Nighthawk X6 WAP issues
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Hello all, I'm new to pfsense and recently built a pfsense router with some new and old hardware I had and a few I ordered. I have it up and running great but my wireless is not the best. I'm having issues with websites taking several minutes to load and sometimes not loading at all, weird latency issues and most times when I try to do a speed test on wireless it will not work and has network communication issues. I am wanting my wifi to feel more like it did when I was just running my X6 as a standalone router, what should I do to get it to feel like that again. Also I just have the standard firewall settings on my instalation right now except with a rule for my Lans to talk to each other. Below is my hardware setup
Mobo: Asus motherboard
CPU: Intel Xeon X5650
Ram: 16gb ddr3
Hdd: 1tb WD green
Nic: Intel 4port gigabit switch
PSU: 500w EVGA
Switch: 8 port Netgear gigabit web managed switch
WAP: Nighthawk X6 in WAP modeI know some of my hardware is a little OP but I had it laying around. And in a side note my wired is fine except I am getting strict NAT type in some games that could be causing some issues in the future.
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Bump
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I would run a packet capture to see what's actually happening there.
Several minutes to load a site is catastrophically bad unless your WAN is very slow. There must be something significantly wrong like an interface speed/duplex mismatch or an actual bad NIC.
What results do you see attached to one of the Ethernet ports on the X6?
Steve
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I'll run a packet capture thismorning when I get home on some of the websites that have bad issues and report back with my results
The WAN is gigabit symetrical, I am getting 960 up and down consistantly on wired and when I can get the speed test to work and not have some weird network issue on wireless I get around 300 to 450 down
I have not tried the ethernet ports on the X6 as it is now being used as a AP only so I have been using my switch but I will test it and see tomorrow if I can get anything on it.
Another thing I was thinking is to try putting the X6 on a static as it is on DHCP address mode currently but IDK if that will do much of anything to help
Thank you!
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The actual IP setup of the X6 shouldn't make any difference. In AP mode it should be operating entirely at later 2 just passing wireless traffic to pfSense.
Does it connect via it's WAN port in AP mode or one of the LAN ports? They may all be connected as one switch in that mode anyway.
Testing from the X6 ports should prove the connection to the pfSense box anyway. If it's good there it can only be a wifi issue or something the X6 is doing between wireless and wired.Steve
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Alright I ran a packet capture for about a minute while trying to load a few websites. The one that would not load was dell.com
16:48:51.636951 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41822, length 8
16:48:51.638395 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41822, length 8
16:48:51.844434 IP XXX.48663 > 64.233.185.138.443: tcp 92
16:48:51.844677 IP XXX.48663 > 64.233.185.138.443: tcp 46
16:48:51.845050 IP XXX.48663 > 64.233.185.138.443: tcp 198
16:48:51.857510 IP 64.233.185.138.443 > XXX.48663: tcp 0
16:48:51.857759 IP 64.233.185.138.443 > XXX.48663: tcp 0
16:48:51.857884 IP 64.233.185.138.443 > XXX.48663: tcp 46
16:48:51.870627 IP 64.233.185.138.443 > XXX.48663: tcp 77
16:48:51.870635 IP 64.233.185.138.443 > XXX.48663: tcp 93
16:48:51.870751 IP 64.233.185.138.443 > XXX.48663: tcp 147
16:48:51.870759 IP 64.233.185.138.443 > XXX.48663: tcp 46
16:48:51.877656 IP XXX.48663 > 64.233.185.138.443: tcp 0
16:48:51.878405 IP XXX.48663 > 64.233.185.138.443: tcp 46
16:48:51.931591 IP 64.233.185.138.443 > XXX.48663: tcp 0
16:48:52.088496 IP 104.16.59.37.443 > XXX: tcp 82
16:48:52.129756 IP XXX.22783 > 104.16.59.37.443: tcp 0
16:48:52.169197 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41823, length 8
16:48:52.170568 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41823, length 8
16:48:52.559208 IP 172.104.216.121.443 > XXX.17909: tcp 34
16:48:52.599715 IP XXX.17909 > 172.104.216.121.443: tcp 0
16:48:52.701452 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41824, length 8
16:48:52.702867 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41824, length 8
16:48:53.233701 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41825, length 8
16:48:53.235041 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41825, length 8
16:48:53.722498 IP 104.16.59.37.443 > XXX.22783: tcp 82
16:48:53.763754 IP XXX.22783 > 104.16.59.37.443: tcp 0
16:48:53.765954 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41826, length 8
16:48:53.767340 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41826, length 8
16:48:54.298209 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41827, length 8
16:48:54.299639 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41827, length 8
16:48:54.830345 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41828, length 8
16:48:54.831689 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41828, length 8
16:48:55.029570 IP 104.16.59.37.443 > XXX.22783: tcp 192
16:48:55.069713 IP XXX.22783 > 104.16.59.37.443: tcp 0
16:48:55.292693 IP XXX.37290 > 64.233.185.102.443: tcp 0
16:48:55.305898 IP 64.233.185.102.443 > XXX.37290: tcp 0
16:48:55.362590 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41829, length 8
16:48:55.364112 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41829, length 8
16:48:55.894841 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41830, length 8
16:48:55.896536 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41830, length 8
16:48:56.082762 IP XXX.40657 > 216.239.36.10.53: UDP, length 41
16:48:56.096914 IP 216.239.36.10.53 > XXX.40657: UDP, length 80
16:48:56.096999 IP XXX.23910 > 216.239.36.10.53: UDP, length 53
16:48:56.110821 IP XXX.39625 > 169.44.166.66.5938: tcp 24
16:48:56.110906 IP 216.239.36.10.53 > XXX.23910: UDP, length 298
16:48:56.143058 IP XXX.19212 > 172.217.11.142.443: UDP, length 1350
16:48:56.145803 IP XXX.29181 > 172.217.11.142.443: tcp 0
16:48:56.157752 IP 172.217.11.142.443 > XXX.19212: UDP, length 1350
16:48:56.157763 IP 172.217.11.142.443 > XXX.19212: UDP, length 31
16:48:56.158876 IP 172.217.11.142.443 > XXX.29181: tcp 0
16:48:56.164281 IP XXX.29181 > 172.217.11.142.443: tcp 0
16:48:56.166030 IP XXX.19212 > 172.217.11.142.443: UDP, length 39
16:48:56.166278 IP 173.XXX.19212 > 172.217.11.142.443: UDP, length 30
16:48:56.167528 IP XXX.19212 > 172.217.11.142.443: UDP, length 1337
16:48:56.168528 IP XXX.29181 > 172.217.11.142.443: tcp 517
16:48:56.179612 IP 169.44.166.66.5938 > 173.XXX.39625: tcp 24
16:48:56.180487 IP 172.217.11.142.443 > XXX.19212: UDP, length 22
16:48:56.181737 IP 172.217.11.142.443 > XXX.29181: tcp 0
16:48:56.181861 IP 172.217.11.142.443 > XXX.29181: tcp 156
16:48:56.186642 IP XXX.29181 > 172.217.11.142.443: tcp 0
16:48:56.187515 IP XXX.29181 > 172.217.11.142.443: tcp 51
16:48:56.197602 IP 172.217.11.142.443 > XXX.19212: UDP, length 262
16:48:56.197608 IP 172.217.11.142.443 > XXX.19212: UDP, length 16
16:48:56.200100 IP 172.217.11.142.443 > XXX.29181: tcp 69
16:48:56.216623 IP XXX.19212 > 172.217.11.142.443: UDP, length 30
16:48:56.220746 IP XXX.39625 > 169.44.166.66.5938: tcp 0
16:48:56.235862 IP XXX.29181 > 172.217.11.142.443: tcp 0
16:48:56.427098 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41831, length 8
16:48:56.428585 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41831, length 8
16:48:56.705589 IP XXX.61006 > 8.8.8.8.53: UDP, length 32
16:48:56.706457 IP XXX.57796 > 8.8.4.4.53: UDP, length 32
16:48:56.719782 IP 8.8.4.4.53 > XXX.57796: UDP, length 128
16:48:56.720031 IP 8.8.8.8.53 > XXX.61006: UDP, length 128
16:48:56.959353 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41832, length 8
16:48:56.960759 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41832, length 8
16:48:57.491605 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41833, length 8
16:48:57.492933 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41833, length 8
16:48:57.695063 IP 104.16.59.37.443 > XXX.22783: tcp 89
16:48:57.734696 IP XXX.22783 > 104.16.59.37.443: tcp 0
16:48:57.782041 IP XXX.37463 > 35.186.224.47.443: tcp 50
16:48:57.795373 IP 35.186.224.47.443 > XXX.37463: tcp 0
16:48:57.842471 IP 35.186.224.47.443 > XXX.37463: tcp 47
16:48:57.882729 IP XXX.37463 > 35.186.224.47.443: tcp 0
16:48:58.023860 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41834, length 8
16:48:58.025232 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41834, length 8
16:48:58.556111 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41835, length 8
16:48:58.557531 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41835, length 8
16:48:58.578394 IP 104.16.59.37.443 > XXX.22783: tcp 99
16:48:58.618780 IP XXX.22783 > 104.16.59.37.443: tcp 0
16:48:59.088366 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41836, length 8
16:48:59.089705 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41836, length 8
16:48:59.406638 IP 104.16.59.37.443 > XXX.22783: tcp 77
16:48:59.446773 IP XXX.22783 > 104.16.59.37.443: tcp 0
16:48:59.615588 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41837, length 8
16:48:59.616883 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41837, length 8
16:49:00.147837 IP XXX > 173.240.128.1: ICMP echo request, id 26336, seq 41838, length 8
16:49:00.150306 IP 173.240.128.1 > XXX: ICMP echo reply, id 26336, seq 41838, length 8
16:49:00.192818 IP XXX.12528 > 173.194.219.132.443: tcp 0
16:49:00.205772 IP 173.194.219.132.443 > XXX..12528: tcp 0I went through and swapped my IP with ''XXX''. I have not been able to try my ethernet ports on my X6 but the LAN connection to it is connected to its WAN port.
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Really you'd need to open that in Wireshark and look for TCP resets or retransmissions. Or just missing packets.
Steve
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@god_bmxes said in Nighthawk X6 WAP issues:
I have not been able to try my ethernet ports on my X6 but the LAN connection to it is connected to its WAN port.
Basic rule when using routers/gateways as AP, don't use the WAN port.
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Ah, missed that.
If AP mode is intended to use the WAN that way it should be OK. But I would definitely test connecting the link to pfSense to one of it's 'LAN' ports.Steve
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@stephenw10 said in Nighthawk X6 WAP issues:
If AP mode is intended to use the WAN that way it should be OK.
The thing with these devices is that they do allow you to use the WAN port as a LAN port in AP mode. But they do it by using a software bridge between WAN and LAN, and this comes with the usual caveats and performance issues. So if you must you can use that WAN port for a single client, but never use it as your uplink.
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I just swapped the x6 port I'm using from the Wan to lan4. So I'll see what it does when it comes back up
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@grimson said in Nighthawk X6 WAP issues:
The thing with these devices is that they do allow you to use the WAN port as a LAN port in AP mode. But they do it by using a software bridge between WAN and LAN, and this comes with the usual caveats and performance issues.
That can certainly be the case and if it is the throughput would likely be limited.
However the ports might be on the same switch IC separated by VLANs in which case AP mode could simply add that port to the existing VLAN. If it's been programmed to do so.
The wifi is usually bridged to the LAN anyway so it should be capable.Steve
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Well, it didn't take long to find out but the Wan and lan ports are running about the same lol
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Ok, that's still testing via the wifi though?
We need to confirm it's good (or bad) with a wired client connected to the X6.
Steve
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@stephenw10 so run it as an AP and connect a wired device to connect through the X6?
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Yes. If it's still bad there then there is some issue with the connection between the X6 and pfSense.
If it's good there then the issue lies with how the wifi is connected to the Ethernet ports in the X6.
Steve
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Alright, I'll go and run something off of that it and see. Also downloaded Wireshark to see if there is dropped packets etc
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@stephenw10 said in Nighthawk X6 WAP issues:
However the ports might be on the same switch IC separated by VLANs in which case AP mode could simply add that port to the existing VLAN. If it's been programmed to do so.
For the last ~10 years I have been knee deep in the open source firmware parts of those Netgear, Linksys and Asus routers, and let me tell you it's ugly and one of the mayor reasons I switched to pfSense for my home too. Yes they could change the VLANs but they don't, or at least they did not until the end of 2017.
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Alright, I have my desktop connected to the X6 on a lan port and I have the line in from the switch coming from the switch going to the lan port aswell on the x6. I do not get internet on the desktop now while it's hardwired to the x6 in AP mode. I did download the cable shark, but I have no ideas what I'm looking at in the logs. So I think the x6 may be the issue right now. Maybe I should look at a different ap