Asus BT10 - still not stable at all even after latest firmware - been tinkering for months - high frustration

[raven-au]

I actually tried to offer help (but with the caveat I'm not a programmer by trade). I was informed by a friend at ASUS that they get their firmware direct from Broadcom, implying that at least WiFi implementation is proprietary, (or I'm under qualified, the nice way of putting it)...

I agree the SDK is not gonna be a "blackbox" as you note. But what they program into the firmware...

Even ASUS' Game Radar was sending pings out (by default) on all but the most recent firmwares...

I'm pretty sure they get the firmware from whoever makes the WiFi chipset they are using in their routers.
Certainly, with newish chipsets, the vendors haven't merged the drivers into the upstream Linux kernel yet and probably won't for quite a while.
The vendor binary only bits are usually the WiFi drivers perhaps some other bits but not too much.
Then, as you say, there's the customization that the clients (ASUS) will do, AiMesh, Game Radar, etc.
You can see several iterations of the SDK that ASUS uses and what they value add (often binary only bits) in the github.com repository Merlin uses for his work.

 

[Tech9]

Asus and Broadcom usually figure it out in about 2 years time after market release so you guys just need to be patient. What comes from Broadcom to Asus and now open/closed it is - it doesn't matter. What matters is what comes to you as a product.

 

[YamahaArtist]

I recently purchased a 2-pack router set after returning the fast and reliable BE96U due to my wife's dislike of its appearance. I initially set up one unit with a main network using 2.4G, 5G, and 6G MLO, plus an IoT network. Surprisingly, in single-unit mode, its speed was only slightly lower than the BE96U when tested in MLO mode one floor above, achieving 1.1–1.3 Gbps compared to 1.3–1.5 Gbps for the BE96U. The IoT network also performed well, reaching 1 Gbps from the same location. It ran smoothly without any disconnections for three days straight.

Today, I added the second node on the second floor using an MLO backhaul, but noticed a significant speed drop in MLO mode, maxing out at 500 Mbps initially. The IoT network remained decent but was slower than in single-unit mode. With some tinkering, i was able to speedtest with result never seen before at whopping 1.8Gbs.

In my experience, this router is fast, stable, and offers great range in non-AiMesh mode, performing nearly as well as the BE96U.

 

[RogerSC]

I recently purchased a 2-pack router set after returning the fast and reliable BE96U due to my wife's dislike of its appearance. I initially set up one unit with a main network using 2.4G, 5G, and 6G MLO, plus an IoT network. Surprisingly, in single-unit mode, its speed was only slightly lower than the BE96U when tested in MLO mode one floor above, achieving 1.1–1.3 Gbps compared to 1.3–1.5 Gbps for the BE96U. The IoT network also performed well, reaching 1 Gbps from the same location. It ran smoothly without any disconnections for three days straight.

Today, I added the second node on the second floor using an MLO backhaul, but noticed a significant speed drop in MLO mode, maxing out at 500 Mbps initially. The IoT network remained decent but was slower than in single-unit mode. With some tinkering, i was able to speedtest with result never seen before at whopping 1.8Gbs.

In my experience, this router is fast, stable, and offers great range in non-AiMesh mode, performing nearly as well as the BE96U.

Can you please describe what "tinkering" you did to get your mesh speed up from 500Mbps to 1.8Gbps? I have some self-interest in asking about this, since I'm getting a pair of BT10's today. So I'd love to hear what you did to get the speed of your mesh up.

 

[YamahaArtist]

Can you please describe what "tinkering" you did to get your mesh speed up from 500Mbps to 1.8Gbps? I have some self-interest in asking about this, since I'm getting a pair of BT10's today. So I'd love to hear what you did to get the speed of your mesh up.

I just turned off the wifi on my PC and turned on to let it reconnect. This router is super fast even at Wifi 6 mode. I can speed test at 1.2Gbs+ one floor above from the main router and same few meter aways from the node router with my Wifi 6 laptop.

 

[RogerSC]

I just turned off the wifi on my PC and turned on to let it reconnect. This router is super fast even at Wifi 6 mode. I can speed test at 1.2Gbs+ one floor above from the main router and same few meter aways from the node router with my Wifi 6 laptop.

Yes, I'm very happy with the BT10's at this point as well. Finally seeing the gigabit internet that we pay for all over the house. Now all I need to do is see why I had to connect our Apple TV's to an IoT network instead of our MLO main network. With the RT-BE96, the Apple TV's were happy on the MLO main network. Guess I've got something to tinker with there, although they're plenty fast on a 5GHz. IoT-style network. They don't even need 100Mbps for streaming, maybe a quarter of that, but just has me curious. Also seeing some odd messages in the log, but they don't correlate with any disconnects, no bad behavior. Again, just a matter of my insatiable curiosity *smile*.

 

[YS0240]

I recently purchased a 2-pack router set after returning the fast and reliable BE96U due to my wife's dislike of its appearance. I initially set up one unit with a main network using 2.4G, 5G, and 6G MLO, plus an IoT network. Surprisingly, in single-unit mode, its speed was only slightly lower than the BE96U when tested in MLO mode one floor above, achieving 1.1–1.3 Gbps compared to 1.3–1.5 Gbps for the BE96U. The IoT network also performed well, reaching 1 Gbps from the same location. It ran smoothly without any disconnections for three days straight.

Today, I added the second node on the second floor using an MLO backhaul, but noticed a significant speed drop in MLO mode, maxing out at 500 Mbps initially. The IoT network remained decent but was slower than in single-unit mode. With some tinkering, i was able to speedtest with result never seen before at whopping 1.8Gbs.

In my experience, this router is fast, stable, and offers great range in non-AiMesh mode, performing nearly as well as the BE96U.

Hi there, I have just ordered a pack of BT10, may I ask what you mean by "fast, stable, and offers great range in non-AiMesh mode"? so what mode you are using it with wireless backhaul? Or if the Ai Mesh now is finally working?

 

[RogerSC]

Hi there, I have just ordered a pack of BT10, may I ask what you mean by "fast, stable, and offers great range in non-AiMesh mode"? so what mode you are using it with wireless backhaul? Or if the Ai Mesh now is finally working?

The ZenWiFi BT10's are working well here in AiMesh mode. With MLO enabled wireless backhaul, as is the default backhaul mode. Works great, no instability problems. Main network is also MLO enabled, and have an IoT network for client devices that are not compatible with wifi-7. All working great with gigabit fiber here.

I only have a 2-node mesh, that's all we need. No VPN's or VLAN's at the moment, nothing fancy, pretty vanilla. I like to keep things simple so that I understand my home network in case things go bad.

Very happy with the performance that I'm seeing.

 

[YS0240]

The ZenWiFi BT10's are working well here in AiMesh mode. With MLO enabled wireless backhaul, as is the default backhaul mode. Works great, no instability problems. Main network is also MLO enabled, and have an IoT network for client devices that are not compatible with wifi-7. All working great with gigabit fiber here.

I only have a 2-node mesh, that's all we need. No VPN's or VLAN's at the moment, nothing fancy, pretty vanilla. I like to keep things simple so that I understand my home network in case things go bad.

Very happy with the performance that I'm seeing.

Nice to know it here! I am thinking if I should go media bridge with MLO Wireless backhaul, as I have read previously that the BT10 is unstable at AI mesh and have unknown disconnection issues. I am mainly using one in a dead corner in concrete apartment for main router, and use the satellite at like 30 ft away with a concrete wall corner to my main gaming PC and NAS, so wondering if I will be better going AI mesh or media bridge mode.

 

[YamahaArtist]

Hi there, I have just ordered a pack of BT10, may I ask what you mean by "fast, stable, and offers great range in non-AiMesh mode"? so what mode you are using it with wireless backhaul? Or if the Ai Mesh now is finally working?

At first, I only set up one router, and it performed very stably with excellent speeds, even from one floor above. Later, I added the second router and have been using AiMesh mode ever since. It's generally quite stable, but there's one strange problem: all my IoT devices, which are located on the first floor, end up connecting to the router on the second floor. This results in unstable connections due to the distance, causing my security camera to drop offline occasionally. I suspect the 2.4GHz band on the main router (on the first floor) isn't accepting connections, forcing all 2.4GHz devices to link up with the second-floor router instead.

 

[YS0240]

At first, I only set up one router, and it performed very stably with excellent speeds, even from one floor above. Later, I added the second router and have been using AiMesh mode ever since. It's generally quite stable, but there's one strange problem: all my IoT devices, which are located on the first floor, end up connecting to the router on the second floor. This results in unstable connections due to the distance, causing my security camera to drop offline occasionally. I suspect the 2.4GHz band on the main router (on the first floor) isn't accepting connections, forcing all 2.4GHz devices to link up with the second-floor router instead.

Great then! since I mostly use 5Ghz wifi stuffs only and all I care is speed, especially the NAS and main PC both have 2.5Gbpe port and hopefully it can run really fast

 

[RogerSC]

At first, I only set up one router, and it performed very stably with excellent speeds, even from one floor above. Later, I added the second router and have been using AiMesh mode ever since. It's generally quite stable, but there's one strange problem: all my IoT devices, which are located on the first floor, end up connecting to the router on the second floor. This results in unstable connections due to the distance, causing my security camera to drop offline occasionally. I suspect the 2.4GHz band on the main router (on the first floor) isn't accepting connections, forcing all 2.4GHz devices to link up with the second-floor router instead.

Have you tried binding devices to particular AiMesh nodes using the AiMesh tab in the web admin GUI? I've done that from time to time, if a device seems to end up on the "wrong" node. Easy to do when you have the client list for the "wrong" node up (by clicking on the AiMesh node to which the client is currently connected). There are two symbols there for each client, one is "bind" and the other is "optimize". Just use the "bind" choice for a particular client, will ask you which node to bind the client to. Has worked well for me.

 

[YamahaArtist]

Have you tried binding devices to particular AiMesh nodes using the AiMesh tab in the web admin GUI? I've done that from time to time, if a device seems to end up on the "wrong" node. Easy to do when you have the client list for the "wrong" node up (by clicking on the AiMesh node to which the client is currently connected). There are two symbols there for each client, one is "bind" and the other is "optimize". Just use the "bind" choice for a particular client, will ask you which node to bind the client to. Has worked well for me.

Didn't know such option before seeing your reply. Unfortunately I just tried both bind and optimize and still not able to connect my IoT devices to the main router.

 

[RogerSC]

Didn't know such option before seeing your reply. Unfortunately I just tried both bind and optimize and still not able to connect my IoT devices to the main router.

What happened when you tried to use the "bind" option? If you got the warning about how you might not be able to do it, just ignore it assuming that you know that the client device is close enough to the node that you want to bind it to. That warning is just a warning, it can be ignored, and the bind will succeed. At least that's how it works at my place.

 

[YamahaArtist]

Didn't know such option before seeing your reply. Unfortunately I just tried both bind and optimize and still not able to connect my IoT devices to the main router.

What happened when you tried to use the "bind" option? If you got the warning about how you might not be able to do it, just ignore it assuming that you know that the client device is close enough to the node that you want to bind it to. That warning is just a warning, it can be ignored, and the bind will succeed. At least that's how it works at my place.

The device will just stay offline due to not able to connect to the main router's 2.4. Anyway, I finally solved the issue by doing a full factory reset and then not using MLO fronthaul this time. So I have a main network with all 3 bands enabled in Wifi 7 mode minus MLO fronthaul + one IoT network running in IoT default setting mode.
Everything connects reliably, and speeds match what I had previously with MLO enabled. In fact, I believe WiFi 7 performs slightly better without MLO, as speed tests now hit full bandwidth instantly, compared to a 1-2 second ramp-up before. I suspect a direct 6 GHz band connection simplifies things and avoids underlying negotiation issues.

 

[Wolverine]

Hello All, I'm having pretty much the same issues... I previously had a XT9 2pk and it just died, the Main units radio's died and it wasn't putting anything out ever... the node is fine. Prior to that I had the XT8 and the main unit there was murdered by a child.lol I've tried other things in between but the coverage just isn't there especially with our basement.

I previously had my network set up the same with the previous 2 versions as such.

2x 2.4Ghz Bands (1 Main, 1 Guest) - The Main for Kids tablets and devices and some smart devices (Lights, plugs, cams etc) the Guest was then for all the other smart(or not so smart) stuff.

1x 5GHz Band(Then a 2nd one with my XT('s as I use wired backhaul) - For everything else, TV's, laptops phones etc.

I have an Asus Repeater in my Garage for outside lights and cams that cover the stuff in front the inside router/nodes can't reach. We have a large-ish home, about 4500 sq feet on 3 levels, basement, main floor and upper floor. We have 10 children in home all adopted and a couple of which are special needs. Tablets and devices are extremely important for the special needs kiddo's. (And to my wife and I for our sanity)

I got the BT10's and have been messing with them for about 3 weeks now... it takes so much time... time I really don't have to deal with this. I've tried lots mentioned here and other places and I think one of the people here was helping me on another site as well, thanks a lot btw to them and anyone else who can help, hopefully.

With these the Node ended up going wonky as well and I tried to reset it and it never worked. I tried and tried and tried... it was getting a teal LED which I can't find crap on anywhere on the net. Rescue thing from Asus didn't work. Finally I just thew my hands up returned them and reordered a new set. I got it all setup last night and am running into the same issues, however the node is working fine thus far. However all 2.4GHz bands(Main & IoT's) show up but no internet most of the time, the longest I've clocked so far is about 5 mins. 6GHz is hit or miss not as bad as 2.4 but it's not great. 5Ghz is the best and has the most up time but randomly drops. I also put the working XT9 Node in the basement as well to reach 2 corner rooms and a hallway in which the node in the basement doesn't reach well, still connected via wired backhaul.

I initially with the original units had things set as such.

2.4GHz Main - WPA2/WPA3, AES, WiFi 7 Disabled (Was initally enabled but disabled it) Either way it didn't work.
1x IoT - Set the same as above however I had Wifi 7 disabled as well as the 5GHz for it as most all my smart devices are 2.4ghz only.

5GHz - WPA2/WPA3, AES+ (The one with the + whatever the option is gone now from my UI), WiFi 7 Enabled. (Later disabled and AES switched to just AES) Made no difference with anything.(That I could tell)

6GHz - WPA3 Only, AES+ option, WiFi 7 enabled

MLO was disabled/Turned off everywhere (I believe is only in 2 places I've seen and both turned off there.)

Wired Backhaul turned on

IPv6 was turned on to Native. (Later disabled per suggestion from another source.) No difference with anything.

New Units setup similarly:

2.4GHz Main - WPA2 Only, AES, WiFi 7 Disabled
2x IoT's - Set the same as above (I added a 2nd b/c eventually I want to split outside and inside smart devices as we have many and don't want to clog the bands, or that was my thought process anyhow but I believe that... should be fine... correct?)

5GHz - WPA2/WPA3, AES, Wifi 7 Disabled

6GHz - WPA3 Only, AES+ option, WiFi 7 enabled

MLO was disabled

Wired Backhaul turned on

IPv6 Not touched and still disabled.

Firmware updated - currently at 3.0.0.6.102_39106-ga49b311_1470-g72fa4_BB0B

Based on everything I've read on the net and here and such it seems like a luck of the draw thing and basically just a waiting game for Asus, which I hope isn't the case we can't go without the other bands.... Anyone figured things out yet or we just waiting for Asus?

Is there a 2 or 3 pk mesh system that is as powerful as these but works as advertised without driving you batty and not breaking the bank around same price of these? I'd like to be able to have the 3 2.4GHz bands, I really like the idea of the IoT's as we do have some order smart devices but have always worked in the past with stuff. and then the 5 & 6 bands for newer devices that can use the bandwidths and such. I've included my Log from last night/this morning.

Thanks

 

[RogerSC]

I'll try to summarize our stable ZenWiFi BT10 mesh configuration here. I have two IoT networks, one that's 2.4GHz. and for security cameras, electric blanket, internet radio, etc. The other IoT network is 5GHz., and only for the upstairs XT8 in media bridge mode for the HDhomerun connected to our TV's. Then our main network is 5 and 6GHz. only using "smart connect", with wifi-7 turned on, and with MLO wireless backhaul. That's the only place that I'm using MLO, just in the backhaul between the BT10 nodes, and that's very stable and fast. The MLO backhaul is close to as fast as wired backhaul would be, we see very close to our ISP's speed just about everywhere in the house. Not using IPv6 at all. Same firmware version that you're using.

The messages that I saw in your log are mostly standard messages that you should be able to ignore (wlceventd), but there's so many of them that you can't really see the significant ones. I'd suggest trying these commands via ssh:

nvram set log_level=5
nvram commit
reboot

which gets rid of most of the noise-level wlceventd log messages. I usually throw in a couple of "nvram get log_level" commands to make sure that I've done what I came to ssh to do. I also get the "

Mar 26 22:54:31 kernel: WLC_SCB_DEAUTHORIZE error (-30)
Mar 26 22:54:31 kernel: WLC_SCB_DEAUTHENTICATE_FOR_REASON err -30
Mar 26 22:59:35 kernel: SBF: dhd0: INIT [6a:7b:6b:1d:d5:da] ID 65535 BFW 65535 THRSH 2048

sort of messages, which again, have no effect for me. Most of them are for mobile devices, and don't seem to have any effect on the operation of the mesh.

Anyways, we've had great service from the mesh here...your problems may have to do with settings, or may have to do with your mixture of IoT devices, or, of course, your hardware could actually not be working right. Curious if you tired a factory reset for all nodes, and manually setting up your mesh configuration after that? That's helped me several times over the years, worth doing if you're having problems. Also, I really don't feel the need for wired backhaul here, this mesh seems to be designed for wireless backhaul even though it accommodates wired backhaul. But that's just my perception of it. We also had a ZenWiFi AX mesh back in the day, and that too worked great with wireless backhaul...although MLO adds another dimension to wireless backhaul for the BT10's, and really seems to boost it's performance.

Hope this helps. As I've mentioned several times, we get great performance and stability with this mesh, very happy with it. One other stray thought, I've also used the mesh in AP mode with a "wired-only" main router. That also worked really well.

 

[Wolverine]

I'll try to summarize our stable ZenWiFi BT10 mesh configuration here. I have two IoT networks, one that's 2.4GHz. and for security cameras, electric blanket, internet radio, etc. The other IoT network is 5GHz., and only for the upstairs XT8 in media bridge mode for the HDhomerun connected to our TV's. Then our main network is 5 and 6GHz. only using "smart connect", with wifi-7 turned on, and with MLO wireless backhaul. That's the only place that I'm using MLO, just in the backhaul between the BT10 nodes, and that's very stable and fast. The MLO backhaul is close to as fast as wired backhaul would be, we see very close to our ISP's speed just about everywhere in the house. Not using IPv6 at all. Same firmware version that you're using.

The messages that I saw in your log are mostly standard messages that you should be able to ignore (wlceventd), but there's so many of them that you can't really see the significant ones. I'd suggest trying these commands via ssh:

nvram set log_level=5
nvram commit
reboot

which gets rid of most of the noise-level wlceventd log messages. I usually throw in a couple of "nvram get log_level" commands to make sure that I've done what I came to ssh to do. I also get the "

Mar 26 22:54:31 kernel: WLC_SCB_DEAUTHORIZE error (-30)
Mar 26 22:54:31 kernel: WLC_SCB_DEAUTHENTICATE_FOR_REASON err -30
Mar 26 22:59:35 kernel: SBF: dhd0: INIT [6a:7b:6b:1d:d5:da] ID 65535 BFW 65535 THRSH 2048

sort of messages, which again, have no effect for me. Most of them are for mobile devices, and don't seem to have any effect on the operation of the mesh.

Anyways, we've had great service from the mesh here...your problems may have to do with settings, or may have to do with your mixture of IoT devices, or, of course, your hardware could actually not be working right. Curious if you tired a factory reset for all nodes, and manually setting up your mesh configuration after that? That's helped me several times over the years, worth doing if you're having problems. Also, I really don't feel the need for wired backhaul here, this mesh seems to be designed for wireless backhaul even though it accommodates wired backhaul. But that's just my perception of it. We also had a ZenWiFi AX mesh back in the day, and that too worked great with wireless backhaul...although MLO adds another dimension to wireless backhaul for the BT10's, and really seems to boost it's performance.

Hope this helps. As I've mentioned several times, we get great performance and stability with this mesh, very happy with it. One other stray thought, I've also used the mesh in AP mode with a "wired-only" main router. That also worked really well.

I know of the ssh thing I've never done it before. I did go and try and it I was not able to do it... I could not connect via command prompt, even had accessed Command Prompt as Admin.

Also the Units continuing to do the same thing as the prior units... my Node this morning went offline just as I was getting ready for work which my work client is connected to it directly. It was down for about 5-10 minutes and I decided to reboot the entire system. The main unit came up fine but the note did not then about 15 minutes later it did... then proceeded to go right back down.

If it's a setting I don't know, I've looked and looked and everything is set in a fashion that in theory it should all work. lol Unless I am missing something in a well hidden menu... Also I did see something in the logs about MLO failed, but I have it disabled in both places... is there a 3rd place somewhere it has to be disabled?

I've included another bit of my logs, just after rebooting my system, not sure if anything in there is of note...

 

[RogerSC]

I know of the ssh thing I've never done it before. I did go and try and it I was not able to do it... I could not connect via command prompt, even had accessed Command Prompt as Admin.

Also the Units continuing to do the same thing as the prior units... my Node this morning went offline just as I was getting ready for work which my work client is connected to it directly. It was down for about 5-10 minutes and I decided to reboot the entire system. The main unit came up fine but the note did not then about 15 minutes later it did... then proceeded to go right back down.

If it's a setting I don't know, I've looked and looked and everything is set in a fashion that in theory it should all work. lol Unless I am missing something in a well hidden menu... Also I did see something in the logs about MLO failed, but I have it disabled in both places... is there a 3rd place somewhere it has to be disabled?

I've included another bit of my logs, just after rebooting my system, not sure if anything in there is of note...

To use ssh, you'll need to enable it first using the "Admin" -> "System" tab of the web admin GUI. In that tab, just use the "Service" section to enable ssh for "LAN-only" for this purpose. Pick a port number over 1024, allow password login, and no need to fill in the "Authorized Keys" section.

For the MLO stuff, the only places that I'm aware of is "MLO" tab under the main "Wireless" tab. That's an enable/disable for MLO for client-facing MLO. Then you turn on or off MLO for "front haul" (clients) for each of your various networks under the "Networks" main tab. I've found that MLO for wireless backhaul use is enabled by default, and shows up on the "AiMesh" tab where it shows the connection between the nodes.

I haven't tried tuning off MLO in the Wireless -> MLO tab to see if that turns off MLO for wireless backhaul, since that reboots the router. For the entire time I've been using the BT10 mesh, MLO wireless backhaul has been enabled, and has worked well...no reason to turn it off.

Hope this helps.

 

[Wolverine]

To use ssh, you'll need to enable it first using the "Admin" -> "System" tab of the web admin GUI. In that tab, just use the "Service" section to enable ssh for "LAN-only" for this purpose. Pick a port number over 1024, allow password login, and no need to fill in the "Authorized Keys" section.

For the MLO stuff, the only places that I'm aware of is "MLO" tab under the main "Wireless" tab. That's an enable/disable for MLO for client-facing MLO. Then you turn on or off MLO for "front haul" (clients) for each of your various networks under the "Networks" main tab. I've found that MLO for wireless backhaul use is enabled by default, and shows up on the "AiMesh" tab where it shows the connection between the nodes.

I haven't tried tuning off MLO in the Wireless -> MLO tab to see if that turns off MLO for wireless backhaul, since that reboots the router. For the entire time I've been using the BT10 mesh, MLO wireless backhaul has been enabled, and has worked well...no reason to turn it off.

Hope this helps.

Yeah I googled specifics on it, I've heard of it and such just never done it... I tried and it didn't work... I will try it again later tonight after I'm off work. I emailed Asus a big long list of everything I've done, my logs from both my first pair and the 2nd pair of BT10's... I don't have much faith that they will be much help either but mainly asked them if they are aware of these issues and is a known issue and if there were any new fixes or a new firmware coming soon to fix it. We'll see what happens. They'd escalated it to level 3... I'm curious to see what they will come back with.