Asus rt-ax88u-pro mesh wired ethernet issues

[waffle]

I just rebuilt my home wireless with new hardware. All firmware is standard Asus. The main device is an RT-AX88U-Pro, and I've tried two different mesh devices: RT-AX88U and RT-AX1800S. Either of those devices can be added as mesh nodes and run fine with wireless backhaul, but as soon as I connect them to my network via ethernet the ping times to both the main device and the mesh device go up to 500ms - 2s range with some packet loss as well. The main device also will not allow me to switch to ethernet backhaul due to the mesh device not being connected.

This happens if I connect the mesh device directly into the main device's switch ports, or through my household Netgear managed switch. I've tried unplugging the internet connection to rule out some sort of a loop through there, but no change in behavior.

I'm at a loss as to what the problem is.

 

[glens]

Got any wired devices claiming the same IP address as that assigned to the node? How about "directly wired" /and/ the switch disconnected from the router? How's it work connected as AP instead of node, any different in terms of performance that way?

 

[bbunge]

I just rebuilt my home wireless with new hardware. All firmware is standard Asus. The main device is an RT-AX88U-Pro, and I've tried two different mesh devices: RT-AX88U and RT-AX1800S. Either of those devices can be added as mesh nodes and run fine with wireless backhaul, but as soon as I connect them to my network via ethernet the ping times to both the main device and the mesh device go up to 500ms - 2s range with some packet loss as well. The main device also will not allow me to switch to ethernet backhaul due to the mesh device not being connected.

This happens if I connect the mesh device directly into the main device's switch ports, or through my household Netgear managed switch. I've tried unplugging the internet connection to rule out some sort of a loop through there, but no change in behavior.

I'm at a loss as to what the problem is.

There should be no difference setting up with WIFI or Ethernet backhaul. I do recommend starting with Ethernet port 1 for backhaul on the AX88U Pro to the WAN port of the AiMesh node. Don't enable Ethernet Backhaul mode in AiMesh System Settings. Leave the WIFI WPS enabled. It could take a couple of minutes for the Ethernet backhaul to settle in.

 

[waffle]

Got any wired devices claiming the same IP address as that assigned to the node? How about "directly wired" /and/ the switch disconnected from the router? How's it work connected as AP instead of node, any different in terms of performance that way?

I haven't tried it as just a second AP with a different SSID. Nothing else has the same IP address, although the router uses the same MAC address for both internal and external interfaces, and there is another host on the network that can see both subnets. This was the same as before with the prior Asus hardware.

 

[waffle]

There should be no difference setting up with WIFI or Ethernet backhaul. I do recommend starting with Ethernet port 1 for backhaul on the AX88U Pro to the WAN port of the AiMesh node. Don't enable Ethernet Backhaul mode in AiMesh System Settings. Leave the WIFI WPS enabled. It could take a couple of minutes for the Ethernet backhaul to settle in.

I've tried multiple ports on the ax88u-pro's switch, but no difference. With the latency issues that crop up, it doesn't settle.

 

[waffle]

Finally got it working. Had to use the WAN port on the mesh nodes, and also had to select "1G WAN first" as the backhaul connection priority.

 

[Tech9]

Had to use the WAN port on the mesh nodes

Perhaps you had to read wired AiMesh setup instructions first.

Also your managed switch may be a problem. AiMesh uses VLAN's internally for Guest Network to nodes.

 

[waffle]

Yeah, I'd tried the WAN port earlier, but it wouldn't pass any traffic. Not sure why. I do have a manged switch, so perhaps something weird was going on with that.

 

[Tech9]

Your managed switch has to be configured to pass VLAN 501/502 to the ports where AiMesh hodes are connected. AiMesh with managed switch in default configuration will fail. Aimesh also requires DHCP server on the main router. If you run some Pi-Hole type device on your network with DHCP enabled AiMesh will also fail. From accumulated user experience AiMesh is not guaranteed to work well between all Asus "AiMesh compatible" routers despite the compatibility advertised. At some point you'll understand AiMesh is more marketing than "mesh". In reality it's wired access points or wireless repeaters with very limited control and somewhat central management. Qualcomm based home "mesh" sets like eero, Nest Wifi, some Deco models, etc. work better and with less issues.

 

[waffle]

I have DHCP disabled on the main router, since a linux server handles that for the network. I don't seem to need any VLAN configuration on the managed switch.

 

[Tech9]

And when you disabled the DHCP server on the main router did you pay attention to the warning message popping up? It says the change you want to make will affect AiMesh functionality on your router. I don't know why you play with AiMesh and home AIO routers when you run Linux server and have a managed switch. You obviously know some things above home AIO routers. Why not a proper wired router and access points with VLAN support and PoE for example? Better quality hardware and software.