Netgear R7000 w/ DD-WRT; why would one of the two SSID WiFi networks disappear?

[Cerulean]

Greetings,

We use a Netgear R7000 with DD-WRT for a very small business (think 5-6 computer users). Included in this arrangement is two wireless printers, two laptops connecting over wireless, four desktop computers connecting over wireless, one desktop computer + one server + one printer connecting via wire.

The router is setup to broadcast two SSIDs over the regular 2.2-2.4GHz spectrum and also over the 5GHz spectrum. The 5GHz one is the same SSID but with -5G appended to its name (ex. ABC-WAP and ABC-WAP-5G are the two SSIDs).

Our two wireless printers do not have 5GHz capabilities, so they must use "ABC-WAP" WiFi network. Today, when I TeamViewer'd into one of the desktop computers only ABC-WAP-5G showed up in the wireless networks list; ABC-WAP was missing. I logged into the router, changed the frequency from Auto to Channel 11 (can't remember frequency), hit Save, then hit Apply. Then ABC-WAP finally showed up in the wireless networks list and printing was working again*.

Except the HP printer still didn't reconnect to the network, even after a power cycle, and does not show up in DHCP list so it definitely didn't connect. Have to look at that printer in person.

Does anyone know why one of the two SSIDs just decided to magically vanish ... and then come back after I did a Save --> Apply in DD-WRT?

 

[tweaked]

i had a lot of weirdness with DD-WRT on my R7000. I had to revert to the stock firmware.

 

[diizzy]

Because of buggy drivers and/or software, this is one of many reasons you shouldn't go with Broadcom platforms if you want to run 3rd party firmwares.
//Danne

 

[okashira]

I'm running dd-wrt on r7000 and havnet had this issue. Running newest NEWD.

I am having openvpn issues ......

 

[JoBUSH]

This is a DD-WRT bug. The Save->Apply either rebooted the AP or restarted some services that failed. Either way, I've seen it a bunch of times on DD-WRT. At the end of the day you have to realize it's not a production quality firmware. A lot of the features are really useful, but they're mostly untested, especially on the huge variety of hardware the firmware can be built for. Definitely use at your own risk in production environments.

 

[Suprfire]

I know it's a single case of personally provided anecdotal evidence... but in my experience, Tomato is consistently stabler and less buggy firmware than DD-WRT. This is the case for ~5-6 consumer routers I've flashed. You should give it a shot. YMMV

 

[Cerulean]

I haven't had experience with Tomato or others so I can't speak for those -- but compared to stock firmware the reason I'm using DD-WRT is because I am using DD-WRT to force every client on the network into using OpenDNS (there's no way around it). This is something I can't afford to lose. The client is too cheap to buy something like a Barracuda appliance and subscription to tackle this as an in-line device. In addition, I've tried a handful of times to understand and work with squid / squidproxy but it's just too hard and overly complicated (and when it comes to troubleshooting, even worse due to my lack of comfort and understanding).

Can Tomato do this?

 

[Suprfire]

Looking around the GUI:

Spoiler: dns options

DD-WRT and Tomato are very similarly featured

 

[Cerulean]

Looking around the GUI:

Spoiler: dns options

DD-WRT and Tomato are very similarly featured

I will definitely take a look at that. *searches to see if there is a Tomato vAppliance*

can't find one :\ maybe i'll have to find a cheap router that can be loaded with Tomato so that I can play with it

 

[diizzy]

Get a TP-Link TL-WDR3600 compile OpenWRT trunk with whatever packages you want and off you go.
//Danne

 

[JoBUSH]

If you're set on DD-WRT, I would suggest a quick google search for the best DD-WRT routers. Some offer better compatibility and are more extensively tested.

 

[Deleted member 12106]

I would jump ship on dd-wrt imo. It isn't what it used to be (reliable).

And stop using cobbled together crap for production.