Constant Wi-Fi Dropouts TL-WR1043ND v2.1

[ninderrycomp]

Hey guys, I've got a situation which is driving me absolutely bonkers.

I have two brand new (I keep a spare) TP-Link TL-WR1043ND v2.1's which I have tried on both Gargoyle 1.8.1 and 1.9.0 and come up with the exact same issues. I currently have a TP-Link TD-8810 bridged via PPPoE to the WAN port of my router and for the most part that works fine. The part that doesn't work fine is the Wi-Fi. It drops out constantly, about every 10 minutes or so, and sometimes requires a power cycle for it come back up. I've tried changing channels (always try to use open channels), changing channel width, disabling guest Wi-Fi, and none of these help with the issue. I have bandwidth control enabled.

Interestingly enough, I have yet another TP-Link TL-WR1043ND v2.1 on the other side of the house running Gargoyle 1.8.1 yet doesn't experience any Wi-Fi issues.

Could someone please help me restore my sanity?

[ispyisail]

What happens when you swap routers (location)?

Interesting to see if its an environment thing.

[ninderrycomp]

What happens when you swap routers (location)?

Interesting to see if its an environment thing.

I'd love to do that... but my second 1043ND is in a tricky position right now. I could try to make an effort tonight.

Also worth noting is that I just replaced the TL-WR1043ND with a TL-WR841N on stock firmware that currently is working on Wi-Fi without issue. No QOS of course, which is detrimental to my VOIP system, but that's another story.

Edit: Also worth noting that my brother has a very similar setup with a TL-WR1043ND v2.1 with Gargoyle 1.8.1 and QOS/Bandwidth management setup and he has no issues with Wi-Fi to report. He doesn't have ADSL though - instead he is using the NBN.

[ispyisail]

I've been of the school of thought that the environment makes a difference and not just other wifi signals

microwaves etc.

Having said that other manufactures seen to make drivers that work so we know it is possible.

[ninderrycomp]

Alright, did a little more testing.

Rather than move and re-configure my current main router, I just grabbed a bunch of Wi-Fi devices and took it over to the other side of the house and gave the Wi-Fi on my second 1043ND a good workout.

Lord behold, Wi-Fi is crapping out on me here as well. Things work for a little while, but soon enough, the Wi-Fi falls apart and either there's not connectivity or response from network devices, or the devices try to jump off the network onto the AP at the other side of the house (which is too far away).

It looks like there's a fundamental problem with Wi-Fi on these routers using Gargoyle 1.8.1 or 1.9.0 which is quite disappointing. I'm going to try to downgrade to 1.8.0 and see what happens. It surprises me that I couldn't find a thread on this already.

Edit: Okay. One thing just crossed my mind. I noticed I had " Allow NameCoin/OpenNIC Resolution" unchecked... something I've been doing since I remember this broke things on earlier builds. I've checked it again, rebooted it and Wi-Fi has been solid. Normally it would fall over by now. I'll report back after I give it some time.

[ispyisail]

"Allow NameCoin/OpenNIC Resolution"

keep us updated

[ninderrycomp]

"Allow NameCoin/OpenNIC Resolution"

keep us updated

Okay, after more testing, this appears to be the culprit and the issue is now solved. I have it enabled now and my Wi-Fi has been solid (after a reboot of course). I have on router running 1.8.1 and the other running 1.9.0 and they can both handle heavy load without issue. Big relief!

[ispyisail]

"Allow NameCoin/OpenNIC Resolution"

keep us updated

Okay, after more testing, this appears to be the culprit and the issue is now solved. I have it enabled now and my Wi-Fi has been solid (after a reboot of course). I have on router running 1.8.1 and the other running 1.9.0 and they can both handle heavy load without issue. Big relief!

How did you fix the problem?

[ninderrycomp]

Like I said I had "Allow NameCoin/OpenNIC Resolution" disabled.

Enabling it again (default behaviour) allowed it to work again. Haven't had a hiccup with Wi-Fi since.

Interestingly, this had the opposite effect on some earlier firmwares of Gargoyle. I didn't think twice when disabling it. Whoops

[ispyisail]

thanks for reporting