Need info on bringing AC86U back to life as AIMesh unit

[Chris313AllNight]

I have AT&T Fiber BGW320-505 Gateway, IP Passthrough to a AXE16000. I'm planning to bring an AC86U back to life as an AIMesh node. The last update for it was around Xmas of 20, where I replaced it with a AX86U. How do I hook up the router to my setup to be able to update the Merlin FW on it to use as a mesh node.

 

[tiddlywink]

..

 

[Chris313AllNight]

After some tinkering and waiting, I got it to work. It's alive! Installed FW version was 3004.384.17. Installed the latest Merlin version for that. 384.14. And it works. Glad I held onto that. I kept it for a spare emergency router. Not great, but it'd give me something if my AXE16000 was on the fritz or I didn't have access to my AX86U as a ready spare.

Thank you.

 

[ducky124]

I have AT&T Fiber BGW320-505 Gateway, IP Passthrough to a AXE16000. I'm planning to bring an AC86U back to life as an AIMesh node. The last update for it was around Xmas of 20, where I replaced it with a AX86U. How do I hook up the router to my setup to be able to update the Merlin FW on it to use as a mesh node.

Just so you know, running Merlin on a mesh node offers no advantages over stock firmware. It fact many believe the stock firmware is better for Mesh nodes.