GT-AX11000 and Merlin

[wilsonbh]

Bought a used AX11000 to replace my AC5300 as my primary router. I meshed two AC5300 routers with it to extend my WiFi. Setup was pretty easy but I'm noticing some instability issues every once in awhile causing me to have to reboot one of my AC5300 routers. The two AC5300 routers are running the MERLIN firmware and the AX11000 is running the stock (but latest) ASUS firmware.

Has anyone faced any issues such as this? My speed has increased and the strength of the router signals have increased from -70db to -50db. So there has been improvement. It would be perfect if not for this need to reboot on occasion. Wondering if I would see benefit to load the MERLIN firmware to the AX11000? Hate to load the first iteration of this as it appears to be.

Advice?

 

[L&LD]

You may have too much wifi in your home. Do you really need 3 routers? What SqFt are you covering? What are the construction materials of your home?

I would not run a mix of stock Asus and RMerlin firmware in any of my networks.

The only way to see if running RMerlin firmware works in your environment is to try it.

Flash the RMerlin firmware you want to use (ideally, same firmware level across all routers you need to use). Perform a full reset on all routers. Minimally and manually configure the main router. Only add nodes, if, and when/where needed.

 

[Tech9]

Advice?

Run stock Asuswrt on all routers. Works better for AiMesh setup. Asuswrt-Merlin is not needed for nodes anyway.

 

[wilsonbh]

You may have too much wifi in your home. Do you really need 3 routers? What SqFt are you covering? What are the construction materials of your home?

I would not run a mix of stock Asus and RMerlin firmware in any of my networks.

The only way to see if running RMerlin firmware works in your environment is to try it.

Flash the RMerlin firmware you want to use (ideally, same firmware level across all routers you need to use). Perform a full reset on all routers. Minimally and manually configure the main router. Only add nodes, if, and when/where needed.

Home is 4300 sq ft. I will change the firmware on the AC5300 routers to ASUS stock firmware and see if that stabilizes things.

 

[wilsonbh]

I am really green at this stuff. Can someone tell me what AURA RGB is?

 

[L&LD]

A well-placed single router has the potential to cover that area (particularly over two floors).

 

[Tech9]

The ROG logo light on top of your router. Just turn it off if you are above teen age.

 

[wilsonbh]

You may have too much wifi in your home. Do you really need 3 routers? What SqFt are you covering? What are the construction materials of your home?

I would not run a mix of stock Asus and RMerlin firmware in any of my networks.

The only way to see if running RMerlin firmware works in your environment is to try it.

Flash the RMerlin firmware you want to use (ideally, same firmware level across all routers you need to use). Perform a full reset on all routers. Minimally and manually configure the main router. Only add nodes, if, and when/where needed.

I changed the firmware for all my routers to ASUS stock firmware. Not sure what happened but now my Surfshark VPN won't work as it did previously and I'm having signal loss intermittently. I think the MERLIN worked better.

 

[seabass]

I changed the firmware for all my routers to ASUS stock firmware. Not sure what happened but now my Surfshark VPN won't work as it did previously and I'm having signal loss intermittently. I think the MERLIN worked better.

Shame things aren't working well for you yet. There's new Merlin firmware coming for your AX11000 router, maybe that will help.

I'm planning to try the same setup as you, but I need my AX11000 to be stable on Merlin first, so I'm not there yet. My stability issues are because I have a remote peer on an AX68U via site to site TAP VPN, but TAP VPN server is broken on AX with current released GPL's, so stuck on my AC5300 for the moment.

Looking ahead, I'm a little concerned that "repeating" an AX with AC5300's won't be great, we'll see... (I also have two of those like you) I might try "access point" mode with one AP if repeater mode doesn't work out well, I can implement wired back haul for one of my AC5300 if I really have to, but not with ideal placement if I do... (I was hoping for wireless back haul AP mode for our 3 radio routers, but that's not a thing)

One other issue we face is that AC and AX class routers are diverging with regards to their GPL bases

 

[wilsonbh]

Shame things aren't working well for you yet. There's new Merlin firmware coming for your AX11000 router, maybe that will help.

I'm planning to try the same setup as you, but I need my AX11000 to be stable on Merlin first, so I'm not there yet. My stability issues are because I have a remote peer on an AX68U via site to site TAP VPN, but TAP VPN server is broken on AX with current released GPL's, so stuck on my AC5300 for the moment.

Looking ahead, I'm a little concerned that "repeating" an AX with AC5300's won't be great, we'll see... (I also have two of those like you) I might try "access point" mode with one AP if repeater mode doesn't work out well, I can implement wired back haul for one of my AC5300 if I really have to, but not with ideal placement if I do... (I was hoping for wireless back haul AP mode for our 3 radio routers, but that's not a thing)

One other issue we face is that AC and AX class routers are diverging with regards to their GPL bases

I'm finding that I have to reboot the AX11000 every couple of days. When I do this, my system works well. I like the AIMESH feature and the management ease it provides.

My next pursuit is to install my VPN on the AX11000. Have you done this? Reading the tutorials are confusing to me so it's somewhat trial and error with more error than I'd like. So far, I don't have my VPN setup on my router. Also, not sure which is best, OpenVPN versus Wireguard. Any suggestions here?

 

[Kingp1n]

Have you tried running the AX11000 by itself (without aiMesh or any nodes)?

This router is strong enough that you might realized you dont need them. Try running it solo for a couple of days.

Before setting up a VPN, please ensure everything is running smoothly in case any issues start showing up. This way you will know its the VPN causing it. I prefer openvpn vs wireguard but thats just me. I believe WG turns off certain QoS features i.e HW Acceleratio/Flow Cache similar to CAKE QoS which may affect you depending on your ISP DL/UL speeds.

 

[wilsonbh]

Have you tried running the AX11000 by itself (without aiMesh or any nodes)?

This router is strong enough that you might realized you dont need them. Try running it solo for a couple of days.

Before setting up a VPN, please ensure everything is running smoothly in case any issues start showing up. This way you will know its the VPN causing it. I prefer openvpn vs wireguard but thats just me. I believe WG turns off certain QoS features i.e HW Acceleratio/Flow Cache similar to CAKE QoS which may affect you depending on your ISP DL/UL speeds.

I will experiment with my three nodes turned off and see what happens. Sounds like a good experiment. I do have a sensor at the opposite end of my home that might not work as it's behind 3 walls before it gets to the router signal. I assume that when I turn the nodes back on, they will re-establish their AIMESH setup.

 

[Tech9]

So far, I don't have my VPN setup on my router.

Any suggestions here?

In general you don't need VPN Client on the router. You may need VPN Server to access your network remotely.