AC68U occasionally unresponsive with AiMesh enabled

[bachastain]

Good work!

Resetting the node before adding it to the AiMesh is required. I'm not sure I appreciate your distinction "I had to do an additional reset on the node (not factory reset)". Either a button reset or GUI reset or GUI Initialize (clears logs) should do it, all factory resets... I prefer the GUI Initialize followed by a button reset for good measure... maybe even throw in a power cycle, too. Whatever it takes to preclude unnecessary distractions from the real AiMesh defects.

OE

I wrote "had" because I was thinking the node wouldn't require resetting after resetting the router, since the node had already been factory reset earlier in the day. And doing the Add to Mesh seems to spend a lot of time getting the node configured so again, no reset. So all I did was reboot the node and then tried to add it to the Mesh. After slowly counting up for what seemed like at least 10 minutes, it popped up and said it failed. No explanation, it just gave a lot of help text on what to do. In previous attempts, I don't know why, but for me adding a node to the Mesh ALWAYS fails the first time and works fine on the second attempt. So I rebooted the node and tried it again. After another long wait it failed again.

Not sure if I was going to have to do another factory reset on the node, I first tried just hitting the reset button, power cycle, and rebooting again. Trying to add it to the Mesh again, it failed again. Since it always fails the first time, I tried it yet again, and bingo, second time the charm.

So all in all I probably I spent an hour just watching the circle spin. It wouldn't add until I pressed reset, so that's why I said I had to reset it, but not factory reset it again.

The whole thing was a nightmare to do. And most of it all came back to their decision to switch to 192.168.50.1. Trying to get my laptop to talk to both my wireless router on 192.168.1.1 and the ethernet connected node on 192.168.50.1 at the same time was nearly impossible. In the past I've simply used the default wifi SSIDs to connect to it and initialize without needing a ethernet cable at all. This time I couldn't do that because the 2 default SSIDs are both passworded with some unpublished password that I couldn't crack. The password turned out to be something like "silent_7454" or something similar. After another couple of hours it occurred to me to try connecting with WPS to get past the unknown password, and that worked. I got wifi attached to the node, which also fixed the conflicts between 192.168.50.1 and 192.168.1.1 in my laptop long enough to get past the node initialization steps, and was able to finish the initialization that way. I don't know why they switched to 192.168.50.1 but it virtually guarantees their support is going to be flooded with calls.

I'm probably going to far less likely to try new releases if it continues to cost me 5 hours of sleep each time.

Bruce.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I wrote "had" because I was thinking the node wouldn't require resetting after resetting the router, since the node had already been factory reset earlier in the day. And doing the Add to Mesh seems to spend a lot of time getting the node configured so again, no reset. So all I did was reboot the node and then tried to add it to the Mesh. After slowly counting up for what seemed like at least 10 minutes, it popped up and said it failed. No explanation, it just gave a lot of help text on what to do. In previous attempts, I don't know why, but for me adding a node to the Mesh ALWAYS fails the first time and works fine on the second attempt. So I rebooted the node and tried it again. After another long wait it failed again.

Not sure if I was going to have to do another factory reset on the node, I first tried just hitting the reset button, power cycle, and rebooting again. Trying to add it to the Mesh again, it failed again. Since it always fails the first time, I tried it yet again, and bingo, second time the charm.

So all in all I probably I spent an hour just watching the circle spin. It wouldn't add until I pressed reset, so that's why I said I had to reset it, but not factory reset it again.

The whole thing was a nightmare to do. And most of it all came back to their decision to switch to 192.168.50.1. Trying to get my laptop to talk to both my wireless router on 192.168.1.1 and the ethernet connected node on 192.168.50.1 at the same time was nearly impossible. In the past I've simply used the default wifi SSIDs to connect to it and initialize without needing a ethernet cable at all. This time I couldn't do that because the 2 default SSIDs are both passworded with some unpublished password that I couldn't crack. The password turned out to be something like "silent_7454" or something similar. After another couple of hours it occurred to me to try connecting with WPS to get past the unknown password, and that worked. I got wifi attached to the node, which also fixed the conflicts between 192.168.50.1 and 192.168.1.1 in my laptop long enough to get past the node initialization steps, and was able to finish the initialization that way. I don't know why they switched to 192.168.50.1 but it virtually guarantees their support is going to be flooded with calls.

I'm probably going to far less likely to try new releases if it continues to cost me 5 hours of sleep each time.

Bruce.

A reset is a factory default reset. A reset is not a reboot.

You need to read the AiMesh install FAQ. It's no wonder you are having odd problems. It takes about a minute to add a virgin node. You don't need to login to the node to add it to the AiMesh... simply reset it and add it from the router.

You should also use a wired connection to the router/node when commissioning them... less chance for weird things to happen.

It should only take about 15-30 minutes to reset two devices, configure the router minimally, and add/deploy the node; twice as long if you are upgrading firmware.

Maybe my install notes will offer some insight. The commissioning bits are a little heavy-handed since they assume nothing about the user's proficiency at upgrading firmware.

OE

 

[bachastain]

A reset is a factory default reset. A reset is not a reboot.

You need to read the AiMesh install FAQ. It's no wonder you are having odd problems. It takes about a minute to add a virgin node. You don't need to login to the node to add it to the AiMesh... simply reset it and add it from the router.

You should also use a wired connection to the router/node when commissioning them... less chance for weird things to happen.

It should only take about 15-30 minutes to reset two devices, configure the router minimally, and add/deploy the node; twice as long if you are upgrading firmware.

Maybe my install notes will offer some insight. The commissioning bits are a little heavy-handed since they assume nothing about the user's proficiency at upgrading firmware.

OE

There is a reset button so it seems appropriate to call that a reset. If it involves not just resetting but also restoring factory defaults, that I call factory reset. For what I mentioned, it was a simple reset, not a factory reset. At one point I couldn't get in to the GUI so I found Merlin's writeup and I ended up doing a nvram erase through telnet and then power cycle.

I was trying very hard to get a cable to work but the 192.168.50.1 node kept screwing up my laptop. If the laptop was set for 192.168.1.* I couldn't access 192.168.50.* (The Asus Device Discovery didn't work either). If it was set for 192.168.50.* then I couldn't access the router over wifi. I wasted many hours trying to get past that. Then the Device Discovery refused to run claiming my router subnet mask didn't match the node subnet mask, which was nonsense. After running out of ideas I only used WPS to get logged in because I had wasted hours trying to get a cable to work. I'm sure it is possible if you follow the correct sequence of steps but I wasted hours trying to find those steps by trial and error, just like any new router customer would do when faced with the lack of detailed instructions in the box. Asus is 90% of the way there but the last 10% sucked up 90% of my time.

It takes much longer than 15-20 minutes. After the reset, because the router takes so long to save each settings, simply reputting in my options was at least an hour by itself. Getting the router to sync with the node was another hour.

Bruce.

 

[bachastain]

I take it all back. It just failed again.

 

[Grisu]

I am used to change setup, so changeing firmware and Aimesh for testing and back to AP-mode solved in 1/2 - 3/4 hour last time (with simple setup), 86U is more than double speedier compared to 68U.
Where did you connect the ethernet, must be on a LAN port after reset, on WAN you cannot open GUI (as far I can remember).

 

[bachastain]

I never tried the WAN port on the node. LAN only.

If there was a way to change the node from it's default after a factory reset from 192.168.50.1 to 192.168.1.1, my cable would have worked exactly as it should. But I couldn't figure out how to change its IP without going through the entire setup, which I couldn't do by cable. 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0 and 192.168.50.1 are in different network segments and they won't talk to each other.

Once I got logged in via WPS I was able to complete the setup.

 

[OzarkEdge]

There is a reset button so it seems appropriate to call that a reset. If it involves not just resetting but also restoring factory defaults, that I call factory reset. For what I mentioned, it was a simple reset, not a factory reset. At one point I couldn't get in to the GUI so I found Merlin's writeup and I ended up doing a nvram erase through telnet and then power cycle.

I was trying very hard to get a cable to work but the 192.168.50.1 node kept screwing up my laptop. If the laptop was set for 192.168.1.* I couldn't access 192.168.50.* (The Asus Device Discovery didn't work either). If it was set for 192.168.50.* then I couldn't access the router over wifi. I wasted many hours trying to get past that. Then the Device Discovery refused to run claiming my router subnet mask didn't match the node subnet mask, which was nonsense. After running out of ideas I only used WPS to get logged in because I had wasted hours trying to get a cable to work. I'm sure it is possible if you follow the correct sequence of steps but I wasted hours trying to find those steps by trial and error, just like any new router customer would do when faced with the lack of detailed instructions in the box. Asus is 90% of the way there but the last 10% sucked up 90% of my time.

It takes much longer than 15-20 minutes. After the reset, because the router takes so long to save each settings, simply reputting in my options was at least an hour by itself. Getting the router to sync with the node was another hour.

Bruce.

My first post to you links to an explanation of the various ways to perform a factory default reset... they all perform a factory default reset. The reset button performs a factory default reset.

If you wire your PC to the router and then reset the router, it will reboot and issue your PC an IP address compatible with its own static IP address, assuming you have not assigned a static IP address to your PC LAN adapter. Then you can browse to router.asus.com or 192.168.50.1 and login admin, admin or perform the router Quick Setup routine depending on the router firmware design. This is typically explained on the Quick Setup Guide card that comes with the router.

Regarding configuring the router, I would keep it simple to save time until your network is up and running for a few days at least. No point in configuring a network that isn't working yet.

If it takes an hour to add a node to your AiMesh, I would return your equipment and get something else. An hour is ridiculous.

OE

 

[bachastain]

My first post to you links to an explanation of the various ways to perform a factory default reset... they all perform a factory default reset. The reset button performs a factory default reset.

If you wire your PC to the router and then reset the router, it will reboot and issue your PC an IP address compatible with its own static IP address, assuming you have not assigned a static IP address to your PC LAN adapter. Then you can browse to router.asus.com or 192.168.50.1 and login admin, admin or perform the router Quick Setup routine depending on the router firmware design. This is typically explained on the Quick Setup Guide card that comes with the router.

Regarding configuring the router, I would keep it simple to save time until your network is up and running for a few days at least. No point in configuring a network that isn't working yet.

If it takes an hour to add a node to your AiMesh, I would return your equipment and get something else. An hour is ridiculous.

OE

Ah, thanks you for that. I've been assuming a quick press of the reset was a simple reset, forcing a reboot. And that only if you pressed it longer than 5 seconds would it be a factory reset.

I first tried the laptop LAN port at the default auto settings. Nothing happened. Pings didn't work and the Device Discovery found nothing. I think tried configuring the LAN port as 192.168.1.2, and while that seemed to be accepted, pings and Device Discover still didn't work. Next I tried setting the LAN port to 192.168.50.2, and that finally worked. I could now ping the box and Device Discovery worked.

However, setting the LAN like that gave the PC the IP of 192.168.50.124.

That enabled me to access the setup screens in the node and go through the mesh node setup. The problem was it got to the last screen and told me to connect the wifi to the main router. When I did that the setup never completed. There was a conflict between the laptop being at 192.168.50.124 and the wifi connected to the 192.168.1.1 router. Something about this laptop/Windows didn't like that. The only way the wifi would connect was if I reset the PC to a 192.168.1.* address. but doing that screwed up the node access so I couldn't access the node to finish the setup. Eventually I gave up and tried the WPS which worked and allowed me to finish the setup without creating conflicts, at least none it couldn't handle. The router would never find the node until I was able to complete the setup.

It only took an hour because it kept failing to find the node and it crunches for about 10 minutes before giving up. Since it always takes twice, it took me 20 minutes to decide something must be wrong. Then reading all the help text, double checking everything I was doing, resetting the node again, and then 2 final attempts for another 20 minute before the last one succeeded. I have gone through the entire thing several times and even when everything is right, it still takes twice through before it works. Now that I've figure out more stuff from trial and error and your help, I don't expect it to take an hour next time, but every single step of this has been a struggle. Nearly nothing has worked without going though it all again and again. In the end it suddenly works and I usually don't know what i did differently that time, so I don't think I can safely assume it will all magically work better next time.

And as I said in another update, it failed again. Pings from the client to 192.168.1.1 just time out. Over the next minute or 2 all the clients on the node flip over to the router. Then the pings return to working but all the clients are already gone.

For my next test, since it's clear it's not going to work as Mesh, I've changed it to a repeater with different SSIDs. To test the hardware, I plan to attach clients to the repeater and then exercise it for a couple of days and see what happens. If it fails as a repeater, then maybe the hardware is flaking out under stress. If not I'm out of ideas.

Bruce.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I don't understand what you are doing and why it's so difficult.

AiMesh = router + node(s).

Simply connect the PC LAN to the router LAN, reset the router, wait for the PC to acquire an IP address from the router, and then login or perform the router Quick Setup routine.

For the node, reset it and add it to the AiMesh from the router GUI. You do not configure anything on the node.

Don't let go of the reset button until the power LED begins to flash.

OE

 

[bachastain]

I can't tell you why that doesn't work here. Maybe my laptop is broken or a thousand other reasons. I only know that doesn't work that way.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I can't tell you why that doesn't work here. Maybe my laptop is broken or a thousand other reasons. I only know that doesn't work that way.

It should work that way, so let's figure that out first. Not being able to access the router GUI easily is a non-starter.

Is your PC using DHCP or does it have a static IP address?

OE

 

[bachastain]

It should work that way, so let's figure that out first. Not being able to access the router GUI easily is a non-starter.

Is your PC using DHCP or does it have a static IP address?

OE

Normally everything is set to auto, DHCP, other than the main router which is set to 192.168.1.1. There have been exceptions but I usually avoid hard coded IPs as much as possible.

On this laptop, I've always had to set the LAN port manually in order to talk to some external device. It works fine in auto if it is a client, but not if, for example, I'm trying to configure an external device. So I have to switch it back and forth depending on what I'm using the laptop LAN port for.

I'm used to setting it for 192.168.1.2 for example. But that didn't work this time because (I discovered) the node defaults to 192.168.50.1. Different LAN segment. Couldn't use the GUI and Device Discovery didn't find anything. After that I tried 192.168.50.2 and that did work. I could get to the GUI and Device Discovery could see it. So it was either change my entire network to 192.168.50.*, (or really screw things up playing with Subnet Mask) or figure out someway to change the IP of the node.

When I'm done I set the laptop LAN port back to auto again.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Normally everything is set to auto, DHCP, other than the main router which is set to 192.168.1.1. There have been exceptions but I usually avoid hard coded IPs as much as possible.

On this laptop, I've always had to set the LAN port manually in order to talk to some external device. It works fine in auto if it is a client, but not if, for example, I'm trying to configure an external device. So I have to switch it back and forth depending on what I'm using the laptop LAN port for.

I'm used to setting it for 192.168.1.2 for example. But that didn't work this time because (I discovered) the node defaults to 192.168.50.1. Different LAN segment. Couldn't use the GUI and Device Discovery didn't find anything. After that I tried 192.168.50.2 and that did work. I could get to the GUI and Device Discovery could see it. So it was either change my entire network to 192.168.50.*, (or really screw things up playing with Subnet Mask) or figure out someway to change the IP of the node.

When I'm done I set the laptop LAN port back to auto again.

I would set it to Auto and get on with setting up your network... your wasting your sleep time.

OE

 

[bachastain]

I would set it to Auto and get on with setting up your network... your wasting your sleep time.

OE

Thanks for your help!

 

[Grisu]

I use ethernet only if no other possibility.
Usually I make a manual factory reset with WPS or reset button on the router I want to setup and connect via Wifi, that works all the time, choose its (defaulted) SSID and connect with no password and start configuring.

 

[bachastain]

I use ethernet only if no other possibility.
Usually I make a manual factory reset with WPS or reset button on the router I want to setup and connect via Wifi, that works all the time, choose its (defaulted) SSID and connect with no password and start configuring.

I usually use a cable, just because the recommend it, and in theory a cable should be more reliable than wifi. But I think if the manufacturer can't get their wifi to talk reliably at a dozen feet, then I bought the wrong boxes. Might as well find that out sooner rather than later.

It was worse because the default wifi passwords are bizarre and I wasted about 20 minutes trying to find the default passwords on the internet. If I hasn't remembered that WPS doesn't need a password I'd probably still be fighting that.

Bruce.

 

[Grisu]

I usually use a cable, just because the recommend it, and in theory a cable should be more reliable than wifi. But I think if the manufacturer can't get their wifi to talk reliably at a dozen feet, then I bought the wrong boxes. Might as well find that out sooner rather than later.

It was worse because the default wifi passwords are bizarre and I wasted about 20 minutes trying to find the default passwords on the internet. If I hasn't remembered that WPS doesn't need a password I'd probably still be fighting that.

After factory reset (correct done) the SSID is ASUS or Asus_2G or something like that and NO password set (open system).
So I dont understand your problem with some hidden passwords. And login will be default user "Admin" with no password.
At least on all my devices in the past (various 68 and 86U).

I use this all the time, easier than run around with cables and no need to change IP settings on PC to a fix address.

 

[bachastain]

With my AC66U1 B1 and 32738 after a factory reset it DID have passwords on both 2G and 5G. I tried to get in for a half hour or so. i tried everything admin, password, letmein, blank, and everything else I could think of. The wifi status said secured which means it has a password. I gave up trying after I remembered WPS. Once I was in I changed the passwords. The GUI showed me they did indeed have passwords and they were something like "quiet_7435". Unfortunately I didn't write the old ones down so while that is similar I'm sure they were something different. Unquestionably, the passwords were there after a factory reset.

The box the router came in still had unbroken factory seals on it.

 

[OzarkEdge]

With my AC66U1 B1 and 32738 after a factory reset it DID have passwords on both 2G and 5G. I tried to get in for a half hour or so. i tried everything admin, password, letmein, blank, and everything else I could think of. The wifi status said secured which means it has a password. I gave up trying after I remembered WPS. Once I was in I changed the passwords. The GUI showed me they did indeed have passwords and they were something like "quiet_7435". Unfortunately I didn't write the old ones down so while that is similar I'm sure they were something different. Unquestionably, the passwords were there after a factory reset.

The box the router came in still had unbroken factory seals on it.

I've never seen an ASUS router default to WiFi with security enabled with a passphrase, including 68Us that allegedly use the same firmware as your 66Us. You've got some weird equipment there, imo.

OE

 

[bachastain]

I've never seen an ASUS router default to WiFi with security enabled with a passphrase, including 68Us that allegedly use the same firmware as your 66Us. You've got some weird equipment there, imo.

OE

Since it's currently set up as a Repeater it was easy to do a factory reset and get it up again. I repeated this 3 times. I did a factory reset by holding the reset button. In each case it sent me to the initial router setup. At this point I checked the wifi networks my laptop could see. These showed up:

RT_AC66U_B1_F0_2G
RT_AC66U_B1_F0_5G

The status showed both as "Secured". All attempts to connect fail saying bad password. I then use WPS to log in to RT_AC66U_B1_F0_2G which works. Using a procedure I found on the internet I am able to display the current wifi password and it is "review_9245". Without WPS I never would have gotten in.

When I google for review_9245 I get zero hits. Apparently no one else has discovered it so far. It may be the chosen password is different for every router, or the change is so recent only I have found it so far. I'm also on the most recent 32738, so it might have changed for that release. And I've personally never seen an Asus router default to 192.168.50.1 before, so that might be a recent change too.

Bruce.