ASUS ZenWiFi password frustration!

[Tutone]

Hello all. I'm new to this forum as I stumbled upon it looking for help with a new ASUS XT8 mesh network I recently purchased. The recurring problem is that devices, mainly Apple products, will randomly disconnect from WiFi and give me an "incorrect password" error. What is even weirder is that this seems to apply only to the mesh/node router and not the primary/base router. For example, my iPhone and iPad will not connect in the kitchen right now but as soon as I walk into the bedroom they come back online! It certainly seems to me that the node is the problem but I have no idea how to fix it. I have had mesh networks with TP Link and eero and have never had this level of frustration. ASUS works great...when it works, but these random disconnections make it worthless.

My setup is as follows: 1GB fiber connected by Cat6 cable to "base" XT8 in the bedroom. The node XT8 is in the next room about 25 feet away. I have a two level ranch home with the base XT8 in the bedroom at one side of the house and the node in the living room to cover the other side of the house and some outdoor devices. Of the 20 or so devices, 17 are connected to the base which is illogical given the layout of the home.

I would greatly appreciate any help.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Hello all. I'm new to this forum as I stumbled upon it looking for help with a new ASUS XT8 mesh network I recently purchased. The recurring problem is that devices, mainly Apple products, will randomly disconnect from WiFi and give me an "incorrect password" error. What is even weirder is that this seems to apply only to the mesh/node router and not the primary/base router. For example, my iPhone and iPad will not connect in the kitchen right now but as soon as I walk into the bedroom they come back online! It certainly seems to me that the node is the problem but I have no idea how to fix it. I have had mesh networks with TP Link and eero and have never had this level of frustration. ASUS works great...when it works, but these random disconnections make it worthless.

My setup is as follows: 1GB fiber connected by Cat6 cable to "base" XT8 in the bedroom. The node XT8 is in the next room about 25 feet away. I have a two level ranch home with the base XT8 in the bedroom at one side of the house and the node in the living room to cover the other side of the house and some outdoor devices. Of the 20 or so devices, 17 are connected to the base which is illogical given the layout of the home.

I would greatly appreciate any help.

25' feet is not very far for radio without obstruction.

Is the node wired to the router?

OE

 

[Tutone]

The node is wireless and there is a sheetrock wall between the node and base. The node always reads an excellent signal. Since posting, I used the GUI to reset and remove the node from the system and then added it back using GUI. I had originally added the node using the ASUS app. Once things were up and running the node began operating normally and all of my devices could connect. Interestingly, now the node is showing around 10 devices connected whereas it previously would only have a few. I have no idea why removing and then adding the node again would fix this. Maybe it is just temporary. We will see.

 

[OzarkEdge]

The node is wireless and there is a sheetrock wall between the node and base. The node always reads an excellent signal. Since posting, I used the GUI to reset and remove the node from the system and then added it back using GUI. I had originally added the node using the ASUS app. Once things were up and running the node began operating normally and all of my devices could connect. Interestingly, now the node is showing around 10 devices connected whereas it previously would only have a few. I have no idea why removing and then adding the node again would fix this. Maybe it is just temporary. We will see.

Monitor the node's wireless backhauls in the router Wireless Log... the connection details can tell a bit about the backhaul link like Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)... too strong could be too close.

For now it sounds like your network is still settling down...

OE

 

[Tutone]

OE, thanks for your input. I am not sure what I would be looking for when monitoring the node's wireless backhaul. Any guidelines for that? I hadn't thought about the node being too close as being a potential problem. Thanks again.

 

[OzarkEdge]

OE, thanks for your input. I am not sure what I would be looking for when monitoring the node's wireless backhaul. Any guidelines for that? I hadn't thought about the node being too close as being a potential problem. Thanks again.

Just keep whittling away at it... there is much documented online for you to discover.

As AP density increases, the source of their broadcast converges to a single point (in the radio scheme of things)... now all of your clients have equally great signals to choose from, all effectively broadcasting from the same one location that now has all APs in it. Without fine control over each AP broadcast, all you can hope to do is locate them not too close and not too far... with wireless backhauls, the Received Signal Strength Indication RSSI in the Wireless Log can give you some idea of this Goldilocks range... say around -64dBm, if you can get it, but not -30dBm... too close. He said.

OE

 

[ranand]

I have the same problem with my xt-8. I have a wired backhaul and the node looses its IP. I set the backhaul to Ethernet and it still happens. The XT8 did not do this when I had my connection via wireless backhaul.

I cannot read the logs as they get wiped out when I reboot or deleted so I don’t know why this is happening. Are there any ways to address this node drop?