router AiMesh Do Not Work

[saltcute]

Recently I bought a few AX56U_V2 (AX55) and connect them to some AC68Ws in AiMesh mode. The setup process was completely normal with no problems. But few hours later I suddenly disconnect to my Apex Legend match (lol), finding only one of the AC68Ws is still in "AiMesh" while the rest are in "Client List". Those routers in "Client List" does not provide WiFi and their wired network disconnect occasionally. 

When I visited the management page of each AiMesh Node, it shows "Unable to connect to the Parent AP". I never met this problem before when I have only 3 AC68Ws.

All of the routers have latest firmware, 3.0.0.4.386_42844-g63620cd for AX56U_V2 and 3.0.0.4.386_43129-g60defb2 for AC68W.

BTW AX56U_V2s are Chinese version and I believe the AC68Ws are US version.

Please help 

 

[Kilrah]

Seems they might just be too far from the main router and not have enough signal?

[saltcute]

5 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Seems they might just be too far from the main router and not have enough signal?

But all of the nodes are connected to the router with wire and iirc, disconnected nodes will show in the "Topology" section with gray line connected to the router rather than in "Clients" section

[Kilrah]

I don't have first hand experience with Asus's thing, but all other "mesh" things from consumer manufacturers I tried requried direct wireless connection between all devices, they don't do it through cable. 

To have multiple roaming APs through cable a dedicated system like those from ubiquiti is needed.

[Falcon1986]

35 minutes ago, potatopotat0 said:

But all of the nodes are connected to the router with wire and iirc, disconnected nodes will show in the "Topology" section with gray line connected to the router rather than in "Clients" section

Then why use AiMesh if you have ethernet directly linking the units? The primary router can run in its default router mode while the other units can be run in AP mode.

 

You'll need to configure them properly for this to work right, though.

[Kilrah]

22 minutes ago, Falcon1986 said:

Then why use AiMesh if you have ethernet directly linking the units?

Typically these things only support single SSID/proper roaming when oeperated in mesh mode, if you do it how you say you end up with the usual mess.

[Falcon1986]

1 hour ago, Kilrah said:

Typically these things only support single SSID/proper roaming when oeperated in mesh mode, if you do it how you say you end up with the usual mess.

Not necessarily. It's the same concept behind using APs with a direct uplink to a central router/switch, which was the old way of simulating what mesh and more advanced systems do.

 

Single SSID is fine. Using different non-overlapping channels is important. Reducing power output so that the wireless radius of each unit just barely overlaps will take some tuning and prevents clients from "sticking" to a certain AP while moving through different wireless zones.

 

Since there is no central controller there won't necessarily be seamless roaming, but you can get pretty close following the concepts above given the investment in current hardware. At the end of the day, the wireless client will still make the decision as to which AP to connect to.

 

@potatopotat0Is seamless roaming something you absolutely need? Thought you just wanted this to work for a PC playing games.

[saltcute]

14 hours ago, Falcon1986 said:

@potatopotat0Is seamless roaming something you absolutely need? Thought you just wanted this to work for a PC playing games.

it is best to. cuz I can totally run a ethernet cable directly to my PC if I only want the wired connection work since there have already be ethernet ports for my AiMesh nodes

[Falcon1986]

4 hours ago, potatopotat0 said:

it is best to. cuz I can totally run a ethernet cable directly to my PC if I only want the wired connection work since there have already be ethernet ports for my AiMesh nodes

Did you link the mesh nodes from their WAN port to the primary router’s LAN port?

 

Is each node getting its own LAN IP? Dynamically? If so, I’d suggest you assign it a static IP.

 

A sketch of your network layout might be useful.

[saltcute]

I found two of my AC56U_V2s' firmware wasn't up to date because I accidentally upgrade their firmware with a AC56U's (without V2), for sure it didn't work. And then I update those AC56U_V2 to the latest firmware and it worked for a week. I thought it was the problem, but just now my internet disconnected and all of my AiMesh nodes disappered, so do the clients. 

bruh

[Meticulous7Seven]

Been trying to live with AIMesh for close to a year and it's constantly been a nightmare. Firmware updates have definitely helped, and IMHO has been the most important step for resolving issues, but they still continue to rack up. I stumbled across this thread trying to find answers to why suddenly no clients will connect to my node despite it being wayyyy closer in physical distance and having a "Great" connection per the web UI. I think where my problems originate from is that I'm using different models of router. I had an AC68U and upgraded to an AX58U. They support meshing together, but the web makes it sound like despite being possible it's not recommended. I might just bite the bullet and buy a second AX58U and scrap the AC68U.