Release ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386.49873 (2022/08/04)

[dognit]

Hmmm...just noticed that the XT8's now have the UNII-4 channels, 165 - 177, or 5.9GHz with this new firmware.

I can't find those channels anywhere on mine, only 100-140. Maybe it's only available in some countries or something? I am in UK.

I am puzzled by router.asus.com >Advanced Settings >System Log >Wireless Log
because it says backhaul channel bandwidth is "160M" despite I have "Enable 160MHz" Unticked in wireless settings, and an analyser app on mobile is only showing hidden 80Mhz. Is the wireless log buggy?

 

[RogerSC]

I can't find those channels anywhere on mine, only 100-140. Maybe it's only available in some countries or something? I am in UK.

I am puzzled by router.asus.com >Advanced Settings >System Log >Wireless Log
because it says backhaul channel bandwidth is "160M" despite I have "Enable 160MHz" Unticked in wireless settings, and an analyser app on mobile is only showing hidden 80Mhz. Is the wireless log buggy?

Interesting...don't know what Asus can do in locales other than the US. It could be that the UNII-4 channels aren't available in the UK (yet), or that Asus simply hasn't added them for UK use yet. Or something else altogether *smile*. And I don't know what's up with your wireless log, either, since mine shows correctly whether I'm using an 80 or 160MHz channel width. You might take this up with Asus.

 

[Raven76]

No additional channels on my xt8 too...
(Italy)

 

[tgl]

There's some info on Wikipedia's List_of_WLAN_channels showing that Canada hasn't opened this spectrum at all, while the UK and Europe allow only very low transmit power (25mW, versus 200mW for the lower channels). So I wouldn't be surprised if ASUS has only enabled these channels in US-region routers. Or maybe they just haven't got to it yet for other regions. It's not clear what was the effective date of the various current regulations, but I think they're all pretty recent.

 

[Hakan]

In Sweden, only channels in the range of 100-140 are possible for backhaul, and they are all DFS.
There are some 5 GHz channels (36, 40, 44, 48 and 149, 153, 157, 161, 165) in Sweden that don’t have DFS requirements. But it is not possible to use them in a router/node with 2 units of XT8.

 

[tgl]

Back on thread topic: I tried updating to FW 49873. I have one XT8 operating in AP mode, and two other ASUS units (an XT8 and an ET8) operating as media bridges to link up wired gear that I don't care to run ethernet cable to. I updated the ET8 to its version of 49873 (didn't bother with a hard reset), ran for a day with no problems. I updated the other bridge unit to the XT8 version of 49873, still no problems. Then I updated the main AP to 49873, and things went to h*ll in a handbasket. The ET8 responded to ping just fine, and its web GUI acted just fine, but it intermittently dropped all traffic to the devices behind it. Meanwhile the other bridge unit was behaving perfectly. I tried factory resets, and I tried rolling back the ET8 to its prior firmware version, and the only thing that fixed it was reverting the main AP to 42095. This makes no sense at all, because if the main AP is where the problem is, why wasn't the other bridge equally flaky?

ASUS still can't program their way out of a paper bag, and I despair that they'll ever ship firmware that Just Works.

 

[crawfish]

Well this is a find how do you do. This must be new in Firefox 104, which just came out. Thank god for the app I guess.

"router.asus.com has a security policy called HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), which means that Firefox can only connect to it securely. You can’t add an exception to visit this site."

 

[bbunge]

When I plugged External HDD 2TB to this router, it said unmounted, I try so many times to format in FAT or NTFS from router or from PC but still unmounted.
If I plug flash disk, it will mounted well.

Can someone help me...

You may have to use a power supply on the HDD as the router does not have enough power to spin the drive.

 

[bbunge]

Well this is a find how do you do. This must be new in Firefox 104, which just came out. Thank god for the app I guess.

"router.asus.com has a security policy called HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), which means that Firefox can only connect to it securely. You can’t add an exception to visit this site."

Use the app to enable https on the router. AKA more secure connection.

 

[crawfish]

Use the app to enable https on the router. AKA more secure connection.

HTTPS is enabled. I'm using the same URL I've always used, which continues to work in Edge, BTW:

https://router.asus.com:8443/

Prior to version 104, I was able to add an exception to enable access, but Firefox 104 is not allowing it.

ETA: Discussion and solutions here: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/router-asus-com-not-working-on-firefox-anymore.80351/#post-784050

 

[bradbort]

I let my reouter automatically update to this firmware. Everything seems to be running fine, but when I go in the control software and click on mesh, I only see the node, not the primary router it is meshed with . They are both xT8. I never had this issue before. I'd prefer to avoid doing a complete factory reset if this is the only issue.

 

[L&LD]

Does a system reboot fix it (via the AiMesh tab)?

 

[bradbort]

I let my reouter automatically update to this firmware. Everything seems to be running fine, but when I go in the control software and click on mesh, I only see the node, not the primary router it is meshed with . They are both xT8. I never had this issue before. I'd prefer to avoid doing a complete factory reset if this is the only issue.

I rebooted both. Actually, the issue only exists if I click on the mesh icon on the diagram on the home page. If I do that, it only shows me the mesh client, not the main router. If I go in through the mesh tab, everything is as it should be. I wonder if it has always been that way, and I’m just noticing it now.

 

[L&LD]

Yes, I believe it's always been that way.

 

[Tech9]

Actually, the issue only exists if I click on the mesh icon on the diagram on the home page.

This one?

It shows AiMesh nodes only. This was the original AiMesh 1.0 settings place in 384 code firmware. I don't even know why it's still there. AiMesh page in the menu showed up with AiMesh 2.0 with a different GUI and all the settings/information was moved there.

 

[rsnhakan]

I don't know what Asus is doing, but since they released the XT8 (and I've gone through 8 sets of XT8's) they can't fix the wireless backhaul problem! And again, after installing the most recent FW and usage of 2 days I got a yellow light on my node which is connected through wireless backhaul.

The most stable version ever (for me) is beta FW 9.0.0.4.386.46980. This one does not have issues. Maybe a reboot once per 2 months or so, but that's it..

 

[RogerSC]

I don't know what Asus is doing, but since they released the XT8 (and I've gone through 8 sets of XT8's) they can't fix the wireless backhaul problem! And again, after installing the most recent FW and usage of 2 days I got a yellow light on my node which is connected through wireless backhaul.

The most stable version ever (for me) is beta FW 9.0.0.4.386.46980. This one does not have issues. Maybe a reboot once per 2 months or so, but that's it..

I have over two weeks of up time on this version of firmware since the last time that I rebooted. In addition, the 160MHz. wireless backhaul channel width has been stable the whole time using the UNII-4 channels. Behaving perfectly here, very happy with it. Hopefully when you get your replacement hardware, you'll be happy with yours.

 

[RogerSC]

This one?

View attachment 44008

It shows AiMesh nodes only. This was the original AiMesh 1.0 settings place in 384 code firmware. I don't even know why it's still there. AiMesh page in the menu showed up with AiMesh 2.0 with a different GUI and all the settings/information was moved there.

I've found the explicit node search on that page to be useful when I have had problems getting my remote node paired after a firmware flash and reset. But yes, the status information on that page is redundant.

 

[rsnhakan]

I have over two weeks of up time on this version of firmware since the last time that I rebooted. In addition, the 160MHz. wireless backhaul channel width has been stable the whole time using the UNII-4 channels. Behaving perfectly here, very happy with it. Hopefully when you get your replacement hardware, you'll be happy with yours.

I did go through 8 sets of XT8's. All of them had the same problem. The light of the 2nd node is becoming yellow and the connection drops. So in my opinion this is a FW bug which exists since 2020!! There's only one FW (the beta) which works like it should. And yes I do reset all my nodes before and after installing a new FW.

 

[RogerSC]

One question, after resetting your nodes after a firmware flash, do you restore settings from a saved configuration file, or do you manually restore your settings?

Just curious...if you restore your settings from a previously saved config file, that doesn't always do what you might expect with new firmware.