ZenWifi AX XT8 - cannot connect squeezebox radios (logitech)

[rajdude]

ummm......but that is not a "fix"............at least not an acceptable fix (to me and many others here and at other forums as well). Why? Well, the main reason of buying this new 475 dollar! wi-fi mesh router system was to gain the ability to do Wi-Fi 6. That is very helpful for my two sons, who have gaming PCs with Wi-Fi 6 adapters. There are a lot of enhancements in Wi-Fi 6 for gamers.
However, certain high-tech features like " OFDMA/802.11ax MU-MIMO " are disabled by default on the 2.4 Ghz, but is enabled on 5 GHz.
See below all the settings for only 2.4 Ghz. I am thinking of disabling everything in there and then testing. (already tried disabling a bunch of these settings)

Wait........Tim, I think you asked something else.........no, disabling Wi-Fi 6 "only" on the 2.4 GHz band is not an option. It is a "global on/off option" in the XT8 :-(

So you know how to fix it. Does the XT8 let you disable WiFi6 on 2.4 GHz? That would be a reasonable compromise.

Have they said they can fix it? Compatibility issues with new WiFi standards are not uncommon for some legacy devices.

No, they have not acknowledged that this is an authentication problem...that is just me saying it is an authentication problem (more like guessing, judging from the logs) ;-)
Right now they are just going through their canned scripts...do this, try this etc. A week has already been wasted.

FIX IT, Asus! Grrrrrrr!!

 

[thiggins]

Wait........Tim, I think you asked something else.........no, disabling Wi-Fi 6 "only" on the 2.4 GHz band is not an option. It is a "global on/off option" in the XT8 :-(

That is too bad. So the XT8 doesn't provide the option of a web interface that exposes more features.

I know it is frustrating, but there are always some devices that don't play nicely with newer technologies. Frankly, given how complicated AX is, it's a wonder that there are as many "legacy" devices that do work.

It's possible, but unlikely ASUS will fix this unless it comes for "free" in a fix for more popular devices like, uh, older iPhones. Unfortunately, your best recourse may be to cut your losses and return the XT8. Or keep the old router around and make a dedicated network for your Squeezeboxes.

 

[rajdude]

yes that is true,,,,,,,,,,,,actually, I feel lucky that I have so many devices which work fine, but others say that they do not work with their XT8s........like Chromecasts and FireTV sticks.

I think I will keep the XT8 pair.............as for SD radios...........there are two options
* setup an old router just for the two of them (a totally possible, free option for me)...... maybe as an wired to wi-fi access point connected to one of the XT8s
* install a piggyback wifi adapter...like what people describe doing in the slimdevices forums.

I may just want to do #1.........seems much less work.


And so far ......the XT8 pair has been working fine (other than this problem).......so I may want to keep them.

That is too bad. So the XT8 doesn't provide the option of a web interface that exposes more features.

I know it is frustrating, but there are always some devices that don't play nicely with newer technologies. Frankly, given how complicated AX is, it's a wonder that there are as many "legacy" devices that do work.

It's possible, but unlikely ASUS will fix this unless it comes for "free" in a fix for more popular devices like, uh, older iPhones. Unfortunately, your best recourse may be to cut your losses and return the XT8. Or keep the old router around and make a dedicated network for your Squeezeboxes.

 

[rajdude]

Well, I just got this back from Asus...

...A thorough review of your case points to a hardware issue. The next step is for you to send in the product for repair. Our records indicate that your unit is still covered by warranty up until 12/27/2022 and our repair facility should be able to address your concern. Please follow the link below to create your RMA...

Oh boy! I think they have no idea on what to do about this problem. I am surprised!

 

[thiggins]

I think they are guessing, too. Up to you whether you want to go through the hassle of a return. You may get refurbished product in return.

 

[rajdude]

I think they are guessing, too. Up to you whether you want to go through the hassle of a return. You may get refurbished product in return.

Right.
Well, since others are reporting same problem here and on other forums, I do not think this is a problem with my two particular XT8 units. It is a software/firmware issue and I do not think getting my units replaced will solve this problem.

I will tell them exactly this and see what they say.

 

[rajdude]

I got a reply, they are asking for logs (again!)....have sent them like twice already.
I think this case will perpetually stuck in a loop, powered by their scripts.

 

[rajdude]

Happy new year!
Here is an interesting update:

For some unknown reason, the two SB radios are now able to connect to the XT8. I have done no setting changes, but did do this little experiment:
I powered on my old Router, a Netgear R8000, connected it to XT8 and placed it side by side. The idea was to setup the radios so that they connect to the R8000 (since they were unable to maintain a stable connection to XT8)
Yesterday, the kids started complaining of lags/slowness in their online games, so I suspected that the presence of the R8000 may be affecting XT8 signals. So I powered off the R8000. After some time, I noticed that the radios were still working. I looked at the logs of the XT8 and yeah, the two SB radios were connected to it!
A day has passed and both radios are STILL working.
I am baffled on why this would have happened!

 

[rajdude]

for reference, this problem is being discussed in another forum also:

WiFi connection unstable/lost on three Radios - Squeezebox : Community : Forums

Small Package, Big Sound

forums.slimdevices.com

 

[castalos]

Hello guys,
I am back from some Christmas break.

Based on my previous tests, I have isolated the 2.4 GHz band as a possible culprit.
I have then permanently disabled 2.4 GHz on XT8.

Results are better I can see "only" 2.5 failures per hour per device when I had 5 of them with standard settings.
It is not yet perfect but maybe something to better understand.


And I don't understand what happens between 11PM and 4 AM (no disconnections)

 

[rajdude]

Here is an update from me:

Yesterday:
I turned off the Smart connect on the XT8 and immediately the SB radios started working reliably. Then I thought I would prove it to myself that "Smart Connect" is the problem...by re-enabling smart connect. Did that, and interesting, the SB radios did NOT have any problem. I rebooted them, I rebooted the router....stilll everything worked perfectly
Strange. Just for reference, XT 8 is working as a single router. No mesh, the other router is powered down. Mesh not even configured in the primary node.

Anyway, I got tired of troubleshooting the XT8. It works sometimes, at other times it does not. Besides the replacement router is coming soon. So I left it as is.

BTW, after separating the two bands, I now see the option of disabling AX on the 3 bands individually.

Today:
I received the Asus AX3000 which I bought just because it was much cheaper and was actually in stock on Amazon than my first choice - TP-Link AX6000 (TX-6000E).
I placed it in the same location as the primary XT8 is located. Configuring it identically to the XT8, basically default config, just changed the IP address subnet. Left the Smart Connect on. SB radios are working perfectly, with Asus AX3000 right out of the box! Hmmm....then I did a firmware upgrade, factory reset, reconfigured the router, enabled QoS, AiProtection etc....SB radios are still working!

So I do not know, maybe the XT mesh system was the problem (important to note that the RT-AX3000 "is" Asus mesh capable)

I think for now, I will call it a day

 

[L&LD]

@rajdude, it sounds like you got the results you wanted.

Tinker only until it's fixed! Not until we break it again.

 

[rajdude]

@rajdude, it sounds like you got the results you wanted.

Tinker only until it's fixed! Not until we break it again.

yes

I may want to Merlin my AX3000 some day soon.

Also I want to turn off SmartConnect on it. I see way too many clients being steered to 2.4 GHz band by it.... and the FireTV stick 4K has buffered a few times since morning...never happened before today, even on the old R8000 and never on the crappy XT8 also.

 

[L&LD]

When you do 'RMerlin it' soon.

New M&M 2020

 

[asplundj]

Has anyone got a solution for this?
If I have wifi6 enabled my SB radio can't even find the router and if I turn off wifi I can connect to wifi after resetting my SB radio but I loose the connection after a minute or so and are not able ro reconnect before factory reset.

I've also connected a netgear EX7000 AP to m XT8 and connected the SB radio through the AP but still the connection is lost after a few minutes.

The log says
Apr 14 17:36:31 kernel: 00:04:20:29:60:2A not mesh client, can't update it's ip

 

[rajdude]

well, you probably read about my experiences with the exact same things you have, above.
I could find no solution.

As mentioned above I bought another non-mesh router and has been working absolutely fine with my two SB radios........with wi-fi 6 enabled on both 2.4 and 5GHz bands........no problems!
YMMV

 

[Piel]

I had problems with a squeezebox radio on my old Google WiFi system. It seems like you've spent hours trying to fix this problem. Save your time and sanity and just get a Echo Show 5 or 8 and you can have your radio back and more

 

[Claudius2k]

So you know how to fix it. Does the XT8 let you disable WiFi6 on 2.4 GHz? That would be a reasonable compromise.

Have they said they can fix it? Compatibility issues with new WiFi standards are not uncommon for some legacy devices.

I have the same equipment and the same problem. I contacted ASUS a couple of times with no luck. I tried everything you did. I even tried splitting the bands disabling 802.11ax on 2.4 only. It did not help. I also hard wired ethernet on my back channel and turned off the second 5Ghz band. No help. I can't even connect a 3rd generic router to serve as a dedicated AP for the Squeezeboxes. Something in WiFi6 is interfering with the third router. In addition to all my SBs, I also lost my WiFi bathroom scale in the router upgrade. I also have noticed even low power wifi enabled microprocessors in the vicinity (ESP32 in AP Mode) interferes with the Wifi.
There is something about WiFi 6 and the the SBs. I assume all the SB's are at least 802.11g and not b ?