AiMesh - LAN Ports on Nodes? (AC5300/88U/68U)

[Mozy]

I recently I had a WiFi repeater die, and was excited to give the AiMesh a try since I have had a 68U as my main router for a few years. I did some research on this forum and it looks like the LAN ports and WiFi are supposed to be available in AiMesh mode, which is exactly what I need.

For the AiMesh, I ordered a AC5300 and a 88U. My plan was to setup the AC5300 as the router and use the 88U and 68U as nodes. On all 3 I manually updated to the latest Feb 2018 firmware, manual reboot, hold the factory reset on the back of each unit, and then went into the AC5300 setup via web browser. The only changes I started with were switching on the Tri-Band Smart Connect and AiProtection.

I was able to successfully get the mesh network setup with all 3 units, WiFi is strong though one problem is WiFi connected devices do have occasional authentication errors, but more importantly it seems that none of the devices I plug into the LAN ports of the nodes (88U/68U) are getting assigned any kind of address on my network from the router (AC5300).
To troubleshoot, I tried taking away the 68U, and reversing the 88U to be the router and AC5300 be the node, with the same results.

I'm missing something, any ideas?

 

[monaro-ds]

i don know how to help , but my "Lutron HUB " plugged to 68U node LAN port and it works ...

 

[Mozy]

monaro-ds -Thanks for confirming WiFi and LAN should be working.

Has anyone had this issue happen to them? I'm not sure what I might be doing wrong, it seems like this part should be straight forward before customizing any settings?

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

monaro-ds -Thanks for confirming WiFi and LAN should be working.

Has anyone had this issue happen to them? I'm not sure what I might be doing wrong, it seems like this part should be straight forward before customizing any settings?

It is straight forward. Is your main AiMesh router set in Administration as AiMesh Router Mode? Is DHCP enabled?
Many problems can be averted by doing a factory reset on all AiMesh components after doing the firmware update. You probably were jumping several major releases from the previous fw. NVRAM can have conflicts for the many new parameters. Of course, then you'll need to set-up the AiMesh network again.

 

[Mozy]

Ronald Schwerer - Thank you for your reply. Yep, 5300 AiMesh is in router mode, and DHCP is enabled as I went in and assigned a couple devices that were connected to the AC5300 on it's lan ports.

Since I just got these 2 routers (AC5300/88U), so it is very possible that I skipped some firmware updates by jumping to the latest version. Should I be doing the factory reset a different way beside the button on the back of each unit? Should I do it instead from the Web-GUI?

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

Ronald Schwerer - Thank you for your reply. Yep, 5300 AiMesh is in router mode, and DHCP is enabled as I went in and assigned a couple devices that were connected to the AC5300 on it's lan ports.

Since I just got these 2 routers (AC5300/88U), so it is very possible that I skipped some firmware updates by jumping to the latest version. Should I be doing the factory reset a different way beside the button on the back of each unit? Should I do it instead from the Web-GUI?

The "reset" button is more like a reboot. It isn't a factory reset. The nvram reset is done by powering off, press & hold WPS while powering up router. Hold WPS for about 20 seconds until the power light begins flashing. Release WPS and let it boot (2.4 & 5G lights come on when it has finished).
You can do a factory reset on the router from the web gui (Admin/Restore SaveLoad Setting/Initialize) but that won't reset nodes. Or via ssh (nvram erase ; nvram commit; reboot)

 

[Mozy]

Ronald Schwerer - Good to know, I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the tip!

 

[OzarkEdge]

The "reset" button is more like a reboot. It isn't a factory reset.

Actually, the hardware reset button is one way to factory default reset when the router is healthy. The various methods are explained here:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/faq-nvram-and-factory-default-reset.22822/

OE

 

[Mozy]

OzarkEdge - Thank you for your reply, are you saying I already did the factory reset correctly, and that there is something else I should try instead?

 

[OzarkEdge]

OzarkEdge - Thank you for your reply, are you saying I already did the factory reset correctly, and that there is something else I should try instead?

No, I don't know what you've done!

If you don't, then start over. Just be sure you use the highest spec router as the root node, install the same AiMesh firmware on all nodes, and factory default reset the AiMesh firmware on all nodes before configuring the router and adding the nodes. Do not configure anything on the nodes... the router does that when you add each node.

OE

 

[Mozy]

OK, I'll try the WPS method of factory reset and start over.
Still, seems odd that the lan ports work when config as a router, but appear disabled when config as nodes. I'll report back after I try again.

 

[OzarkEdge]

OK, I'll try the WPS method of factory reset and start over.
Still, seems odd that the lan ports work as a router, but appear disabled when setup as nodes. I'll report back after I try again.

Node LAN ports should behave like any Ethernet switch on the network, imo. The router Network Map might be confused about clients, but the actual wired clients should behave normally. If not, report it.

OE

 

[monaro-ds]

On my initial setup , after not been able to get AiMesh working properly for 3 days …

I end up doing 3 resets for each device in my setup

1 Administrator tab / factory restore
2 WPS method
3 Reset Button on the back

All seems to work normal right now

 

[Mozy]

Thanks Everyone, You were right! All I needed to do was the WPS method and everything is now working correctly.

Now I need to read up on this forum on how to optimize speeds....

Thanks again for your help!!

 

[OzarkEdge]

Thanks Everyone, You were right! All I needed to do was the WPS method and everything is now working correctly.

Now I need to read up on this forum on how to optimize speeds....

Thanks again for your help!!

Read this https://www.snbforums.com/threads/insight-from-google-fiber-wifi-performance.40149/

OE

 

[Mozy]

Thanks for the link OzarkEdge! I read the link, played with some settings and am a happy camper for now.

My network is mostly a HTPC WMC environment sending to 4 tv setups. I've been running ethernet all over the house and am pretty surprised wireless has reached this point of beaming video/audio efficiently. Turns out Universal Beamforming Enabled did the trick along with Roaming Assistant Disabled, and locking 2.4 to N only/20mhz and 5g to N/AC only at 40mhz.

I'm going to add one last node (my old 68U) and test stability over the next week.

Thanks again everyone for your help!