AiMesh not working anymore on 2 latest Merlin firmwares

[octopus]

Okay so you have Merlin main and the others are mesh but ASUS-WRT.
Its also not just the 68U I have 2 Extra RT-AX58U and they connect but have issues.
Photo of 58U's to show that I really have them:

View attachment 35393

If you get it working with stock sw stick with it. No need to run Merlin on aimesh nodes. I have stock on my AiMesh node on rt-ax58u and working fine.

 

[Marvin Gage]

I have RT-AX86U and RT-AX58U and they will not create a new mesh with latest firmware. So yes the latest firmware is buggy with AiMesh.

 

[octopus]

I have RT-AX86U and RT-AX58U and they will not create a new mesh with latest firmware. So yes the latest firmware is buggy with AiMesh.

That is exactly setup I have and working perfectly. Try to pair with lan-cable.

 

[Marvin Gage]

That is exactly setup I have and working perfectly. Try to pair with lan-cable.

I have it with Lan Cable the RT-AX86U has IP address of 192.168.1.1 but the RT-AX58U defaults to 192.168.50.1 so even on lan cable does not seem to be working. Gets 57% done than fails and the AX58U at that time only shows power LED as it's rebooting.

 

[Tech9]

Yes it it a real ASUS

What is real Asus? Read below.

Asuswrt-Merlin 386.3, the same file to all routers:
Genuine RT-AC68U ver. A2 - not recognized
Genuine RT-AC1900P ver B2 - OK
Genuine RT-AC66U B1 ver. A1 - not recognized
Asus Clone, non-Asus hardware - OK

Asuswrt 386_43129, files from Asus support site:
Genuine RT-AC68U ver. A2 - OK
Genuine RT-AC1900P ver B2 - OK
Genuine RT-AC66U B1 ver. A1 - OK
Asus Clone, non-Asus hardware - OK

To my surprise Asus clone router works in both Asuswrt and Asuswrt-Merlin, no problem. Don't ask for details.

 

[octopus]

I have it with Lan Cable the RT-AX86U has IP address of 192.168.1.1 but the RT-AX58U defaults to 192.168.50.1 so even on lan cable does not seem to be working. Gets 57% done than fails and the AX58U at that time only shows power LED as it's rebooting.

[AiMesh] How to setup AiMesh system (Web GUI)? | Official Support | ASUS USA

 

[maestr0]

Was running AC88U (main) with AC68U (AiMesh node) on 386_3 and was having the same issues with connection drop issues (had both running on Merlin for a longer period already and this behavior was not so apparent as on 386_3). Have implemented stock firmware 3.0.0.4.386.43129 on the AiMesh node and looking much better immediately. Will monitor the in the coming days.

Update: with the stock firmware on the AiMesh node for the past 2 days, I have not spotted any connection issues.

 

[przemekwawa]

Same problem, freshly installed rt-ax86u with Merlin newest firmware (it does not work for me with 386.3 and 386.3_2) and rt-ac68u (386.3). Wps enabled, and it times out during connection. Tried to reset node many times.

 

[Tech9]

Looking at Asuswrt-Merlin changelog, all versions from 386.2 and up perhaps have the same AiMesh code (GPL 386_42095), few months old now. Upgrading to 386.3_2 is not expected to fix anything AiMesh related. Test again when RMerlin receives the updated Asus code.

 

[RangerZ]

I have a pair of RT-AC1900P, revision unknown, and I too am experiencing this issue, also discussed here. I have now tested the following scenarios for this issue:

Router	Node	Working
386_43129	386_43129	YES
Merlin 386.2.4	386_43129	YES
Merlin 386.2.4	Merlin 386.2.4	YES
Merlin 386.2.4	Merlin 386.2.6	NO
Merlin 386.2.6	386_43129	NO
Merlin 386.3.0	Merlin 386.3.0	NO

All but one have errored at 1-2%. I got to about 30% with Merlin 386.2-4 and 386.2-6 before it failed.

 

[AnClar]

Just as a point of reference, I currently have a four-node AIMesh configuration working well. All boxes on Merlin 386.3. Main router is RT-AC5300 with dedicated wireless backhaul to three RT-AC68U nodes. I've been dirty updating for the past several builds, trouble-free. The only thing I do before updating is to dismount the USB connected to the RT-AC5300 prior to updating the main router.

 

[RangerZ]

Yes it it a real ASUS I really don't want to use stock.
Why it went from Merlin 35MB to ASUS stock which is 91MB ....
I don't know the router version the sticker was removes and I cut the plastic for better airflow.
Is there a command for Putty to get the router version?

@tvBass
See this post

 

[STRUZZIN]

Okay that makes sense then thanks @RangerZ
I have been using the stock ASUS on the mesh and its working fine.
So I wonder if Merlin 386.4 are working ......

 

[Reef2009]

Hi,
Today I suffered issues with my AiMesh.
I have the following setup:
Main router: RT-AX88U
AiMesh nodes: RD-AC68u and RT-AC88u.

Everything was working fine for a view months with upgrade over upgrade. today without any warning (as far as I know) there where issues. Nothing has changed for over a week. and out of the blue the AiMesh nodes disappeared, they weren't reachable but the deviced thrue the routers and nodes where reachable. WOL wasn't working etc. etc... so strange.... Everything was running 386.3_2.

So I tried to reset everything with latest Merlin firmware but whatever i did it dint work.
Last changes was to roleback to Asus firmware on the nodes en try to connect the node again. this works out of the box. The Main router is still running 386.3_2. and now even on 386.4_Alpha1.
So for everyone with AiMesh issues. leave your main router on Merlin firmware and try Asus factory firmware for the nodes.

For me this works and without any less of features or so as far as I can see.

 

[jaydoe]

So for everyone with AiMesh issues. leave your main router on Merlin firmware and try Asus factory firmware for the nodes.

For me this works and without any less of features or so as far as I can see.

I'm using my AC68U node with Asus factory firmware and still it's not working with Merlin FW 386.3 flashed on my main AC68U router. Ended up rolling back to old 386.2_4 Merlin FW on my main router because that version is working.

I guess I can't flash newer Merlin FW's past 386.2_4 anymore and I believe there's no support for this problem.

 

[L&LD]

The latest RMerlin firmware works flawlessly for many, but not for some.

You're able to try the latest Alpha version to see if that fixes the problem in your network. Along with a full reset to factory defaults.

When Asus releases the latest GPL for RMerlin, and he releases his, the fixes will be identical (and available) to the currently newer stock firmware again.

 

[Tech9]

Ended up rolling back to old 386.2_4 Merlin FW on my main router because that version is working.

This is interesting, because as I understand 386.2_4 and 386.3_2 are on the same Asuswrt code base. That means the changes in 386.3 and later somehow interfere with AiMesh. I know AiMesh is closed source code, but @RMerlin is perhaps the only one who can find/guess what may have gone wrong. The issue is intermittent and on some routers only. Seems like AiMesh is looking for something that is not there anymore after 386.3 firmware.

 

[jaydoe]

This is interesting, because as I understand 386.2_4 and 386.3_2 are on the same Asuswrt code base.

At the moment I have only tried 386.3 and not the newer 386.3_2 nor Alpha builds. I'm always doing full reset to factory defaults after flashing new FW and changing all my settings manually. Is there something different between 386.3 and 386.3_2 that might affect AiMesh functionality? I might do some more testing to see if I get the AiMesh working but it's a time consuming process.

 

[RangerZ]

@Tech9 ,

This is interesting, because as I understand 386.2_4 and 386.3_2 are on the same Asuswrt code base. That means the changes in 386.3 and later somehow interfere with AiMesh. I know AiMesh is closed source code, but @RMerlin is perhaps the only one who can find/guess what may have gone wrong. The issue is intermittent and on some routers only. Seems like AiMesh is looking for something that is not there anymore after 386.3 firmware.

I was not sure about the code base, but was thinking the same thing.

I actually believe the issue started with 386.2_6 based on my testing and this post.

I also believe that one should be able to run any device that is not RT-AC68u family as a router with the current Merlin and an RT-AC68u AIMesh node on any version of ASUS standard and Merlin up to and including 386.2_4. Also see this comment from Merlin.

@Reef2009 Your report is the first I have noted about AIMesh connections failing after they have been working on any version 3862_6 or higher. I was attempting to follow an other's successful path of upgrading a 384.x to 386.3_2 this weekend but never finished. If successful I had planned to reset after the upgrade to see if the connection persisted or failed, but think this is a good enough answer.

If you don't mind, please update with any device version info you have, rev info is hard to come by if you do not still have the boxes. While the number of afflicted devices is growing daily, I think it's a small fraction of the devices in service. My manufacturing background suggests we may be able to tie this to a rev or serial number.

 

[Tech9]

My manufacturing background suggests we may be able to tie this to a rev or serial number.

This may not be relevant. For educational purposes I have one non-Asus hardware router capable of running stock Asuswrt firmware and Asuswrt-Merlin all versions. It's an Asus RT-AC66U B1 clone router. It works with AiMesh 2.0 with no issues, recognized as a node every single time. I also have the original RT-AC66U B1 and it wasn't recognized in my tests. I believe it's a software related issue. Testing multiple combinations is very time consuming and I'm not willing to do it again. My suggestion is the same as in post #29 - wait until @RMerlin receives updated Asuswrt base and test again.