Zenwifi XT8 (v1) drops wan every 30 mins

[Vimick]

Hi all,

I got zenwifi XT8 base/satellite kit back in 2022. When I initially installed it I had issues with wan dropping pretty consistently throughout the day which required a reboot of the base router. After a bunch troubleshooting and going back and forth with support I decided to flash an older firmware version (unfortunately I don't remember what). That fixed the problem and I have been stable for nearly 3 years.

Recently, I foolishly upgraded my firmware to the lastest forgetting about my initial issues. Since then every 20-30 minutes wan connectivity will drop for 5-15 seconds. This does not require a reboot and recovers on its own.

I attempted to flash back to the oldest firmware I could find on asus website with no luck. I then flashed to 3004.388.9_2-gnuton1 hoping whatever issues that exist in asus firmware would be resolved.


Unfortunately, the wan dropping continues. I would greatly appreciate appreciate any advice and happy to provide any information on my current setup



Update 7/23/25: turns out this was an issue with the my mesh node disconnecting it resolved the issue. no amount of factory resets or firmware flashes resolved the problem, either did connecting hardwire or wireless as backhaul.

 

[ColinTaylor]

It would be helpful if you could go to System Log - General Log, Save the log file and post it here for us to look at.

 

[Vimick]

It would be helpful if you could go to System Log - General Log, Save the log file and post it here for us to look at.

Unfortunately the log file does not indicate the wan drop or that anything is particularly an issue. Here it is attached though.

 

[Vimick]

Also I found my original conversation to asus.

I originally downgraded the firmware to:
3.0.0.4.386_45934-gb23bdac

 

[ColinTaylor]

OK thanks. Firstly your log is being flooded with useless information, so go to Firewall - General and set Logged packets type = None.

Then go to System Log - General Log and set Log only messages more urgent than = all.

Wait for the problem to reoccur and post the new log file.

 

[Vimick]

Thanks I've been looking for the setting to disable the firewall logging. I'll do that then post back

 

[bbunge]

Also, check the router Internet Status. Look for Lease Time. This time may be the same as your disconnects. If so, go to WAN settings, look for DHCP query frequency. The current setting is Aggressive Mode but you can try Normal Mode or Continuous Mode.

 

[Vimick]

Also, check the router Internet Status. Look for Lease Time. This time may be the same as your disconnects. If so, go to WAN settings, look for DHCP query frequency. The current setting is Aggressive Mode but you can try Normal Mode or Continuous Mode.

Thanks for that suggestion. My lease time is set for 1 days and last lease was 21 hours ago. I will change the query frequency to test as well

 

[Vimick]

OK thanks. Firstly your log is being flooded with useless information, so go to Firewall - General and set Logged packets type = None.

Then go to System Log - General Log and set Log only messages more urgent than = all.

Wait for the problem to reoccur and post the new log file.

Updated syslog attached. I saw a drop around 8:10a CST, nothing that really stands out in the logs though

 

[ColinTaylor]

There's nothing related to the WAN in the log file. Does this only effect Wi-Fi devices, what about Ethernet? Does it only effect devices connected to the AiMesh node?

My first suspicion would be that this is an upstream problem with your ISP. Do you have a cable modem? Can you log into it and look at its logs?

 

[Vimick]

There's nothing related to the WAN in the log file. Does this only effect Wi-Fi devices, what about Ethernet? Does it only effect devices connected to the AiMesh node?

My first suspicion would be that this is an upstream problem with your ISP. Do you have a cable modem? Can you log into it and look at its logs?

It affects all devices on the network at the same time. I have a cable modem through spectrum. No ability to log into it but I have bypassed my network and confirmed that the issues don't exist there.

This was an original problem that flashing firmware resolved and started happening again after upgrading firmware

 

[ColinTaylor]

If you can't resolve the problem you could go back to that old firmware. I wouldn't recommend it as the old 386 firmwares have multiple security vulnerabilities, which is part of the reason they're not listed on the Asus website. But if you don't enable any of the router's remote access features you might be OK.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/ZenWiFi_XT8/FW_ZENWIFI_XT8_300438645934.zip

 

[Vimick]

Update:
I have made many attempts at troubleshooting involving:
Rolling back to factory firmware
Factory resetting both base and AP.
Removing my inline pihole (used to service dns only)

Issues still remain. Every 20 minutes exactly I lose connectivity across my network.

New events: syslogs is now capturing wan connectivity messages. (See attached)

I have a suspicion that there may be a device on network that may be causing it. Is there any additional, more verbose logging, I can enable to try to track down the culprit?

 

[degrub]

attachment did not upload.

After factory resetting, did you restore from an existing config backup file ?

 

[Vimick]

attachment did not upload.

Sorry. Uploaded

 

[degrub]

sorry, is not showing.
Also i added a question while you were posting.

 

[Vimick]

attachment did not upload.

After factory resetting, did you restore from an existing config backup file ?

I was unable to load from an existing config. my wifi and admin password were somehow messed up, even though I didnt check the box to remove passwords from config.

trying to upload syslog one more time

 

[degrub]

So the config after factory reset was from manual entry only ?

 

[Vimick]

So the config after factory reset was from manual entry only ?

yes, I had to rebuild the config manually.

 

[ColinTaylor]

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