Finally found XT8 configuration that works

[Gyosa]

Hi all !
new here , and not an expert by any means .
been a long time lurker and have gained considerable knowledge from reading y’all’s posts .. thank you very much !

I hope this helps anyone experiencing similar issues.

I finally found a configuration that works after the disaster that the latest firmware -22068- was to my system.

I have 2 XT8’s and an old AC86U In a mesh system - both wireless backhaul- one xt8 and the 86u as nodes.
I’ve had the xt8’s for about a year and the system had been working flawlessly until the last FW upgrade a few weeks ago.

after the upgrade, which was dirty, both of my nodes would disconnect multiple times a day and revert to 2.5ghz wireless and the xt8 node would flash blue multiple times a day before reconnecting at 5ghz before switching to 2.5ghz. The 86u seemed to be more stable.

I downgraded both nodes to 21617 and the problems persisted.
I played around with : setting the backhaul to only 20,40,80 … selecting manual channels , enabling auto channel , enabling 160 mhz , enabling U-NII-4…. And a few other things .
nothing worked

i then did a factory reset on both xt8s and the 86u, then reconfigured the whole system .

I selected 20,40,80,160 , set channel to 149 , checked auto channel enable UNII-4 And checked enable 160mhz.

the system has been rock solid for several days now.
the signal strength gained -10 to -12 db on both nodes as well .

the only weird thing is that the only U-NII-4 channel I have showing in the menu is 165.

no matter , solved my issues .

hope this helps someone!

bk

 

[OzarkEdge]

Hi all !
new here , and not an expert by any means .
been a long time lurker and have gained considerable knowledge from reading y’all’s posts .. thank you very much !

I hope this helps anyone experiencing similar issues.

I finally found a configuration that works after the disaster that the latest firmware -22068- was to my system.

I have 2 XT8’s and an old AC86U In a mesh system - both wireless backhaul- one xt8 and the 86u as nodes.
I’ve had the xt8’s for about a year and the system had been working flawlessly until the last FW upgrade a few weeks ago.

after the upgrade, which was dirty, both of my nodes would disconnect multiple times a day and revert to 2.5ghz wireless and the xt8 node would flash blue multiple times a day before reconnecting at 5ghz before switching to 2.5ghz. The 86u seemed to be more stable.

I downgraded both nodes to 21617 and the problems persisted.
I played around with : setting the backhaul to only 20,40,80 … selecting manual channels , enabling auto channel , enabling 160 mhz , enabling U-NII-4…. And a few other things .
nothing worked

i then did a factory reset on both xt8s and the 86u, then reconfigured the whole system .

I selected 20,40,80,160 , set channel to 149 , checked auto channel enable UNII-4 And checked enable 160mhz.

the system has been rock solid for several days now.
the signal strength gained -10 to -12 db on both nodes as well .

the only weird thing is that the only U-NII-4 channel I have showing in the menu is 165.

no matter , solved my issues .

hope this helps someone!

bk

Nice work!

I figure the AC86U node does not support U-NII-4 channels, restricting the router to control ch 165... see the 80 and 160MHz options below in pink, 167 and 171, using control channel 165:

Check the node connection in the WLog... is it stuck on 20MHz bandwidth?

OE

 

[Gyosa]

Check the node connection in the WLog... is it stuck on 20MHz bandwidth?

OE

Sorry , I don’t know how to do that …
tell me and I’d love to ..

you’re prob right , the 86u doesn’t support the U-NII-4 channels , it’s only dual band - so no 5ghz-2.

thanks for the input !

bk

 

[OzarkEdge]

Check the node connection in the WLog... is it stuck on 20MHz bandwidth?

OE

Sorry , I don’t know how to do that …
tell me and I’d love to ..

you’re prob right , the 86u doesn’t support the U-NII-4 channels .

thanks for the input !

bk

There is a System Log\Wireless Log in the router webUI... look for the AC86U's MAC address entry for its backhaul connection details... the bandwidth BW may be 20MHz... 80 would be best.

OE

 

[OzarkEdge]

Is this it ?

Yes, scroll down to see the other band(s)... the backhaul band.

OE

 

[OzarkEdge]

The bottom two entries appear to be your AX and AC wireless backhauls, 4 streams/antennas (NSS), 80MHz bandwidth (BW), strong signal (RSSI) and Tx rates. The AC86U backhaul is not stuck on 20MHz... its at 80MHz bw (my error confusing 149 with 165 in your first post). And the band is using control ch 149 at 80MHz max bandwidth (149/80). U-NII-4 and 160MHz bw are not being used.

OE

 

[OzarkEdge]

Thanks for translating that info for me .
most of this is “Greek” to me , obviously…

that last FW upgrade really destroyed my otherwise stable system…
trying to get it back to performing optimally.

should I enable 160mhz or U-NII-4 ?
obviously , I thought I did !
if so , how exactly do I do it ?
would it be as simple as manually selecting ch 165 on the 5ghz-2 backhaul channel and leaving the U-NII-4 box selected ?

is it correct that either 160mhz and , or U-NII-4 will provide better backhaul ?

thanks , I appreciate any help .

bk

I'm not familair with using a tri-band router with a dual-band node, so can't advise exactly...

The AC86U can't use band4 nor 160MHz, so its backhaul has to be of control ch 36-48 or 149-161 (band1 or band3) with 80MHz max bw. You have to configure the router wireless accordingly.

Too much WiFi can be a detrimental... if you don't need the AC86U WiFi, remove it to permit using ch 165 and band4 (no DFS!) with 160MHz bw for a big, dedicated (WiFi not shared with clients), wireless backhaul. That should yield the best node performance.

OE

 

[Gyosa]

Thanks ,
I understand what you’re saying regarding the 86u , but I need it as it is wired ethernet into a Yamaha music streamer for the pool area - highly unstable on Wi-Fi…that is the 86u’s only purpose.

wouldn‘t the xt8 node‘s 5ghz-2 backhaul channel and it’s settings be independent of the 86u’s 5ghz-1 backhaul ?

would simply selecting ch 165 on the 5-2 backhaul work ?
why am I not showing channels above 165 on the menu ?

thanks again

bk

 

[OzarkEdge]

Thanks ,
I understand what you’re saying regarding the 86u , but I need it as it is wired ethernet into a Yamaha music streamer for the pool area - highly unstable on Wi-Fi…that is the 86u’s only purpose.

wouldn‘t the xt8 node‘s 5ghz-2 backhaul channel and it’s settings be independent of the 86u’s 5ghz-1 backhaul ?

would simply selecting ch 165 on the 5-2 backhaul work ?
why am I not showing channels above 165 on the menu ?

thanks again

bk

Not being familiar with tri-band with dual-band configuration, I would have to investigate with your models/firmware. Knowing the AC86U ch (no DFS bands and no band4) and bw limits (80MHz max), you may be able to work it out with some trial and error... watch the results in the Log.

Using DFS is a marginal proposition... it may allow 160MHz bw in your area. If so, you may be able use a band1 non-DFS control ch 36-48 with 160MHz max bw... then the AC86U will connect at 80MHz (non-DFS control ch and band1) while the XT8 will connect at 160MHz (same non-DFS control ch and band1, plus DFS extension chs on band2)... I call this option "5.0 1,2a-fixed: 160MHz bw; ch 36-48,52-64 (omit DFS/2a)" in my install notes (I use 5.0 to indicate one 5.0 band on dual-band; you might use 5-1 and 5-2 to mean the two 5.0 bands on tri-band).

Worst-case... stick with 80MHz bw and a non-DFS control ch 36-48 or 149-161 to accomodate the AC86U/WiFi5.

OE

 

[Gyosa]

OE ,

I appreciate the attention.
I’ll tinker with it .

bk

 

[Gyosa]

Fixed it .
removed the 86u , factory reset the xt8’s and the U-NII-4 channels were there and connected to At 160 mhz.

then reset the 86u and used media bridge mode to connect to the main xt8 on 5ghz AC channel.

the ac86 is no longer interfering with the mesh connection and is Ethernet wired to the yamaha music streamer …

all is good now …. We’ll see how stable the system is , been good for a few days now .

we’ll see….

thanks For the help !

bk

 

[mslrtpnc]

@Gyosa - I had the same problem and went backlevel as you suggested and everything worked great.

I had also been working with ASUS support and they sent a beta version of software this morning to see if that fixed the issue and it was stable all day. I went out to their download site today and now there is a new version of the software (FW_ZENWIFI_XT8_300438822525.w). I loaded this tonight and no errors at all.

Thanks for your note suggestion here - it saved a lot of time!