ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 Firmware version 9.0.0.4.386.46980 (2022/02/22)

[Calkulin]

Running this version together with iOS devices does not sit well.

A couple of times per day the XT8 will stop transmitting packages to the client. Specifically easy to notice when watching streaming media. First you will try to reload the webpage or clip.
Then you will check w Speedtest to see if everything is ok. That will tell you a first run where download will taper off and then stop. Upload will fail.

After a while the system will crash and force restart and try to locate channels.
Then everything is back to normal for half a day or so depending on how many people are home.

Setup w wireless backhaul as is the purpose w mesh. Signal strength is reported between -49 through -53 between router and node.

I just hope someone from ASUS picks this up because it must be fixed before it goes in to official release.

Only this firmware giving you issues? Because I just picked up a set of XT8s and this beta firmware along with 46061 and 45934 cause random reboots and/or weird wireless issues on my XT8s. 45898 seems to be the only firmware that doesn't give me issues. Hopefully Asus releases something soon so I can test it or return these,

 

[RogerSC]

Only this firmware giving you issues? Because I just picked up a set of XT8s and this beta firmware along with 46061 and 45934 cause random reboots and/or weird wireless issues on my XT8s. 45898 seems to be the only firmware that doesn't give me issues. Hopefully Asus releases something soon so I can test it or return these,

A lot of people are doing fine with this firmware, including myself. Do you do a WPS reset to defaults of both nodes when you have problems after flashing to a new firmware version? If you don't, give it a try. If you do, and this Beta version isn't working for you, might be a hardware problem. Also, I'd suggest manually reconfiguring your mesh after a reset to factory defaults rather than restoring an existing saved config file, especially if you've been having problems.

 

[ahm11d]

Is this still working fine for everyone? I want to purchase two XT8s but these dropped connection issues have me second guessing

 

[BrendonSF]

Is this still working fine for everyone? I want to purchase two XT8s but these dropped connection issues have me second guessing

Yes, the issue has been completely solved for me. And it was extremely prevelant prior, across multiple versions of firwmare, and even multiple Asus devices (I initially encountered the issue on an RT-AX88U, and upgraded because of it).

 

[Bobdobolina]

Only this firmware giving you issues? Because I just picked up a set of XT8s and this beta firmware along with 46061 and 45934 cause random reboots and/or weird wireless issues on my XT8s. 45898 seems to be the only firmware that doesn't give me issues. Hopefully Asus releases something soon so I can test it or return these,

For me, and a colleague that also bought a pair, we have both experienced this this version to be the best since 42095 but. I did have to disable 160 on the 5GHz-2 backhaul to get it to stop rebooting randomly.
There are two sort of issue still relating to Apple devices.
a) When an Apple device goes online (active) other sessions freeze, and
b) Both IOS and MacOS devices gets intermittent freeze in network connection. You have to toggle Wi-Fi off and back on to get it to work. Has been the same for all ios15 releases plus Monterey&BigSur. Problem occurs whether using beta-privacy relay or not, whether using private ip-address or not, whether using Safari, other browser, Speedtest etc. It’s like the session just freezes.
Colleague sold his kit.

 

[RogerSC]

For me, and a colleague that also bought a pair, we have both experienced this this version to be the best since 42095 but. I did have to disable 160 on the 5GHz-2 backhaul to get it to stop rebooting randomly.
There are two sort of issue still relating to Apple devices.
a) When an Apple device goes online (active) other sessions freeze, and
b) Both IOS and MacOS devices gets intermittent freeze in network connection. You have to toggle Wi-Fi off and back on to get it to work. Has been the same for all ios15 releases plus Monterey&BigSur. Problem occurs whether using beta-privacy relay or not, whether using private ip-address or not, whether using Safari, other browser, Speedtest etc. It’s like the session just freezes.
Colleague sold his kit.

Stop me if I'm repeating myself *smile*, but no issues on this firmware version with our 7 Apple devices...iPhone SE 2020, iPhone 12, iPad Pro 10.5", iPad Pro 11", 2 Apple TV's, and a mac mini. Have had several more Apple devices coming and going with visitors, like MBP's, phones and tablets, no problems for them as well. So I'm not sure what we're doing that's different than what's going on at your place, but we have seen nothing of this.

I realize that doesn't help you, just that one's mileage apparently varies. I'll just repeat the suggestion of resetting back to factory defaults after flashing new firmware and configuring manually after that, especially if you've been having problems. Doesn't answer all problems by a long shot, but at least starts you from a known ground-zero:

[Wireless Router] When Standard Reset Isn’t Working: Hard Factory Reset - Models list | Official Support | ASUS USA

Also, just ran into this, might be of interest if you're looking for third-party firmware for the ZenWiFi AX:

Release - Asuswrt-Merlin 386.5 GNUton's builds are now available

Hi there, Today I am finally happy to announce that we have a Merlin stable release for the usual models: - DSL-AC68U - DSL-AX82U/DSL-AX5400 - RT-AX82U and also for two new entries: - TUF-AX5400 - ZenWiFi AX (X8) / RT-AX95Q If you have wishes to see Merlin running on other routers please...

www.snbforums.com

 

[GenericITGuy]

Yeah, I was also surprised that wireless backhaul is stable on this firmware - no traffic losses at all.

I wish I had the same experience. Any particular setting/thing I should consider to get wireless backhaul to work? Most of my apple devices get about 45% packet loss running the 46980 on both main and Aimesh. I always have to go all the way back to 25790 for wireless backhaul to work.

 

[030basti]

Any indication on when this beta is going to be officially released?

 

[IAmImagined]

I wish I had the same experience. Any particular setting/thing I should consider to get wireless backhaul to work? Most of my apple devices get about 45% packet loss running the 46980 on both main and Aimesh. I always have to go all the way back to 25790 for wireless backhaul to work.

My 5GHz-2 wireless backhaul consistently dropped back from 160GHz to 80GHz after a couple of days with this version (and some previous versions). Now that Merlin's firmware has become available for the XT8, I'm running that, and so far so good - everything's working well... another couple of days should confirm.

 

[Samoorai]

Now that Merlin's firmware has become available for the XT8, I'm running that, and so far so good

Merlin is available for XT8? Where does the information come from? I only found a testbuild for XT12, there is nothing to see from XT8 support. Did you install the XT12 version or what else?

 

[IAmImagined]

Merlin is available for XT8? Where does the information come from? I only found a testbuild for XT12, there is nothing to see from XT8 support. Did you install the XT12 version or what else?

Release version for XT8...

Release - Asuswrt-Merlin 386.5 GNUton's builds are now available

Hi there, Today I am finally happy to announce that we have a Merlin stable release for the usual models: - DSL-AC68U - DSL-AX82U/DSL-AX5400 - RT-AX82U and also for two new entries: - TUF-AX5400 - ZenWiFi AX (X8) / RT-AX95Q If you have wishes to see Merlin running on other routers please...

www.snbforums.com

 

[TMcC]

Merlin is available for XT8? Where does the information come from? I only found a testbuild for XT12, there is nothing to see from XT8 support. Did you install the XT12 version or what else?

See
Thread 'Asuswrt-Merlin 386.5 GNUton's builds are now available'
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-386-5-gnutons-builds-are-now-available.78160/

Use the RT-AX95Q firmware files. The XT8 was called that before being renamed by marketing, apparently.

 

[GenericITGuy]

My 5GHz-2 wireless backhaul consistently dropped back from 160GHz to 80GHz after a couple of days with this version (and some previous versions). Now that Merlin's firmware has become available for the XT8, I'm running that, and so far so good - everything's working well... another couple of days should confirm.

I might keep monitoring the gnuton spin, but so far the mixed firmware with primary on 46980 and mesh on 25790 is working well.

 

[loscalino]

Did you notice that this firmware version is missing the Wireguard VPN server? There is a new instantguard tab.

 

[bradbort]

Did you notice that this firmware version is missing the Wireguard VPN server? There is a new instantguard tab.

What is GNUtons? I'm not seeing this firmware on Merlin's site. Is this a rev based on Merlin's firmware by someone else, or does it come from Merlin. Sorry for my confusion.

 

[RogerSC]

What is GNUtons? I'm not seeing this firmware on Merlin's site. Is this a rev based on Merlin's firmware by someone else, or does it come from Merlin. Sorry for my confusion.

GNUton does his own Asuswrt builds for particular models of routers that RMerlin doesn't support. If you look up in this thread, 5 and/or 6 posts up, you'll see pointers to the release thread for GNUton's firmware, and where the downloads are as well.

 

[sgoldswo]

For me, and a colleague that also bought a pair, we have both experienced this this version to be the best since 42095 but. I did have to disable 160 on the 5GHz-2 backhaul to get it to stop rebooting randomly.
There are two sort of issue still relating to Apple devices.
a) When an Apple device goes online (active) other sessions freeze, and
b) Both IOS and MacOS devices gets intermittent freeze in network connection. You have to toggle Wi-Fi off and back on to get it to work. Has been the same for all ios15 releases plus Monterey&BigSur. Problem occurs whether using beta-privacy relay or not, whether using private ip-address or not, whether using Safari, other browser, Speedtest etc. It’s like the session just freezes.
Colleague sold his kit.

Just confirming I do not see this issue at all with my network, many MacOS, iOS, Windows and Linux devices. I have 3 XT8, wireless backhaul, and struggled with resets and dropouts on prior firmware versions. This firmware is entirely stable, better than 42095, and has remained so since installation. Of course, needs the full WPS button reset of each unit.

 

[030basti]

For me, and a colleague that also bought a pair, we have both experienced this this version to be the best since 42095 but. I did have to disable 160 on the 5GHz-2 backhaul to get it to stop rebooting randomly.
There are two sort of issue still relating to Apple devices.
a) When an Apple device goes online (active) other sessions freeze, and
b) Both IOS and MacOS devices gets intermittent freeze in network connection. You have to toggle Wi-Fi off and back on to get it to work. Has been the same for all ios15 releases plus Monterey&BigSur. Problem occurs whether using beta-privacy relay or not, whether using private ip-address or not, whether using Safari, other browser, Speedtest etc. It’s like the session just freezes.
Colleague sold his kit.

I have exactly the same issue. The only way to fix it was by setting both my XT8 into router mode. As long as I ran them in AP in an AiMesh environment the exact problems you described were there. I still do get them sometimes but less often. Now I am on the merlin firmware and it has been ok for a few days. Let's see if that fixed it but I am not too hopeful just yet.

 

[Calkulin]

My 5GHz-2 wireless backhaul consistently dropped back from 160GHz to 80GHz after a couple of days with this version (and some previous versions). Now that Merlin's firmware has become available for the XT8, I'm running that, and so far so good - everything's working well... another couple of days should confirm.

Try turning off MU-MIMO. My XT8s(tested 4 of them) and GT-AX11000 keep doing that for no reason until I turned that off. None of my dual-band router ever had that issue(RT-AX58U or RT-AX88U) with MU-MIMO turned on and 160MHz, only when I replaced them with tri-band routers that I started to notice that issue.

Been 2 weeks now without that issue, before it happened multiple times a day,

 

[evlo]

Hi fellow XT8 users, is 5G-2 available for you to be used by clients, or is it exclusively for backhaul?