Release Asus ZenWiFi XT8 - New Firmware: 3.0.0.4.386_45934

[Zyntax]

Upgraded to this firmware about a week ago. Everything was running fine afterwards (speed tests still solid). Then today I noticed wifi performance was really bad on the mesh node (Wifi backhaul 5Ghz-2). I log in and it downgraded the Wifi backhaul from 5Ghz to 2.4Ghz and the signal is showing weak ((this thread is pretty much the issue I'm having: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asus-xt8-all-of-a-sudden-weak-mesh-node-signal.73034/). Doing a speedtest on the mesh node before this issue I was getting 400/500 MBit, whereas now I get less than 100. Nothing with the physical environment has changed (router placement, objects in between, etc) so I'm assuming this firmware is the culprit. Rebooting cleared it up and the connection is good again but if this happens again I'm definitely downgrading.

 

[Bobdobolina]

Upgraded to this firmware about a week ago. Everything was running fine afterwards (speed tests still solid). Then today I noticed wifi performance was really bad on the mesh node (Wifi backhaul 5Ghz-2). I log in and it downgraded the Wifi backhaul from 5Ghz to 2.4Ghz and the signal is showing weak ((this thread is pretty much the issue I'm having: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asus-xt8-all-of-a-sudden-weak-mesh-node-signal.73034/). Doing a speedtest on the mesh node before this issue I was getting 400/500 MBit, whereas now I get less than 100. Nothing with the physical environment has changed (router placement, objects in between, etc) so I'm assuming this firmware is the culprit. Rebooting cleared it up and the connection is good again but if this happens again I'm definitely downgrading.

Hi!
Sad to hear that the issue I experienced this summer on 43181 is still an issue.

I loved the system when it worked as advertised but the backhaul dropping to 2.4Ghz daily requiring reboots to get back to 5Ghz was to annoying for my taste. It felt like a time travel back to end of last century D-link equipment.

What FW-version did you find to work as intended? Guest net enabled I take it!?

Please advise if you solve the issue.

 

[karma]

Upgraded to this firmware about a week ago. Everything was running fine afterwards (speed tests still solid). Then today I noticed wifi performance was really bad on the mesh node (Wifi backhaul 5Ghz-2). I log in and it downgraded the Wifi backhaul from 5Ghz to 2.4Ghz and the signal is showing weak ((this thread is pretty much the issue I'm having: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asus-xt8-all-of-a-sudden-weak-mesh-node-signal.73034/). Doing a speedtest on the mesh node before this issue I was getting 400/500 MBit, whereas now I get less than 100. Nothing with the physical environment has changed (router placement, objects in between, etc) so I'm assuming this firmware is the culprit. Rebooting cleared it up and the connection is good again but if this happens again I'm definitely downgrading.

try disabling agile multiband on the backhaul. in fact I have it disabled on all bands, i have issues with an ipad pinned to a node with the agile option enabled. the other day I was messing about and enabled it and had an issue with the backhaul connection. dunno, maybe it'll help.

 

[Zyntax]

Hi!
Sad to hear that the issue I experienced this summer on 43181 is still an issue.

I loved the system when it worked as advertised but the backhaul dropping to 2.4Ghz daily requiring reboots to get back to 5Ghz was to annoying for my taste. It felt like a time travel back to end of last century D-link equipment.

What FW-version did you find to work as intended? Guest net enabled I take it!?

Please advise if you solve the issue.

No guest net. Whatever was the prior version to this one (I don't recall the version). I bought this back around September and every version prior to this one was not having any issue like this.

 

[Zyntax]

try disabling agile multiband on the backhaul. in fact I have it disabled on all bands, i have issues with an ipad pinned to a node with the agile option enabled. the other day I was messing about and enabled it and had an issue with the backhaul connection. dunno, maybe it'll help.

It's already disabled on all bands.

It did it again later in the evening last night so I'm probably going to downgrade it.

 

[sgoldswo]

So my experience with this firmware was originally negative, based on an in place upgrade via the app. I experienced drop outs on the wireless backhaul. I reinstalled the firmware (downloaded from the ASUS support site) via the web GUI, and since then I haven’t had any problems. Didn’t do a reset this time.

I don't want to be another person posting to say after five minutes they have reverted to stable firmware because of a single reset/crash, but I did find 45934 increasingly unstable after use for about three weeks. Similar issues to some of the previous newer firmwares, the backhaul became unreliable and would drop to 2.4ghz randomly. It may be local interference (although the experience was the same when I switched off 160 mhz) but there is a contrast with the experience on 42095 and 45898 (which was more stable in my use for the 2 weeks I had it installed). I'm currently back on 42095.

 

[ninjabob]

I am back on 42095 which is not without some issues and still needs rebooting every couple of weeks. Seems impossible to get reliable firmware for the XT8 which is a shame as it is excellent in so many ways. My old RT-N66 would run for months without any issues. It would be nice if ASUS could concentrate on getting this firmware right.
42095 although reliable to a certain extent never connects the backhaul at at 160mhz only 80mhz and despite setting the 5ghz channel to 52 manually will suddenly change that to 36 all by itself!

 

[Dodgydrains]

I am back on 42095 which is not without some issues and still needs rebooting every couple of weeks. Seems impossible to get reliable firmware for the XT8 which is a shame as it is excellent in so many ways. My old RT-N66 would run for months without any issues. It would be nice if ASUS could concentrate on getting this firmware right.
42095 although reliable to a certain extent never connects the backhaul at at 160mhz only 80mhz and despite setting the 5ghz channel to 52 manually will suddenly change that to 36 all by itself!

On 42095, I also had issues with 160mhz on the backhaul.

Changing the following settings on 5GHz-2 backhaul, instantly fixed this:

 

[Gustour]

My 2 xt8 are running 3.0.0.4.386_45934 without problem/reboot since release, but i use them only as aimesh node (rt-ax88u as router) and in ethernet backhaul only.
(Just to share my own experience with this firmware)

 

[ninjabob]

Thank you both for your input. I did find 3.0.0.4.386_45934 reliable except for my wife's work VoIP phone (works from home) had issues of the audio constantly breaking up which does not seem to happen with 42095

 

[Zyntax]

It's already disabled on all bands.

It did it again later in the evening last night so I'm probably going to downgrade it.

I still haven't downgraded yet - most recent reboot has held up since my last issue as of 12/9 (and I'm being lazy about going through the possible hassle of downgrading - never done it but the last thing I want to do is to have to factory restore anything and start from scratch should something go wrong).

Also I just noticed today that the Web History (under Adaptive QOS) stopped logging everything as of the evening of 12/9, which was the last time I rebooted (due to the backhaul speed loss issue). Turning that feature off and on hasn't fixed it either. It's not vital for me so I'm not going to troubleshoot that, but just throwing it out there in case anyone else has seen it.

 

[sgoldswo]

I still haven't downgraded yet - most recent reboot has held up since my last issue as of 12/9 (and I'm being lazy about going through the possible hassle of downgrading - never done it but the last thing I want to do is to have to factory restore anything and start from scratch should something go wrong).

Also I just noticed today that the Web History (under Adaptive QOS) stopped logging everything as of the evening of 12/9, which was the last time I rebooted (due to the backhaul speed loss issue). Turning that feature off and on hasn't fixed it either. It's not vital for me so I'm not going to troubleshoot that, but just throwing it out there in case anyone else has seen it.

To be honest, when I've downgraded I've not done a hard reset unless the system became erratic. At the moment (touch wood) everything works and the backhaul is holding up.

This is all a bit of a pity. I really believe in the hardware, love the no cost family settings for kids and for my use it looks like 6E mesh is a non-starter because of range/obstruction, but I think I will replace the XT8 in the new year if there's no way to get up to date FW without making the backhaul unreliable. I very nearly bought a TP Link x90 setup the other day, but held off for now.

 

[slikr]

42095 firmware still the best

 

[keith_ca]

Count me in as another sad Asus customer who tried to upgrade to 45934 and had to roll back to good ol' 42905. I had hoped they would have worked out the issues in the various releases over the last 6 months, but unfortunately they have not.

I have 2 x XT8 and a RT-AZ92U in a full mesh using 5GHz-2 as the backhaul (no ethernet). The dreaded MS teams glitch (disconnect for 5-10s every 1-2 hours) still exists. Ran for a day and rolled back.

I did NOT reset to factory defaults on upgrade, because it's ridiculous to me that it would be required/recommended to do so. Can you imagine being told to re-install your whole operating system, re-install all apps, and reconfigure your PC every time you upgrade Windows, MacOS ... or any Linux system (which is what the Asus routers build on)?

I am, sadly, considering other alternatives, even though otherwise I have been very happy with the performance of these routers.

 

[happyshow]

Although I agree that we shouldn't have to factory reset for an upgrade, I did before I updated to the latest stable build on two XT8's and couldn't be happier.

 

[ninjabob]

Although I agree that we shouldn't have to factory reset for an upgrade, I did before I updated to the latest stable build on two XT8's and couldn't be happier.

I think it very much depends on what you are connecting to your router. If it was not for my wife's work VOIP phone I could be on that latest firmware as well.

 

[keith_ca]

Maybe good to share the pathways that lead to VoIP etc challenges. For me:

Laptop -> ethernet -> XT8 satellite -> 5 Ghz-2 wireless backhaul -> XT8 router -> ethernet -> Firewalla Gold -> Cable Modem bridged -> Internet

My wife connects direct to the XT8 router and has not experienced the same issues. So it could be the wireless backhaul. Maybe I will give the "rebuild from scratch" a shot over the holidays ...

 

[bradbort]

I'm finding the latest beta to be more stable

 

[aurizn]

Stability is really trash tier on this latest software version.

I did perform a factory reset and I notice the whole network just got frozen ocassionally and it happens across all devices.

The router will also self-reboot randomly which doesn't even have anything showing on the system log. It's been years and ASUS still couldn't fix AiMesh.

 

[Kapet]

Stability is really trash tier on this latest software version.

I did perform a factory reset and I notice the whole network just got frozen ocassionally and it happens across all devices.

The router will also self-reboot randomly which doesn't even have anything showing on the system log. It's been years and ASUS still couldn't fix AiMesh.

Well, not everything is as bad as you say. I have 2xXT8, connected by a cable. There are no problems with this firmware at all!