ASUS RT-AC66U B2 AiMesh issues

[endor]

I recently stumbled upon an issue and would like to share this with you hopefully it could help if someone else has the same problem. This may not be limited to the specific model, i assume it could be applicable on others as well.

Had two RT-AC66U B2 from 2019 in aimesh which was working well and decided to get a second hand RT-AC66U B2 from 2017 to add to the aimesh.

However the newly bought node was failing to be detected as a new node when searching from the aimesh router.

I was trying several, several, several hours with a lot of different things, numerous kinds of resets of all involved hardware, stock and Merlin software..
After reading that some users here reported that RT-AC66U B2 2017 was returned under warranty and the new hardware was working with pairing i was ready to give up..

But as a last resort i decided to hex compare the CFE dump between one of the 2019 devices and the purchased 2017 model and found that ATEMODE was set to 1 in CFE in the 2017 node.

After changing ATEMODE from 1 to 0 in CFE (with commands that i am not allowed to write here) it was paired immediately and successfully.
ATEMODE seems to be some sort of flag to control manufacturing and production mode.

If you have this problem, check your ATEMODE flag with the command
nvram get ATEMODE.

I ran the two nvram set commands mentioned in below page and then a factory reset.
https://uktechhub.com/forums/topic/...after-merlin-firmware-upgrade-3-14/#post-5749

This seems like a massive bug from ASUS.

@RMerlin Maybe it could be worth having a check in Merlin software if ATEMODE=1 the user should be alerted or even fixing the flag to 0?

 

[bbunge]

I recently stumbled upon an issue and would like to share this with you hopefully it could help if someone else has the same problem. This may not be limited to the specific model, i assume it could be applicable on others as well.

Had two RT-AC66U B2 from 2019 in aimesh which was working well and decided to get a second hand RT-AC66U B2 from 2017 to add to the aimesh.

However the newly bought node was failing to be detected as a new node when searching from the aimesh router.

I was trying several, several, several hours with a lot of different things, numerous kinds of resets of all involved hardware, stock and Merlin software..
After reading that some users here reported that RT-AC66U B2 2017 was returned under warranty and the new hardware was working with pairing i was ready to give up..

But as a last resort i decided to hex compare the CFE dump between one of the 2019 devices and the purchased 2017 model and found that ATEMODE was set to 1 in CFE in the 2017 node.

After changing ATEMODE from 1 to 0 in CFE (with commands that i am not allowed to write here) it was paired immediately and successfully.
ATEMODE seems to be some sort of flag to control manufacturing and production mode.

If you have this problem, check your ATEMODE flag with the command
nvram get ATEMODE.

I ran the two nvram set commands mentioned in below page and then a factory reset.
https://uktechhub.com/forums/topic/...after-merlin-firmware-upgrade-3-14/#post-5749

This seems like a massive bug from ASUS.

@RMerlin Maybe it could be worth having a check in Merlin software if ATEMODE=1 the user should be alerted or even fixing the flag to 0?

Don't you mean RT-AC66U_B1? There is no RT-AC66U_B2.

 

[RMerlin]

@RMerlin Maybe it could be worth having a check in Merlin software if ATEMODE=1 the user should be alerted or even fixing the flag to 0?

Already did that 6 months ago.

commit d7b878831f09c63671e4e388e55ea051f4576535
Author: Eric Sauvageau <merlin@asuswrt-merlin.net>
Date:   Mon Dec 30 20:23:52 2019 -0500

    rc: log if router is in manufacturing mode at wanduck launch

 

[bumpengrinder]

I recently stumbled upon an issue and would like to share this with you hopefully it could help if someone else has the same problem. This may not be limited to the specific model, i assume it could be applicable on others as well.

Had two RT-AC66U B2 from 2019 in aimesh which was working well and decided to get a second hand RT-AC66U B2 from 2017 to add to the aimesh.

However the newly bought node was failing to be detected as a new node when searching from the aimesh router.

I was trying several, several, several hours with a lot of different things, numerous kinds of resets of all involved hardware, stock and Merlin software..
After reading that some users here reported that RT-AC66U B2 2017 was returned under warranty and the new hardware was working with pairing i was ready to give up..

But as a last resort i decided to hex compare the CFE dump between one of the 2019 devices and the purchased 2017 model and found that ATEMODE was set to 1 in CFE in the 2017 node.

After changing ATEMODE from 1 to 0 in CFE (with commands that i am not allowed to write here) it was paired immediately and successfully.
ATEMODE seems to be some sort of flag to control manufacturing and production mode.

If you have this problem, check your ATEMODE flag with the command
nvram get ATEMODE.

I ran the two nvram set commands mentioned in below page and then a factory reset.
https://uktechhub.com/forums/topic/...after-merlin-firmware-upgrade-3-14/#post-5749

This seems like a massive bug from ASUS.

@RMerlin Maybe it could be worth having a check in Merlin software if ATEMODE=1 the user should be alerted or even fixing the flag to 0?

THANK YOU!!! I have spent hours bashing my head against a wall trying to connect AC66U as a node until I found your post.

My problem device was RT-AC66U B1, HW Ver.: B1, Production Year: 2017

 

[semigator]

@ASUSWRT_2020

Can you please use icons to show the WiFi band and quality of the connection in the web version of AiMesh info similar to the iOS app?

Web:

iOS:

 

[bbunge]

@ASUSWRT_2020

Can you please use icons to show the WiFi band and quality of the connection in the web version of AiMesh info similar to the iOS app?

Web:
View attachment 27166
iOS:
View attachment 27168

The GUI has the option to show wired and wireless. The icons you desire are there.