New member upgrading from DDWRT to Merlin Aimesh Question

[tdi200]

Recently i bought a used Asus RT-AC5300 router and an Asus RT-AC86U, the day i got the 86u was the same day the cat destroyed the power supply so i couldnt do anything about it until a member on here CaptainSTX helped me and shipped me a brand-new power supply.

So i am trying to use the 86U as a node but ac5300 is not syncing its giving me error based of suggestions on forum reset of two device is something to do?
Do i really need to reset the ac5300 for the aimesh to work? i have both ac5300 and ac86u on merlin firmware but than i also tried to revert and have ac86u on stock firmware and still have the same problem the main reason i dont want to reset ac5300 because of the devices i have setup them to use static ip and resetting it will be alot for me to re do it again. also i am not sure if merlin does let u save the setup files the user configured including ssid and all the other stuff that can be reloaded up whenever i reset is done? as i just dont want to mess this up i see there is option to back and restore but not sure which one is related to user configs and also there is a check mark not sure what is that about

so i have 3 questions
1. does ac5300 (primary router) needs to be reset when adding a node
2. does ac86u (secondary router) needs to be on stock or merlin firmware? (as when on merlin firmware after doing reset there was no option to select as aimesh mode while the stock firmware had that option)
3. coming from ddwrts backup and restore feature was very handy whenever upgrading firmware so that all the user settings gets loaded back without hassle. i am sure merlin does it too but abit complicated for me can someone guide me on how to make a safe back and restore the user setup files whenever a reset is done

Being a new member here i have been felt very welcoming from day 1 i really appreciate everyones input on this

Thank you

 

[bbunge]

1. No
2. Either but I prefer Asus for the node
3. Both Asus and Merlin have system save/restore functions. Administration - Restore/Save/Upload Setting

For your node make sure it is factory reset and within 3 meters of the router or connected via Ethernet, router LAN port to node WAN port then add a mash node.

 

[ColinTaylor]

3. coming from ddwrts back and restore feature was very handy whenever upgrading firmware so that all the user settings gets loaded back without hassle. i am sure merlin does it too but abit complicated for me can someone guide me on how to make a safe back and restore the user setup files whenever a reset is done

The backup and restore options (as noted in the previous post) are for securing the router's current settings for use with the current firmware. They are not intended to be restored after upgrading the firmware to a new version. The firmware upgrade procedure migrates any old/obsolete settings as necessary. If you reload settings made on an old firmware version you are undoing the migration process and potentially putting the router into an inconsistent state.

 

[tdi200]

The backup and restore options (as noted in the previous post) are for securing the router's current settings for use with the current firmware. They are not intended to be restored after upgrading the firmware to a new version. The firmware upgrade procedure migrates any old/obsolete settings as necessary. If you reload settings made on an old firmware version you are undoing the migration process and potentially putting the router into an inconsistent state.

Awesome thank you for understanding my question as i was under impression back up and restore would work on any device and on any firmware.
My other question for you is, when new firmware is out do i need to factory reset? As i noticed when I converted to merlin the router work as normal and it had all the settings saved. But i did do the factory reset. Is that a must to do on every firmware

 

[tdi200]

1. No
2. Either but I prefer Asus for the node
3. Both Asus and Merlin have system save/restore functions. Administration - Restore/Save/Upload Setting

For your node make sure it is factory reset and within 3 meters of the router or connected via Ethernet, router LAN port to node WAN port then add a mash node.

Thanks for heads up i was able to sync the node but had the secondary router on merlin too

After flashing the node to merlin i had it to setup as router, than all was done i went to admin page and convert it to aimesh.

after switching to AiMesh Node.
This is what I did (based off your suggestion)

1. Turn off the secondary router (Asus RT-AC86U) and Connect primary (Asus RT-AC5300) LAN to secondary WAN (Asus RT-AC86U) turned it on
2. Wait until it is fully booted
3. Checked if WebUI is accessible on secondary router (Asus RT-AC86U)
4. Log into Primary router (Asus RT-AC5300) and than Add AiMesh Node
5. Secondary device (Asus RT-AC86U) got discovered in primary router (Asus RT-AC5300) for adding
6. Progress bar exceed 40, and pairing was success

Thanks for the insight that helped me get better vision on how to sync the nodes and i did you were right there is no need to reset primary router (Asus RT-AC5300) i was able to sync the nodes without any issue

 

[ColinTaylor]

My other question for you is, when new firmware is out do i need to factory reset? As i noticed when I converted to merlin the router work as normal and it had all the settings saved. But i did do the factory reset. Is that a must to do on every firmware

No, you would not normally do a factory reset when upgrading to the next firmware release. In very rare circumstances there might be a reason or recommendation to do that in which case it will be clearly stated in the release notes.

Going from stock firmware to Merlin's is usually OK when the versions are at a similar level. Merlin takes care to try and migrate as many settings as is practical. Going back to stock from Merlin can sometimes be problematic. So generally people like to do a factory reset and manual setup the first time they install Merlin's firmware and then just do regular updates from then on.

 

[tdi200]

No, you would not normally do a factory reset when upgrading to the next firmware release. In very rare circumstances there might be a reason or recommendation to do that in which case it will be clearly stated in the release notes.

Going from stock firmware to Merlin's is usually OK when the versions are at a similar level. Merlin takes care to try and migrate as many settings as is practical. Going back to stock from Merlin can sometimes be problematic. So generally people like to do a factory reset and manual setup the first time they install Merlin's firmware and then just do regular updates from then on.

Thank you so much for being super clear, simple and spot on and answering all my question beside english being my second language i understood the assignment!