R8000 DD-WRT Build 27775 & 27950 Virtual WLAN not working on 2.4 Ghz (WL1) interface.

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tal69
tal69's picture
R8000 DD-WRT Build 27775 & 27950 Virtual WLAN not working on 2.4 Ghz (WL1) interface.

The radio functionality is so much better in both 27775 and 27950M builds on Netgear R8000 Nighthawk X6.

Unfortunately I do have an issue I would like to bring up.

I have reset to defaults using GUI and h/w button and set up manually in both builds. There is a problem getting the virtual WLAN interface to work on the 2.4Ghz Radio. I am not having this problem on the 5 GHZ radios. I can create a WLAN SSID on both physical interfaces in the GUI and then create virtual interfaces on both of them and bind them to different bridging interfaces. They work properly if they are on the same bridge interface as the physical or on a separate bridge interface with unique VLAN. It all works...

Unfortunately on the 2.4 Ghz Radio I can create the Virtual Interface in the GUI and configure it. But the virtual interface will not allow clients to connect. The SSID shows up and clients can see it but are unable to connect. Also when in the Networking GUI Tab the unique bridging assignment is created and it makes no difference which bridging interface it is assigned to. WL1.1 does not show up in the Current Bridging Table.

WL1.1 is available to assign and gets assigned but does not show up in table. WL0.1 and WL2.1 can be assigned and show up in the Current Table when assigned and work properly when bound to individual VLAN bridging interfaces.

(br0 = VLAN1 VLAN2 eth1 eth2 eth3) this is default without assignment.

(br3 = VLAN3 WL0.1 WL2.1) this is custom by assignments including WL1.1. but WL1.1 never shows up in Current Bridgin Table.

The point of this configuration is to create a VLAN for Guest Network. There is a separate Router/Firewall providing DHCP and NAT. It has the two VLAN interfaces and everything works on the 5ghz radios. The physical SSID binding gets DHCP from VLAN1 and the virtual SSID gets DHCP from VLAN3 on the 5Ghz interfaces. On the 2.4 Ghz interface the physical SSID works properly but the virtual SSID does not.  If I create a second virtual interface on 2.4Ghz (WL1.2) then it shows up in the current Bridging table properly as assigned but none of the WLAN's are able to authenticate clients and I cannot connect to any 2.4 Ghz SSID's (WL1, WL1.1, WL1.2)

I hope I have described the problem adequately. It seems that everything else works and the radios are much more stable and reliable. It is important to provide a guest network on 2.4 Ghz radio for backwards compatibility.

Hopefully someone else can test and verify this problem and it can be resolved.

tal69
tal69's picture
Update  

Update

 

tal69
tal69's picture
My Issues have been resolved

My Issues have been resolved by erasing NVRAM after firmware upgrade...

This gives separate VLAN's and Wireless Guest Network as well as fixing VLAN Trunking over WAN Port when added as network switch port.

brandonlw
brandonlw's picture
I have the same problem with

I have the same problem with setting up a virtual interface for the 2.4GHz radio (for a guest network), even on build 28000M.

 

I have tried resetting factory settings, erasing NVRAM, and reflashing the firmware many, many times in many different orders and combinations and it still does not work. I'm stumped as to what to try next.

 

I went from stock straight to 28000M -- would it help if I used one of the older versions and then incrementally move up to 28000M, as it seems you may have done? If so, where would I find those old versions?

tal69
tal69's picture
I can only relay what worked

I can only relay what worked for me...

 

When I originally began testing recent versions there were posts for download links for Build 27775.  I tried everything and could not get it to work.  Eventually there were links to build 27950 and finally 28000. 

My process was this:

1. Use latest NetGear firmware.

2. Reset to factory defaults utilizing h/w reset button on NetGear firmware

3. Reboot

4. Flash to latest DD-WRT Kong Build (28000)

5. Reboot

6. Erase NVRAM

7. Reboot

8. Flash to latest DD-WRT Kong Build (28000) again using reset to defaults option

9. Reboot

10. Set Router up manually

 

I have also gotten this to work substituting Build 27950 for 28000 in steps 4., 8., 10. and then backing up settings and then upgrading to Build 28000 and restoring settings.  It looks like this:

1. Use latest NetGear firmware.

2. Reset to factory defaults utilizing h/w reset button on NetGear firmware.

3. Reboot

4. Flash to DD-WRT Kong Build (27950)

5. Reboot

6. Erase NVRAM

7. Reboot

8. Flash to DD-WRT Kong Build (27950) again using reset to defaults option

9. Reboot

10. Set Router up manually

11. Backup settings

12. Flash to DD-WRT Kong Build (28000) using reset to defaults option

13. Restore saved settings from backup

 

Both options have worked for me as can be seen from screenshots binding WL0.1, WL1.1, WL2.1, VLAN3 to br1 bridging inteface.

 

tal69
tal69's picture
It has been very frustrating

It has been very frustrating before Build 27775.  Radio settings not working, weird configurations for Radio channels etc.

 

I can relay that once I got 27775, 27950, 28000, things work very well.  It acts much more like a stable manufacturer build with much more functionality.  I am able to trunk VLANS and completely segment guest network from internal network.

 

We have terrible RF saturation from neighbors here and I am finally able to "rise above" it and get wire class speed to over 20 devices in  a 4000 square foot home.

 

I am routinely getting Internet download speeds of 100+ Mbps over 2.4 Ghz radio and 180+ Mbps over 5 Ghz radios.  My internet is 100/20 Mbps with NetBurst.  Clients are usually connecting at rates of 250+ Mbps on 2.4 Ghz and 500+ Mbps on 5 Ghz radios.  The 2.4 Ghz speed reduction is coming from neighbor interference.

 

Many times a site analysis will detect over 50 individual SSID WiFi networks in my location.  In the neighborhood of 10 networks each on channels 1,6,11 plus several in between 1 & 6 and 6 & 11.

 

My point is that this combination of R8000 hardware coupled with DD-WRT has enabled a very functional alternative for Wireless clients where it did not exist before.

 

  

 

 

Jwiersma
Jwiersma's picture
I had the same problem: WL1.1

I had the same problem: WL1.1 couldn't be added to any bridge.

After a lot of investigation I found out that virtual accesspoints (like wl1.1, wl1.2 etc.) are refused to be added to a bridge when ALL of them use wireless security (WEP, WPA, WPA2 doesn't matter). As soon as I set the wireless security for at least 1 VAP to disabled, it is possibble to add wl1.1, wl1.2 etc to a bridge.

I created the following workaround:

  • I created a dummy VAP wl1.1 that hides the SSID
    • wireless security set to "disabled"
    • I assigned it to bridge "none" 
  • I create a VAP wl1.2 with SSID "Guest_2.4"
    • wireless security set to WPA2 personal
    • I assigned it to bridge 1 that also connects VLAN5 which is my Guest LAN

Thisw works for  DD-WRT r29440M kongac (04/24/16).

I hope this info helps in finding the bug!

kevkid
kevkid's picture
Similarly just set the VAP to

Similarly just set the VAP to have ap isolation and it should work afterwards. I just tried it and it worked.

FuShiLu
FuShiLu's picture
Yeah it works if you follow

Yeah it works if you follow certain steps, but get out of order and your back to scratch. I found Kongs instructions work good if you add some Firewall rules. But its a pain not working right out of the box. ;)