Absolutely unable to add new XT8 node to existing XT8 network. Any ideas?

[Chippy_boy]

Every single time, I get Unable to add your AIMesh node ZenWifi AX to your AIMesh system due to the following bla bla bla.

I have tried factory resetting the node. I would try to update the node firmware, but when connecting to it (wifi or ethernet) all I can get access to is the ****ing setup wizard. How can I get to the main GUI???

I am completely stumped. I am following the instructions to the letter and it simply will not connect.

Any ideas?

 

[Chippy_boy]

OK I finally managed to access the GUI, updated the firmware to latest version and tried again. Still no joy.

I am stumped. How can it be this difficult to add a new XT8 to an existing XT8 mesh network. I mean honestly if the same kit is not easily compatible with itself, what on earth are you to do????

 

[Chippy_boy]

OK, I will post this here for the benefit of other poor sods who may find themselves Googling here for a solution. I have spent all day on this, but FINALLY managed to get it all working.

I tried everything to get this to work:

Updated the new XT8 node firmware
Loaded factory defaults
Reset by holding down WPS and powering up
Reset by pressing the reset pin for 5 seconds
Tried the Asus Router app
Tried the Asus Router app on other devices
Connected to the node via WIFI
Connected to the node via Ethernet
Rebooted everything MANY times
Tried adding a node via the startup wizard
Tried adding a node via the web UI
Disconnected EVERyTHING
Tried it all again many times

Nothing works. Apart from this:

1. Connect the node to the main unit via Ethernet - yellow ports on the router, to the blue port on the node.
2. Log in to the main router UI and select Network Map on the left
3. At the bottom of the screen in the middle, click on AI Mesh Node
4. On the right hand side, click on Search
5. When the new node is found, click on Yes (or attach or whatever it says - I cannot quite remember)

This SHOULD work. You should now have a node connected with wired backhaul over Ethernet.

6. Now click on AIMesh on the left
7. Click on your new node in the middle of the screen
8. On the right hand side of the screen, click on Management
9. Change Connection Priority to Auto
10. Click on Reboot Node
11. Whilst rebooting, pull out the ethernet cable

Et Voila! You now have a new node connected wireless into your Mesh network.

I am pretty angry with Asus about this to be honest. It is utterly ridiculous that none of the documented ways of connected a new node should actually work. I could understand it (a bit) if we were talking 3 or 4 different types of hardware, all with their own different firmware versions. But i have 4 x XT8's all running latest firmware and all reset and rebooted and they just will not talk to each other as they are supposed to. A very poor show.

 

[Chippy_boy]

As an addendum to this, I should add that having finally got everything set up, I am very pleased with the units. I am getting a reliable connection and decent speeds all around the house. It's been rock solid for several weeks now.

My only quandry is this: I want to add another node and would like to add an Asus XD4 node (as they are cheaper than another XT8). However the XD4 nodes do not have a WAN port - and therefore no wired backhaul. Which means I would be unable to add the node using the method above. I am left wondering whether I would be able to get it to work at all, since all attempts to add a node wirelessly previously, failed.

 

[davidchiou]

Thank you Chippy_boy. I encountered the same problem and luckily I remembered seeing your post and then followed your post to fix it. It worked like a charm. Thank you!

 

[KingPoogi]

Thank you Chippy_boy! it worked... by the way, I configuered a system of XT8 and XD4 using your method and it is working well.

 

[rjbarker]

Hey guys...I just purchased a single XT8 Node and also will be adding it into my 2 pak system already up n running. I wont be home for a few weeks to do it though but thought I would clarify.
- I unplug my main XT8 router from my Modem, then plug an Ethernet cable from the yellow WAN port on the main XT8 router to my new XT8 Node blue Lan port?
- Then log into my GUI and follow steps above?
- assuming powering the node on near the main router and trying to simply "add the node" thru either the GUI or App doesnt work?

Thanks in advance

 

[Rana Imran]

OK, I will post this here for the benefit of other poor sods who may find themselves Googling here for a solution. I have spent all day on this, but FINALLY managed to get it all working.

I tried everything to get this to work:

Updated the new XT8 node firmware
Loaded factory defaults
Reset by holding down WPS and powering up
Reset by pressing the reset pin for 5 seconds
Tried the Asus Router app
Tried the Asus Router app on other devices
Connected to the node via WIFI
Connected to the node via Ethernet
Rebooted everything MANY times
Tried adding a node via the startup wizard
Tried adding a node via the web UI
Disconnected EVERyTHING
Tried it all again many times

Nothing works. Apart from this:

1. Connect the node to the main unit via Ethernet - yellow ports on the router, to the blue port on the node.
2. Log in to the main router UI and select Network Map on the left
3. At the bottom of the screen in the middle, click on AI Mesh Node
4. On the right hand side, click on Search
5. When the new node is found, click on Yes (or attach or whatever it says - I cannot quite remember)

This SHOULD work. You should now have a node connected with wired backhaul over Ethernet.

6. Now click on AIMesh on the left
7. Click on your new node in the middle of the screen
8. On the right hand side of the screen, click on Management
9. Change Connection Priority to Auto
10. Click on Reboot Node
11. Whilst rebooting, pull out the ethernet cable

Et Voila! You now have a new node connected wireless into your Mesh network.

I am pretty angry with Asus about this to be honest. It is utterly ridiculous that none of the documented ways of connected a new node should actually work. I could understand it (a bit) if we were talking 3 or 4 different types of hardware, all with their own different firmware versions. But i have 4 x XT8's all running latest firmware and all reset and rebooted and they just will not talk to each other as they are supposed to. A very poor show.

I was trying to add an aimesh node since yesterday but nothing worked. Your method worked. Thank You So Much

 

[rjbarker]

Wow...when I added the 3rd Node to my XT8 Mesh it took 2 min using my phone / app.
No cables...

 

[AnnieBody]

Chippy Boy
The XD4 node you want is the 90IG05N0-MO3R50.
This is the router with the WAN/LAN port not the wireless devices.

 

[Dr Martin]

Nothing works. Apart from this:

1. Connect the node to the main unit via Ethernet - yellow ports on the router, to the blue port on the node.
2. Log in to the main router UI and select Network Map on the left
3. At the bottom of the screen in the middle, click on AI Mesh Node
4. On the right hand side, click on Search
5. When the new node is found, click on Yes (or attach or whatever it says - I cannot quite remember)

This SHOULD work. You should now have a node connected with wired backhaul over Ethernet.

6. Now click on AIMesh on the left
7. Click on your new node in the middle of the screen
8. On the right hand side of the screen, click on Management
9. Change Connection Priority to Auto
10. Click on Reboot Node
11. Whilst rebooting, pull out the ethernet cable

Thank you, I spent the last three days trying everything to do this wireless between two AC68U routers on Merlin firmware and this was the only way to get it to work. Thank you Chippy_boy!

 

[gz2021]

Thank you for posting this chippy_boy, you saved me a bunch of headaches!!

I did setup the 3rd node as a standalone router first just so I could update the firmware to the same version as the other nodes. Then I factory reset it and went with the ethernet into the WAN port method.

 

[Workmailman]

OK, I will post this here for the benefit of other poor sods who may find themselves Googling here for a solution. I have spent all day on this, but FINALLY managed to get it all working.

I tried everything to get this to work:

Updated the new XT8 node firmware
Loaded factory defaults
Reset by holding down WPS and powering up
Reset by pressing the reset pin for 5 seconds
Tried the Asus Router app
Tried the Asus Router app on other devices
Connected to the node via WIFI
Connected to the node via Ethernet
Rebooted everything MANY times
Tried adding a node via the startup wizard
Tried adding a node via the web UI
Disconnected EVERyTHING
Tried it all again many times

Nothing works. Apart from this:

1. Connect the node to the main unit via Ethernet - yellow ports on the router, to the blue port on the node.
2. Log in to the main router UI and select Network Map on the left
3. At the bottom of the screen in the middle, click on AI Mesh Node
4. On the right hand side, click on Search
5. When the new node is found, click on Yes (or attach or whatever it says - I cannot quite remember)

This SHOULD work. You should now have a node connected with wired backhaul over Ethernet.

6. Now click on AIMesh on the left
7. Click on your new node in the middle of the screen
8. On the right hand side of the screen, click on Management
9. Change Connection Priority to Auto
10. Click on Reboot Node
11. Whilst rebooting, pull out the ethernet cable

Et Voila! You now have a new node connected wireless into your Mesh network.

I am pretty angry with Asus about this to be honest. It is utterly ridiculous that none of the documented ways of connected a new node should actually work. I could understand it (a bit) if we were talking 3 or 4 different types of hardware, all with their own different firmware versions. But i have 4 x XT8's all running latest firmware and all reset and rebooted and they just will not talk to each other as they are supposed to. A very poor show.

So I got a third node.... Had all the same issue but this didn’t work. I got it to work by powering off the other node (that is wired) and setting the third one up. It also worked after I disabled the "Ethernet Backhaul" setting. Do they ALL have to be wired in order for the ethernet backhaul to work?

 

[OzarkEdge]

Do they ALL have to be wired in order for the ethernet backhaul to work?

You can have mixed wired/wireless backhauls. If they are all wired, you can enable Ethernet Backhaul Mode to release all WiFi for client use.

OE

 

[JohnnyZ]

@Chippy_boy you are a life and time saver. Thank you for the instructions as they worked like a charm!

 

[ceejaysquared]

I know this is an old thread, but I am incredibly frustrated, and this seems very close to my issue, so I'm posting here FWIW.

I have tried Chippy's suggestions, and my XT8 still won't find the nodes - directly wired and all.

I suspect this is because I'm new at this, and there is probably a really obvious answer here, but I suspect it's firmware, but without access to the node (since the router won't find it even over direct wire), how am I supposed to update the firmware?

 

[ceejaysquared]

Ok, responding to myself (not sure of proper protocol here).

I was able to force the main router to find the nodes by:
1) Hard resetting them (pin)
2) WPS -- holding the button through the boot cycle and for 5 or 6 seconds afterwards (sometimes had to repeat if the node's lights didn't come on)
3) Then the nodes reconnected and updated firmware on the reconnect

 

[jksmurf]

Seems not an uncommon problem, I am pretty disappointed in the stories I see regarding ASUS XT8.
I see you got it going using the WPS method, so I do not have any further suggestions.

If anyone else is still having a problem and is looking at FW, check if this thread will help you any.

 

[zimmerjmd11]

Every single time, I get Unable to add your AIMesh node ZenWifi AX to your AIMesh system due to the following bla bla bla.

I have tried factory resetting the node. I would try to update the node firmware, but when connecting to it (wifi or ethernet) all I can get access to is the ****ing setup wizard. How can I get to the main GUI???

I am completely stumped. I am following the instructions to the letter and it simply will not connect.

Any ideas?

I'm having this same problem. I followed chippy's process but was still unable to add a new node. One of the possible issues from the error message was that the firmware isn't up to date. How can I update the firmware if I can't connect the node? I thought about setting up this new node as a new router but I had such a hard time getting my main router and first node to work, I don't want to risk them going offline. Any tips on updating the firmware on a node that is not connected to the system/internet, or advice on my situation in general?

 

[jksmurf]

Any tips on updating the firmware on a node that is not connected to the system/internet, or advice on my situation in general?

Maybe try to add it (set it up) as an access point rather than a mesh node, then update the FW that way first?