Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[rojimbo]

For those of you foolish enough to upgrade to your firmware to 1.35NA, only to find that all your wireless clients are intermittently dropped randomly at the same time, read on.

At the time of this simultaneous drop, the logs will tell you that the clients were "disconnected due to deauthorisation" or some such (precise wording eludes me, has not occurred for a while, which is a good thing!). The clients are then quickly "authorised", but the movie you were streaming to your living room has already been interrupted and all your family members have gone for an unexpected toilet / snack break. Needless to say, the movie is ruined. Playing/hosting online games is an exercise in slowly pulling out all your remaining hair folicles. A random 20s delay when surfing the web is also fun. The list goes on.

A quick glance at the forum suggests this is a common problem, with the only reproducible solution to downgrade your firmware, perhaps all the way to 1.21.

Get this though, you cannot downgrade 1.35NA by any means known to us internet-using, neanderthal-descendant primates (yes, your ancestor interbred with them). All workarounds to downgrade the firmware currently do not work for the new firmware.

Facepalm yourself.

Feels good, right? Do it again.

Now it sort of hurts.

After struggling with this for over a week (full-time, as I am in that enviable position of awaiting university replies), here is the ONLY thing that worked:

Use WPS.

Wow. Why this is not suggested more often on these forums, I cannot fathom. There are a few threads that end like this though:

"Oh, switched to WPS and the problem went away. Bye.
PS. Ignore my 4-page rant about D-Link."

Of course, if your wireless clients do not support WPS, then, um...facepalm yourself again. Only one of them has to though, the rest non-WPS clients you can copy paste the extremely long password to (have fun with an iPod Touch though! Took me hours to type it in. Honestly. It felt like hours).

Not so important settings: (changing these will do nothing to alleviate the drops)

802.11 Mode : 802.11n only
Channel Width : 40MHz
Channel : 10
Secondary Channel : 6
WISH : Inactive
QoS : on
WPA2 only
AES
Wireless clients: Uber-watercooled gaming behemoth, crappy laptop, Ipod Touch, PS3

Important settings (only things that work):
Wi-Fi Protected Setup : Enabled/Configured
 
Now that I have provided you with the meaning to life, the universe, and everything (42, I mean WPS), enjoy "normal" wireless behaviour again. OMG, I can actually surf the internet, torrent, play games, stream movies again. Uninterrupted. Can you believe that?

Some far more knowledgeable person might speculate as to the reason why this is so...actually, I will start the useless speculation. There must have been a security issue, that was remedied with the more recent 1.3xx firmwares. At the same time, constant authorisation checks were added. The deauthorisation/ authorisation cycle is snappy and unnoticeable with WPS, yet horrible without WPS.

There, let the useless, non-technical, counterproductive speculation begin.

[FurryNutz]

What happens if you tested the WiFi with out any security?

Did you test the security modes? What about TPIK or mixed TPIK and AES? These effect any change?

What did you configure for WiFi Protected Setup?

[rojimbo]

Hesitantly, I went back and tried some of these settings. Just for fun.

Test Setup
Stream video for 1.5-2 hours between 2 wireless clients connected to DIR 655. Random video, as I am not prepared to watch the same movie over and over again.

Pass= no drops
Epic fail=drops

Results:

Wireless G + no security = pass
Wireless G + WPA+TKIS = pass
Wireless G + WPA+TKIS+AES = pass
Wireless G + WPA2+AES = fail
Wireless G + WPA2+TKIS+AES = fail

Wireless N + no security = pass
Wireless N + WPA + TKIS = fail
Wireless N + WPA + TKIS + AES = fail
Wireless N + WPA2+TKIS+AES =fail
Wireless N + WPA2 + AES = fail

Note that the test setup is hardly repeatable/scientific(haha), as different video files were used with varying bandwidth utilisation. Though, the drops seem to occur regardless of network activity; this setup just allowed me to catch the drop quickly (what the bleep happenened to the movie!), without sifting through the logs. Also, it is very possible that 2 hours is not enough time to notice the drops, for the cases that passed.

Wireless G (unsecured or with WAP) seems to work, at least no wifi drops in 2 hours of streaming a movie. Shame the bandwidth is not enough for a 720p (nevermind a 1080p) file. Also, G seems sluggish when you add another laptop and an iPod Touch to the mix. Basically, it is unacceptable for me, I would have to start wiring the clients. Which is crude and ugly.

Unsecured N seems to work too. Hm. I would rather have secured N.

Luckily, my wireless N setup using WPS is still going strong. It was setup using the PIN method, after resetting the router to factory settings. So, a random SSID and PSK is assigned, which I then had to manually enter for the non-WPS clients.

[FurryNutz]

Nice test results. I agree. all these options should be working. Wonder whats causing the drops for the various security options. I would contact DLink and ask. Get a hold of a Mod on here.

[marmoduke]

Just adding some counterpoint:

I have been using 1.35NA since it was released with absolutely no drops in wireless on any of my network components.  I had no trouble with 1.34NA either.  I would suspect other causes such as interference, NIC settings, transmission power too high/low, poor channel choice, etc.

[rojimbo]

What were your settings, out of curiosity? Also, the drops are not immediately apparent during casual use, streaming video / online gaming is a good test.

I ended up dismissing the basic wireless pitfalls after trying out 50+ iterations of different combinations of settings to exclude issues. More importantly, with similar settings on 1.34NA (I would say identical, if it weren't for the fact that I do not use config files after a firmware update so I cannot say for sure), I did not have these issues, but after upgrading to 1.35NA I did. So that is about 4 months with the same setup, all wireless client locations the same, router settings/ location unchanged, did not install a lead-enforced vault between the router and desktop etc. where these issues did not exist.

That is my main reason why I believe the issue is not signal strength / interference related. That, and also the fact that amplitude is at -70 to -80 dB as a worst case scenario for the furthest client, after choosing the best channel for me (10). Amplitude next to router is better than -90dB always, there is not much interference in this place.

Strangely, I remember having these issues a couple of years back in another place, a condo. The firmware must have been older, but I remember being disgusted by the quality of wi-fi on this router especially after realising I was not the only one with these issues. I then just used a lan cable, and pretended I bought this router for the bling blue leds. Made me sleep better at night.

[marmoduke]

I hope this helps.  Everyone's needs are different.  This setup works for me without error.

A2-1.35NA  All new Cat7 Cables

802.11n only
20/40 Auto
Channel 10 SET---NOT AUTO channel search
Wish Active
DHCP-Active, all devices “reserved” so they always are the same IP.  For security, my DHCP range is only my system reservation addresses.
Advanced DNS Active-sometimes not

Unicasting enabled
MTU 1500
Cypher AES
WPA-Personal
WPA2 only
Interval 3600

Traffic shaping enabled
Auto uplink speed
Connection Auto Detect
QOS- Enabled with 4 rules set
Auto Classification enabled
Dynamic Fragmentation NOT enabled.
Access Control 2 policies enabled
Website Filter…almost fully populated
SPI enabled   
Both filters “address restricted”
Anti Spoofing enabled
DMZ-Disabled
PPTP-disabled
Vlan-disabled
RISP-Enabled
SIP-disabled
Transmit Power-Medium (unless I am outside by the pool) otherwise too distorted and powerful.
Beacon 100
RTS 2346
FT 2346
DTIM 5
WLan Part. NO
WMM YES
Short GI NO
Extra Pro. NO
WISH-Yes  1 wish Rule
HTTP Yes
WMC Yes
Automatic Yes

WIFI yes
Lock yes

UPNP yes
Ping Respond NO
Wan Port Speed Auto  (it works on my nics)
Multicast NO
Guest NO

[rojimbo]

Nice, thanks. It is useful for me just as a sanity check.

There are some minor differences:

A2-1.35NA  All new Cat7 Cables A3

802.11n only
20/40 Auto
Channel 10 SET---NOT AUTO channel search
Wish Active NO
DHCP-Active, all devices “reserved” so they always are the same IP.  For security, my DHCP range is only my system reservation addresses.
Advanced DNS Active-sometimes not NO

Unicasting enabled
MTU 1500
Cypher AES
WPA-Personal
WPA2 only
Interval 3600

Traffic shaping enabled
Auto uplink speed MANUAL
Connection Auto Detect MANUAL
QOS- Enabled with 4 rules set
Auto Classification enabled
Dynamic Fragmentation NOT enabled. ENABLED
Access Control 2 policies enabled NO
Website Filter…almost fully populated NO
SPI enabled   
Both filters “address restricted” TCP Port and Address Restricted
Anti Spoofing enabled
DMZ-Disabled
PPTP-disabled ENABLED
Vlan-disabled ENABLED
RISP-Enabled
SIP-disabled ENABLED
Transmit Power-Medium (unless I am outside by the pool) otherwise too distorted and powerful. HIGH
Beacon 100
RTS 2346
FT 2346
DTIM 5 1
WLan Part. NO
WMM YES
Short GI NO
Extra Pro. NO
WISH-Yes  1 wish Rule NO
HTTP Yes NO
WMC Yes NO
Automatic Yes NO

WIFI yes
Lock yes

UPNP yes NO
Ping Respond NO
Wan Port Speed Auto  (it works on my nics)
Multicast NO
Guest NO

These are the settings that are working for me right now, if I set up the router with WPS initially.

Just to confirm to myself I was not imagining things, I reset everything to factory settings, manually created SSID and key with N only WPA2 only + AES, and voila! The random wireless drops began even before I configured the rest of the router. After configuring the router, the signal strength had improved, but the drops were still occurring. I quickly  reconfigured with WPS, and pretended this never happened.

Honestly, I am a happy bunny (at least, I ceased to be a raging bunny) now that this is working again for me. It might be some random glitch in my unit, but for people with similar issues and having exhausted all other possibilities, it cannot hurt to try.

[marmoduke]

Well, you asked.  Glad you are happy without AES.  I see many things in your settings which could cause drops.  I believe that you could run AES if you evaluated your red entries more closily.

I would start by downloading via FTP a new image of the firmware and reinstalling from a fresh copy.  Then evaluate from there.

Good luck.

[kthaddock]

If you enable this it's "OFF" !

PPTP-disabled ENABLED <off
Vlan-disabled ENABLED  <off
RTSP-Enabled               <off
SIP-disabled ENABLED   <off

[rojimbo]

But but but...I have AES. WPA2 only + AES. I just use WPS to initially configure the SSID and PSK, then off I go changing the rest of the router settings.

Anyhoo, I am looking closely at the red entries that you so mysteriously alluded to, hoping to find the cause of these drops.

Using a shiny new (yet identical timestamp and filesize) firmware file for all these.

1. Wish
As far as I can tell, this is similar QoS in that you can prioritise bandwidth by port and application. I never understood why I would need both QoS and this, so left it disabled.

Tested it Enabled -> still get drops without WPS

2. Advanced DNS
Extra security, at the cost of throughput? Hmmmm, no thank you.

Tested it Enabled -> still get drops without WPS

3. Auto uplink speed + Connection autodetect
I get a bit more when I manually configure these (good ol speedtest.net!).

Tested it set to AUTO -> still get drops without WPS

4. Dynamic fragmentation (QoS)
Hm, seems like this often causes errors and packets dropped, so I decided to disable it. Though, wait for it:

Tested it Disabled -> still get drops without WPS

5. Access Control + Website Filter
Yeah, useless.

Tested it Enabled -> still get drops without WPS

6. Firewall - Both filters “address restricted” vs TCP Port and Address Restricted
Added firewall security or more lax. Who cares.

Tested it set to address restricted -> still get drops without WPS

7. Firewall - PPTP-disabled Vlan-disabled SIP-disabled
I don't really use Voip or virtual servers, so I might just disable these.

Tested all disabled -> still get drops without WPS

8. Transmit power
The furthest wireless client needs High, the error ratio is low with it.

Tested it Medium / Low -> still get drops without WPS, and they seem to be more frequent and last longer

9. DTIM
No multicasting, left it at 1.

Tested it 5 and 10 -> still get drops without WPS

10. Upnp
I have a select few apps that I port forward. This makes me feel more powerful.

Tested it Enabled -> still get drops without WPS

I think that is about it. Boo, no miracle cure here.

Like I said, I had no issues when I was using 1.34NA with the same setup (minus the WPS bit, though I am not a 100% sure whether I used it or not) so I doubt my old settings would suddenly start to cause problems.

Help still appreciated. Noticed you have an A2, mine is A3.

[marmoduke]

Sorry for the confusion.  When I wrote "off" I meant either unchecked or disabled.

You seem to have done thorough analysis.  Sorry that your router is giving so much trouble.

[McNubbins]

Hello, I am having the same problem though it seems to be limited to just my ASUS G73JW laptop. It has an Atheros AR9285 Wi-Fi 802.11 n adapter that seems to have some kind of incompatibility with the DIR-655. My mother-in-law and a friend of mine were up for new years with the exact same laptop/WiFi adapter and they were dropping as well. I have a PS3, Wii, Dell Vostro 1500 laptop with 1390 wireless G and x2 PC’s with D-Link DWA-552 cards that are staying connected without issue. I’m using WPA2 + AES for security.

Wanted to poll to see what wireless cards users have that are seeing this issue to understand if it is limited to certain manufacturer models or not.

I haven’t tried your solution yet, but I think I’ll give it a go this weekend and let you know how it went. Thanks to you for the excellent research and post...t is a very frustrating problem indeed.