Hi all,

I have recently updated my home network setup with an Archer AX72 router as my main router. The network setup is rather simple and can be seen in the picture below:

The setup consists of two routers in separate rooms connected via Ethernet cable. The main router as already mentioned is the Archer AX72. I have kept most of the default settings apart from the DHCP server where I have set some permanent leases and the Wi-Fi name and password, I also have set up an OpenVPN server. The secondary router is a TP-Link TL-WDR4300 v1 with OpenWRT installed and it is set up as an Access Point according to this guide. I have set the Wi-Fi names and passwords of both routers to the same values e.g: MainaNet, except the 5GHz network on the AP router which also has '5GHz' in it. The idea here being that devices would automatically switch between networks when going from Room 1 to Room 2. The rooms are far away enough so that most devices see the closer network and switch on their own. This setup has been working without any issues for years even before upgrading to the Archer AX72. I had a TP-Link Archer C5 AC1200 as a main router in Room 1 with the same settings and all was fine. However, after updating the Archer AX72 to FW version 1.2.1 I started experiencing a weird problem.

When a device is initially in Room 2 and connected to the secondary AP router no matter to which Wi-Fi network 2.4 or 5GHz there is internet connection. If the device is moved to Room 1 and connected to the main router the connection is still working. If, however, the device is returned to Room 2 and connected to either the 2.4 or 5GHz network there is no internet connection. The browser reports a DNS Probe Finished no Internet Error. The Windows network troubleshooter reports Default Gateway unreachable and indeed trying to ping 192.168.0.1 through cmd is resulting in a time out. Restarting the device while in Room 2 and trying to reconnect to secondary AP router does not fix the issue. If the Main router in Room 1 is rebooted the issue goes away and the device which was brought back to Room 2 connects successfully to either 2.4 or 5GHz network. The connection persists until the next switch to Room 1 and then back to Room 2.

Because the browser reported a DNS error I tried setting different DNS servers both in the Internet section of the Main router and in the DHCP Server section, but there was no difference. And because the problem appeared after updating the Archer AX72 to version 1.2.1 this makes me think it is a bug introduced in the new version of the firmware. I am not sure if it is possible to downgrade the firmware back to version 1.1.2 but if I don't get any support or if the problem cannot be fixed in any other way I might consider trying to downgrade it.

EDIT: The issue is related to Wi-Fi only. If the device in Room 2 is connected via Ethernet cable to the AP it is able to reach the internet, however, switching back to Wi-Fi results in the same issue.

Any help is very much appreciated!

Ted