LB110, KL120, and HS105 Will not stay connected to WIFI after upgrading ASUS AX88U firmware
I have 4 TP-LINK LB110 smart bulbs, one KL120, and a HS105 smart plug which have worked flawlessly until I upgraded my ASUS router AX88U firmware to
Version 3.0.0.4.386.45934 2021/11/16. However, after upgrading to 3.0.0.4.386.45934, all smart bulbs disconnect numerous times an hour with “wl0.1: STA MAC IEEE 802.11: disassociated“ and “wl0.1: MAC RADIUS: starting accounting session BCE13EF2E594CE5C” – “wl0.1: MAC WPA: pairwise key” in the system log. As a result, the smart bulbs frequently time out when trying to manage through the KASA app.
I have tried the following troubleshooting steps with no success other than using WIFI legacy mode or reverting to old router firmware where everything works stable.
1) Problem starting after upgrading router to 3.0.0.4.386.45934:
- Hard resetting bulbs to factory defaults and rejoining guest network.
- Disabled WIFI 6 on 2.4 GHZ radio, changed channel (thought maybe too many conflicts), reduced channel bandwidth to 20 MHZ, ensure WIFI security still WPA 2 for guest, disabled protected frame management, disabled universal beam forming, disabled airtime fairness, disabled WMM APSD.
- Tried lowering RTS threshold.
3) Did a hard reset on router and re-uploaded 3.0.0.4.386.45934 and still no luck.
4) Reverted back to old firmware and problems went away.
5) Tried upgrading firmware again with 2.4GHZ wiFI mode set to Legacy and the bulbs work stable. However, Legacy mode is not a solution.
6) Reverted back to old firmware and bulbs work great with 2.4 GHZ radio WIFI 6, channel width, protected frame management, universal beam forming, WMM APSD all set to enabled. .
Given the only WIFI clients that seem to be experiencing issues with 3.0.0.4.386.45934 are the bulbs, I was leaning towards an issue with the bulbs that did not get exposed until the latest firmware update. Note I also have two TP-LINK HS200 switches that did not experience any problems (I’m guessing they use different wireless chips). All the bulbs are using latest 1.8.11 firmware; any suggestions? Using old router firmware opens the house up to vulnerabilities so that is not a solution.
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Hello everyone,
Here is a thread discussing the same topic Smart Switches Disconnecting , for now I recommend reaching Asus support at the same time and see if there is any firmware available to fix this .
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Hello @ElmerFudd
Thank you for your detailed post, I created a support email to escalate case and investigate further.
May I know your TP-Link ID, and hardware version & MAC address of working - fine KL1`30 & HS200, and some MAC address of the problematic devices, please share by private message and reply on ticket TKID220110124 directly, thank you.
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Solla-topee wrote
Hello @ElmerFudd
Thank you for your detailed post, I created a support email to escalate case and investigate further.
May I know your TP-Link ID, and hardware version & MAC address of working - fine KL1`30 & HS200, and some MAC address of the problematic devices, please share by private message and reply on ticket TKID220110124 directly, thank you.
Thank you for escalating this ticket. I sent you a PM with the information requested. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to assisst.
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Update... I just installed 4 more KL130's and none have dropped offline. Will monitor to see if they stay online 36+ hours like the first. The newer devices are better in many ways but it would be good if I could get more mileage out of my older devices which were expensive when I bought them. A $30 light bulb in 2014/2015 should last more than 7-8 years. It was not fun spending another $56+ on bulbs to fix wifi issues.
-Mike
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Same exact problem here. So glad I found this thread and another one in this forum. The solution is to force legacy mode for 2.4 band so all the Kasa devices are limited to 802.11g connections rather than n. I have AX-55 router. No problems at all w/a couple Netgear Nightjawk router before, it's just the Asus.
I have 20+ Kasa devices (dimmers, switches, strips) and all are on latest firmware. Is there any solution from Kasa or am I stuck at 2.4 802.11g so the Kasa devices respond quickly and stop disconnectig repeatedly?
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Hello everyone,
Here is a thread discussing the same topic Smart Switches Disconnecting , for now I recommend reaching Asus support at the same time and see if there is any firmware available to fix this .
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@ElmerFudd Hey all, I have a similar problem with an Asus RT-AX86U, I do own a TP-Link AX4400 as well, the bulbs I am using are Geeni (re-branded Tuya Smart) bulbs.
The Problem I'm having is similar as to the ones described here with the TP-Link bulbs / Switches, however, I can add a few details to my situation. I know this isn't TP-Link specific, but after reading a couple of these threads, it sounded like someone might be able to help since the hardware involved is probably similar.
Anyway, the problems I have are with N Only, or Auto mode on the Asus router, I have to disabled WiFi 6 on 2.4ghz as the bulbs won't connect at all. N Only works, but the bulbs are sluggish, or don't respond at all in Alexa routines, but typically work OK directly through the Geeni app, so in my case it seems like it's partially also connected to cloud control through a smart assistant vs straight app control. Legacy mode fixes my issues, and it's a suitable solution for me as I don't use any high demand devices on 2.4g, those are on 5Ghz, or Ethernet. In fact, the Amazon Echo devices (speakers only) operate at the same speed as they do on 80211n, so for me using Legacy isn't an issue, if I need to do that to have a stable smart home with an Asus router.
The TP-Link AX4400 doesn't seem to have the same issues, I have it set to bgn withou wifi 6 on 2.4 disabled. I have the same channel and chanel width config between the two routers to compare as much as possible with as many of the same settings as possible.
I mainly bought the Asus to replace the TP-Link router for the two main following reasons:
1. to have access to more advanced settings.
2. Longer support for firmware updates.
I've pretty much concluded the same as most of the people here that it's most likely an incompatibility between the bulbs and Asus, but wanted to share anyway to see if anyone had any further feedback.
I don't currently own any Kasa products, but I would presume that the bulbs use a similar protocol regardless of brand.
There is ONE thing I have recently observed that may be causing the problem. Asus in all wireless modes EXCEPT legacy has a "modulation scheme" setting that can't be turned off. The TP-Link router, doesn't have this setting, nor does the last Gen Airport Extreme. When in Legacy mode on the Asus router, this setting isn't present, I am thinking this setting may be causing an issue with certain devices. If it was more common, I would assume more routers would have it cross brand.
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@ElmerFudd this is not an issue with Asus. I just got the newest asus router with Wi-Fi 6e and 6 light bulbs and 3 switches were not connecting. I reached out to Tp-link and they say it's not their problem but the routers.
I have 19 other devices connecting to the 2.4 ghz without any issues. Only Kasa products are not connecting. At the end I just gave up. To-link insists it's not their problem. I'm now trying to move away from Kasa products. What a joke of customer support
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Agree problem is not the ASUS router. The only devices that have ever experienced an issue with my Asus router have been those from TPLINK. However, Asus eventually released a firmware update that resolved my original problem. Asus is great in solving others issues... they did they same for Xbox's several years ago. It was a bit late though as I had upgraded all my old problematic TPLINK devices to the latest models which had no issues with My router.
Using Legacy node is not the solution as putting your router into a mode that uses outdated protocols to support outdated IOT devices should never be the answer. It's best to just throw the problematic devices in the trash.
The marketing on TPLINK bulbs is a bit misleading... says they should last 20-30 years... but that is just the LED and not the budget radios and poor firmware in the devices, TPLINK support never got back to me... gave them logs, firmware revs, model refs and no follow up. I wish I never bought into TPLINK as their support is poor, customers frequently experience compatibility issues unless also using a TPLINK router which fails to keep up with cyber vulnerabilities, and they have no integration with mainstream APIs like Apple's HomeKit. Problem is I bought too many of these devices and am stuck for a while.... wish I went with a more reputable company like Philips from the start.
-Mike
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ElmerFudd wrote
Agree problem is not the ASUS router. The only devices that have ever experienced an issue with my Asus router have been those from TPLINK. However, Asus eventually released a firmware update that resolved my original problem. Asus is great in solving others issues... they did they same for Xbox's several years ago. It was a bit late though as I had upgraded all my old problematic TPLINK devices to the latest models which had no issues with My router.
Using Legacy node is not the solution as putting your router into a mode that uses outdated protocols to support outdated IOT devices should never be the answer. It's best to just throw the problematic devices in the trash.
The marketing on TPLINK bulbs is a bit misleading... says they should last 20-30 years... but that is just the LED and not the budget radios and poor firmware in the devices, TPLINK support never got back to me... gave them logs, firmware revs, model refs and no follow up. I wish I never bought into TPLINK as their support is poor, customers frequently experience compatibility issues unless also using a TPLINK router which fails to keep up with cyber vulnerabilities, and they have no integration with mainstream APIs like Apple's HomeKit. Problem is I bought too many of these devices and am stuck for a while.... wish I went with a more reputable company like Philips from the start.
-Mike
@ElmerFudd I replaced my bulbs that were giving me the most problems with the Asus router with Philips Wiz bulbs, and they work much better. What I also changed was the default value for the DHCP lease time. Since then, I only had one bulb disconnect, and a power cycle of the bulb brought it back. I noticed the bulb disconnected after power cycling one Google speakers, wonder if it cause a conflict when the device reconnected. Seems ok now though.
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