After a NUC Start from cold. Wifi dreadful. Disconnect and Re-connect it comes back

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › After a NUC Start from cold. Wifi dreadful. Disconnect and Re-connect it comes back

alisam

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#310627 7-Nov-2023 14:03

I always shutdown my NUC (2017, i5, Wifi: Intel-AC 8265). I am retired and so look after my electricity usage.

Here are my Wifi 'fast.com' speeds:

and immediately after a run:

Sometimes, after startup, the download speed is a lot worse.

I disconnect from my only SSID and re-connect, and it is better:

I am on a Spark 300/100 plan. The NUC is on a Study desk, virtually immediately above a Grandstream GWN7610 in the Study (ethernet wired to a GWN7062 Router). I have 3 x GWN7610 Grandstream AP's and all have been rebooted (plus the GWN7062).

But the NUC has NOT connected to the Study Access Point, but to a GWN7610 in Mesh mode (it's not too far away but has to get through 2 gib walls).

I don't know how to control which AP, a device will connect to. The screenshot is after I disconnected and then reconnected.

My issue has been going on now for several months.

But to be honest, the NUC 'Intel NUC BOXNUC7i5BNH' (Windows 10 Pro) has never been 'brilliant'. I just need it to keep going for a bit longer.

I have tried all-sorts of 'tweaks', plus I have reinstalled Windows 10 at least 3 times or deleted the driver and re-installed.

PC: Dell Inspiron 16 5640 (Windows 11 Home), Dell Inspiron 7591 2n1 (Windows 11 Pro), HP ProBook 470G1 (Windows 10 Pro), Intel NUC7I5BNH (Zorin)
Net: Grandstream 1 x GWN7062 Router, 1 x GWN7665 Access Point
Storage: Synology DS216play NAS, 2 x 6TB
Media: 3 x Amazon FireTV. Echo, Dot, Spot
TV: 2 x Samsung H6400 55" LED TV, Panasonic TH-P50G10Z 50" Plasma TV
Mobile: Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
Wearable: Gear S3 Frontier

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#3157062 7-Nov-2023 16:46

How big is your house that you need 3 APs? How far apart are they? Have you configured minimum RSSIs? To eliminate your network configuration as a cause I would turn off all but one of the APs and see if you can reproduce the issue.

And if that fails try a different OS and see if the problem persists.

alisam

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#3157116 7-Nov-2023 19:25

cddt:

How big is your house that you need 3 APs? How far apart are they? Have you configured minimum RSSIs? To eliminate your network configuration as a cause I would turn off all but one of the APs and see if you can reproduce the issue.

The house is 256 sq metres (including garage). I started buying Grandstream GWN7610's when I had an Edgerouter 3 Lite. I never felt the Edgerouter played nicely with a GWN7610. Then I had a Edgerouter X and still wasn't happy. So bought the GWN7062 Router. All my devices tend to connect at 5GHz, except for a Brother Printer which always connects at 2.4GHz.

The primary changes I have made are: Radio Power

ROUTER (Garage): 2.4 = Low, 5 = Low

AP - STUDY (Ethernet): 2.4 = Low, 5 = Low

AP - MASTER BEDROOM (Mesh): 2.4 = Low, 5 = Medium (perhaps should be Low)

AP - KITCHEN (Mesh): 2.4 = Low, 5 = Low

The STUDY and MASTER BEDROOM are on Level 1 and could be considered as close by. 2-3 gib walls.

The KITCHEN is on Ground Level but 'as the crow flies' close to the STUDY.

I have not configured minimum RSSI's and would need to look at what this means.

P.S. I consider myself a novice in the networking world. I will not be spending any money on more ethernet cables connections to the APs. I have thought and thought about this and it would involve cables going outside the house. The upstairs STUDY is ethernet and it was a major exercise [outside cables over the garage roof, up the house wall and into the roof space and then into the STUDY] (in hindsight the wife was mortified).

I have a Dell Inspiron in the KITCHEN and it can take 10 seconds or so, to connect to Wifi (usually connects to KITCHEN (Mesh) AP.

jonherries

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#3157122 7-Nov-2023 20:53

Minimum RSSI is the noise/signal floor the AP will connect a device at.

I am not familiar with the grandstreams, but on Ubquiti gear the transmission strength setting you show above and the RSSI floor are different features.

Think of the latter as a cut off filter - ie. dont allow devices to connect when their signal strength is below x (versus only transmit to a device at x strength).

Jon

cddt

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#3157294 8-Nov-2023 15:54

Look at restoring the default radio power settings, and configuring RSSI.

RSSI ("Received Signal Strength Indicator") indicates how good of a signal the device is receiving. Typically on a scale of 0 to -94 (but different systems can sometimes work with a different scale). See https://www.metageek.com/training/resources/understanding-rssi/

If your RSSI is -60 or higher (e.g. -50, -40, -30) you have a strong connection.

-70 is ok

-80 is flakey

-90 is unusable

Your device will not automatically switch to a closer AP with a better RSSI. It will hang on to the current connection until it drops below the minimum (by default on the GWN it will be -94), but the connection will be unusable long before then.

So consider configuring a minimum RSSI on each radio. Once the RSSI drops below this minimum, the AP will boot it off and your device will then search again for the best signal.

The exact value depends on your configuration, but -75 might be a good place to start, especially with the density you have. It can differ between the radios too, remembering that 2.4 GHz will have greater range and hence greater overlap than 5 GHz.

robjg63

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#3157329 8-Nov-2023 16:42

alisam:

I always shutdown my NUC (2017, i5, Wifi: Intel-AC 8265). I am retired and so look after my electricity usage.

I understand that these things use as little as 10W when 'idling' (according to google).

Their power consumption is tiny.

I generally find PC gear gets a better lifespan when left running if possible.

Much like old lightbulbs, when they expire, its usually when you power them them on.

If its the built in wifi, you could always try a USB wifi dongle:

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/category/networking/wi-fi-adapters?fs=27834852

They start around $17, but there are some that have an anetnna at around $30

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

alisam

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#3159387 14-Nov-2023 10:22

I found a workaround.

I set up a new 2.4 GHz SSID and assigned it only to the STUDY AP. The NUC uses this SSID.

I haven't noticed any downsides.

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raytaylor

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#3160033 16-Nov-2023 07:01

Alternative thing to check - is the NUC downloading anything in the background on bootup - eg. a google drive or onedrive sync?

Its possible that your disconnecting and reconnecting the ssid cancels whatever data transfer is happening and the application just doesnt retry, or at least not straight away.

Use windows task manager to see if any other applications are transferring data. Look for megabits, not percentage points.

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alisam

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#3160055 16-Nov-2023 08:35

Yes, both google drive and onedrive are started on bootup.

But I don't think that is the problem.

I have never really looked at whether the NUC connected at 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz, plus I only had one SSID (dual).

But after experimenting with 3 SSID (2.4, 5 and dual) I have come to the conclusion that the NUC doesn't really like 5 GHz. Sometimes, it connects nicely, but other times not. I didn't get any better if I left the NUC alone for several minutes after a boot.

So I am going to stick to my 2.4 GHz SSID which only uses the STUDY AP

The NUC is May 2017 vintage and I hope to replace it with a laptop next year.

robjg63

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#3160059 16-Nov-2023 08:45

Some devices can have trouble where the SSID name for both the 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz are the same.

I see from the myriad of wifi from my neighbours, that there are a couple that have 'name' and 'name_5G' - presumably instead of just having a single (mixed 2.4/5Ghz SSID).

The wifi is meant to work out which is best and attach to that and at times switch between them - but it seems a common compliant on the web that some devices just screw up.

You might find your NUC was swapping backwards and forwards and just screwed up.....

If it was possible to name the SSIDs seperately and you chose which one to connect to, you may find it works ok.

Though making a new seperate SSID like you have done has effectively done this already. You could try just running that STUDY SSID at 5Ghz and see if its still ok.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

nztim

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#3160062 16-Nov-2023 08:51

A dirty way to fix this problem would be to broadcast an SSID only on that AP - Are all APS have ethernet backhaul?

Any views expressed on these forums are my own and don't necessarily reflect those of my employer.

alisam

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#3160065 16-Nov-2023 09:01

nztim:

A dirty way to fix this problem would be to broadcast an SSID only on that AP - Are all APS have ethernet backhaul?

I did do that (as mentioned earlier) i.e. 'I set up a new 2.4 GHz SSID and assigned it only to the STUDY AP. The NUC uses this SSID.'

Also, when I set up a new 5 GHz SSID to the STUDY AP, it was no better.

The STUDY is ethernet backhaul. The other 2 are Mesh.

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cddt

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#3160069 16-Nov-2023 09:16

alisam:

I have come to the conclusion that the NUC doesn't really like 5 GHz.

This is likely because you've configured your radios to broadcast at low power. As I mentioned earlier in the thread you would save yourself a lot of faff and troubleshooting and get better performance on all devices simply by restoring the default broadcast power configuration and setting a minimum RSSI.

alisam

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#3160104 16-Nov-2023 11:24

cddt:

alisam:

I have come to the conclusion that the NUC doesn't really like 5 GHz.

This is likely because you've configured your radios to broadcast at low power. As I mentioned earlier in the thread you would save yourself a lot of faff and troubleshooting and get better performance on all devices simply by restoring the default broadcast power configuration and setting a minimum RSSI.

The default broadcast power for the AP is 'High'. I'll try that. Then (at the same time) I'll try to set a minimum RSSI. I need to re-read your post first and ask questions if necessary before I do anything. Thanks.

coffeebaron

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#3160134 16-Nov-2023 13:05

Also check in device manager at the Wi-Fi adapter and make sure there is not power saving enabled for it.

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alisam

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#3160865 18-Nov-2023 16:15

coffeebaron:

Also check in device manager at the Wi-Fi adapter and make sure there is not power saving enabled for it.

Now switched off.

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