:34:6e:ca
BSSID 42:b0:76:34:6e:cb
BSSID 42:b0:76:34:6e:cc
root@RTAC66UB1:/tmp/home/root# wl -a eth2 dump
wl1: Jan 18 2022 09:11:39 version 6.37.14.126 (r561982)
****************
****************
resets 0
****************
****************
perm_etheraddr 40:b0:76:34:6e:ce cur_etheraddr 40:b0:76:34:6e:ce
board 0x646, board rev P103
rate_override: A 0, B 0
ant_rx_ovr 3 txant 3
BSS Config 0: "Private_Wireless"
enable 1 up 0 wlif 0x(null) "eth2"
wsec 0x4 auth 0 wsec_index -1 wep_algo 0
current_bss->BSSID 00:00:00:00:00:00
current_bss->SSID ""
BSS Config 1: "My_Guest_Wireless"
enable 1 up 0 wlif 0xcfaa4200 "wl1.1"
wsec 0x4 auth 0 wsec_index -1 wep_algo 0
current_bss->BSSID 00:00:00:00:00:00
current_bss->SSID ""
BSS Config 2: "1n732n37_0f_5h17"
enable 1 up 0 wlif 0xcdf3ce00 "wl1.2"
wsec 0x4 auth 0 wsec_index -1 wep_algo 0
current_bss->BSSID 00:00:00:00:00:00
current_bss->SSID ""
AS_IN_PROGRESS() 0 stas_associated 0
aps_associated 0
root@DarkKnight:/tmp/home/root# wl -a eth1 status
SSID: "Private_Wireless"
Mode: Managed RSSI: 0 dBm SNR: 0 dB noise: -90 dBm Channel: 6u
BSSID: 40:B0:76:34:6E:CA Capability: ESS ShortSlot RRM
Supported Rates: [ 1(b) 2(b) 5.5(b) 6 9 11(b) 12 18 24 36 48 54 ]
VHT Capable:
Chanspec: 2.4GHz channel 4 40MHz (0x1904)
Primary channel: 6
HT Capabilities:
Supported MCS : [ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 32 ]
VHT Capabilities:
Supported VHT (tx) Rates:
NSS: 1 MCS: 0-9
NSS: 2 MCS: 0-9
NSS: 3 MCS: 0-9
Supported VHT (rx) Rates:
NSS: 1 MCS: 0-9
NSS: 2 MCS: 0-9
NSS: 3 MCS: 0-9
root@DarkKnight:/tmp/home/root# wl -a eth2 status
SSID: "Private_Wireless"
Mode: Ad Hoc RSSI: 0 dBm SNR: 0 dB noise: 0 dBm Channel: 34
BSSID: 00:00:00:00:00:00 Capability: IBSS
Supported Rates: [ 6(b) 9 12(b) 18 24(b) 36 48 54 ]
VHT Capable:
Chanspec: 5GHz channel 34 20MHz (0xd022)
Primary channel: 34
HT Capabilities:
Supported MCS : [ 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ]
VHT Capabilities:
Supported VHT (tx) Rates:
NSS: 1 MCS: 0-7
NSS: 2 MCS: 0-7
NSS: 3 MCS: 0-7
NSS: 4 MCS: 0-7
NSS: 5 MCS: 0-7
NSS: 6 MCS: 0-7
NSS: 7 MCS: 0-7
NSS: 8 MCS: 0-7
Supported VHT (rx) Rates:
NSS: 1 MCS: 0-7
NSS: 2 MCS: 0-7
NSS: 3 MCS: 0-7
NSS: 4 MCS: 0-7
NSS: 5 MCS: 0-7
NSS: 6 MCS: 0-7
NSS: 7 MCS: 0-7
NSS: 8 MCS: 0-7
root@RTAC66UB1:/tmp/home/root# nvram show | grep -E '.*(hwaddr)|(macaddr).*' | sort -u | more
0:macaddr=BC:EE:7B:57:CC:50
1:macaddr=40:B0:76:34:6E:CE
et0macaddr=40:B0:76:34:6E:C8
lan1_hwaddr=42:B0:76:34:6E:CB
lan2_hwaddr=16:5B:9C:1E:F9:4D
lan3_hwaddr=EA:20:3A:11:07:B5
lan_hwaddr=40:B0:76:34:6E:C8
wan2_hwaddr=
wan3_hwaddr=
wan4_hwaddr=
wan_hwaddr=40:B0:76:34:6E:D8
wl0.10_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:CA
wl0.11_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:CB
wl0.12_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:CC
wl0.13_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:CD
wl0.14_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:CE
wl0.15_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:CF
wl0.1_hwaddr=42:B0:76:34:6E:CB
wl0.2_hwaddr=42:B0:76:34:6E:CC
wl0.3_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:C3
wl0.4_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:C4
wl0.5_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:C5
wl0.6_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:C6
wl0.7_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:C7
wl0.8_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:C8
wl0.9_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:C9
wl0_hwaddr=40:B0:76:34:6E:CA
wl0_macaddr=
wl1.10_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:DA
wl1.11_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:DB
wl1.12_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:DC
wl1.13_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:DD
wl1.14_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:DE
wl1.15_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:DF
wl1.1_hwaddr=42:B0:76:34:6E:CF
wl1.2_hwaddr=42:B0:76:34:6E:D0
wl1.3_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:D3
wl1.4_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:D4
wl1.5_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:D5
wl1.6_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:D6
wl1.7_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:D7
wl1.8_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:D8
wl1.9_hwaddr=42:B0:76:A1:6E:D9
wl1_hwaddr=40:B0:76:34:6E:CE
wl1_macaddr=
wl_hwaddr=
wl_macaddr=