GT-AX6000 as AiMesh Node?

[visortgw]

I have a GT-AX6000 as my primary router with Merlin 386.7 (same issue described here occurred with Merlin 386.6 as well). I purchased a second GT-AX6000 during a recent Newegg.com sale as a "spare" (I couldn't resist the ASUS sale price in combination with Newegg's instant coupon and free shipping). After receiving it, I attempted to configure it as an AiMesh node in order to utilize 2.5 Gbps backbone to all of my AiMesh nodes (other AiMesh nodes include two RT-AX86U (2.5 Gbps backhaul) and one RT-AX82U (wireless backhaul)). I am able to successfully select and add the second GT-AX6000 as an AiMesh node (receive confirmation), but it never appears in the list of AiMesh nodes on either the AiMesh tab or the Network Map tab, followed by AiMesh Node button. The same thing happens with either Merlin 386.7 (or earlier 386.6) or the latest Asus baseline 386_49273.

Has anyone else encountered this with GT-AX6000 or other router? Any thoughts or suggestions? In the interim, I have it configured as an AP.

 

[recuerom]

I have a GT-AX6000 as my primary router with Merlin 386.7 (same issue described here occurred with Merlin 386.6 as well). I purchased a second GT-AX6000 during a recent Newegg.com sale as a "spare" (I couldn't resist the ASUS sale price in combination with Newegg's instant coupon and free shipping). After receiving it, I attempted to configure it as an AiMesh node in order to utilize 2.5 Gbps backbone to all of my AiMesh nodes (other AiMesh nodes include two RT-AX86U (2.5 Gbps backhaul) and one RT-AX82U (wireless backhaul)). I am able to successfully select and add the second GT-AX6000 as an AiMesh node (receive confirmation), but it never appears in the list of AiMesh nodes on either the AiMesh tab or the Network Map tab, followed by AiMesh Node button. The same thing happens with either Merlin 386.7 (or earlier 386.6) or the latest Asus baseline 386_49273.

Has anyone else encountered this with GT-AX6000 or other router? Any thoughts or suggestions? In the interim, I have it configured as an AP.

This may sound silly but after the disaster of installing 386.7 (I emphasize it is a GPL issue) and losing attached nodes I went back to scratch to rebuild the mesh. I could not get the gt-ax6000 routers (I have 5) to be recognised until I plugged it into the first ethernet port of the router !! From that point I was able to add another 4 nodes this way without any issues. I know it makes no sense but seriously, I wasted 2 days until I plugged there by accident.

 

[recuerom]

This may sound silly but after the disaster of installing 386.7 (I emphasize it is a GPL issue) and losing attached nodes I went back to scratch to rebuild the mesh. I could not get the gt-ax6000 routers (I have 5) to be recognised until I plugged it into the first ethernet port of the router !! From that point I was able to add another 4 nodes this way without any issues. I know it makes no sense but seriously, I wasted 2 days until I plugged there by accident. And yes I could always configured the routers that could not be found as AP's (which proved to me the routers were fine.

 

[visortgw]

I believe you, even though it makes zero sense! By "first ethernet port of router", are you referring to 1 Gbps Ethernet (port 1) or 2.5 Gbps Ethernet (port 5), which are on opposite ends? Once configured, am I correct to assume that you can then move it to ANY Ethernet port? I am away for couple of weeks, but I plan to backup my current AP configuration (in case it doesn't work for me) and to try this upon my return. Thanks!

 

[recuerom]

I believe you, even though it makes zero sense! By "first ethernet port of router", are you referring to 1 Gbps Ethernet (port 1) or 2.5 Gbps Ethernet (port 5), which are on opposite ends? Once configured, am I correct to assume that you can then move it to ANY Ethernet port? I am away for couple of weeks, but I plan to backup my current AP configuration (in case it doesn't work for me) and to try this upon my return. Thanks!

The first 1GB port , I had a NAS using PORT 1 and PORT 2 bound so it never occurred to me to unplug it. But when I replaced the router (out of ideas at this point) I plugged it into the first 1Gb port and it found it straight away. I proved it with another node and then went back to port 1 for the other 3 nodes and they worked first time. Just for the record too, I found that you really need to hold that reset button for a good 10 seconds for the router to actually reset. Two days of my life I am not getting back !!

 

[recuerom]

To answer your comment, i found that I was not resetting long enough so you may be right that after the first config it may well be any port; but definitely port 1 got the mesh started !!

 

[visortgw]

The first 1GB port , I had a NAS using PORT 1 and PORT 2 bound so it never occurred to me to unplug it. But when I replaced the router (out of ideas at this point) I plugged it into the first 1Gb port and it found it straight away. I proved it with another node and then went back to port 1 for the other 3 nodes and they worked first time. Just for the record too, I found that you really need to hold that reset button for a good 10 seconds for the router to actually reset. Two days of my life I am not getting back !!

If you need to reset GT-AX6000 in the future, BEST method is to:

1. Power off router.
2. Hold WPS button.
3. Power on router (while still holding WPS button).
4. Wait for power LED to successively:
   1. Glow steady dim.
   2. Glow bright.
   3. Turn off.
5. Once power LED turns off, power off router for 10 seconds and turn back on.

 

[recuerom]

Thanks for this, I did not follow your step 5 correctly but I did try the WPS method as well. Once I discovered the port 1 business the normal reset button for 10 seconds worked fine.

 

[Tech9]

Two days of my life I am not getting back !!

What you describe as an issue is known Asuswrt-Merlin quirk with known workaround. You have discovered it by accident. Node discovery in Asuswrt-Merlin works only when the node is wired. In GT-AX6000 case you perhaps have to use the main LAN ports for the process, not the 2.5GbE ports.

 

[visortgw]

Yes, configure the AiMesh nodes first using 1 Gbps wired connection, and, once connected, reconfigure the node to use the 2.5 Gbps port as priority.