AiMesh Guest Network Issue

[THP]

Main router Asus RT-AC68P. I'm on the latest Merlin, clean upgrade to last version. AIMesh node via wifi, also running latest Merlin from a clean flash. The Aimesh node is up and running without issue.

When I enable 2.4ghz Guest on network 2, I'm fine....except that I can't extend that network to my Aimesh node (this is by design), which is the reason I'd like to move it over to network 1. When I disable guest on network 2 and enable on network 1, the main router immediately loses connection to my internet. If I power cycle the main router, the problem persists. If I delete Guest network 1 and reboot, the main router works fine again. If I enable Guest network 2, things still run fine. I don't even seem to get a chance to extend my guest network 1to the aimesh node in the settings...I mean I guess I could, but I immediately lose internet and the main router complains about my provider not having DHCP setup correclty in the main Merlin 'Internet Status' section. This issue is repeatable.

Any ideas of where to look first? This happened on older releases of Merlin for me, so it's nothing in the recent build, I just finally had a day to sit down and play with it again this AM, and figured it's time to reach out for help...I'm not making much progress, and would really like to roam easily to other areas of the house on the same network.

 

[L&LD]

It does not sound like the router/network is in a good/known state as-is.

I would do a full reset to factory defaults (on both the main and nodes) and then minimally and manually configure the main router with the suggested defaults below, along with your GN1. Then add the node(s).

[Wireless] ASUS router Hard Factory Reset | Official Support | ASUS Global

Fully Reset / Best Practice Setup / More

Almost all L&LD Links

About L&LD

 

[ColinTaylor]

What is your main router connected to on its WAN port? Is it a modem or a modem/router. Perhaps that device has a local IP address of 192.168.101.0/24 which would conflict with the guest network.

 

[THP]

What is your main router connected to on its WAN port? Is it a modem or a modem/router. Perhaps that device has a local IP address of 192.168.101.0/24 which would conflict with the guest network.

The main router is connected to the Fios ONT. I will check your theory out...thanks! Update: Looks like the ONT, as a layer 2 device, has no real IP settings.

L&LD. Thanks, but I've done that several times over the last year. I factory reset and did a config from scratch on both routers when I upgraded. I don't run anything fancy...just some port forwarding, so it's pretty painless for me to do at each upgrade.

 

[THP]

OK, I have been playing around more and have narrowed down the issue...since the kids are out, nobody is complaining about the internet going on and off

It doesn't seem to be the enabling of the guest on network1 that causes the loss of internet...it's related to the first client that attempts to get an address. To test this, I disabled all my guest networks and restarted the main network. I then enabled a 5ghz guest on network 1 with a new name that no device in my house knows, and the internet remained. I then grabbed my phone and attempted to connect to the 5ghz guest network, and immediately lost internet all internet on the router. Removing the guest network and rebooting the router restored full functionality.

In the logs attached, 14:16 is the time I re-enabled the guest network, and my phone immediately tried to connect to the network and dropped the internet connection. Does anyone smarter than me see the issue here?

 

[ColinTaylor]

After enabling the new guest network try powering off/on your phone. The phone is refusing to accept the new IP address the router is offering it.

 

[THP]

After enabling the new guest network try powering off/on your phone. The phone is refusing to accept the new IP address the router is offering it.

Same problem. The internet on all my devices stays up, until the moment any device tries to connect to Guest 1...that takes down the internet. I powered off my Aimesh node, just to see if that was playing any role in the issue, and the behavior is identical. It seems like somehow that DHCP handshake conflicts with something and my WAN port just goes right down.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Post the complete syslog. It's difficult to analyse the problem without seeing it in full context.

 

[THP]

Thanks. Here is a snip of several boot cycles, as I've been testing. When it goes to May 5, that's a boot before it hits a NTP server and sets the correct time (I'm going to need to look into why the time resetting).

If there's a cleaner way to pull logs, just holler.

 

[ColinTaylor]

The time always resets because there is no battery backed clock.

 

[ColinTaylor]

If there's a cleaner way to pull logs, just holler.

Just click the Save button under the system log, upload it to somewhere like pastebin.com and provide a link.

 

[THP]

I just attached it to this post. Thanks.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I just attached it to this post. Thanks.

It's not showing up.

 

[THP]

Weird. It's acts like it's attaching, then doesn't save it. Try this link: https://pastebin.com/ncthQaGi

 

[ColinTaylor]

Thanks. I can't see anything in the log to suggest that the router's WAN is loosing connection to the internet. There are quite a few crashes related to WiFi but it's unclear whether that's just part of you manually changing the settings. It looks like some of the clients may still be connected to the node which is confusing things.

All I can suggest at this point is what @L&LD said in post #2. Basically remove the node and power it off. Then reset the main router and set it up as a standalone device with your new guest network. If that works, reset the node and re-add it to your mesh.

 

[JGN0123]

Main router Asus RT-AC68P. I'm on the latest Merlin, clean upgrade to last version. AIMesh node via wifi, also running latest Merlin from a clean flash. The Aimesh node is up and running without issue.

When I enable 2.4ghz Guest on network 2, I'm fine....except that I can't extend that network to my Aimesh node (this is by design), which is the reason I'd like to move it over to network 1. When I disable guest on network 2 and enable on network 1, the main router immediately loses connection to my internet. If I power cycle the main router, the problem persists. If I delete Guest network 1 and reboot, the main router works fine again. If I enable Guest network 2, things still run fine. I don't even seem to get a chance to extend my guest network 1to the aimesh node in the settings...I mean I guess I could, but I immediately lose internet and the main router complains about my provider not having DHCP setup correclty in the main Merlin 'Internet Status' section. This issue is repeatable.

Any ideas of where to look first? This happened on older releases of Merlin for me, so it's nothing in the recent build, I just finally had a day to sit down and play with it again this AM, and figured it's time to reach out for help...I'm not making much progress, and would really like to roam easily to other areas of the house on the same network.

Were you able to find a solution? I had the same problem running AiMesh via ethernet. I am wondering if it's the hardware problem with RT-AC68. I have my AC68P running as the main also.

 

[THP]

Thanks for the reply!

I have not come up with a solution yet. I do have a managed switch, and my last theory was that it might be related to the vlan that is setup on guest1, but I have yet to track down that theory, as it is going to mean alot of debugging via the console port on my switch. I will reply back if I get in and figure anything out. Are you running a managed switch?

 

[JGN123]

Thanks for the reply!

I have not come up with a solution yet. I do have a managed switch, and my last theory was that it might be related to the vlan that is setup on guest1, but I have yet to track down that theory, as it is going to mean alot of debugging via the console port on my switch. I will reply back if I get in and figure anything out. Are you running a managed switch?

Thanks for the info!
I am not running any switch, just the main router, RT-AC68P, connected directly to a AiMesh node, RT-AC68U. I have to use Guest 2 and disabled Guest 1. No Guest wifi at the node.