ZenWiFi XD6S just go offline and not work anymore until factory reset

[Krakadil]

Hey

My setup is a GT-AX6000 behind a modem with two Zenwifi XD6S Repeater. The setup is easy and fast. Anything works perfect few days and than the XD6S goes offline and this is it.

When I open the Asus Android app or go to router menu and click on AiMesh it's over and freeze. Need to wait few minute and than I can login in router menu. The internet still works without any issue.

Nothing help, reboot router, reboot repeater... I need to factory reset the XD6S and connect them again. After that it works again for few days. This already happen 2 times. Now its the 3 time and now I check the WiFi


1. is the XD6S which is not working (can't connect to them but show the WiFi SSID and LED blinks) 2. the AX6000 router

- latest stock firmware on all devices
- XD6S position is at worst -60 dBm
- try it with stock settings this time (just setup SSID and password and connect XD6S without touching any other settings > 3 days and again the same problem)
- before that I set 5GHz only and force the XD6S to connect to AX6000

I don't know what to do. When I open the App it freeze instant and over browser with LAN IP I can do what ever I want until I click on AiMesh. If I click on AiMesh I can't do nothing, need to wait few min and I will be back on login page from the AX6000.

Regards

 

[jksmurf]

Cannot help your issue directly but I did have one of my two remote XD6 (not XD6S) go offline completely and I had to get someone to reset it then I added it again as a node.

It’s been about 5 days now, but it’s a concern as it’s remote and might be unreliable / hard to reset. It is on Wired backhaul so should not be related to any issues with unreliable wireless backhaul.

Looking at others with these devices, earlier FW versions did appear to have had issues but the updated one was supposed to fix it. I’m on 3.0.0.4.388_23773. Main Router at that location is a RT-AX86U Pro.

Just adding a data point and will watch the thread closely.

 

[Krakadil]

XD6 and XD6S should be almost the same with less RAM or ROM.

First I thought I mess up with settings or something like that, thats why I try it with stock as possible, just WiFi SSID and password but nope...

Before that I rund Speedport 4 with 2 Speed Home WiFi 6 repeater and its working perfect.

Let me ask you ome think. When your XD6 goes down, can you open in router menu AiMesh? When I click it will not respond for few min.

 

[jksmurf]

XD6 and XD6S should be almost the same with less RAM or ROM.

Yes. Fewer LAN ports too.

First I thought I mess up with settings or something like that, thats why I try it with stock as possible, just WiFi SSID and password but nope...

If by stock you mean stock FW I am pretty sure there's only stock FW available. If you meant as few changed settings as possible, I only use mine as nodes with an RT-AX86U Pro, so they are reset and added as nodes by the main Router; I don’t use them as a Router/Node pair, which I think a lot of folks had issues with, see posts below.

Before that I rund Speedport 4 with 2 Speed Home WiFi 6 repeater and it’s working perfect.

Let me ask you ome think. When your XD6 goes down, can you open in router menu AiMesh? When I click it will not respond for few min.

I’m sorry I don’t really have enough information from my case to point to a definitive scenario which causes XD6 faiilure. I think all we can do is try to isolate scenarios which are common and repeatable, As noted above here are some of the previous issues. I have tried to put dates and known firmware against these to attempt to pinpoint failure scenarios.

• https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/12i757l/asus_xd6_wifi_disconnecting
  (mid 2023; FW 3.0.0.4.388_21380)
• https://www.reddit.com/r/ASUS/comments/14t7m5j/asus_mesh_issues/ (mid 2023)
• https://zentalk.asus.com/t5/networking/xd6-disconnects-from-internet-until-i-reboot/td-p/376245 (mid 2023; FW 3.0.0.4.388_21380)
• https://zentalk.asus.com/t5/networking/zenwifi-xd6-aimesh-node-disconnecting/td-p/374486 (mid 2023; FW 3.0.0.4.388_21380)
• https://www.snbforums.com/threads/z...es-internet-connection-1-2-times-a-day.75243/ (Oct 2022; FW 3.0.0.4.386_45898)
• https://www.snbforums.com/threads/zenwifi-xd6-out-of-memory.83441/ (Feb 2023; FW 3.0.0.4.388_21380)

 

[Krakadil]

I also find something, which could help and that's a reboot all 24h from the main router. Maybe I will try this too necause it's working for few days and than stop.

Last firmware is half year old, so I think Asus will not fix this problem.

 

[fenriv]

This is the common issue of AI Mesh implementation for a long time (i started having those random dropout back in 2020).
And as it was suggested pretty much everywhere - disabling "Smart Connect" will most likely fix this. Yes, you will have to deal with the struggle of having different SSIDs for 2.4/5/6 GHz networks, but it have dramatically changed stability of my mixed asus mesh setup.

My speculation, it has something to do with band steering in early phases of connection between nodes, and disabling this steering let's nodes reconnect after "optimizations" and reboot.

After I have changed it, there was also another positive side effect - i left old SSID fo 2.4GHz network for "older" devices, and so moved only the most demanding ones to AX SSID. This was one of the best quality of life improvements using asus wireless setup.
P.S. I do have XD6S in the setup too and no issues with it.

 

[jksmurf]

I also find something, which could help and that's a reboot all 24h from the main router. Maybe I will try this too necause it's working for few days and than stop.

Last firmware is half year old, so I think Asus will not fix this problem.

Whatever helps, but clearly a daily reboot to get stable wifi means there’s something wrong with ASUS devices, their firmware implementation or possibly your specific setup. It’s not really a satisfactory resolution IMO.

 

[jksmurf]

My XD6 (same one) just dropped off the mesh again. Wired backhaul 1G wired preferred set for each node individually. My other XD6 is fine.

So frustrating as I’m thousands of km away and need someone to reset it. It didn’t even try to connect via WiFi it seems.

I have a log but won’t post here yet as it’s full of MAC addresses.

I put a little whinge on Zentalk as I believe ASUS monitors it but I don’t hold out much hope. @Krakadil, feel free to add your issue there too.

 

[Krakadil]

This is the common issue of AI Mesh implementation for a long time (i started having those random dropout back in 2020).

This is so bad and nobody warns me here :/

And as it was suggested pretty much everywhere - disabling "Smart Connect" will most likely fix this.

Smart Connect was disabled since I got the device.

Yes, you will have to deal with the struggle of having different SSIDs for 2.4/5/6 GHz networks, but it have dramatically changed stability of my mixed asus mesh setup.

Na, thats good.

After I have changed it, there was also another positive side effect - i left old SSID fo 2.4GHz network for "older" devices, and so moved only the most demanding ones to AX SSID. This was one of the best quality of life improvements using asus wireless setup.

2.4GHz is disgusting bad compare to 5GHz on AX6000.

P.S. I do have XD6S in the setup too and no issues with it.

I will sell it if I can't fix it and will never go with Asus again. Its super expensive and not working, so no reason to go with Asus any time again.

I put a little whinge on Zentalk as I believe ASUS monitors it but I don’t hold out much hope. @Krakadil, feel free to add your issue there too.

If the problem is known for almost 4 years and they still not fix it...

 

[Tech9]

So frustrating as I’m thousands of km away and need someone to reset it.

I had a similar situation with remote Asus router used for VPN exit point in another country. It was doing literally nothing 95% of the time, but Asus killed it with the buggy forced security update. No more Asus router at this location, one little GL.iNet device took over. And has faster VPN as a bonus.

 

[jksmurf]

I had a similar situation with remote Asus router used for VPN exit point in another country. It was doing literally nothing 95% of the time, but Asus killed it with the buggy forced security update. No more Asus router at this location, one little GL.iNet device took over. And has faster VPN as a bonus.

Too funny. I VPN to it all the time to check stuff and change stuff but the one thing I can’t do is press that reset button on the node.

I was even thinking of putting a wifi plug on the node’s power adapter, connected to the main routers’s IoT network (which doesn’t propagate to the node so it should work), to power the thing off and on remotely; but powering off and on still doesn’t press that reset button .

It’s just not reliable enough that if it goes offline, the default is to reconnect “somehow”. Even my Gen1 Shelly devices recover and reconnect to a backup network if needed, but this thing ignores a solid Ethernet connection and then somehow ignores and bypasses the Wi-Fi backup and refuses to reconnect. So frustrating. Flaky seems the appropriate term at this point.

I actually have a GLiNET Beryl AX MT-3000 but it’s my travel router.

 

[Tech9]

Your place has 4 routers. No one around to press a button?

 

[jksmurf]

Your place has 4 routers. No one around to press a

Nope, not really. Only occasionally, if a relative makes it up there or I WhatsApp a lady who lives relatively close by, but is getting tired of going over to crawl under the bed and press a tiny reset button…

There’s 4 routers (actually it’s one router and 3 nodes) as the place is pretty spread out and my Dad was a Civil Engineer so I swear he put so much rebar in the walls it’s like a Faraday’s cage…

 

[Tech9]

Then no one needs Wi-Fi in the master bedroom anyway. I also wouldn't put a router under my bed, but this is for another conversation.

 

[jksmurf]

My XD6 (same one) just dropped off the mesh again. Wired backhaul 1G wired preferred set for each node individually. My other XD6 is fine.

So frustrating as I’m thousands of km away and need someone to reset it. It didn’t even try to connect via WiFi it seems.

I have a log but won’t post here yet as it’s full of MAC addresses.

I put a little whinge on Zentalk as I believe ASUS monitors it but I don’t hold out much hope. @Krakadil, feel free to add your issue there too.

Well I must put my hand up here, it seems someone (and they know who they are …) switched it off at the wall. When someone else (who didn’t have to crawl under the bed) turned it back on again, it came back immediately. So it seems mine do actually work, fingers crossed…

 

[Krakadil]

With reboot every day the AX6000 and seperate WiFi for each band it should fix the problem. I will try it and report here.

 

[Krakadil]

Looks like it works when you set up to reboot every day. After one week no issue