ASUS ZenWiFi ET12 Firmware version 3.0.0.4.388.22127

[mlai]

Just to report back. Setting the 2.4G/5G bands to WPA2 only and disable protected management frames seems to result in a much more stable wireless network, on a wired backhaul only enviroment. I did explicitly enable wired backhaul mode as I had experienced network disruption due to storm issue from the switch that the ET12 nodes are connected to.......

 

[mlai]

This version is also quite unstable for me. Quite a few issues as listed below:

1) Very frequently when I commit some configuration changes, the ET12 unit acting as router will will unresponsive on LAN1/2/2.5G interfaces unless I manually unplug and replug in the LAN cables. When it happens, the wireless on the router and internet will continue to function properly.
2) On devices being pinned to a certain AP, most of the time the device will fail to re-associate to the pinned AP without power cycling the devices. On 21739 most of the time the devices will re-associate to pinned AP automatically when the designated AP came back online.
3) UI becomes very sluggish as time goes on until rebooting of router.
4) All wireless band will sporadically turn off for couple minutes and reappear. This cause major issue of losing wireless network for all devices. Nothing in the logs give any clue about this.

To follow up. Turns out my issues 1/3/4 is due to my own stupidity. I had 2 Netgear XM508 switches connecting all the ET12 due to existing cabling in my rental home. Some of the in wall segments are only CAT5E and the switch can't take CAT5E for 10G link on the combo port, which is where I had the 2 switches connected. Moving to one of the other 7 multispeed port (which on this switch DOES support 10gbe over CAT5E for 45m length or less) solved all my network related instability issues.

Problem 2 is solved by setting the wireless security to either WPA or WPA2 or WPA3 only (at least for the Primary wireless SSIDs). Settings of WPA2/WPA3 combined on a single SSID seems to cause devices not to connect to their optimal APs.

It has been couple of days since I made those changes, and my network of 4x ET12s and 30+ devices on my home network all work without a hitch on this firmware.

 

[Pmlonewolf68]

To follow up. Turns out my issues 1/3/4 is due to my own stupidity. I had 2 Netgear XM508 switches connecting all the ET12 due to existing cabling in my rental home. Some of the in wall segments are only CAT5E and the switch can't take CAT5E for 10G link on the combo port, which is where I had the 2 switches connected. Moving to one of the other 7 multispeed port (which on this switch DOES support 10gbe over CAT5E for 45m length or less) solved all my network related instability issues.

Problem 2 is solved by setting the wireless security to either WPA or WPA2 or WPA3 only. Settings of WPA2/WPA3 combined on a single SSID seems to cause devices not to connect to their optimal APs.

It has been couple of days since I made those changes, and my network of 4x ET12s and 30+ devices on my home network all work without a hitch on this firmware.

The issue I have been having with this latest firmware is my secondary node would refuse to stay up - would continually go offline and then start up again - several times a day - reverting back to november firmware fixed it though. not sure what the root cause is though.

 

[mlai]

The issue I have been having with this latest firmware is my secondary node would refuse to stay up - would continually go offline and then start up again - several times a day - reverting back to november firmware fixed it though. not sure what the root cause is though.

Are you ET12s directly connected via Cat6/Cat5E cables? Try directly connecting them if possible to test.....

 

[Pmlonewolf68]

I like you have two switches between the primary and secondary nodes. However, they are only gigabit max speeds and all my cables are at least cat5e.

 

[mlai]

I like you have two switches between the primary and secondary nodes. However, they are only gigabit max speeds and all my cables are at least cat5e.

If your nodes are all wired, can you try enabling Ethernet Backhaul Mode and try. I could be a race issue as well.......

 

[Pmlonewolf68]

If your nodes are all wired, can you try enabling Ethernet Backhaul Mode and try. I could be a race issue as well.......

I forgot to mention that I am enabled for Ethernet Backhaul - it works flawlessly on the earlier firmware, extremely unstable on this one though... I think its an issue with the firmware vs. my setup, my network setup is very standard.

 

[deerhound]

I finally reverted back to 21739. The Mesh router system I like is back.

 

[mlai]

There's definitely something finicky with Protected Management Frames set to Capable. I set the 5G band Protected Management Frames to capable and a lot of my devices (MS Surface Laptop Studios/Asus ROG Flow X16/Sony HT-A7000 soundbars, LGTVs B&O Stage to name a few) keeps dropping and roaming around to distant APs, and/or losing connectivity entirely. Disable Protected Management Frames seems to rectify the situation.

However, on 6GHz band PMF setting to Required worked fine for that band, which leads me to suspect there is something odd going on in this firmware when PMF is set to capable instead of either disabled/required.

 

[RMerlin]

However, on 6GHz band PMF setting to Required worked fine for that band

That's probably because there are no legacy clients connecting to the 6 GHz band, while other bands might have older, incompatible clients trying to connect.

Capable requires the client to request its support, however it may still cause compatibility issues, which is why the Disabled option also exists.

BTW, PMF is mandatory for WPA3.

 

[mlai]

BTW, PMF is mandatory for WPA3.

That I know. What would happen if I set PMF to disabled and create a Guest Network with WPA3 only?

 

[L&LD]

That won't work.

At least, it shouldn't.

 

[mlai]

That won't work.

At least, it shouldn't.

Right. But ASUSWRT does currently allow it.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Right. But ASUSWRT does currently allow it.

So, PMF is disabled and WPA3 is configured for guest1 WLANs only and you have guest1 clients connecting with WPA3 as reported on those clients?

OE

 

[L&LD]

Right. But ASUSWRT does currently allow it.

Not simply allow, but work. Does it?

 

[RaveBoy]

this mesh is driving me crazy.
I bought an axe16000 to use with 1 ET12 but ended up returning the axe16000 (was to big for the furniture space) and bought 2 x ET12.
Since I have this Et12 mesh, 4 days ...
- I can't have a single Teams / Google meet call without having constant disconnects.
- whenever I add a DHCP reservation the router cuts wifi and the node then I have to restart it
- not always seeing wired clients

Really hate this setup but I can't return it ... I was better off something with RMerlin support.

Any idea if the old firmware is much more stable ? or the Beta ?

 

[Pmlonewolf68]

this mesh is driving me crazy.
I bought an axe16000 to use with 1 ET12 but ended up returning the axe16000 (was to big for the furniture space) and bought 2 x ET12.
Since I have this Et12 mesh, 4 days ...
- I can't have a single Teams / Google meet call without having constant disconnects.
- whenever I add a DHCP reservation the router cuts wifi and the node then I have to restart it
- not always seeing wired clients

Really hate this setup but I can't return it ... I was better off something with RMerlin support.

Any idea if the old firmware is much more stable ? or the Beta ?

my suggestion - to wipe the routers back to factory settings, then apply the 21739 firmware - its very stable and i've been a happy camper ever since. I was in your boat two weeks ago and wanted to throw the damn things into the lake...

 

[Pmlonewolf68]

my suggestion - to wipe the routers back to factory settings, then apply the 21739 firmware - its very stable and i've been a happy camper ever since. I was in your boat two weeks ago and wanted to throw the damn things into the lake...

oh... one more thing, use dedicated ethernet backhaul if you can. its what these are best at.

 

[RaveBoy]

oh... one more thing, use dedicated ethernet backhaul if you can. its what these are best at.

wired backhaul yes ...

I'm super frustrated that i can't use the axe-16000 ... it sticks out of the furniture more than half

 

[RaveBoy]

oh... one more thing, use dedicated ethernet backhaul if you can. its what these are best at.

btw ... what signal strength is acceptable ? around -60db is ok ? managed to find a spot for the axe16000 inside the hallway wardrobe and don't know if this one would be acceptable ... i'm measuring it at my work space on macbook