Beta ASUSWRT 386 RC2 public beta with full functions AiMesh 2.0

[L&LD]

@888Jay it should work as you expect it to.

Give it a whirl. Make sure to fully set up both from scratch (full reset to factory defaults) though, after you've flashed them to this RC. And don't backup/restore any saved config files between the two routers either.

 

[SBSTNGRSS]

That error log is eerily similar to my AC88U router and media bridge failings.

For me it meant back to 9.0.0.4.386_38936-gab07b3f for the Mesh Master + Node. This is kind of stable.

 

[Scottp]

zenwifi xt8 with rc2-2 Ai Mesh mode with wired backhaul - Noticing some strange stuff with wifi SSID and channels. 2.4G channel is only on main router not on the other unit - I noticed an ibalance in the number of clients then noticed all my IoT devices are on the main node when many of them are nearer the other node.

edit: 2.4g has since come back on by itself. There are however no 2.4G clients on it and when I try to bind them they cannot connect, it also only has three 5g clients. The main node has 17 clients many of which are nearer the other node. I factory reset mesh node and reconfigured it to AP and the 2.4G works, factory reset it again add it back into mesh and 2.4G is not working. For now I will change to to AP. It is something I wanted to try anyway, so I can have different channels.

I'm running dual band smart connect. I briefly ran tri band smart connect but realised that you get no failover to wireless backhaul with that so I reverted back to dualband. While looking at the channels and SSID for the issue above I checked the 5g situation - It appears that my main SSID is on both 5g radios on both nodes so there is four instances of it - I also have the another SSID which is the one I assigned to the second 5g radio, that appears once on each router:

IDK if wired to wireless backhaul still functions - I have not tested that. clients are connecting to both the asus_c0 on 5g-1 and 5g2 - I had reserved 5g2 for wifi6 ax clients so only they have the asus_b0 ssid configured. I probably should do a factory reset to sort out these issues, but I will wait until the next RC which is supposed to be this week, then factory reset after I flash that

 

[ASUSWRT_2020]

Update 2020/08/06

386 rc2-3 firmware is in this link
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/154vHdrYh_rGP_qFooHgAkzXSJchge7Ue?usp=sharing

Change log:
1. Fixed node 5G connection problem (lots of complaints about this bug)
2. Improved IoT compatibility


known issues
1. Tx and Rx rate is still 0 in AiMesh Network fronthaul/backhaul information. We will fix this in the next build.
2. No RT-AX88U and RT-AX92U in this release. We are going to fix the build error problem.
3. Firmware extension numbers are different for different models. The range is from 386_39339 to 386_39348

Current Support models:
GT-AX11000
GT-AC5300
GT-AC2900
ZenWiFi XT8 (RT-AX95Q)
RT-AC5300
RT-AC88U
RT-AC3100
RT-AC86U
RT-AC68U

 

[LimJK]

Update 2020/08/06
known issues

2. No RT-AX88U and RT-AX9U in this release. We are going to fix the build error problem.

Will wait patiently for Firmware for RT-AX88U to be available

 

[karma]

XT8 in AP mode and ai mesh node with wireless backhaul

dirty flashed 386 rc2-3 over 386_25524, so far no issues.. (for the 20 minutes i've been running it )

it could be my imagination but latency seems to have greatly improved. i used to get a couple of percent buffering in netflix on my shield tv but now things are instantaneous at least on the main router. haven't tried devices connected to the node yet.

node binding seems to work nicely.

does anybody know what the 'optimization' button in the aimesh screen is supposed to do? I clicked it but no idea....

small issue: in firefox in the ai mesh page the client list layout is a bit messy.

 

[ASUSWRT_2020]

XT8 in AP mode and ai mesh node with wireless backhaul

dirty flashed 386 rc2-3 over 386_25524, so far no issues..

it could be my imagination but latency seems to have greatly improved. i used to get a couple of percent buffering in netflix on my shield tv but now things are instantaneous at least on the main router. haven't tried devices connected to the node yet.

node binding seems to work nicely.

does anybody know what the 'optimization' button in the aimesh screen is supposed to do? I clicked it but no idea....

'Optimize' can let all AiMesh nodes reconnect and change the topology. If there are more then 3 AiMesh devices, the topology may not in the best situation because of many reasons.
For example, if all nodes connect to AiMesh router with a strong signal, the best topology is star but UI shows the topology is daisy chain. Click the Optimize can optimize the topology.

 

[karma]

'Optimize' can let all AiMesh nodes reconnect and change the topology. If there are more then 3 AiMesh devices, the topology may not in the best situation because of many reasons.
For example, if all nodes connect to AiMesh router with a strong signal, the best topology is star but UI shows the topology is daisy chain. Click the Optimize can optimize the topology.

thanks for the information. since i only have 2 devices it won't do anything then.

 

[karma]

issue: cannot connect to my 2.4ghz guest network (tried router only and sync all for Sync to AiMesh Node), stuck at obtaining IP address.

[edit, feedback sent through router]

 

[Neil62]

Have loaded up the new version across my 86U's, been up a couple of hours, without any disconnects (nodes and clients), after doing a WPS reset across ALL and manual rebuild. Internet available across nodes through both bands. Using fixed channels, wifi backhaul, nothing on auto by bands, a standard setup.

Please ignore my signature firmware, for this reply and any following, my hardware and setup remain the same.

 

[Neil62]

@ASUSWRT_2020

Further update, I have noticed on a reboot of main, there is a Kernel crash: If my memory serves me right, its related to Trend Macro applications for which I have none/zero enabled.

Does anyone else have this issue without using any Trend macro applications for the same router?

ug 6 15:39:16 kernel: pgd = ffffffc014d43000
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: [00b5cc90] *pgd=0000000014c3c003, *pud=0000000014c3c003, *pmd=0000000000000000
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: CPU: 1 PID: 1409 Comm: conn_diag Tainted: P O 4.1.27 #2
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: Hardware name: Broadcom-v8A (DT)
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: task: ffffffc0171f4a80 ti: ffffffc014ddc000 task.ti: ffffffc014ddc000
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: PC is at 0xf67a016e
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: LR is at 0xf676b7fc
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: pc : [<00000000f67a016e>] lr : [<00000000f676b7fc>] pstate: 20030030
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: sp : 00000000ffb5c608
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: x12: 00000000ffffffff
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: x11: 00000000ffb5cb04 x10: 000000000000004a
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: x9 : 00000000ffffffff x8 : 0000000000b5cc94
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 00000000ffb5cb18
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: x5 : 0000000000000073 x4 : 0000000000000004
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: x3 : 0000000000000000 x2 : 0000000000000001
Aug 6 15:39:16 kernel: x1 : 0000000000b5cc90 x0 : 0000000000b5cc94

 

[karma]

XT8 client node binding issue:
initially the binding to the ai mesh node seemed to work well. after rebooting the main router the devices which are supposed to be bound to the node connect to the main router and stay there with the message '... the system has automatically selected the best route for your device'. if then i change a wifi config parameter (in this case i changed something in 5ghz-1, i'm guessing this restarts all radios) the bound clients will reconnect and stay bound to the correct node.

This occurs for all my bound clients except one on 2.4ghz which really really seems to like my main router no matter what.

sent feedback via router.

 

[Neil62]

@ASUSWRT_2020 Another update, created a guest account only on the 2ghz band, can connect to it, shared it across Aimesh nodes, but getting no internet activity from the Guest account...

 

[Neil62]

@ASUSWRT_2020, Again on the guest accounts, I have noticed that if you select remove account, the account is removed, but when clicking on "enable" again, the same account that was removed is returning. So it would seem the remove button, is actually not removing the account, it's in fact, picking up the account that was removed again. The removal process and enabling process was done without a reboot of the main router in between each step.

 

[drabisan]

GT-AC5300 router, RT-AX88U node.
Upgraded only GT to 386 rc2-3.
Still need to have a %GHz guest network all the way to the node to get an ip address while connected to the node. Wireless only. Wired to the node it's good with and without guest.
Is this because AX is not on the same release?
Do you need feedback send from the router?

 

[Neil62]

Questions on the above screen which is the from the AiMesh menu:

System reset to factory - does that reset, include both the main router and nodes?
System reboot - again, does that option include rebooting of nodes and main, main only, nodes only?.

@ASUSWRT_2020, Maybe a small description/comment in brackets after each of the options to explain, i.e. (main+ nodes, main only, nodes only) dependant on whats its/option, purpose is. As a suggestion.

 

[Neil62]

ASUS, great job for this firmware and for the quick release of a new RC, each release is a great improvement over the last. Keep those releases coming.

 

[karma]

XT8 client node binding issue:
initially the binding to the ai mesh node seemed to work well. after rebooting the main router the devices which are supposed to be bound to the node connect to the main router and stay there with the message '... the system has automatically selected the best route for your device'. if then i change a wifi config parameter (in this case i changed something in 5ghz-1, i'm guessing this restarts all radios) the bound clients will reconnect and stay bound to the correct node.

This occurs for all my bound clients except one on 2.4ghz which really really seems to like my main router no matter what.

sent feedback via router.

just a hunch but could it be that when the node loses the connection to the main router (in this case because of reboot) some connection quality flag or something is set on the node and when the main router reappears and the node connects again this flag is not reset on the node and the clients are redirected to the main router until some action like a wireless config change forces an update? This is an issue because I have scheduled reboots once a week.

 

[rickygao]

'Optimize' can let all AiMesh nodes reconnect and change the topology. If there are more then 3 AiMesh devices, the topology may not in the best situation because of many reasons.
For example, if all nodes connect to AiMesh router with a strong signal, the best topology is star but UI shows the topology is daisy chain. Click the Optimize can optimize the topology.

Can we consider to allow user set the prefered topology, I have AX11000 and XT8, the far XT8 keep connecting to closed XT8 and then AX11000, which siginal is slightly better than both XT8 connecting to AX11000.
Everytime, I have to shutdown the closed XT8 and let the far one connecting to AX11000 and then power on the closed one.
It will be very handy If ASUS allows user to set a prefered topology, like we can BIND device to node in AIMesh 2.

Another feature suggestion is to allow "Band Steering" on AIMesh node connection. Sometimes the AIMesh node will drop down to 2.4Ghz connection to main router due to some reason, then the node will stay on 2.4GHz connection forever. can we consider add some smart like the Band Steering the connection back to 5Ghz when 5Ghz connection become stable?

@ASUSWRT_2020

 

[Neil62]

The client list is also extremely dynamic, (there one second and done the next), to say the least, it can go from no clients to multiple clients, each time it refreshes refreshes, once it is open.