[Official Beta] AiMesh beta firmware for RT-AC68U/RT-AC86U/RT-AC5300/RT-AC88U

[drabisan]

GT-RT5300 promoted as router, RT-AC68U became node.
Upgrade both, erase nvram, configure router, add node. All simple and fast.
My initial plan was to have 5GHz radio 1 with an SSID and I thought the same SSID will propagate to 68U. And use radio2 with it's own SSID for it's own purpose.
For some reasons SSID configured on radio2 is the one sent to the node. Not a deal breaker, just that radio1 uses lower channels that are crowded and radio2 higher ones/DFS far less busy.
So for now I'm going to give Smart Connect a try. Only for 5GHz radios. It does exactly what I want. With no tweaking it has the fast clients on radio2 and slower ones on radio1.
I kinda like the experience after few hours.
Now I'm in "let's monitor the stability" mood.

But it does looks great!

 

[hotsauce2007]

Hi Everyone,

Update 12/16

Please download from here,for RT-AC68U(Family), RT-AC1900(Family) RT-AC86U, RT-AC2900, RT-AC3100, RT-AC88U, RT-AC5300 and GT-AC5300
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1oqeaAefItZ3zKzuXrngo6rqfYwMhhF_U

Change logs:
1. add client list on nodes.
2. Fix memory leak issues, and leave more computing power on nodes.
3. Fix setup failure with Dual band and Tri-band models.
4. hidden ssid, and smart connect (band steering) improvement.
5. Fix Eth clients ip issues.
6. Few GUI fixes.
7. Download ASUS router App now, it manages AiMesh.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asus.aihome&hl=en
https://itunes.apple.com/app/asus-router/id1033794044?mt=8

Thanks for taking the time to submit your feedback.
We value all feedbacks that we receive. We will use your feedbacks and comments to strive to improve your ASUS experience.

Feedack sent, I hope it helps with a new FW with less bugs,

 

[Devrope]

Why should this be so hard??? Bought 3 Lyra and upgraded my RT-AC68U to AiMesh (AP router mode), but can't pair my Lyras, think I've tried everything...
Worst $300 spent ever!

 

[ggruszynski]

Why should this be so hard??? Bought 3 Lyra and upgraded my RT-AC68U to AiMesh (AP router mode), but can't pair my Lyras, think I've tried everything...
Worst $300 spent ever!

Pretty sure they never stated that config would work??


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[Devrope]

Pretty sure they never stated that config would work??

Source?
So what's the point of using "old" routers with AiMesh and not be able to extend it with the new (Lyra) products...?

 

[kossiewossie]

getting alot of spam in my logs, on a GT 5300

"
Dec 16 17:54:40 NAT Tunnel: AAE Service is stopped
Dec 16 17:54:40 NAT Tunnel: AAE Service is stopped
Dec 16 17:55:10 rc_service: watchdog 832:notify_rc stop_aae
Dec 16 17:55:10 rc_service: watchdog 832:notify_rc start_mastiff
Dec 16 17:55:10 rc_service: waitting "stop_aae" via watchdog ...
Dec 16 17:55:10 NAT Tunnel: AAE Service is stopped
Dec 16 17:55:10 NAT Tunnel: AAE Service is stopped
Dec 16 17:55:40 rc_service: watchdog 832:notify_rc stop_aae
Dec 16 17:55:40 NAT Tunnel: AAE Service is stopped
Dec 16 17:55:40 rc_service: watchdog 832:notify_rc start_mastiff
Dec 16 17:55:40 rc_service: waitting "stop_aae" via watchdog ...
Dec 16 17:55:40 NAT Tunnel: AAE Service is stopped
Dec 16 17:56:10 rc_service: watchdog 832:notify_rc stop_aae
Dec 16 17:56:10 rc_service: watchdog 832:notify_rc start_mastiff
Dec 16 17:56:10 NAT Tunnel: AAE Service is stopped
Dec 16 17:56:10 rc_service: waitting "stop_aae" via watchdog ...
Dec 16 17:56:10 NAT Tunnel: AAE Service is stopped
Dec 16 17:56:40 rc_service: watchdog 832:notify_rc stop_aae
Dec 16 17:56:40 rc_service: watchdog 832:notify_rc start_mastiff
Dec 16 17:56:40 rc_service: waitting "stop_aae" via watchdog ...
Dec 16 17:56:40 NAT Tunnel: AAE Service is stopped
Dec 16 17:56:40 NAT Tunnel: AAE Service is stopped"

 

[drabisan]

Source?
So what's the point of using "old" routers with AiMesh and not be able to extend it with the new (Lyra) products...?

In the pdf Asus clearly states:
"Will AMAS work with Lyra?

It will be supported later."

Amas was the early name.
When? Don't know... release notes for current release are not clear in that direction.

So I would say you jump ahead of the game. Maybe the Asus team active here will be able to tell you when/if that's still on the roadmap.

 

[Devrope]

In the pdf Asus clearly states:
"Will AMAS work with Lyra?

It will be supported later."

Amas was the early name.
When? Don't know... release notes for current release is not clear in that direction.

So I would say you jump ahead of the game. Maybe the Asus team active here will be able to tell you when/if that's still on the roadmap.

Ok, thanks, I guess I thought the "mesh" thing was a general concept from ASUS...
Couldn't get my Lyras to work with my (non-bridgable 4G 450MHz Net1) router/modem, so I tried it this way instead.
But still no whole-house-coverage of WiFi

 

[Pieter Jan]

AiMesh firmware definitely has it in the VPN Client section, not sure about regular stock firmware(most likely does but I'm not using it)

View attachment 11153

Download and flash the AiMesh firmware from here: https://www.asus.com/aimesh/

is the also open VPN on the server page ?

 

[drabisan]

Yes, router can be an openvpn server.
I configured it and it works.

 

[effortless]

I was hoping for better connectivity, but I'm getting the same connection problems like before. My RT-AC3100 is master and I have 2 AC68U nodes all connected wirelessly. The nodes will go offline several times a day and many devices will report connected but with no internet or the 5Ghz light will turn off on the master and everyone will lose internet. A hardware reboot will fix all the problems for a bit and then it's the same issues again. Have to flash non AiMesh firmware so I have usable internet. I have two more AC68U units that I might try running together with one of them being the primary and taking out the AC3100 from the equation.

 

[Skyler LaVey]

Any GT ac5300 users try the vpn function? Does it actually work?


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[Taurean17]

I was hoping for better connectivity, but I'm getting the same connection problems like before. My RT-AC3100 is master and I have 2 AC68U nodes all connected wirelessly. The nodes will go offline several times a day and many devices will report connected but with no internet or the 5Ghz light will turn off on the master and everyone will lose internet. A hardware reboot will fix all the problems for a bit and then it's the same issues again. Have to flash non AiMesh firmware so I have usable internet. I have two more AC68U units that I might try running together with one of them being the primary and taking out the AC3100 from the equation.

I am in similar boat, but have 1 AC68R from Bestbuy from Feb 2014 and two AC68U's one from 11/2016 and a recent one month old.
With Merlin's most recent 10/04 version of 380.68_4, all 3 routers (connected by ethernet to one another) were working fine with good wifi speeds, but there were few deadspots while moving from one level to another (3 level home).
I was excited to see AiMesh was released for AC68 routers and I was able to successfully install the latest 12/16 version on all three.
I am using last year's AC68U as main router and 4 year old AC68R as one node and most recent AC68U as second node.
But the speeds with 2.4 GHz are much lower and also unstable compared to Merlin's. With 5 GHz, speeds are similar to Merlin's but due to the unstability, devices lost wifi on 5 GHz too couple of times today.
I also have the same issue of one node appearing offline, but showing up in the list of devices connected to main router.

I have couple of questions:
1. Are there any hardware differences between 4 year old AC68R and recent AC68U's because AC68R seems a little slower on boot times when switch on the power?
2. Are any of the above known issues and any work in progress to resolve these issues?
3. Are there any suggestions (temporary workarounds/best practices) in settings (channels, bandwidth, etc) to improve 2.4 GHz speeds and the overall stability of the routers.

I truly appreciate all the efforts from Asus team to develop this innovative AiMesh technology and bringing new life to existing routers also.
FYI, I told this to couple of my friends and they bought Asus routers too recently.

 

[RMerlin]

1. Are there any hardware differences between 4 year old AC68R and recent AC68U's because AC68R seems a little slower on boot times when switch on the power?

Some early RT-AC68U had a 800 MHz CPU, while newer revisions are 1 GHz. Also, newer revisions have a slightly newer wifi chip and power amps.

 

[Taurean17]

Some early RT-AC68U had a 800 MHz CPU, while newer revisions are 1 GHz. Also, newer revisions have a slightly newer wifi chip and power amps.

Thanks a lot for the quick reply with useful information Merlin!
Is there a way to check which CPU my 4 year old router has without physically opening it.

It is mainly because of your versions of firmware that improve Asus's original firmware's stability and performance, I became a fan of Asus routers recently and bought two more myself and have been recommending them to my friends as well.
I am sure I am not alone when I say we hope to see your versions to this AiMesh as well.
It will be such a killer combination with this innovative technology and your performance/stability improvements that competitors won't be anywhere close.

 

[RMerlin]

Is there a way to check which CPU my 4 year old router has without physically opening it.

Through SSH, check the output of this command:

nvram get clkfreq

First number indicates the CPU frequency, will be 800, 1000 or 1400.

 

[drabisan]

Any GT ac5300 users try the vpn function? Does it actually work?


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Already said it's working well. I didn't check how fast cause I don't care about speed, I'm using it for remote admin only.

 

[sucka]

Hello, i have some feedback.
For me on rt-ac5300 on RT-AC5300_9.0.0.4_382_19612-g01e94f5 with aiprotection on, on pppoe i get max 350-380mbps, when i turn it off it goes to full usual 920-960mbps(even though it seems to want to go slower than usual even so), if i turn any settings on, the slow down begins, if i turn all options off, or turn the general aiprotection off, everything is fine.
Thanks

 

[ptwat]

I have two AC68Us as airouter and ainode. As an experiment, I turned off the 2.4 radio off on the airouter expecting to see all of my 2.4 Ghz clients to disappear. What I found is that all of the 2.4 clients moved to the ainode in the garage some 100' away.
The interesting take-away is that it is not clear how to turn off the 2.4 radio in the ainode. Perhaps a nvram wipe?

 

[drabisan]

I suspect not all settings are going to the node after it's added. Changing SSID does propagate but...
I setup my node and only after that I enabled ssh on router. But I'm still not able to ssh on the node. Worth forgetting the node and readd it. I didn't try that yet, but maybe it will help your 2.4G issue.