Xt8 Hard Factory Reset

[wags1]

I would like to confirm the correct way to do a hard factory reset on my XT8s, is this the correct procedure? -


1. Turn the router off.
2. Press and hold the "WPS" button and turn the router on.
3. Power light is on (keep holding the WPS button).
4. Release the WPS button after the power light is off.
5. Reboot your router by manually pressing the power button.

Thanks.

 

[L&LD]

Looks good to me.

The way you'll 'know' is that the setup wizard starts when you try to log in.

 

[rajdude]

Just for reference...........this procedure.........which is actually the "correct and official" procedure for factory reset of XT8....... does NOT work for my two XT8s.
Instead, holding down the reset button (using a pin) for a few seconds and then releasing it does the factory reset.

The wrong, official procedure for XT8 is here:

[Wireless Router] ASUS router Hard Factory Reset - Method 2 | Official Support | ASUS Global

as linked from this one

[Wireless Router] When Standard Reset Isn’t Working: Hard Factory Reset - Models list | Official Support | ASUS

How do I know? Well, I just wasted a couple of hours doing this procedure (and more)........and finally found out that it does not work (for my units at least).

BTW, the factory reset procedure inside the GUI also works, but the two mesh units will maintain their master-slave config. In my case, on Asus' tech support instructions.......I was supposed to swap them......make the Ai mesh node the main router.............factory reset inside the GUI did NOT let me do that. I had to factory reset both units separately. Wasted a couple of my hours!

 

[wags1]

Just for reference...........this procedure.........which is actually the "correct and official" procedure for factory reset of XT8....... does NOT work for my two XT8s.
Instead, holding down the reset button (using a pin) for a few seconds and then releasing it does the factory reset.

The wrong, official procedure for XT8 is here:

[Wireless Router] ASUS router Hard Factory Reset - Method 2 | Official Support | ASUS Global

as linked from this one

[Wireless Router] When Standard Reset Isn’t Working: Hard Factory Reset - Models list | Official Support | ASUS

How do I know? Well, I just wasted a couple of hours doing this procedure (and more)........and finally found out that it does not work (for my units at least).

BTW, the factory reset procedure inside the GUI also works, but the two mesh units will maintain their master-slave config. In my case, on Asus' tech support instructions.......I was supposed to swap them......make the Ai mesh node the main router.............factory reset inside the GUI did NOT let me do that. I had to factory reset both units separately. Wasted a couple of my hours!

That is odd for sure. That process (see below) worked perfectly for both of my XT8’s.

1. Turn the router off.
2. Press and hold the "WPS" button and turn the router on.
3. Power light is on (keep holding the WPS button).
4. Release the WPS button after the power light is off.
5. Reboot your router by manually pressing the power button.

 

[rajdude]

That is odd for sure. That process (see below) worked perfectly for both of my XT8’s.

1. Turn the router off.
2. Press and hold the "WPS" button and turn the router on.
3. Power light is on (keep holding the WPS button).
4. Release the WPS button after the power light is off.
5. Reboot your router by manually pressing the power button.

yeah, that is the exact same procedure in those articles I linked above. I tried it on both XT8 units I have, multiple times... did NOT work for me. Does nothing but reboot the routers.

Maybe it is my routers' firmware? I am running the latest, as of today...which is Version : 3.0.0.4.386_25790

 

[wags1]

yeah, that is the exact same procedure in those articles I linked above. I tried it on both XT8 units I have, multiple times... did NOT work for me. Does nothing but reboot the routers.

Maybe it is my routers' firmware? I am running the latest, as of today...which is Version : 3.0.0.4.386_25790

That is current official release and both mine were running that as well. Make sure you hold it long enough. IIRC I had to hold it for awhile and I think it went thru an on/off/on/off cycle. I kinda just kept holding it till it would not come on again...then left it go.

 

[rajdude]

well, their instruction says " Release the WPS button after the power light is off. "
That is what I did and it doesn't do anything other than reboot the routers.

You seem to have held it much longer........maybe that is the trick ;-)
If that is what needs to be done instead........ Asus should update their documentation!!
LoL

 

[Philibuster]

None of these methods reset my node completely. Somehow, at some point, the wl2.5 BSSID with MAC address ending in "d" was enabled and hidden. The /data/.kernel_nvram.setting file had the line wl2.5_bss_enabled=1. No factory reset procedure would set this to 0, or change any of the wl2.5* settings in this file. I had to save the configuration from my other node and upload it to my current node to disable the BSSID.

Does anyone have a complete factory reset procedure? Delete the .kernel_nvram.setting file? Clear the /jffs partition?

 

[Andywrt]

Question, where is the WPS button on your router? I can't seem to find that button at all on both nodes!

 

[ColinTaylor]

Question, where is the WPS button on your router? I can't seem to find that button at all on both nodes!

It's on the bottom to the left of the label.

 

[Andywrt]

It's on the bottom to the left of the label.

View attachment 30962

Thank you, I think I need new glasses

 

[Bork]

None of these methods reset my node completely. Somehow, at some point, the wl2.5 BSSID with MAC address ending in "d" was enabled and hidden. The /data/.kernel_nvram.setting file had the line wl2.5_bss_enabled=1. No factory reset procedure would set this to 0, or change any of the wl2.5* settings in this file. I had to save the configuration from my other node and upload it to my current node to disable the BSSID.

Does anyone have a complete factory reset procedure? Delete the .kernel_nvram.setting file? Clear the /jffs partition?

My reset process that worked:

1. Turn of node
2. Hold down WPS Button, keeping it pressed
3. Turn on node
4. Node will light white, then turn off light
5. Keep holding WPS Button
6. Node will start to blink green
7. Keep holding WPS button
8. Node will turn off light again
9. Turn off node
10. Turn on node - and it will be reset (at least mine did)


I also wasted hours thinking the first time light was turned off was sufficient.

Also, it seems like I had to reset main node first, if not it seemed like slave node some how connected to main node and re synced old config. I noticed when resetting slave node first, it initially started with default SSID (ASUS_80), then changed to a new very long named one for a brief moment - then it connected to main node again.

Doing main node first, seemed to make a difference.