AiMesh with two Asus RT-AC86U - router will not connect to AiMesh node

[tazbytes]

I have 2 Asus RT-AC86U routers. Both are updated to the latest Asus Merlin Firmware Version:384.14

One acts as my main router, the second one I set it up as an AiMesh Node. On the main router when I click the "AiMesh Node" button to search for my AiMesh node, it will not find the node. I have reset, hard reset everything so many times gone through all the steps to setup the node and the router with no luck.

One thing I tried is after setting up the aimesh node I connected a RJ45 cable from the WAN port on the Node to one of the 4 ports on the Router. In that case the router did find the AiMesh node when I searched for it. So I click it and said apply. After about 1 minute it says it failed to add the node. If I search for it again it never finds it again unless I reset everything and start over.

Any tips to make this work.

 

[bitsbytes]

i have the exact same setup as yours, same hardware and firmware and i had no problem setting up a mesh node. browse through this topic
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/solved-help-cannot-connect-ac68u-to-my-ac86u-as-aimesh-node.46883/

maybe there's something in it that'll be helpful to you.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I have 2 Asus RT-AC86U routers. Both are updated to the latest Asus Merlin Firmware Version:384.14

One acts as my main router, the second one I set it up as an AiMesh Node. On the main router when I click the "AiMesh Node" button to search for my AiMesh node, it will not find the node. I have reset, hard reset everything so many times gone through all the steps to setup the node and the router with no luck.

One thing I tried is after setting up the aimesh node I connected a RJ45 cable from the WAN port on the Node to one of the 4 ports on the Router. In that case the router did find the AiMesh node when I searched for it. So I click it and said apply. After about 1 minute it says it failed to add the node. If I search for it again it never finds it again unless I reset everything and start over.

Any tips to make this work.

Do you see both SSIDs broadcasting from each router... to know the radios are ok and ON?

I understand you can leave stock firmware on the node. So, that would be something to try at some point... could also reflash Merlin on the other router and then reset, again.

Did you reset both routers to factory defaults <i>after</i> upgrading their firmware? And you did not touch the node configuration... just tried to add it?

OE

 

[CaptnDanLKW]

Adding a mesh node is done over Wi-Fi only and that the main router assumes the ai mesh capable node is at factory default. Only after the Wi-Fi node add does the Ethernet backhaul take over.

if you have both ac86u reset to back to default and connected together by Ethernet, the you have an IP address conflict because they both have the same 192.168.50.1 address. I suspect that’s why the instructions require a Wi-Fi node add process.

IIRC the primary node also needs WPS enabled but the add wizard will warn you if it’s not.

 

[Grisu]

Only when they started to introduce Aimesh it has been neccessary to connect over WiFi first.
With later firmware you are able to connect directly via LAN too without WiFi even seeing each other.

 

[OzarkEdge]

IIRC the primary node also needs WPS enabled but the add wizard will warn you if it’s not.

Selecting 'Search' to add a node will automatically enable WPS. There is no warning in recent firmware.

OE

 

[tazbytes]

Do you see both SSIDs broadcasting from each router... to know the radios are ok and ON?

I understand you can leave stock firmware on the node. So, that would be something to try at some point... could also reflash Merlin on the other router and then reset, again.

Did you reset both routers to factory defaults <i>after</i> upgrading their firmware? And you did not touch the node configuration... just tried to add it?

OE

On the one I have trying to use as a node I tried both with stock firmware and the same Asus Merlin Firmware Version:384.14 that is running on the main AC86U router.
I did a factory reset on the node one but the main router can not find it. I also setup the node as a router, then went into "Administration - Operation mode" page and changed the mode to AiMesh Node. It told me that it would reset and that took about 1 minute. Then went back to the main router to search for it and it still will not find it.

I have done the same thing with another model asus RT-AC68U version, upgraded the firmware to merlin, it worked like a charm. I just can't get the AC86U to work.

 

[tazbytes]

i have the exact same setup as yours, same hardware and firmware and i had no problem setting up a mesh node. browse through this topic
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/solved-help-cannot-connect-ac68u-to-my-ac86u-as-aimesh-node.46883/

maybe there's something in it that'll be helpful to you.

Thanks for the tips, I have tried everything in there. It crazy because they both work fine as routers. I can even set one up as an Access point and that works great as well. But one as router and one as node, the router will not find the node. I have another model an AC68U and that one works like a charm as a node.

 

[tazbytes]

Only when they started to introduce Aimesh it has been neccessary to connect over WiFi first.
With later firmware you are able to connect directly via LAN too without WiFi even seeing each other.

Thanks for that tip. I did try both ways. If I do connect the two, from the router LAN port to the nodes WAN port then go back to the router and search for aimesh nodes it finds it right away. I can select it and say apply and it gets to about 70% and fails and says that it is unable to add the aimesh node to my aimesh system.

 

[dontanalyzethis]

It's been a while but I thought I'd chime in with the same situation except 2 GT-AXE11000s. I had to end up doing the exact same thing and linking them via an ethernet cable. It then found it right away.

 

[unsynaps]

Trying to connect a GT-AXE11000 to a RT-AC86U and wired or wireless they refuse to see each other.

 

[bobblet]

I have an ax89x and a pair of XT8s

I had a similar experience trying to get main router to "see" the nodes. Whether i made the XT8 as main router and others as nodes or whether i made the ax89x as main and others as nodes, there was no success. Tried numerous hard resets on all the devices but nothing seemed to work.

Eventually i found the solution was to power off the other wifi router/nodes when I was trying to pair them. Only keep the main + 1 pairing device on.

In my case, i have 2 ISPs in my house (one only for internet TV), and that one asus device that was left on kept interfering. Also, like me, if you're trying to add 2 nodes, once you have a successful pairing on one of the nodes, you must turn that off to pair the new node.