Connectivity Issues on IOT Devices with ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000 and ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) Mesh

[naty48]

Hello everyone,

I recently upgraded my network setup and have run into some challenges that I'm hoping you can help me with.

My Network Configuration
Router: ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000
Mesh System: ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) with Ethernet Backhaul Mode
Networks: Separated (2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz)

The Issue:
After replacing my ISP-provided router with the ROG Rapture GT-AXE16000,
I've been experiencing numerous connectivity issues with my IOT devices on the 2.4GHz network.
Most of these devices use the Espressif esp8266 chip, which I know can have compatibility issues when WMM (Wi-Fi Multimedia) is enabled.
Unfortunately, I'm unable to disable WMM on this network.

What I'm Looking For
How to set the 2.4GHz network to Legacy mode (i.e., not 802.11ax).
How to disable WMM for the 2.4GHz network specifically.

My Current Settings

Advanced Settings -> Wireless

General Settings

• Enable Smart Connect: No

2.4 GHz Settings

• SSID: [Redacted]
• Channel Bandwidth: 20/40 MHz
• Control Channel: Auto (Current Control Channel: 9)
• Authentication Method: WPA2-Personal
• WPA Encryption: AES

5 GHz-1 Settings

• SSID: [Redacted]
• Channel Bandwidth: 20/40/80/160 MHz
• Control Channel: Auto (Current Control Channel: 36)
• Authentication Method: WPA2-Personal
• WPA Encryption: AES
• Wireless - Professional (2.4 GHz)

Wireless - Professional

• Band: 2.4 GHz
• Enable Radio: Yes
• Enable wireless scheduler: No
• Set AP Isolated: No
• Roaming assistant: Disable
• Enable IGMP Snooping: Disable
• Multicast Rate(Mbps): Auto
• Preamble Type: Long
• AMPDU RTS: Disable
• DTIM Interval: 1
• Beacon Interval: 100
• Enable TX Bursting: Enable
• Enable WMM: Enable (No option to disable)
• Enable WMM No-Acknowledgement: Enable (There is option to disable)
• Enable WMM APSD: Disable
• Optimize AMPDU aggregation: Disable
• Airtime Fairness: Disable
• Multi-User MIMO: Disable
• OFDMA/802.11ax MU-MIMO: Disable
• Tx power adjustment: Performance

General -> Traffic Analyzer

• Only 'QoS - Web History' is On.

* It's worth mentioning that without this setting enabled, my IoT devices become highly unreliable, functioning only about 5% of the time.
However, enabling it seems to throttle my internet speed due to weak processor of the router, preventing me from reaching the full 5Gbps speed that I should be getting.




General -> Ai Protection

• Everything set to Off

General -> Game Acceleration

• Everything set to Off

I would greatly appreciate any insights or solutions you can provide. Thank you!

 

[ColinTaylor]

Do you not have the option to disable 802.11ax? What about Wireless Mode?

 

[naty48]

Funny thing, its only an option in the mobile app, but not on web version..

Anyway, still cannot disable WMM.

 

[ColinTaylor]

What about Wireless - General > Wireless Mode? I believe the option to disable WMM only exists if you can set Wireless Mode to Legacy (aka 802.11g).

Don't Mess With WMM! - SmallNetBuilder

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18

www.smallnetbuilder.com

Do you have Protected Management Frames disabled as enabling that has caused problems for some people?

Enable IGMP Snooping should be enabled.

 

[naty48]

What about Wireless - General > Wireless Mode? I believe the option to disable WMM only exists if you can set Wireless Mode to Legacy (aka 802.11g).

Don't Mess With WMM! - SmallNetBuilder

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18

www.smallnetbuilder.com

no such option for me.

Do you have Protected Management Frames disabled as enabling that has caused problems for some people?

Enable IGMP Snooping should be enabled.

Yes, and also enabled the IGMP S now.

But I really want to change to 802.11n to disable wmm..

 

[ColinTaylor]

But I really want to change to 802.11n to disable wmm..

As that article I linked to says, WMM is mandatory for 802.11n and above. The only way to disable it would be to drop down to 802.11g. None of these options appear to be available in your router's GUI though.

 

[naty48]

As that article I linked to says, WMM is mandatory for 802.11n and above. The only way to disable it would be to drop down to 802.11g. None of these options appear to be available in your router's GUI though.

Meant 802.11g ofc.. hopefully someone has workaround.., Thanks anyways!

 

[ColinTaylor]

I'm just wondering whether the Wireless Mode option would appear if the GT-AXE16000 was running as a standalone router rather than part of AiMesh.

You could perhaps try forcing it using SSH commands but any changes would likely be temporary.

 

[drabisan]

@naty48 esp8266 is notoriously nasty. I had problems with it even with my old GT-AC5300, back in late 2019. It was working on "normal" SSID, but it was disconnecting on Guest.
There's no one side fits all with this chipset. Worth trying creating a guest network and connect it to it. Maybe it will work. For me it was the other way around back then.
I eventually moved on from that chipset. Everything I was doing to my network could and would create problem to the device with that chipset. Too sensitive for my taste.

 

[tgl]

There's a good deal of lore to the effect that AIMesh has trouble with detailed RF configuration if your main router and nodes aren't all alike. You might want to forget about mesh mode and just run the XT8 as a standalone AP. You'll have to configure all the RF settings twice, once on the main and once on the XT8, but you should be able to get at all the settings that way.

 

[naty48]

I'm just wondering whether the Wireless Mode option would appear if the GT-AXE16000 was running as a standalone router rather than part of AiMesh.

You could perhaps try forcing it using SSH commands but any changes would likely be temporary.

Already tried factory reset both routers, never paired in Mesh - still doesn't has it (on the other hand, the XT8 Does have Legacy mode with the ability to disable WMM!).

Seem like they just removed that option.

I also ssh'd to the router and using nvram tried to disable WMM/WME manually - committed, restarted - same result (they turn on automatically)

wl_wme=off
wl3_wme=off

wl_gmode=1 (also tried 0)
wl3_gmode=1 (also tried 0)

wl_11ax=0
wl3_11ax=0

Anyways, What a sucks router..

 

[Krzysztofz]

Already tried factory reset both routers, never paired in Mesh - still doesn't has it (on the other hand, the XT8 Does have Legacy mode with the ability to disable WMM!).

Seem like they just removed that option.

I also ssh'd to the router and using nvram tried to disable WMM/WME manually - committed, restarted - same result (they turn on automatically)

wl_wme=off
wl3_wme=off

wl_gmode=1 (also tried 0)
wl3_gmode=1 (also tried 0)

wl_11ax=0
wl3_11ax=0

Anyways, What a sucks router..

Had same connection issues with esp8266, now I'm testing (couple of hours) :

- disabled Dhcp on Asus router
- enabled dhcp server on other device in my case on Synology NAS.

Esp8266 device which had connection issues after that solution connecting without issues.

Worth to check.

@naty48 esp8266 is notoriously nasty. I had problems with it even with my old GT-AC5300, back in late 2019. It was working on "normal" SSID, but it was disconnecting on Guest.
There's no one side fits all with this chipset. Worth trying creating a guest network and connect it to it. Maybe it will work. For me it was the other way around back then.
I eventually moved on from that chipset. Everything I was doing to my network could and would create problem to the device with that chipset. Too sensitive for my taste.

Had same connection issues with esp8266, now I'm testing (couple of hours and looks promising) :

- disabled Dhcp on Asus router
- enabled Dhcp server on other device in my case on Synology NAS.

Esp8266 device which had connection issues after that solution connecting without problem.

Worth to check.