Swapping Out Asus Routers

[chrismsales]

My 3 year old Asus GT-AC5300 has continued to randomly drop one of the tri-band radio channels off and on for a while now and after continued reboots and even a complete system reset, I decided to purchase a new RT-AX88U to replace with. Before I go to swap out I was wondering if anyone could advise on the following:

1. Should I use the same WIFI radio settings or should I start fresh? I have multiple clients (smart plugs, bulbs, Arlo cameras) so starting fresh would take a while but I'd do if it would eliminate future issues.
2. How difficult is it to load the much raved about Merlin software? The 5300 was not supported but I see that the AX88U is but I've never done something like that so not sure about the difficulty of loading and managing his software.
3. If I try to use the old GT-AC5300 for a mesh device to expand WIFI coverage, will the issue of radio drops cause worse issues? Also if I load Merlin on the AX88U would I even be able to run a mesh setup since the GT-AC5300 is not supported?
4. I have AT&T 1GB internet so the current GT-AC5300 is running off of the AT&T provided router that is set to run IP Passthrough and the WIFI radio is turned off on the AT&T router.

I'm no expert so trying to do things right while not getting too much above my head. Any advice or other recommendations on the best way to go about things would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[bbunge]

Just jump in with both feet. Yes, use the old SSID. Merlin flashes up in a couple of minutes. Make sure to do a factory reset after flashing merlin and configure manually. Give the old router a place on your storage shelf untill it gathers so much dust you can't see it. Better yet - recycle it.

Edit: Do not use saved config file (system settings from old router)

 

[chrismsales]

Just jump in with both feet. Yes, use the old SSID. Merlin flashes up in a couple of minutes. Make sure to do a factory reset after flashing merlin and configure manually. Give the old router a place on your storage shelf untill it gathers so much dust you can't see it. Better yet - recycle it.

Edit: Do not use saved config file (system settings from old router)

Thank you for the quick feedback. It sounds like I should setup the new router by flashing with Merlin software first, do a factory reset, and then manually configure using my old SSID settings to reconnect clients on the network.

Now to research how to install Merlin software - should be a full Saturday!

Thanks again!

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Now to research how to install Merlin software - should be a full Saturday!

Merlin firmware installs the exact same way as the stock firmware. Very easy and quick.

 

[RogerSC]

You might take a look at this write-up about what firmware to use on each of your routers for AiMesh with RMerlin firmware:

AiMesh

Third party firmware for Asus routers (newer codebase) - RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng

github.com

I'll also add that when I used an RT-AX88U as the "router" node in AiMesh using RMerlin's firmware, I needed to reset both the AX88U router and the node that I was using to factory defaults before the AiMesh software would find the node from the AX88U router. This may or may not be necessary for you.

 

[chrismsales]

Thank you for the replies and advice. Since I'm going from a tri-band router to a dual-band router, are there any suggested special settings maybe I should configure?

I had a DHCP static IPs for my xbox, Habitat and Lutron hub's but that was all I had specially configured.