ZenWiFi Pro XT12 dropping WiFi and not reporting accurately

[Jaxdia]

UPDATE: Decided to return them and get a GT-AX11000 Pro instead. I'm too old and tired to fight the XT12s anymore. You win, glorious spires of light.

Hi folks. So our poor RT-AC86U finally died a heat death (probably due to the horrible hot weather) and we splashed out on an XT12 twin pack, and popped Merlin on the main one. Node is running the latest OFW.

Kind of wish I hadn't now.

So previously, the 86U would report around 40 devices connected. The XT12 reports around 15. Yet, everything still works in the house. Nest thermostat? No idea what the IP address is, but it still works. Smart plugs? Again, not a scooby what the IP addresses are, but they have connectivity.

We also have an Airthings View Plus device, but it really struggles with the new router. About 2-5 minutes after resetting it's connection, it claims it can't connect anymore.


There was one weird thing that happened during initial setup, and I can't help but feel like it may be related somehow.

The 86U had an IP of 192.168.1.1. The XT12 has 192.168.50.1. I tried to configure this in setup, changing it to 1.1. It said I should change the IP pool to match, I agreed. Then after a reboot, the web interface was inaccessible. I could ping it but couldn't bring it up. So, did a factory reset, and to stop it happening again, changed the subnet mask to 255.255.0.0 so my security cameras could keep their static IP addresses, and I didn't have to buy a ladder to reset them.

I feel this may be related, but don't know why, and without input from you guys who are far more knowledgeable than me in home networking, I'm loathe to try and reset it again, as it took me all day yesterday to get things to this point. Sigh!

 

[L&LD]

Welcome to the forums @Jaxdia.

After it asked to change the IP pool to match, and after the reboot, how were you trying to log into the GUI?

I would set up the router from scratch again. And use the same IP pool as your old router, if you don't want to re-associate all your devices.

Particularly if you didn't do a full reset to factory defaults after installing the RMerlin firmware.

When accessing the GUI, using the IP address is the best method, IMO. If that doesn't work, then you may have an issue with the browser you're using, the browser extensions installed, or the browser cache. Test by using 'incognito' mode, a new browser, or by clearing the browser cache (or, all of the above).

 

[Jaxdia]

Welcome to the forums @Jaxdia.

After it asked to change the IP pool to match, and after the reboot, how were you trying to log into the GUI?

I would set up the router from scratch again. And use the same IP pool as your old router, if you don't want to re-associate all your devices.

Particularly if you didn't do a full reset to factory defaults after installing the RMerlin firmware.

When accessing the GUI, using the IP address is the best method, IMO. If that doesn't work, then you may have an issue with the browser you're using, the browser extensions installed, or the browser cache. Test by using 'incognito' mode, a new browser, or by clearing the browser cache (or, all of the above).

Thanks for the reply @L&LD - I went straight to the new IP I thought it would be on - 192.168.1.1 - received a refused connection error.

I went onto the Asus site and downloaded the detection utility. It found the router at that IP address, but on selecting Configure, it went to the same IP, same error. Honestly, I must have factory reset both devices so many times, it started to lose all meaning.

The only way I could get it kind of working, was to do as I mentioned above, set the subnet mask to 255.255.0.0 - which, granted, isn't ideal, and keep the original IP addresses.

What I still don't understand is why most WiFi devices are fine, but the router just forgets they exist. I'm absolutely baffled by that. It issued them IP addresses via DHCP after all - short term memory issues? After sleeping on it, I think I'm going to return them, and get a single GT-AXE11000 instead and save some cash. I've never had the best of luck with mesh devices at the best of times.

 

[Tech9]

Decided to return them and get a GT-AXE11000 instead.

This is older generation hardware router similar to GT-AX11000, but with one of the radios tuned for 6E. The newer generation router matching your XT12 hardware is GT-AX11000 Pro and it has 2x more usable 5GHz radios. Not sure why did you buy this specific model. It's about 3-years old now with less expected support from both Broadcom (drivers) and Asus (firmware). It will also never get newer 3.0.0.6 base firmware.

 

[Jaxdia]

This is older generation hardware router similar to GT-AX11000, but with one of the radios tuned for 6E. The newer generation router matching your XT12 hardware is GT-AX11000 Pro and it has 2x more usable 5GHz radios. Not sure why did you buy this specific model. It's about 3-years old now with less expected support from both Broadcom (drivers) and Asus (firmware). It will also never get newer 3.0.0.6 base firmware.

It hasn't actually arrived yet, so you make a good argument. I'll swap my order.

 

[Tech9]

If 2.5GbE LAN port is not needed - I would get 2x RT-AX86U Pro instead. Perhaps around the same price as single GT-AX11000 Pro, popular model, comes on sale from time to time, works well in AiMesh wired/wireless and takes less space. They will offer better coverage as well compared to single "any model" router. This is in case you need AiMesh and extended coverage. They are "dual-band" routers, but shared backhaul has good enough throughput and you may not notice the difference in real life use. The same CPU/RAM inside as GT-AX11000 Pro with 3.0.0.6 firmware support and less gaming plastic and light effects marketing.

 

[Jaxdia]

If 2.5GbE LAN port is not needed - I would get 2x RT-AX86U Pro instead. Perhaps around the same price as single GT-AX11000 Pro, popular model, comes on sale from time to time, works well in AiMesh wired/wireless and takes less space. They will offer better coverage as well compared to single "any model" router. This is in case you need AiMesh and extended coverage. They are "dual-band" routers, but shared backhaul has good enough throughput and you may not notice the difference in real life use. The same CPU/RAM inside as GT-AX11000 Pro with 3.0.0.6 firmware support and less gaming plastic and light effects marketing.

I loved our RT-AC86U, so anything bearing a similar moniker will always attract me. That said we have a (albeit homebuilt) NAS capable of 2.5GbE - not set up for it yet, but it's nice to have the option. Looked into the GT-AX11000 Pro a bit more, and it seems to tick more of my boxes, although it is close between them.

I've got an RT-AX57 in the garage at the moment, which is where the other XT12 node was going to go, but providing the GT-AX11000 Pro can connect and use that as an AiMesh node, I'm happy with that.

 

[Tech9]

NAS capable of 2.5GbE

Where this 2.5Gbps is going to go? You need a switch with 2.5GbE ports and PCs with 2.5GbE NICs. Nothing Wi-Fi is going to exceed Gigabit. Nothing connected to Gigabit ports is going to exceed Gigabit obviously.

 

[Jaxdia]

Where this 2.5Gbps is going to go? You need a switch with 2.5GbE ports and PCs with 2.5GbE NICs. Nothing Wi-Fi is going to exceed Gigabit. Nothing connected to Gigabit ports is going to exceed Gigabit obviously.

Oh no absolutely - it doesn't connect via WiFi, but the motherboard I used for it (don't ask me the model, I can't remember now!) has a 2.5GbE port onboard. It also hosts a lot of apps (Plex, Syncthing etc) so could have a lot of throughput. Haven't hit any issues yet where I need to consider changes, but the option is there at least.