XT8 in Access Point mode with Red LED

[Pistoly]

Hello everyone,

Sorry if this question has been asked before but I did a search and could not find anything similar.

I currently have a Telus fibre Optic modem which is I believe an Actiontec T3200M, along with 1Gb plan. I have not put the telus modem in bridge mode because I heard that doing that causes issues with my telus tv boxes which are hard wired. I have turned off the Telus wireless.

It was suggested that I put the XT8 modem in Access Point mode and run both units in a Wired Backhaul setup.

I followed the following Asus Support Faq. using Scenario #3

[AiMesh] How to set up ASUS AiMesh or ZenWiFi Mesh Ethernet backhaul under different conditions ? (Advanced setup with network switch) | Official Support | ASUS Canada

Everything seems to be running correctly but due to my lack of knowledge, I wouldn't know if I was getting the best speed or use of my new XT8's. The switch that I am using is a TP Link 16-Port Gigabit Easy Smart Switch TL-SG116E.

My speeds are not really close to what others with 1Gb plans appear to be getting. Using a speed test link on my phone, I am sometimes getting over 400 Mbps but other times it is around 60Mbps.

My main question is that currently my Main Asus XT8 modem that is set up in Access Point mode is showing a solid red light/LED on the front?? Is this normal for being put in Access point mode? The ethernet cable is going from the switch to the Lane#1 port on the modem as per Asus's setup direction I posted a link to.

The XT8 node has ethernet cable going from the switch to the Wan port and it's LED light is white.

Any ideas? Also any ideas why my speed is not close to 1Gb?

Thank you for helping someone new to all of this

 

[ablyes]

Damned, i have the exact same problem.
I also followed the same asus page help to get the stuff working with AP.
I'm also disappointed, we always need to get the MASTER ON, to get the wifi working. But this is another problem.

Please, dose somebody knows a solution to our RED LED problem?

Thank you.

 

[ablyes]

You can try this, it solved the problem in my case (sorry, the translation is very approximative, i have the menus in french).
Local network -> automatic DNS set to ON.
Change this parameter and set it to OFF.
Fill at least the first line with the local IP of your routeur.
If you don't know it, you can use 1.1.1.1 (but feel free to use any DNS you want. I put my box ip because for some reason, some VPN are not working with tunnelBlick if i'm using another DNS on my mac).
Keep me in touch.

 

[SimoniZ]

Status LED Indicators
---------------------

The following link shows what the different LED colours and type of light (solid or flashing) means:
- https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1044577


Testing Current Setup
-----------------------

- Perform speedtest with PC/Laptop connected directly to Actiontec T3200M
- Compare with results after changing setup


Physical Layout
-----------------

Current setup:
Actiontec T3200M (Router/WiFi disabled) <-> TP TL-SG116E 16 <-> XT8's (AP's)

Recommended Setup:
Follow Asus guide for Scenario 2 using the link you provided in the first post (Asus XT8 as main router while using switch for Ethernet Backhaul to mesh node)

- Actiontec T3200M (Transparent Bridge Mode) WAN Port <-> XT8 (Main Router) WAN Port
- TP TL-SG116E 16 Any Port <-> XT8 (Main Router) LAN1
- TP TL-SG116E 16 Any Port <-> XT8 (Mesh Node) WAN Port

Transparent Bridge Mode
----------------------------

- Purpose is to avoid double NAT and obtain public IP on XT8 Main Router's WAN Port
- May perform better compared to current physical layout
- Much cleaner setup

Link to Actiontec T3200M Manual (1):

http://www.dslreports.com/r0/download/2342551~1dc86bf15cb4af2945f90d89dfdead44/T3200M-pt-1.pdf

Please see the following link in order to enable this mode (2):

https://actiontecsupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360032392052-Purpose-of-Port1-Bridge

Steps:

- Scroll down to the following heading "How to Set the T3200 to RFC1483 Transparent Bridge" and follow the simple steps from link (2):
- Login to Actiontec T3200M and go to Advance Setup -> IP Address -> WAN IP Addressing -> 2. Select ISP Option -> Select RFC 1483 via DHCP
- Apply Settings
- Test to see if TV boxes have issues in this setup (Worth it if TV boxes are working as expected)

Enabled Ethernet Backhaul
-----------------------------

Please enable Ethernet Backhaul and set the Backhaul priority to 1G WAN First

1. ASUSWRT GUI(Web) -> AiMesh -> System Settings -> Ethernet Backhaul Mode
2. ASUSWRT GUI(Web) -> AiMesh -> Topology -> Select the AiMesh RE (1)-> Management (2) -> Backhaul Connection Priority (3) -> 1G WAN First (4)

Testing Wired
---------------

1. Perform speedtest with a PC/Laptop directly connected to one of the Ethernet ports on XT8 main router
2. Second speedtest with PC/Laptop conencted to one of the Ethernet ports on XT8 mesh node (Testing Ethernet Backhaul)
3. Third speedtest with PC/Laptop connected to one of the Ethernet ports on the TP TL-SG116E 16

-Expect around 820-940Mbps (Due to overhead) for downstream; assuming ISP guarantees full 1Gbps up to the modem
- Unsure what your upstream is with Telus

Testing Wireless
------------------

1. If possible use a WiFi 6 PC/Laptop
2. On XT8 -> Advance Settings -> Wireless -> Ensure 802.11ax / WiFi 6 mode is enabled (might need to set Wireless mode to auto (option right above)
2. Under XT8 Advance Settings -> Wireless -> 5 GHz -> Select 20/40/80/160 MHz for Channel Bandwidth

Optional Steps 3 & 4:

3. Install WiFi Analyzer and check which Control Channel's Between 36 - 48 have the least number of AP's connected, or with the weakest signals
4. Select perferred Control Channel from 36 - 48 (Known in North American as UNII-1 Channels, which are non overlapping)

Test #1

- Log into XT8 Main Router
- Go To -> AiMesh -> this will show both of your XT8's
- Should see solid green link between AP's (Getting full 1 Gbps for Ethernet Backhaul)
- Check which AP your PC/Laptop is connected to under "Client List"
- Perform speedtest

Test #2

- Click on chain icon for the PC/Laptop you used for Test #1
- bind that client to the other AP
- Perform speedtest
- Once testing is done, unbind your PC/Laptop

DNS
-----

Under Advance Settings -> WAN -> WAN DNS Setting:

1. Disable Connect to DNS Server automatically
2. If using Cloudflare's DNS servers
3. Set DNS Server 1 to 1.1.1.1
4. Set DNS Server 2 to 1.0.0.1

 

[RogerSC]

I had my ZenWiFi AX running in router mode with firmware version 42095, and decided to change it to AP mode so that I could use a router with more up-to-date firmware facing the internet (RT-AX86U with firmware version 45898) and still have the wireless mesh working for me. So I changed the ZenWiFi mode to AP via the smart phone Asus Router app, and connected a LAN port on my new "main" (wired-only) router to the WAN port on the XT8 that was my ZenWiFi router node. It just worked, didn't change any settings on the ZenWiFi, just changed the operation mode from router to AP. Now I can access the "main" router at 192.168.50.1, and the ZenWiFi AX at the IP of its router node.

Both nodes of the ZenWiFi have white lights, and the combination is working great. Very happy with the stability and consistent speed and coverage from the wireless mesh.

 

[ablyes]

Thank you RogerSC. What is the LED color of the Main unit ? White or Red ?
White : everything should work.
Red : you don't have internet (and if for real you have internet, that means the led color is wrong, which is the subject of this thread).

 

[RogerSC]

Thank you RogerSC. What is the LED color of the Main unit ? White or Red ?
White : everything should work.
Red : you don't have internet (and if for real you have internet, that means the led color is wrong, which is the subject of this thread).

Both XT8 routers have white lights, indicating that they're fully functional on the internet. And, like I said, all three routers (main, and ZenWiFi in AP mode) are working very well indeed *smile*. Been configured this way for about a week, no bumps or problems.

By the way, I've turned off the LED's on the RT-AX86U, since the right lights have been on with it since I configured things this way, so don't need those lights at this point.

 

[pvanosta]

Just FYI, I had a similar issue where my two Access Points flashed red. My setup is 1 XT8 as router, 2 XT8 Access points around the house, everything connected via ethernet backhaul. I took out one AP, did a factory reset, set it up as router, uploaded an older firmware, rebooted. Then I re-added it to the LAN as an Access point. No issues since then (over a week now). Something in the latest firmware seems to be triggering this issue. Note: the router and the second AP are still on the newest firmware...

 

[Daylight_Invader]

Just FYI, I had a similar issue where my two Access Points flashed red. My setup is 1 XT8 as router, 2 XT8 Access points around the house, everything connected via ethernet backhaul. I took out one AP, did a factory reset, set it up as router, uploaded an older firmware, rebooted. Then I re-added it to the LAN as an Access point. No issues since then (over a week now). Something in the latest firmware seems to be triggering this issue. Note: the router and the second AP are still on the newest firmware...

On the other thread discussing the October 2022 firmware, quite a few of us have reported the red flashing on the access points as well as general hanging after a few days on the router. Clearly the latest firmware series is not particularly stable, and the lights are not indicating correctly.

I’m currently hoping that a new revision will sort the problem, but I don’t want to try any of the newer betas as they still seem to have some issues. Currently more tempted to roll back to the last stable version as it was fairly stable. Like you my nodes are all connected using Ethernet backhaul.