Release Asus XT8 - 3.0.0.4.386.43181 - 2021/06/17

[DJBeat]

Version 3.0.0.4.386.43181
2021/06/17 55.61 MBytes


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[bokolobs]

Anybody tried this yet? LOL

 

[kamil666]

Works fine. The additional unit is not disconnected, it has been connected since 11 hour and everything works fine. In the previous software, it disconnected every 10 minutes.

 

[Saveliy410]

Tried 43181 and it didn't fix network connectivity loss issue between node and main router for me. Rolled back to 42095 again.

 

[bokolobs]

Tried 43181 and it didn't fix network connectivity loss issue between node and main router for me. Rolled back to 42095 again.

Yikes!

 

[kamil666]

 

[rsnhakan]

Installed without problems.

 

[RogerSC]

Up for a day, doing well here. Not long term, but a good sign *smile*.

 

[SoFluffy]

@kamil666 - That screen shot doesn't prove stability as I found out. My nodes would completely lose connectivity but according to that log they were solid, never a disconnect. Even with a node completely down, it showed everything as perfect. I think the issue there isn't the actual wireless connectivity but something on the networking/routing side, and that log doesn't reflect that. Running non-stop pings to my nodes revealed how often and for how long they would disconnect (and it was really really bad).

Glad to hear some are having success. I will wait another day or so then try this build.

 

[kamil666]

With the previous firmware, these logs showed the truth, I pinged now and then and confirmed that the logs are ok.

 

[mrbill]

OK, I gave it a shot and upgraded to this firmware. Considering I haven't been able to run anything beyond 25790 firmware (September of 2020) without my node repeatedly dropping, I'm not expecting much with this new firmware either.

--- Begin Rant ---

I will say I'm not happy with Asus at all. Trying to provide connectivity to two children who were in virtual school, and an educator teaching virtually in the home too, was nothing but a headache. It's not like my setup is crazy custom either. Everything is bone stock except for my network names, password and a 4TB hard drive plugged into the USB on the main unit. It's a wireless backhaul as well. With such a basic setup like mine, why has it been MONTHS with no fix? Will this new firmware FINALLY resolve the problem? I'll find out soon enough...

--- End Rant ---

 

[L&LD]

@mrbill, your network setup sounds 'crazy custom' to me.

What are your ISP speeds (up/down)?

How many devices in total are connected wirelessly?

How many connections to students is the educator supporting?

Remove the 4TB HDD from the router (and possibly buy a real NAS instead).

Wireless backhaul (another word for repeater mode) and another contention point for any busy network.

Finally, after flashing the latest firmware to use/test, have you ever performed a full reset to factory defaults afterward? Without using a saved backup config file. And without 'blindly' putting in old settings/features that worked 'once upon a time'?

While the following links are directed toward the RMerlin powered Asus routers, the ideas (best practices) they suggest are applicable to most consumer routers and may be of help to get your router/network to a good/known and stable state with the latest firmware available.

Fully Reset Router and Network

Best Practice Update/Setup Router/AiMesh Node(s) 2021

 

[Cheesehead]

still having the issue on some IoT devices not connecting to the router / nodes.. Back to 42095

 

[666]

Seems people are having intermittent disconnect problem. Hope my experience helps some.

I had intermittent disconnect issues with 43170 suddenly. Online meetings would disconnect for a few seconds then rejoin. I reset to factory defaults and tried to tweak the settings without success. The app showed “Great” connection between the nodes and good connection quality to the devices. Very annoying.

I finally fixed it by relocating the satellite node to a lower desk. (It was at eye level) I did not upgrade to 43181. I am getting solid 400M speed now. Suggest you also try repositioning the routers if firmware update did not help.

 

[mrbill]

@mrbill, your network setup sounds 'crazy custom' to me.

What are your ISP speeds (up/down)?

How many devices in total are connected wirelessly?

How many connections to students is the educator supporting?

Remove the 4TB HDD from the router (and possibly buy a real NAS instead).

Wireless backhaul (another word for repeater mode) and another contention point for any busy network.

Finally, after flashing the latest firmware to use/test, have you ever performed a full reset to factory defaults afterward? Without using a saved backup config file. And without 'blindly' putting in old settings/features that worked 'once upon a time'?

While the following links are directed toward the RMerlin powered Asus routers, the ideas (best practices) they suggest are applicable to most consumer routers and may be of help to get your router/network to a good/known and stable state with the latest firmware available.

Fully Reset Router and Network

Best Practice Update/Setup Router/AiMesh Node(s) 2021

What are your ISP speeds (up/down)?
150/12 actual

How many devices in total are connected wirelessly?
14 max

another contention point for any busy network.
The 2.4 band does have some congestion, but 5 is surprisingly pretty clear.

How many connections to students is the educator supporting?
1 (individual instruction for special needs and pre-recorded assignments/classes) outside of staff zoom calls.

Remove the 4TB HDD from the router.
Removing the drive didn't have any impact, though it's only rarely used to backup pics/vids of our kids. There's really no need for it to be accessible on the network for its limited purpose, and I may just remove it entirely as removing it/adding it back has created additional labor throughout my many failed firmware upgrades which required a rollback.

after flashing the latest firmware to use/test, have you ever performed a full reset to factory defaults afterward?
Yes, including each time I had to rollback.

While the following links are directed toward the RMerlin powered Asus routers, the ideas (best practices) they suggest are applicable to most consumer routers
Thanks, I'll definitely give it a read.

Observations of FW 43181 thus far: Close to one full day on FW 43181, and the node dropped once this morning with the master going green (optimizing). One N device was disconnecting as it had been connecting to the master which is much further away from the node. For whatever reason devices prefer to connect to the master, and stay connected to it, instead of the much closer node which has a better signal. After binding to the node, this device is not dropping though the device itself is quite old (Intel drivers are from 2014) and will be replaced soon.

 

[karma]

try setting the 5ghz backhaul to 80Mhz and the control channel to 100 so that it doesn't try to use any DFS (radar) channels.

 

[sgoldswo]

Intrigued as to whether those reporting issues implemented a full factory reset before use (even if they retained the same SSID) and if they have a 2 node kit?

I ordered a 3 node bundle (2+1) and found a lack of stability and node disconnections if either of the 2 node kit was the router, even with 42095. Switched to the one node device as the router and the problems disappeared on 42095 with a full factory reset (but using same SSID). I'm going to exchange the 2 node kit for two singles.

 

[kamil666]

It's not good. On the new software, the second mesh unit also disconnects the connection.

edit:
screen connection on firmware 3.0.0.4_386_42095

 

[mrbill]

Intrigued as to whether those reporting issues implemented a full factory reset before use (even if they retained the same SSID) and if they have a 2 node kit?

I have the two pack and did a full factory reset on prior firmware versions to this release without success. Rolling back to a prior stable firmware release also required factory resets in some cases.

I ordered a 3 node bundle (2+1) and found a lack of stability and node disconnections if either of the 2 node kit was the router, even with 42095. Switched to the one node device as the router and the problems disappeared

Interesting. So you're saying only if you made the +1 device the router, and the two pack nodes, you would experience network stability with firmware 42095? Can't say why this would be other than a faulty device(s) in the two pack, firmware failing to update on one or more of the devices (happened to me due to extreme network instability) and/or a failure to truly execute a factory reset. For me, I was unable to use any firmware after 25790 released in September of 2020, which included 42095.

I'm happy to report I'm near day two of running firmware 43181 successfully. My node dropped once, as reported in a post above, while the master was optimizing. That's the only drop I've seen, which is to be expected during the optimization process (I did not initiate the optimization process). Since my node is not dropping, binding devices to it are working as I had hoped. I went from a good signal of 54 dbm on our main streaming TV down to an excellent 34 dbm. I'll keep my fingers crossed as it has been a very long time since I could run the latest firmware...

 

[pcunn2001]

Upgraded to 43181. Was disconnecting approximately every hour. Back to 42095. Stable again.