Release ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) Firmware version 3.0.0.4.388.23285

[Slipsager]

Are you using the 5Ghz-2 channel for backhaul? Also, are all 4 units XT8 or are you mixing Asus routers?

All four units are XT8 v1 and if I've read the previous posts correct, I should have selected 5GHz-2 channel for backhaul, which I don't remember having done. Is that a setting I can adjust now or should I reset the router and do a re-installation (I don't mind)?

 

[kaktus]

A bit of a newbie question but where can I downgrade the firmware from? I've got major issues with my four units. Cheers

The firmware version I mentioned is available at the Asus support/download website. Once downloaded you can perform a manual firmware upload via the administrator menu in the router config webpage.

 

[walt]

All four units are XT8 v1 and if I've read the previous posts correct, I should have selected 5GHz-2 channel for backhaul, which I don't remember having done. Is that a setting I can adjust now or should I reset the router and do a re-installation (I don't mind)?

I've had stable operation with decent performance for all wireless and wired devices for 64 days now, which is a personal record for this gear. I spent over a year trying various combinations of firmware (stock and Gnuton) and settings.

Happy to share my settings. To avoid writing a book or loading lots of screen shots, I've only included the settings that I think are pertinent to stable operation (or that might raise questions). If you want screen shots, I can send you those too. The key things of interest are that I set the XT8's to auto-reboot every morning at 3:00am and have hard set the wireless backhaul bandwidth to 80 MHz.

My home setup is an XT8 v.1 primary mesh node connected to a Ziply Fiber symetrical 1 Gbps up/down Internet connection. The primary is connected using wireless backhaul to two XT8 v.1 secondary mesh nodes, one about 30 feet away from the primary and one about 40 feet away from the primary. Wireless backhaul only. All three XT8's running 3.0.0.4.388_23285

Administration:

- Operation Mode: select Wireless router mode/ AiMesh Router mode
- Enable Reboot Scheduler: Yes
- Day(s) to Reboot: Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat
- Time of Day to Reboot: 03:00

AiMesh:
For each secondary mesh node:
Management: Backhaul Connection Priority: 5GHz-2 WiFi first
Preferred WiFi Uplink AP: Auto

Wireless settings:

- Enable Smart Connect: Off

- 5 GHz-2:
Hide SSID: Yes
Wireless Mode: AX only
802.11ax/Wifi 6 mode: Enable
Wifi Agile Multiband: Disable
Target Wake Time: Enable
Channel bandwidth: 80 MHz (*uncheck* Enable 160 MHz)
Control Channel: Auto

- 5 GHz-1:
Hide SSID: No
Wireless Mode: Auto
802.11ax/WiFi 6 mode: Enable
Wifi Agile Multiband: Disable
Target Wake Time: Enable
Channel bandwidth: 20/40/80 MHz
Control Channel: Auto
Extension Channel: Auto

- 2.4 GHz
Hide SSID: No
Wireless Mode: Auto (check b/g Protection)
802.11ax/Wifi 6 mode: Disable
Wifi Agile Multiband: Disable
Target Wake Time: Enable
Channel bandwidth: 20 MHz
Control Channel: Auto

Guest Network: 2.4 GHz enabled only (no 5 GHz-1 guest, no 5 GHz-2 guest)

Enabled AiProtection: On
Malicious Sites Blocking: On
Two-Way IPS: On
Infected Device Prevention and Blocking: On

I don't have any other extra services enabled (that is, no USB Application, no AiCloud 2.0, no Adaptive QoS, no Traffic Analyzer, no Parental Controls)

 

[Slipsager]

I've had stable operation with decent performance for all wireless and wired devices for 64 days now, which is a personal record for this gear. I spent over a year trying various combinations of firmware (stock and Gnuton) and settings.

Happy to share my settings. To avoid writing a book or loading lots of screen shots, I've only included the settings that I think are pertinent to stable operation (or that might raise questions). If you want screen shots, I can send you those too. The key things of interest are that I set the XT8's to auto-reboot every morning at 3:00am and have hard set the wireless backhaul bandwidth to 80 MHz.

My home setup is an XT8 v.1 primary mesh node connected to a Ziply Fiber symetrical 1 Gbps up/down Internet connection. The primary is connected using wireless backhaul to two XT8 v.1 secondary mesh nodes, one about 30 feet away from the primary and one about 40 feet away from the primary. Wireless backhaul only. All three XT8's running 3.0.0.4.388_23285

Administration:

- Operation Mode: select Wireless router mode/ AiMesh Router mode
- Enable Reboot Scheduler: Yes
- Day(s) to Reboot: Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat
- Time of Day to Reboot: 03:00

AiMesh:
For each secondary mesh node:
Management: Backhaul Connection Priority: 5GHz-2 WiFi first
Preferred WiFi Uplink AP: Auto

Wireless settings:

- Enable Smart Connect: Off

- 5 GHz-2:
Hide SSID: Yes
Wireless Mode: AX only
802.11ax/Wifi 6 mode: Enable
Wifi Agile Multiband: Disable
Target Wake Time: Enable
Channel bandwidth: 80 MHz (*uncheck* Enable 160 MHz)
Control Channel: Auto

- 5 GHz-1:
Hide SSID: No
Wireless Mode: Auto
802.11ax/WiFi 6 mode: Enable
Wifi Agile Multiband: Disable
Target Wake Time: Enable
Channel bandwidth: 20/40/80 MHz
Control Channel: Auto
Extension Channel: Auto

- 2.4 GHz
Hide SSID: No
Wireless Mode: Auto (check b/g Protection)
802.11ax/Wifi 6 mode: Disable
Wifi Agile Multiband: Disable
Target Wake Time: Enable
Channel bandwidth: 20 MHz
Control Channel: Auto

Guest Network: 2.4 GHz enabled only (no 5 GHz-1 guest, no 5 GHz-2 guest)

Enabled AiProtection: On
Malicious Sites Blocking: On
Two-Way IPS: On
Infected Device Prevention and Blocking: On

I don't have any other extra services enabled (that is, no USB Application, no AiCloud 2.0, no Adaptive QoS, no Traffic Analyzer, no Parental Controls)

@walt I really appreciate this mate, I'm going to give your settings a go and see what happens. I'm now running 3.0.0.4.386_48706 on all four units, as I previously didn't have much luck with the version you're running.

One last question for now though - a bit off topic but I'll still give it a go - my ring doorbell is apparently only able to connect to 5GHz on channels 100 and above, so that currently means I can't use 5GHz, as it can't see the 5G-1 network ... only 5G-2 which I shouldn't use for anything other than the backhaul. Any suggestions on that? The 2.4 is really weak near our front door.

Just for the record, I'm in the U.K.

Thanks for all your help everybody. It's much appreciated!

 

[walt]

You're very welcome. Hope the settings help.

Your ring doorbell problem is interesting. 2.4 GHz WiFi has better "effective range" than 5 GHz WiFi. The tradeoff is that 5 GHz WiFi offers greater potential maximum speed. So your 2.4 GHz signal reach to the ring doorbell *should* be better than a 5 GHz signal.

Since you report your 2.4 GHz signal as weak in the vicinity of the ring doorbell, is it possible that another 2.4 GHz WiFi signal is interfering with yours, perhaps from a nearby home or business? If so, you could try a different 2.4 GHz channel to see if that makes a difference. The 2.4 GHz wireless auto setting is supposed to pick the best available channel, but you may have to try manually selecting. The standard non-overlapping channels for 2.4 GHz are 1, 6 and 11 (at least in the USA). If interference isn't the main problem, moving one of the XT8 nodes slightly closer to the ring doorbell might improve the signal strength.

Good luck!

 

[Seven Up]

You're very welcome. Hope the settings help.

Your ring doorbell problem is interesting. 2.4 GHz WiFi has better "effective range" than 5 GHz WiFi. The tradeoff is that 5 GHz WiFi offers greater potential maximum speed. So your 2.4 GHz signal reach to the ring doorbell *should* be better than a 5 GHz signal.

Since you report your 2.4 GHz signal as weak in the vicinity of the ring doorbell, is it possible that another 2.4 GHz WiFi signal is interfering with yours, perhaps from a nearby home or business? If so, you could try a different 2.4 GHz channel to see if that makes a difference. The 2.4 GHz wireless auto setting is supposed to pick the best available channel, but you may have to try manually selecting. The standard non-overlapping channels for 2.4 GHz are 1, 6 and 11 (at least in the USA). If interference isn't the main problem, moving one of the XT8 nodes slightly closer to the ring doorbell might improve the signal strength.

Good luck!

That's what is strange about Asus and their smart connect with mesh. If you have something that is 2.4Ghz only and want a stronger signal, under the guest wifi, use the first entry for your dedicated 2.4ghz connected devices as the first guest entry is the only SSID to get replicated to your other mesh access routers but you have to select that option when setting it up, if you need a guest network you can use the second and then it's only available via the Internet connected router. The same for your 5Ghz only, you can pin them to your 5Ghz-1 network. If you have to use the 5Ghz-2 for other than backhaul then this would be an easy way to tap that band. It's odd that Ring Doorbell would only use 5Ghz Channel 100 and above, in fact below is a snippet from Ring's site

I have a Ring Door bell Pro 2 and look how it's connected 5Ghz-1 using Channel 44 of which I have combine my 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz-1 with smart connect. Maybe a firmware up allows 5Ghz-1 and -2? Get it connected first and make sure it's updated to the latest firmware

See the firmware status is up to date and clicking on the I it has the screen shot below 12.1.12 Radio-related software. Ring stinks in that they don't tell you what each firmware update provides, but it seems that it has given Ring Doorbell Pro 2 the ability to the 5Ghz-1 network. Look at my smoking strong RSSI-39 5Ghz-1 connection on Channel 44.

Only the first guest entry is replicated to all mesh units, but you must select all routers during setup, see the screenshots below

You must select all routers

 

[Slipsager]

That's what is strange about Asus and their smart connect with mesh. If you have something that is 2.4Ghz only and want a stronger signal, under the guest wifi, use the first entry for your dedicated 2.4ghz connected devices as the first guest entry is the only SSID to get replicated to your other mesh access routers but you have to select that option when setting it up, if you need a guest network you can use the second and then it's only available via the Internet connected router. The same for your 5Ghz only, you can pin them to your 5Ghz-1 network. If you have to use the 5Ghz-2 for other than backhaul then this would be an easy way to tap that band. It's odd that Ring Doorbell would only use 5Ghz Channel 100 and above, in fact below is a snippet from Ring's site

View attachment 52066

I have a Ring Door bell Pro 2 and look how it's connected 5Ghz-1 using Channel 44 of which I have combine my 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz-1 with smart connect. Maybe a firmware up allows 5Ghz-1 and -2? Get it connected first and make sure it's updated to the latest firmware
View attachment 52070

See the firmware status is up to date and clicking on the I it has the screen shot below 12.1.12 Radio-related software. Ring stinks in that they don't tell you what each firmware update provides, but it seems that it has given Ring Doorbell Pro 2 the ability to the 5Ghz-1 network. Look at my smoking strong RSSI-39 5Ghz-1 connection on Channel 44.
View attachment 52073



Only the first guest entry is replicated to all mesh units, but you must select all routers during setup, see the screenshots below
View attachment 52065

You must select all routers
View attachment 52072

Another really thorough reply - thank you very much @Seven Up!!

The Ring Doorbell that I have says my firmware is up-to-date, so not much I can do there. However, maybe the settings from Walt and the fact that I'm running all backhaul on 5GHz-2 has helped the 2.4 signal because the doorbell now seems to have a much better signal than before. In the past I had to charge the battery every fortnight because it couldn't find a proper wi-fi signal.

Based on Walt's settings from above, I currently have Smart Connect disabled but will turn it back on should I get into issues again.

I'm just really pleased to finally have a stable connection - working from home has been a real pain recently and I can't believe that Asus have such poor firmware for such expensive units. A customer really shouldn't have to know what you have all taught me the last week (even though I've enjoyed it).

 

[michel30]

I've had stable operation with decent performance for all wireless and wired devices for 64 days now, which is a personal record for this gear. I spent over a year trying various combinations of firmware (stock and Gnuton) and settings.

Happy to share my settings. To avoid writing a book or loading lots of screen shots, I've only included the settings that I think are pertinent to stable operation (or that might raise questions). If you want screen shots, I can send you those too. The key things of interest are that I set the XT8's to auto-reboot every morning at 3:00am and have hard set the wireless backhaul bandwidth to 80 MHz.

My home setup is an XT8 v.1 primary mesh node connected to a Ziply Fiber symetrical 1 Gbps up/down Internet connection. The primary is connected using wireless backhaul to two XT8 v.1 secondary mesh nodes, one about 30 feet away from the primary and one about 40 feet away from the primary. Wireless backhaul only. All three XT8's running 3.0.0.4.388_23285

Administration:

- Operation Mode: select Wireless router mode/ AiMesh Router mode
- Enable Reboot Scheduler: Yes
- Day(s) to Reboot: Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat
- Time of Day to Reboot: 03:00

AiMesh:
For each secondary mesh node:
Management: Backhaul Connection Priority: 5GHz-2 WiFi first
Preferred WiFi Uplink AP: Auto

Wireless settings:

- Enable Smart Connect: Off

- 5 GHz-2:
Hide SSID: Yes
Wireless Mode: AX only
802.11ax/Wifi 6 mode: Enable
Wifi Agile Multiband: Disable
Target Wake Time: Enable
Channel bandwidth: 80 MHz (*uncheck* Enable 160 MHz)
Control Channel: Auto

- 5 GHz-1:
Hide SSID: No
Wireless Mode: Auto
802.11ax/WiFi 6 mode: Enable
Wifi Agile Multiband: Disable
Target Wake Time: Enable
Channel bandwidth: 20/40/80 MHz
Control Channel: Auto
Extension Channel: Auto

- 2.4 GHz
Hide SSID: No
Wireless Mode: Auto (check b/g Protection)
802.11ax/Wifi 6 mode: Disable
Wifi Agile Multiband: Disable
Target Wake Time: Enable
Channel bandwidth: 20 MHz
Control Channel: Auto

Guest Network: 2.4 GHz enabled only (no 5 GHz-1 guest, no 5 GHz-2 guest)

Enabled AiProtection: On
Malicious Sites Blocking: On
Two-Way IPS: On
Infected Device Prevention and Blocking: On

I don't have any other extra services enabled (that is, no USB Application, no AiCloud 2.0, no Adaptive QoS, no Traffic Analyzer, no Parental Controls)

My settings was stable, I also set up my router now like this and I must say it is still stable ( or better performing ) than my settings in the passed.
I still using the Firmware: 388.2_2_0-gnuton1 .
Thanks for share these settings.

 

[Geir Ove]

I'm test this firmware since 10 days.
I have 4 XT8 V1 i my house.
I note that the network is not very stable and indeed, I see changes on the mesh.
I have 2 ethernet routers and 2 mesh wifi routers and without explanation, a router changes master router even though it is much further away... I had the fairly old 48706 before and I wanted to integrate the latest updates of security.
I'm thinking of going back to 48706...

I hav the same problem with my 2 XT8 v1 nodes. 5GHz Backhaul is disconnecting several times per hour from remote node to main router. I have tried several firmware versions and also the newest 388_23285. The newest firmware that is working for my nodes are 386_48706 which was released in May 2022. So I need to downgrade again. Asus pushes new sw but when I contacted them about this problem they just told me that I should never upgrade if I had a working firmware. So I really would like to know why they are updating their firmware since they tell me never to upgrade.

 

[michel30]

I hav the same problem with my 2 XT8 v1 nodes. 5GHz Backhaul is disconnecting several times per hour from remote node to main router. I have tried several firmware versions and also the newest 388_23285. The newest firmware that is working for my nodes are 386_48706 which was released in May 2022. So I need to downgrade again. Asus pushes new sw but when I contacted them about this problem they just told me that I should never upgrade if I had a working firmware. So I really would like to know why they are updating their firmware since they tell me never to upgrade.

And did you also try the Firmware: 388.2_2_0-gnuton1 ?
Since I using this one and the right settings my wifi stays stable no issue.

 

[ninjabob]

I've had stable operation with decent performance for all wireless and wired devices for 64 days now, which is a personal record for this gear.

 

[ninjabob]

Surely you have only had a stable connection for 24hrs not 64 days as you are rebooting the unit at 03:00 every morning (not a bad idea if the firmware is buggy)?

 

[michel30]

Surely you have only had a stable connection for 24hrs not 64 days as you are rebooting the unit at 03:00 every morning (not a bad idea if the firmware is buggy)?

Hi,
No I don't use reboot and everything runs perfectly with Firmware: 388.2_2_0-gnuton1

 

[broekhuijsen]

Here in Europe, even though the gouvernement has released the frequencies for use in WiFi, the XT8 still does not give access to all channels, even though in the US it does. Does any one know if there are plans to support all channels so we can use the full hardware we paid for?

I have sent messages about this to Asus and they said they would pass it on to the development team but could not guarantee anything, so I have no high hopes on that doing something.

I think it is however weird, the XT8 was certainly not cheap when I bought it, and the development team seems to be a sleep and not care about enabling the full potential. I also wonder why manufacturers block this at all. They could create an override setting and show disclaimers that you are breaking the law if you continue.

It's a weird business.

 

[L&LD]

Manufacturers are not allowed to break the law (particularly in EU). They are also reluctant to re-certify (if needed) a model just because a country's law changes.

You may need to buy a new router that respects the latest laws and gives you access to those frequencies/features you want/need.

 

[broekhuijsen]

Of course they cannot break the law (even though a lot of firms do to maximize profit) but if I would ignore the warnings, it would be ME to break the law. But ok, if the law explicitly demands this to be limited by the hardware vendor, there is no choice. Maybe I should try to complain at the EU for this.

They did add the channels for the US market through an update, so why can't they for Europe? It of course doesn't make any sense to say that you need to buy a new router even if the one you have, does have hardware support for it. Of course it would be good for Asus, but very bad for us and for the environment.

There are even more expensive routers on the market that cost double or tripple of what I paid for the router back then. With WiFi 7 coming up and some countries only releasing certain frequencies later, surely they cannot expect people to just buy another router and throw away the older one just because of some software limitation. Not if in Europe the gouvernment forces manufacturers to make batteries in equipment easy replaceable to reduce e-waste.

 

[L&LD]

Yes, the 'law' is that they cannot offer a way to break the law.

Hardware capabilities alone are not an indication of expected performance. Firmware/software is just as important.

They do not need to justify anything except to their stock holders. Buyer beware is still alive and well today.

 

[broekhuijsen]

Yes, the 'law' is that they cannot offer a way to break the law.

Hardware capabilities alone are not an indication of expected performance. Firmware/software is just as important.

They do not need to justify anything except to their stock holders. Buyer beware is still alive and well today.

I sent a complaint to the EU, and of course they are not going to do anything with that, but maybe, just maybe there will be a change

Not for the current models of course so I will have to accept defeat

 

[tgl]

I sent a complaint to the EU, and of course they are not going to do anything with that, but maybe, just maybe there will be a change

Even in the US, where there's much more of the cowboy mentality you're exhibiting than there is in Europe, the FCC does not allow manufacturers to sell wifi devices that can easily be configured to break the law. I think the odds of the EU authorities allowing that are not distinguishable from zero.

As for why ASUS isn't bothering to issue an update to allow use of the upper 5GHz band in EU, my guess from looking at wikipedia's data is that the EU doesn't allow transmit power above 25mW in that band, and ASUS doesn't think that that restriction would support a good customer experience. Maybe it'd be more productive to lobby the EU authorities to allow a more useful transmit power level in that band.

 

[broekhuijsen]

Even in the US, where there's much more of the cowboy mentality you're exhibiting than there is in Europe, the FCC does not allow manufacturers to sell wifi devices that can easily be configured to break the law. I think the odds of the EU authorities allowing that are not distinguishable from zero.

As for why ASUS isn't bothering to issue an update to allow use of the upper 5GHz band in EU, my guess from looking at wikipedia's data is that the EU doesn't allow transmit power above 25mW in that band, and ASUS doesn't think that that restriction would support a good customer experience. Maybe it'd be more productive to lobby the EU authorities to allow a more useful transmit power level in that band.

That is not what I just asked the EU to do, this is what I sent:

Good day,

I would like to raise a concern about e-waste created by not updated wifi routers.

Due to regulations, manufacturers often block certain frequency spectrum for WIFI in certain parts of the world. However, once the allowed spectrum has allowed by the gouvernment, often no updates are provided to use this spectrum even when the hardware supports it. This is nice for the manufacturers as people will buy new hardware, but bad for the consumer and bad for the environment.

Therefore either the legislation in my opinion should be changed so that the consumer can override the limitations after confirming warning screens that transfer the legal liability to the customer, not the manufacturer.
Or the manufacturer should be forced to give at least 10 years updates to enable the consumers to use the full hardware.
There could be a system in place where routers check with an official gouvernment site, what spectrum it can or can't enable, this way everyone can use it as soon as it is released by the authorities.

Since people depend more and more on wireless communication and the spectrum available is more crowded every day, forcing customers to buy new routers is not an acceptable solution when the hardware is artificially limited by regulations.

I hope you can forward my concern to a department that can actually do something with my remakrs.

Have a great day.

Kind regards

It is not up to Asus to decide what would be worth it or not. Besides that, inside the house 25mw can still be very usefull, especially becuase it is less likely that your neighbours router will interfere with yours because of the limited range. It has not been said that Asus will not update it, that is an assumption of mine. If they don't it is not because Asus would be concerned about the user experience, but about the profit they can make by no longer supporting their hardware after 2 years. It is called planned obsolecense.

Lobbying to allow the maximum power is useless. The government does not limit this for fun, they do this because those frequencies might still be used for for exmample military operations. See for example this link about the 3,5 gHz frequency for 5g phone networks.

Lobbying to force manufacturers to update their equipment for a certain time would be more useful as the European Union already has created legislation about replaceable batteries or the demand to use a USB-C port on all devices. Yes Apple finally will have to obey the laws after for years the EU asked the industry to regulate itself and where all companies obeyed, except Apple.

But again, I am realistic, I don't have the expectation that because of my complaint, the EU is going to change the laws tomorrow. But at least I can try. A chance is better than no chance.

And who knows, maybe Asus will update the routers as they are still being sold in shops.