ZenWifi XT8 stuck in a boot loop

[SimianFiction]

Came home yesterday and noticed that my router node wasn't connected to the internet (red light) but the modem seemed fine. The router disconnecting randomly had happened when I first got it but after toggling the DCHP retrieval method from aggressive to normal, that seemed to prevent the disconnects. So I simply turned the router off and back on and it reconnected to the internet, no problem.

A bit later, it disconnected again, only this time when I went to check on it, the green light was flashing (start up mode). It would eventually get to the solid white light (connected), but only for a second, and then would go back to flashing green. It just repeats this behavior non-stop.

I attempted a WPS reset (holding the WPS button on the bottom). I read on here that people had issues with the WPS reset in the past, but I held the button long enough to see the light go from white, to flashing green, to completely off. Turning the router off and then back on just led straight back into the boot loop.

Because it won't fully boot, I can't connect to the GUI.

I was able to use the reset button to put it into rescue mode, and attempted to use the firmware restoration software to reload the firmware, and although the ASUS app says that it was successful, rebooting the router just lead straight back to the boot loop, yet again.

I am unable to escape the boot loop. I contacted ASUS and they issued an RMA. This is pretty disappointing given that the unit is only a month old (but literally one day outside of the Amazon return window, FML).

I saw a thread on Reddit where someone mentioned that their ASUS AC router got stuck on a boot loop and they just let it run the loop overnight and it eventually sorted itself out. Sadly, this did not work for me.

Figured I'd check here and see if anyone has any other suggestions before I box this up for a return. On the one hand I don't want to revert back to my old router for two weeks while I wait for them to ship me a new one - on the other hand I don't really want this one anymore if it's a POS. For what's it's worth, I was fairly happy with it while it was working. I've had ASUS routers for years and decided to stick with them because, on the whole, the XT8 has favorable reviews online. This has definitely soured me a bit.

 

[L&LD]

How long did you wait for the rescue mode to finish? It may be hours before it boots up normally to the firmware you flashed.

 

[SimianFiction]

How long did you wait for the rescue mode to finish? It may be hours before it boots up normally to the firmware you flashed.

10 minutes? The app says to reboot manually if you don't see it reboot on its own, but doesn't specify an amount of time to wait. Hours seems a bit excessive...

 

[L&LD]

I'm not familiar with that model, but if you have a few hours to kill anyway, it may not hurt to try.

 

[SimianFiction]

Decided to contact Amazon despite the window return closing, and they offered me a refund, which is pretty rad. Now I'm at the crossroads of what to get to replace this. Reviews on the Orbi seemed to be pretty mixed. I was mostly happy with the XT8 until today. Tempted roll the dice and get another set of XT8s...

 

[L&LD]

Return it and don't look back.

 

[SimianFiction]

For anyone that happens to catch this thread later, after letting it run through the loop for almost 48 hours, it finally stopped. It switched to solid blue LED (ready to set up), however when I tried to go through the set up process, it kept saying that it couldn't connect to my modem (no WAN signal detected). I tried reseting it again - no dice. Instead I swapped it with what was formerly the satellite node, and that node worked perfectly, and I was able to set that up as the main router node.

The former router node, the one that's busted, will not connect, period. I tried connecting it to the AI Mesh and it couldn't be detected, so I can't use it as a satellite. It's possible it can't be detected because it's still configured as a router, but since I can't reset it, and it won't connect to my modem, it's basically garbage.

So I guess if anyone reads this and their node is stuck in a boot loop, double check your warranty, cause it's probably gonna need to go back. On the plus side, you could potentially set up the other node as the router while you wait on a replacement.

 

[L&LD]

Try the appropriate steps below to see if you can reset it or not, but it looks like this is being returned from what you have reported here so far.

Fully Reset Router and Network

[Wireless] ASUS router Hard Factory Reset | Official Support | ASUS Global