ASUS RT-AC68U AiMesh drops (Again)

[banger]

Have you tried Merlin 384.19 firmware on the node. That is what I am trying at present.

 

[banger]

My 2,4ghz radio has dropped after 12 hours

 

[ARamos]

What I still didn't figure out, is when the AiMesh node drops I'm only able to see/track the main router 2.4Ghz/5Ghz signals on my Wi-Fi analyser.

The 2.4Ghz/5Ghz Wi-Fi signal from the AiMesh simply vanish I'm not able to track it, but the AiMesh router is still with the Wi-Fi lights on like its working perfect.

After 1 minute or 2 I'm able to see both signals again on Wi-Fi analyser and it gets working again.

It is indeed a strange behavior!

 

[banger]

What I still didn't figure out, is when the AiMesh node drops I'm only able to see/track the main router 2.4Ghz/5Ghz signals on my Wi-Fi analyser.

The 2.4Ghz/5Ghz Wi-Fi signal from the AiMesh simply vanish I'm not able to track it, but the AiMesh router is still with the Wi-Fi lights on like its working perfect.

After 1 minute or 2 I'm able to see both signals again on Wi-Fi analyser and it gets working again.

It is indeed a strange behavior!

The router is not rebooting, that's why lights stay on, just the radios switch off for a couple of mins. Could be an error in the scheduling code. I have had 3 days out of my 5ghz.

 

[banger]

As a test could always configure the mesh node as a repeater or media bridge then see how long the radios stay up.

 

[PRpitohead]

I've spent 3 years fighting this disconnect problem with my two RT-AC68U models. It is not a hardware issue. It has nothing to do with AiMesh. The same problem exists for me in Media Bridge and Repeater modes. If you want to continue using AsusWRT or Merlin, your only option is to try and downgrade your firmware to a really old 3+ year old firmware that pre-dates the disconnect problem.

Or, you can just install latest DD WRT firmware and put it to Client Bridge or Repeater Bridge mode via 5Ghz backhaul and forget about AiMesh.

As cool as the AiMesh concept is, they have to get serious about fixing the problem instead of ignoring it and telling everyone to run ethernet cable between nodes. It's very frustrating!

 

[ARamos]

PRpitohead, thanks for the feedback.

One thing that still bugs me, is why does the 2.4Ghz/5Ghz radio signal vanish from the air only on the AiMesh node.

Okay, it can lose the handshake connection, but shouldn't the radio signal continue to transmit? The lights are still on so the router is not restarting.

I don't have and I don't find any explanation for this behavior.

 

[PRpitohead]

PRpitohead, thanks for the feedback.

One thing that still bugs me, is why does the 2.4Ghz/5Ghz radio signal vanish from the air only on the AiMesh node.

Okay, it can lose the handshake connection, but shouldn't the radio signal continue to transmit? The lights are still on so the router is not restarting.

I don't have and I don't find any explanation for this behavior.

I don't have that problem on my main router using latest Merlin firmware (client runs DD WRT). I put my Router in 80 MHz width mode and channel 161. Using a wifi Analyzer for Android, I can see it's clear in my apartment building, which is great because it gives me the fastest speeds. You definitely want to keep it in 80Ghz width mode if you can, but you can change channels as needed, just keep it in the hundreds to maintain speed. Signal is rock solid.

Have you tried switching the 2 routers? I would try that first. If it's a hardware issue, I doubt it's a problem with both.

 

[PRpitohead]

PRpitohead, thanks for the feedback.

One thing that still bugs me, is why does the 2.4Ghz/5Ghz radio signal vanish from the air only on the AiMesh node.

Okay, it can lose the handshake connection, but shouldn't the radio signal continue to transmit? The lights are still on so the router is not restarting.

I don't have and I don't find any explanation for this behavior.

You can also try messing around with Advanced Settings>Wireless>Professional>Multicast Rate. By default, it is on Auto. Maybe start on 54, then go down and test. For me, it breaks below 36.

 

[kentek]

Seems a common problem with some AC68U in mesh setup. I have just sent one back for refund as it couldn't stay up. Last timing was 20 hours but before that 6 days. Now testing a later model which seems more stable.

I rebooted the main mesh and it reset to "Router" instead of AI Mesh. So, moving to a TP-Link M5 Mesh setup. I have installed at least a dozen of these and all clients are happy. No time to putz with the AC668U.

 

[liquor]

Glad I found this thread but not happy about the conclusion so far... I also have AC86u as my main router with AC68u AImesh node and wireless backhaul (routers 5M away)

Both are running Merlin 386.2_2 and I experience the same occasional drop with my AC68u node, which was initially my main and only router and never had issue in past 2 years. So i'm not buying the hardware issue as well...

 

[bhkwl]

I too have this same cronic issue of aimesh dropping off in AC68U. I had 380.6 versions for years, not a single drop ever happened, until I decided to upgrade to version 384.4 to try aimesh. That started the whole downward spiral. Tried many combinations available out there. Nothing helped. AC68U was an excellent router, until I upgraded to 384 version.

 

[bbunge]

I have a successful AiMesh install that never drops a node. It is an AC66U_B1 with two AC68U nodes. All on Asus Beta firmware of 02FEB21. One node wired the other wireless and 75 ft away.
There has been some recent discussion about mesh nodes that stay connected. Those have a Manually Assigned IP address for the nodes in the router DHCP Server area. While this setting is not conclusive it is sure worth trying.
A bit more info on my setup. The router starts assigning IP addresses at .50 so I can use static IP addresses for NAS, printers, and other devices in the range between .2 and .49. This is where I manually assign the AiMesh nodes.

 

[MarkyPancake]

I have an AC86U router downstairs and AC68U mesh node upstairs connected via wireless backhaul, both still running Merlin 384.19 because I wasn't comfortable with the temperature increase when I first tried the 386 builds, and the node doesn't suffer these drops.

Edit: Forgot to mention, the node has a fixed IP outside of the DHCP pool and is reserved via the LAN DHCP page using the AC68U's primary MAC address, not either of the ones that it shows as in the wireless log.

 

[liquor]

I also assigned a fixed IP to the node but never bother to change the DHCP pool range; I now changed the pool range to make sure it is outside my fixed IP range...

Also switched to wired backhaul to see if it makes any difference

As for downgrading the firmware o 384.19, no can do for me since I need the guest network feature to work on main router AND node and AFAIK, that is not supported on 384.X versions... Banger also reported that it did not solve the drop issue for him. Average temperatures are 80C for my main router (AC86u) and 74C for node (AC68u), don't know if I should be concerned by that or not...

 

[Tech9]

In my experience AC66U B1 router (variant of AC68U) was the least stable node in my test AiMesh 2.0 setup with AC86U as main router. That makes me believe mixing and matching different generations routers/nodes may not be the best idea if stable AiMesh setup is the final goal. The same AiMesh 2.0 setup works better with 3x AC86U routers - nodes are discovered and connect faster, clients roam better, routers can be placed at equal dBm levels. AC66U B1 had to be placed closer and was very sensitive to AiMesh settings changes.

 

[bbunge]

I also assigned a fixed IP to the node but never bother to change the DHCP pool range; I now changed the pool range to make sure it is outside my fixed IP range...

Also switched to wired backhaul to see if it makes any difference

As for downgrading the firmware o 384.19, no can do for me since I need the guest network feature to work on main router AND node and AFAIK, that is not supported on 384.X versions... Banger also reported that it did not solve the drop issue for him. Average temperatures are 80C for my main router (AC86u) and 74C for node (AC68u), don't know if I should be concerned by that or not...

Does not matter if the reserved IP address is inside or outside of the DHCP pool.
Wired Etherent is good. Make sure you tell the root AiMesh to use it first.

 

[RangerZ]

I'm just tuning in to all this and trying to understand if this is my issue or not. I have (2) TR-AC1900P (basically the same HW) on Version 3.0.0.4.386.41634 with clean, but basic config.

I was doing some testing with the AIMesh node at about 35 feet and showing full signal. 5G performs very well, but it seems that clients connected to 2.4 on the AIMesh node will disconnect after only a few minutes and connect to the primary device some 45 feet away.

I'm not sure if this is a symptom of this issue (ie dead node so it finds the primary) or if it is something else.

How can I determine if the nodes are disconnecting vs a client\node issue?

 

[OzarkEdge]

I'm just tuning in to all this and trying to understand if this is my issue or not. I have (2) TR-AC1900P (basically the same HW) on Version 3.0.0.4.386.41634 with clean, but basic config.

I was doing some testing with the AIMesh node at about 35 feet and showing full signal. 5G performs very well, but it seems that clients connected to 2.4 on the AIMesh node will disconnect after only a few minutes and connect to the primary device some 45 feet away.

I'm not sure if this is a symptom of this issue (ie dead node so it finds the primary) or if it is something else.

How can I determine if the nodes are disconnecting vs a client\node issue?

How far apart are your nodes (perhaps too close)? Have you tried raising the 2.4 Roaming Assistant RSSI threshold (node steering) to -55 dBm?

OE

 

[liquor]

RangerZ : When the node drop, all clients usually connected to that node or binded to that node (you can see this in Web admin AiMesh page) lose internet for a few minutes. The AiMesh node also show as disconnected in Web admin AiMesh page).

Regarding my switch to wired backhaul, so far (48h+) I didn't noticed any node drop, although I'm not monitoring constantly using a tool. Crossed fingers...