ZenWiFi XT8 - iPhones connected to Wi-fi but no internet

[Boffinboy]

I recently set up two XT8 with wired backhaul. Periodically two separate iPhones, connected to the 5ghz-1 network, show as “no internet”, despite having signal and the router showing the device as connected. It doesn’t necessarily happen at the same time - one can be connected fine, sitting right next to the other which shows Wi-fi signal but a “no internet” warning. I have also had issue where they won’t connect and once or twice it has said the password is incorrect. Changing the channel / rebooting the satellite / Wi-fi appears to fix it. It is very very frustrating. Any ideas? I found a few similar instances but no clear resolutions! I don’t really want to go back to my old Wi-fi setup and am not sure what I’d replace these with.

 

[Bandito]

I have seen a similar problem with my XT8 where it appears that the router stops assigning IP addresses. If you check the iPhone‘s IP address you’ll see a 169.254.*.* address which means it was self-assigned by the phone as it didn’t receive a response from the DHCP server of the router. I’m not sure why this happens, but a reboot of the router will correct this.

One way to address unusual problems or strange behaviors, especially after a firmware upgrade, is to do a factory reset of the router and then set it up from scratch again. This sometimes addresses intermittent bad behaviors. My XT8 is generally running well, but it has had a couple of hiccups after a few days of running, so if it has a problem again, I’m going to do a factory reset and reconfiguration to see if that will clear things up.

 

[digits n bits]

If you haven’t tried it yet do a network reset on your Apple devices. It helps clear up a lot of issues.

 

[samep]

I have seen a similar problem with my XT8 where it appears that the router stops assigning IP addresses. If you check the iPhone‘s IP address you’ll see a 169.254.*.* address which means it was self-assigned by the phone as it didn’t receive a response from the DHCP server of the router. I’m not sure why this happens, but a reboot of the router will correct this.

One way to address unusual problems or strange behaviors, especially after a firmware upgrade, is to do a factory reset of the router and then set it up from scratch again. This sometimes addresses intermittent bad behaviors. My XT8 is generally running well, but it has had a couple of hiccups after a few days of running, so if it has a problem again, I’m going to do a factory reset and reconfiguration to see if that will clear things up.

Does the factory reset require bringing the two nodes close together to pair again?

I'm not even sure this was required or not but using the quick guide wasn't helpful when using wired backhaul. What I found myself doing was reset and bringing them close together but pair with the Ethernet cable attached.

Reboots and factory resets are Band-Aids. Asus should fix these issues stat. I've had to reboot router and modem twice now on my new XT8 mesh. Got it first week of April.

Even with my previous router (Netgear Orbi RBK50), iOS devices phone iPhone X and recent iPad generation disconnect occasionally. Renew WiFi lease on iOS seems a good Band-Aid.

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

 

[mteicher]

If you haven’t tried it yet do a network reset on your Apple devices. It helps clear up a lot of issues.

About a year ago I was having issues with my iphone xs that in certain places in my house it would not even ring with an incoming call even with good cell strength. I tried many things over many weeks. Somewhere along the line someone suggested or I read to do the network reset. It cleared up any and all issues I have had. To this day after the reset its been working as it should.

 

[Boffinboy]

Thanks all for the suggestions. The router and node were reset after firmware upgrade. I will try the iPhone network reset today. I’ve also enabled restart nightly to see if that helps...

I vaguely remember having similar issues with an AC68U which I RMAed and got a Netgear instead. Hopefully it’s solvable here.

I had forgotten how much hassle changing network gear is, at least my previous setup was “fine” most of the time. I don’t understand how these devices get released and how someone who is not tech savvy would ever be able to deal with the constant issues.

 

[Boffinboy]

I have seen a similar problem with my XT8 where it appears that the router stops assigning IP addresses. If you check the iPhone‘s IP address you’ll see a 169.254.*.* address which means it was self-assigned by the phone as it didn’t receive a response from the DHCP server of the router.

This appears to be the issue for me. I thought it had gone away... but keeps occurring. Anyone found a solution?

 

[NetworkN00b]

This appears to be the issue for me. I thought it had gone away... but keeps occurring. Anyone found a solution?

Mine were doing this too, but I seem to have fixed it for the most part. My solution was disabling QoS. I don't think this works for everyone, but it has worked for me. The few times I lost connection, I could gain it back by toggling the WiFi on/off on the phone. The nodes never needed resetting.

Early reviews complained about issues with handoffs between nodes. I wonder if that is an issue. Lastly, AImesh allows you to see how network traffic is routed from node to node. I recently was able to place my nodes so that the router serves each one ( I have three mesh nodes ) directly. I haven't had many issues since then.

 

[Boffinboy]

Thanks. QoS is disabled currently. I had toggled it on and off briefly at one point. Maybe I will try another reset... Just very time consuming when I need to keep the Wi-fi up as at home all the time, with no guarantee it will fix things

 

[egar]

My iPhone X does this a couple of times per week. My wife's iPhone 11 never loses the connection. So I can't say the issue is clearly with the XT8 if one phone does it and the other does not. Toggling on/off my wifi on my phone fixes it every time. My guess is it is roaming between one node of the AiMesh and a different node.

 

[Bandito]

I ended up doing a factory reset and reconfiguration on my system and it has been stable now for almost 3 weeks. I’m about ready to turn on some of the AI Protection features to see what happens.

 

[Boffinboy]

I ended up doing a factory reset and reconfiguration on my system and it has been stable now for almost 3 weeks. I’m about ready to turn on some of the AI Protection features to see what happens.

Good luck! I am half wondering if the issues on mine came from toggling QoS on then immediately off again... but no idea if that could have caused the problems.

I need a third unit to get full coverage of the house (due to one wall acting like a faraday cage), for various reasons I don’t really want to do another factory reset before then (main one being I can’t move the power supply of satellite easily). At the same time, I’m reluctant to get a third unit when having issues...

 

[Boffinboy]

Interestingly had the issue on a laptop today - one that’s not moved around the house st all so shouldn’t have been switching off the satellite. So frustrating! Will try factory reset.

 

[joetanpc]

I have seen a similar problem with my XT8 where it appears that the router stops assigning IP addresses. If you check the iPhone‘s IP address you’ll see a 169.254.*.* address which means it was self-assigned by the phone as it didn’t receive a response from the DHCP server of the router. I’m not sure why this happens, but a reboot of the router will correct this.

One way to address unusual problems or strange behaviors, especially after a firmware upgrade, is to do a factory reset of the router and then set it up from scratch again. This sometimes addresses intermittent bad behaviors. My XT8 is generally running well, but it has had a couple of hiccups after a few days of running, so if it has a problem again, I’m going to do a factory reset and reconfiguration to see if that will clear things up.

I created this account to post this lol. I have exactly the same issue with my XT8 firmware 3.0.0.4.386_25224. The admin page says a IP is given but on the device it's still 169.254.x.x. Renewing doesn't work, only rebooting fixed the problem until it comes back. I thought it's due to dual node issue so I stopped using the 2nd node but it still happens. Pretty annoying to get hit during the day when I need to send an email but I can't reboot when the folk's watching TV. It's happening to IP11, MBP, P20 Pro etc.

Created a support ticket, hope Asus fix this soon.

 

[fdpcm]

i can report that im experiencing the same problem on both nodes, with two of my laptop only (both an xps and macbook pro with Broadcom chips). i run ax11000 + 2 xt8 nodes

 

[Bandito]

When the issue occurs, have you tried disabling and then re-enabling WiFi on your Apple devices?

The fact that the ZenWiFi router is showing an IP address issued to the device doesn’t really mean that much, I don’t think, because it’s simply indicating that the lease is still active. If the device reconnects, it will be issued the same IP address again.

The fact that rebooting the router corrects the issue indicates that there may be a problem with the DHCP server on the router. Have you checked the logs to see if there is anything DHCP related in there?

About the only other thing that I can think of to recommend is resetting the ZenWiFi router to its factory defaults and reconfiguring it again from scratch. This type of reconfiguration seems to help remedy a lot of strange little behaviors like what you’re seeing.

 

[Boffinboy]

Turning on and off Wi-fi on my devices hasn’t fixed it. I’ve not needed to turn off the router, just the node (though yesterday I did have an issue where the router showed a red light but unclear why). Still not got around to full system reset, others using Wi-fi constantly.

 

[joetanpc]

It didn’t help even after a reset of both nodes. Given Asus a copy of the system log and config. Yesterday gotten a reply from Asus “We have received the feedback. As such, we wish to inform that this is an inherit issue with MAC OS. Therefore, we advise you to refer to Apple support team for further assistance.” (sic).

In my first email, I‘ve already provided a list of affected devices including model of Android mobile phone and other windows laptop. I’ve never had such an issue with my old “Enterprise grade” home setup or at my workplace. The quality of support from Asus is staggering, mind boggling.

Addition: Resetted, gotten a new MPB2019 version, same problem with it a week later. Following day P20 Pro acted up too.

 

[Boffinboy]

I will be returning my 3 units. Problems are endless and not limited to Apple devices. Real shame as performance is good. Will try Eero Pro. Fed up of having to tinker

 

[GenericITGuy]

Turning on and off Wi-fi on my devices hasn’t fixed it. I’ve not needed to turn off the router, just the node (though yesterday I did have an issue where the router showed a red light but unclear why). Still not got around to full system reset, others using Wi-fi constantly.

I have a similar but slightly different issue. I am using the manual or reserved IP's with DHCP server. I successfully got 36 setup on previous firmware, but can't add anymore. The router claims it supports up to 64, but it is not working. Anyone else with this issue?

I have tried rebooting, I even tried removing one of the 36 to add my new device. The delete didn't even work, so I am at a loss of what to try next.
I am running 3.0.0.4.386_25524. Not sure which previous firmware was working.