AX6600 Mesh node not playing nice

[Robmoo]

I have a pair of AX6600 routers.  the first one connected to my cable modem and acts as router for the network.  The second one is in a bedroom and the front of the house and is supposed to act as a mash node.  The mesh node is being a pain.  It is connected via CAT6 cable to a Trendnet 16 port unmanaged switch and then via Cat6 to the router.  The mesh node doesn't want to connect as a mesh node.  When I connect the ethernet cable to one of the regular ports it communicates fine.  When I connect it to the WAN port for wired backhaul it won't connect.  The port on my trendnet switch is inactive.  The cabling is functionsing fine, but the mesh node doesn't like to communicate to/through my switch.  There is a Cat5 cable still in the wall between the bedroom and the livingroom where the router is located.  I disconnected it when we build the home office and I wired the house with Cat6.  I could just reconnect that cable.  Or I can figure out why the switch and mesh node don't like to connect for backhaul.

Any thoughts on this problem?

Thanks!

[jzchen]

ZenWiFi AX6600?  Anyways here's official instructions, (Scenario 2).  There's a node setting to set Ethernet preferred:

https://www.asus.com/us/support/faq/1044151/

[Robmoo]

When I logged in this morning the node was magically connected.  It connects when it wants.  I had the backhaul set to ethernet only.  I switched it to ethernet preferred.  Let see if that keeps the node running consistently.

[jzchen]

Per ASUS since I have a WiFi 7 dual 6 GHz and WiFi 6E with only a single 6 GHz channel I will lose 6 GHz on the 6 E router to dedicated wireless backhaul.  Others found that switching Ethernet Backhaul Mode ON frees up the 6 GHz channel on the AXE16000, but I noticed strange things happen.  ASUS official AiMesh setup says Ethernet Preferred and their routers were probably tested that way.  Hopefully your system will improve like I suspect...

[Robmoo]

I think that I know the problem.  The WAN port is 2.5Gbps and my switch only supports 1GBPS.  That might be why they aren't playing well together.

[Robmoo]

The mesh node is still going strong.  It is using the 1GB ethernet connected via the WAN port for backhaul.  Thanks Jzchen!

I didn't think about the 2.5Gbps being a problem, but the AX6600 and the Trendnet switch don't want to play nice with the 2.5Gbps.