GT-BE98 Pro Main + AX11000 Node Weird Behavior Anyone Else?

[jlarmstr]

So, as the subject line suggest, BE98 Pro main and AX11000 as mesh node and this very odd behavior.

1. All wireless clients connected through *mess node* and any wired client connected to mesh or main behave normal, they get an IP assigned (for example on a reboot) quickly, access the internet no issues and can access all devices on the local network same subnet and lan obviously (I do not maintain multiple vlans).

2. Any device wirelessly connected to the main router however, takes forever (5-10 mins in some cases) for a DHCP address to be assigned if switching bands or recovering from a reboot.  Any device wireless connected to the BE98-Pro can access the internet fine, but cannot access any other devices on the local network (i.e. Unraid NAS for example), but can if I turn on Tailscale mesh VPN on the devices.  Weird. 

- Smart wireless connect disabled

- Each wireless band with it's own SSID and password

- I have fiddled with DDNSSEC settings and experimented with router DNS renaming but restored to default.

EDIT: I should mention, mesh network is using a wired backhaul. 

To be clear, I am runnig the latest firmwares offered on Asus' support web page (forgive me if I don't quote the firmware version numbers at the moment).

I will try a hard factory reset on the BE98 this weekend and rebuild the network from scratch, just wondering if anyone else had this issue?

[jzchen]

In the Web GUI under General -> AiMesh -> System Settings (tab) make sure Ethernet Backhaul Mode is toggled on, if it is not already.  Then try it out and please report back...

[jlarmstr]

It is indeed "on", and the icon on the node indicates an RJ45 connection to the node.   (BTW, thanks for the response).   It is interesting that anything connected to the BE98 Pro works flawlessly, as long as it goes through the ethernet ports of the BE98 (i.e. any switch Ethernet to BE98 and anything connected to the switch, works fine, anything wireless connected the mesh node which is connected through an ethernet backhaul works fine), but anything wireless to the BE98 pro itself behaves as described above.

[Saltgrass]

When you troubleshoot, you need to simplify the system.  Try turning off the ax11000 to see if it makes a difference.

[jlarmstr]

I will try that now 😉 ... which reminds me, when I was trying to add the mess node I originally was attempting on a wireless backhaul, the wizard would see the node but failed every time, only when I went to the wired backhaul added it no issue.  

Edit: Nope, same issue, sees the SSID, I enter the password but it takes 30 mins to assign an IP address, in the mean time the phone reports a different IP address on a completely different subnet.  I am on a 10.x.x.x 255.255.255.0, while the phone assigns an IP of 169.254.xxx.xxx 255.255.0.0 .... which is a 'private' IP and is a failover when DHCP cannot assign an IP address.  I think there is a raunchy bug in this firmware I triggered when dinking around with my router and setting up the mesh the first time.  I am gonna do a hard factory resent tomorrow and build the network from scratch (router, switches, mesh nodes, static IPs the works).

[jlarmstr · Accepted solution]

@Saltgrass @jzchen  -- Hey guys, I would like to thank you vehemently for taking the time to respond, it is always appreciated when users and experienced techno junkies jump in to help out.  I figured out what the issue was, it is indeed a NASTY bug.  I did the hard factory reset as I mentioned above and that did not fix it.  So I began working backwards from all the tweaks and changes I made since original install (when everything worked fine).   I even tried downgrading firmware. 

Here is what it was .... I have a 16 port 2.5 Gbps switch with two 10 G SFP+ ports that can link aggregate and this router allows link aggregation on the 10G ports as well, so I got the wild hair to link aggregate (for fail over) these two ports to the router... bing!  It disables wireless access to the local network altogether  *from the main router access point* but the mesh access point worked fine (no link aggregation in the backhaul).  Anytime I linked up to the main router (i.e. for example my table or iphone, regardless of band) I could go outside the network (internet) but nothing on the local lan, nothing, nada, ZIP.   As soon as I disabled link aggregation and went to a single link to my switch, all started working fine.... DHCP assigned IP within seconds, all local network access restored.    Whhheeewwwwww it was driving me crazy.