Struggling with Asus ZenWiFi BE30000 aka 3 node BQ16 Pro bundle

[Poppys33d]

Smart! Good approach!

What's your typical number of days (or hours) before the issue(s) rear their ugly heads?

Let's hope "something" brings you some stability/relief until ASUS gets things smoothed out

Not quite 2 weeks later and bam, one is offline, needing a manual reboot.

Just total BS.

 

[bobcdk]

Hi all,

Hoping someone can help me out or point me in the right direction. I recently migrated my mesh network to a BQ16 Pro set from a pair of XT8s that have served me incredibly well since 2020.

The BQ16 Pro, after a bit of a fiddly setup, have been mostly reliable, other than some IoT issues which I eventually found workarounds for.

However, 3 times now, I've had to factory reset the main node + satellite and reconfigure them. Every time has been after a power outage or disruption in power to the modem (a Hitron Coda56) and router. When this happens, the LED on the main node turns red, and it simply can't pull an IP or do anything from the modem, no matter how many times I reset them, power cycle them, etc. The only fix is for me to factory reset the router, and then set it up again. The modem connects to my ISP just fine (the hardware indicates this, and so too does my ISP[Xfinity] mobile app, which is able to ping my modem), but something at the router just refuses to work once the power is restored. I'm guessing there's some issue with the modem getting the appropriate MAC address for the router.

I never had this problem with the XT8. That system would connect itself again and continue chugging along. This is a completely new situation that I'm running into, now consistently, in the event of any kind of power outage.

Anyone have any ideas what could be causing this?

edit: looking at the admin panel, I see DHCP Query frequency is set to aggressive. Is continuous a better approach?
edit2: looks like this is not uncommon. Wish I had known this before my return window expired. I'm 5 days late.:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ASUS/comments/1anuh02/dhcp_wan_reconnect_problems_across_asus_routers

Well, after a few weeks of stability, we had another 15 second power outage (thanks PG&E), and I had the same issue again. Only a factory reset got it back up.

 

[JohnNadeau]

Not quite 2 weeks later and bam, one is offline, needing a manual reboot.

Just total BS.

Bummer for sure!

Some other things that come to mind...

1. Is there anything in your AC at this location that could be problematic (either plugged directly into a GFCI receptacle... or this receptacle is wired in series with another GFCI down-chain from the receptacle you're using) (or an ARC-Fault Breaker for this circuit (ARC-Fault Breakers typically have a green button on them)?
2. Power Supply:
   1. Try switching the Power Supply with one of your working Nodes.
   2. I had a NetGear Rs700 that was power-cycling/rebooting randomly. It was pure hell troubleshooting. Ultimately found out through observation that there was a Cold-Solder issue on the Router connection that would work, heat up, fail, etc. I was able to replicate the power-cycle by putting slight pressure (in different directions... up/down/left/right) on the DC Power Supply Barrel where it inserts into the router then BAM... I could watch it reboot in front of me!
   3. Do you have this node plugged into a UPS/Battery-Backup? If not, can you try? (note: if you have an Ethernet Switch or Hub at this location, assure it is plugged into the UPS as well).
3. Anything in your Ethernet Chain that may be worth looking at:
   1. I've had Cat6 Ports wired by professionals that were NOT "punched down" completely at one end or the other or one of the wires had a slight nick in them. They worked, but were problematic at times until corrected. Remove from wall, turn over, examine leads, consider removing, cutting off where currently connected, then re-punch down.
   2. Examine the copper leads "inside" each port to assure they are straight & unobstructed.
   3. Any Switches or Hubs between Nodes? Confirm Ports in those areas too.
   4. Try different/new cables; Assure the plastic clip on both ends is gently bent out first (without breaking) to assure a firm connection
4. Have you tried Wireless Backhaul instead of Wired/Ethernet?
5. Try swapping the two nodes to see if the problematic one works better upstairs and the upstairs one becomes problematic downstairs.

 

[Poppys33d]

Bummer for sure!

Some other things that come to mind...

1. Is there anything in your AC at this location that could be problematic (either plugged directly into a GFCI receptacle... or this receptacle is wired in series with another GFCI down-chain from the receptacle you're using) (or an ARC-Fault Breaker for this circuit (ARC-Fault Breakers typically have a green button on them)?
2. Power Supply:
   1. Try switching the Power Supply with one of your working Nodes.
   2. I had a NetGear Rs700 that was power-cycling/rebooting randomly. It was pure hell troubleshooting. Ultimately found out through observation that there was a Cold-Solder issue on the Router connection that would work, heat up, fail, etc. I was able to replicate the power-cycle by putting slight pressure (in different directions... up/down/left/right) on the DC Power Supply Barrel where it inserts into the router then BAM... I could watch it reboot in front of me!
   3. Do you have this node plugged into a UPS/Battery-Backup? If not, can you try? (note: if you have an Ethernet Switch or Hub at this location, assure it is plugged into the UPS as well).
3. Anything in your Ethernet Chain that may be worth looking at:
   1. I've had Cat6 Ports wired by professionals that were NOT "punched down" completely at one end or the other or one of the wires had a slight nick in them. They worked, but were problematic at times until corrected. Remove from wall, turn over, examine leads, consider removing, cutting off where currently connected, then re-punch down.
   2. Examine the copper leads "inside" each port to assure they are straight & unobstructed.
   3. Any Switches or Hubs between Nodes? Confirm Ports in those areas too.
   4. Try different/new cables; Assure the plastic clip on both ends is gently bent out first (without breaking) to assure a firm connection
4. Have you tried Wireless Backhaul instead of Wired/Ethernet?

I meant to update, but thank you for the reply. I figured out something other than the Asus nodes was at play here, as when the Asus AP went offline, I checked my wired devices and they were running at 10Mbit upload and download. The Asus AP connects to the main Asus (in router mode) via a simple 2.5Gb switch. I put the Asus behind the 2.5Gb switch so that if the Asus died, my wired devices would at least still work. That they were running at 10Mbit gave me pause. I noticed, too, that connected to my other Asus AP (3 total, 2 APs and one in router mode), - I was also only getting 10Mbit up and down.

So I proceeded to check all the wiring in my house, pulling out every single wall plate, and checking every termination. Every. Single. Termination was incorrect. Using my Klein tools network tester (the thingy with the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 lights), it would read out of order on every single termination. I've been living here 10 years. How my network worked AT ALL is astonishing, much less at 2.5Gbit! Every time the order of lights would be along the lines of 2, 5, 3, 7, 1, 6, 8, 4 etc. Completely messed up. Spent about 6 hours pulling furniture out of the way, and re-terminating all the connections. Now every connection is correct, and so far, so good. First day has been good, - just 27 more and I'll call it actually good.

Sigh.

 

[Poppys33d]

As an aside, is there a way to check if my iPhone 17 Pro is actually connecting via WiFi 7 or not? I've no way to test, since the Asus just shows 6Ghz (which can be 6E or 7), and the phone doesn't tell you. Supremely unhelpful.

 

[JohnNadeau]

I figured out something other than the Asus nodes was at play here

I checked my wired devices and they were running at 10Mbit upload and download.

Every. Single. Termination was incorrect.

re-terminating all the connections.

Now every connection is correct

Good Morning @Poppys33d !

Wow... GREAT find, which impacts so much more than just your Asus Router/Mesh system!!!

So were they wired as simple "straight-through" connections (not separating one twisted pair onto pins 3+6 Orange/White Orange; Or Green/White Green) (and reversing the sequence of Blue Blue/White onto pins 4+5) as below?

For anyone else jumping into this thread, many great wiring articles out there but here's a quick link to a good one.

@Poppys33d very interested in following your results! Please keep us posted. If that uncooperative node keeps acting up, can we float back to this post ? I just edited it to also try swapping the two nodes to see if the problematic one works better upstairs and the upstairs one becomes problematic downstairs.

 

[Poppys33d]

Good Morning @Poppys33d !

Wow... GREAT find, which impacts so much more than just your Asus Router/Mesh system!!!

So were they wired as simple "straight-through" connections (not separating one twisted pair onto pins 3+6 Orange/White Orange; Or Green/White Green) (and reversing the sequence of Blue Blue/White onto pins 4+5) as below?

View attachment 68353

For anyone else jumping into this thread, many great wiring articles out there but here's a quick link to a good one.

@Poppys33d very interested in following your results! Please keep us posted. If that uncooperative node keeps acting up, can we float back to this post ? I just edited it to also try swapping the two nodes to see if the problematic one works better upstairs and the upstairs one becomes problematic downstairs.

Honestly I should have taken a photo of the connections but didn’t, which was admittedly silly. It may well have been T568A at one end. Definitely T568B in my panel where all the room lead to. Either way, all T568B now.

Yes if anything still misbehaves I’ll circle back.

Also, did you see my follow-up post before your reply? Thanks!

 

[JohnNadeau]

Also, did you see my follow-up post before your reply? Thanks!

My apologies! Yes, I did see that re iPhone. I'm on Android and only has Wi-Fi 6. It "does" indicate when connected via Wi-Fi 6 with a little "6" next to the Wi-Fi Icon at the top of the phone. Very little knowledge with iPhones, so hopefully someone with iPhone will chime in

Maybe now's not the time to make changes, but that got me to thinking: In one of my prior posts, I suggested you match my Settings/Screenshots, which basically turned OFF Wi-Fi 7 for testing/troubleshooting. IF you did that, at one point, you could try re-enabling Wi-Fi 7 and see if your iPhone pops up with a Wi-Fi 7 Indicator

 

[JohnNadeau]

you could try re-enabling Wi-Fi 7 and see if your iPhone pops up with a Wi-Fi 7 Indicator

On-the-other-hand... I had an extra minute and ran a Google Search: "does the new iphone indicate when it's connected to wifi7"

Looks like you might have to log into your Asus Router for an indicator.

 

[Poppys33d]

My apologies! Yes, I did see that re iPhone. I'm on Android and only has Wi-Fi 6. It "does" indicate when connected via Wi-Fi 6 with a little "6" next to the Wi-Fi Icon at the top of the phone. Very little knowledge with iPhones, so hopefully someone with iPhone will chime in

Maybe now's not the time to make changes, but that got me to thinking: In one of my prior posts, I suggested you match my Settings/Screenshots, which basically turned OFF Wi-Fi 7 for testing/troubleshooting. IF you did that, at one point, you could try re-enabling Wi-Fi 7 and see if your iPhone pops up with a Wi-Fi 7 Indicator

All good! Yeah the iPhone doesn’t tell you if it’s Wi-Fi 7 or anything itself. There’s no way to know looking at an iPhone if you’re on 2.4, 5 or 6Ghz network. By the way, I have a Windows PC and while it’s wired, it does have WiFi 7 capability and does connect via WiFi 7 even with your settings/screenshots matched exactly, just an FYI. Turning off MLO doesn’t turn off WiFi 7 entirely. Windows reports it connected at I think it was 5.5Gbit and using 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7).

Either way, the Asus router just shows the PC connected to the 6Ghz band but not if it’s 6E or 7, even though I know it’s 7. Really silly. I just wanted to know if there was a way in the Asus router/AP to see if a device is connected at 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6E) or 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7).

 

[jzchen]

As an aside, is there a way to check if my iPhone 17 Pro is actually connecting via WiFi 7 or not? I've no way to test, since the Asus just shows 6Ghz (which can be 6E or 7), and the phone doesn't tell you. Supremely unhelpful.

I set the two separate 6 GHz (on a BE98 Pro full disclosure) 6-GHz-1 WiFi 7 mode toggled OFF 6 GHz-2 WiFi 7 mode ON. Which one I see the device on indicates....

 

[Poppys33d]

I set the two separate 6 GHz (on a BE98 Pro full disclosure) 6-GHz-1 WiFi 7 mode toggled OFF 6 GHz-2 WiFi 7 mode ON. Which one I see the device on indicates....

That's a good idea if you're okay with not having the same SSID for each network. I'd like to keep things just a little more... uniform. But thanks for that. It's odd that Asus doesn't tell you what things are connected to. Silly...

 

[Poppys33d]

Good Morning @Poppys33d !

Wow... GREAT find, which impacts so much more than just your Asus Router/Mesh system!!!

So were they wired as simple "straight-through" connections (not separating one twisted pair onto pins 3+6 Orange/White Orange; Or Green/White Green) (and reversing the sequence of Blue Blue/White onto pins 4+5) as below?

View attachment 68353

For anyone else jumping into this thread, many great wiring articles out there but here's a quick link to a good one.

@Poppys33d very interested in following your results! Please keep us posted. If that uncooperative node keeps acting up, can we float back to this post ? I just edited it to also try swapping the two nodes to see if the problematic one works better upstairs and the upstairs one becomes problematic downstairs.

2 weeks and zero issues. Long may this continue.

 

[JohnNadeau]

2 weeks and zero issues. Long may this continue.

Awesome update!

 

[Poppys33d]

Awesome update!

Yeah so far it’s been super stable.