Last minute advice before taking a hammer to my Asus Routers?

[cjw76]

My current setup is an AX88U as the main Router, with 5 Zen Wifi Mini boxes acting as mesh devices.

Had the setup for a couple of years and I find it totally unreliable...I probably go no more than 1-2 weeks without an issue of some kind. The mesh nodes either individually or a combination of a few just drop out, reset and start flashing blue. Other times the AX88U will just c**p itself and restart, devices can be connected all day without issue then suddenly get no access or speed off the network. Firmware upgrades are painful....one will update ok, but usually at least one bricks during the update process and I have to factory reset a mesh node and start again.

I have tried factory resetting the whole lot at least twice, tried the merlin bios setup on the AX88U...and yet still the whole thing is flakey. I've made no other changes, have nothing out of the ordinary on the network, some NAS drives, laptops, smart plugs....nothing near capacity etc. Checked I'm on a different channel to neghbours etc in case interference was part of the problem.

I've looked at the logs when the random restarts/mesh node drop outs happen, seems to be lots of kernel messages followed by WLCEVENT messages:

Aug 7 21:10:06 kernel: x3 : 0000000000000000 x2 : 0000000000000001
Aug 7 21:10:06 kernel: x1 : 00000000000000d0 x0 : 00000000000000d2
Aug 7 21:10:27 roamast: ROAMING Start...
Aug 7 21:10:32 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(494): eth6: Deauth_ind D2:FD:4B:F2E:27, status: 0, reason: Deauthenticated because sending station is leaving (or has left) IBSS or ESS (3), rssi:-62

...but none of it makes sense to me.

On paper I thought it should just work, didn't think the kit was cheap as chips so shouldn't expect a budget service....but now I am running out of ideas, other than ditching the lot and moving away from Asus altogether.....the amount of time I am wasting managing issues with this hardware now means I've had enough.

So just wondered before I ditched it...if anyone else:

a) has a similar setup
b) had similar issues
c) has any suggestions or answers to explain how to fix or where to look to find some causes of the above.

Thanks

 

[cjw76]

...plus tonight's new "experience" every node in the mesh is reporting poor quality signal...there's been no changes to any setting or hardware...just another issue to add to the list of problems and unreliabilities this poor excuse of some network hardware likes to dish up on a regular basis!

 

[Tech Junky]

This sort of thing is why I advise to use an AP instead of "mesh" setups. Each AP is an individual and it's impossible to take out more than one unless the central device dies they're connecting to over Ethernet. Not to mention you need less AP's than pods. A single AP handles 1500 sq ft or more.

 

[Tech9]

My current setup is an AX88U as the main Router, with 5 Zen Wifi Mini boxes acting as mesh devices.

For wireless AiMesh Asus recommends up to 5 nodes including the main router. Why do you need so many?

[Wireless Router] How many AiMesh nodes are suggested to be set in an AiMesh system? | Official Support | ASUS Global

 

[sfx2000]

My current setup is an AX88U as the main Router, with 5 Zen Wifi Mini boxes acting as mesh devices.

Too many AIMesh endpoints?

 

[cjw76]

This sort of thing is why I advise to use an AP instead of "mesh" setups. Each AP is an individual and it's impossible to take out more than one unless the central device dies they're connecting to over Ethernet. Not to mention you need less AP's than pods. A single AP handles 1500 sq ft or more.

Thanks....I foolishly thought Mesh was the future....but just looked at some other posts and articles on the Mesh vs AP debate and it seems it is not a one size fits all approach. Moving house soon, perhaps another re-build is in order but switch over to the AP setup...thanks for the tip

 

[cjw76]

Too many AIMesh endpoints?

View attachment 43359

...I just followed the guide on the Asus website that seemed to suggest I needed that many, but I need the connection to do some piggy backing as the garden office is a distance from the main router. 4 downstairs (3 in the house one in the garden building) and 1 upstairs....didn't seem to excessive. When they are working they work well.....I'd just like them to work undisturbed than more than a week.

 

[Tech Junky]

.I'd just like them to work undisturbed than more than a week.

The AP I'm using works until I reboot it for firmware updates. 90 days seems to be the release schedule lately though for new releases.

 

[Tech9]

I foolishly thought Mesh was the future...

Asus AiMesh is a marketing name of wireless repeaters or wired access point with somewhat central management and very limited control.

 

[OzarkEdge]

My current setup is an AX88U as the main Router, with 5 Zen Wifi Mini boxes acting as mesh devices.

Had the setup for a couple of years and I find it totally unreliable...I probably go no more than 1-2 weeks without an issue of some kind.

Last minute advice would be to get a different network that works for you. No totally unreliable network should be tolerated for years. If it's not reliable after you commission it, it's not a network yet. If you really need 6 APs, you might want to have it installed professionally with suitable equipment.

OE

 

[L&LD]

What is the size of the home and what are its walls/floors constructed of?

With 6 routers, this definitely looks like a case of too much WiFi.

Another possible issue may be the LAN ports used on the main router. Are all 9 in use? If so, get a 5-Port or 8-Port switch (or bigger) and remove everything plugged into the Router LAN ports 5-8. Known (stability) issues with almost all Asus 8 Port routers.

 

[BreakingDad]

You could wifi up a warehouse with all that lot.

 

[bbunge]

You might give the Asus 388 beta firmware for the AX88U a try.

 

[cjw76]

What is the size of the home and what are its walls/floors constructed of?

With 6 routers, this definitely looks like a case of too much WiFi.

Another possible issue may be the LAN ports used on the main router. Are all 9 in use? If so, get a 5-Port or 8-Port switch (or bigger) and remove everything plugged into the Router LAN ports 5-8. Known (stability) issues with almost all Asus 8 Port routers.

The house is a 60's build, brick and block semi, but as with many properties, the incoming line isn't located in the best place for ideal router position. That said, we're moving to 90s built house to any physical challenge will be changing...as a single router setup before this...wifi was also flakey (albeit with a different ASUS router)...but some of that was down to band contention with neighbours.

But all the LAN ports are being used, so I am very grateful for the knowledge around ports 5-8. I have 3 ports in use for some lan connections, then the others have NAS and other devices connected...all the ports have always been in use, so if maxing out the ports can cause problems...I will add a switch in.

 

[cjw76]

You could wifi up a warehouse with all that lot.

True...but using an app to measure the wifi signal it was showing there were a number of 'blackspots'...so tried to improve things. Whilst I am frustrated with some of the unreliability...this is still preferred to the moaning of teenagers and other half when the wifi doesn't work

 

[cjw76]

The AP I'm using works until I reboot it for firmware updates. 90 days seems to be the release schedule lately though for new releases.

View attachment 43361

20 days...that is the stuff of dreams! Hoping with all the responses on this thread, now got some useful changes to make so maybe will be able to get close.

 

[L&LD]

And the size of the home(s)? In SqFt?

 

[cjw76]

And the size of the home(s)? In SqFt?

150sq meters at a guess

 

[OzarkEdge]

150sq meters at a guess

Or about 1650sf... one central AP will cover that... two, if you must, but any more is just radio noise.

OE

 

[Tech9]

Or about 1650sf... one central AP will cover that... two, if you must, but any more is just radio noise.

I own a house in Spain close to the sea. It's build with concrete columns and slabs with hollow brick walls. I'm using 3x wall plate AP's in this house and it's a small 1200sqf bungalow style. In Canada I use 4x APs to cover my 6600sqf house, and one of the APs is outdoors and rarely used. So what you're saying is correct, but for our North American matchstick houses only. @cjw76 uses the wrong equipment, misled by Asus' advertisements. He needs perhaps more APs, but on low power and on different channels. This is what AiMesh can't do.