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Edited October 23, 2021
at 08:57 AM
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Update: deal still active at $35.
Update 2: the later units in a brown box looked brand new, as did the early units in a retail box.
This is the same seller and listing on ebay from the expired $30 deal a few days ago (here:
https://slickdeals.net/f/15322024-t-mobile-asus-tm-ac1900-dual-band-wireless-router-29-99-open-box-fs).
Note: iirc, the listing text a few days ago stated the unit came in a white box, new but open. The listing now states a generic brown box and doesn't say new but open. Not positive on that. The unit that arrived 2 days ago was new and accessories were sealed. We'll see if the remaining batch is the same, I'll post an update.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/28433708...SwVI5haZlR
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No, wireless backhaul in use. But the wired setup does start them in wired backhaul mode. So both backhaul modes are working for me.
Thanks. Did you select the wired backhaul setting in the AiMesh submenu?
Didn't. Left it on auto. It has been selecting correctly in my short time with this setup.
Idea: reverse which one is the node and master.
Thanks. I've done all permutation of which is node and which is router. I've also cycled through stock firmware (latest) and merlin (latest) across each. I reset NVRAM between each try.
Best luck I had was with latest merlin. Says I should wait while it finishes adding node, but then it fails to find it. 🥴🥲 this is with one WAN wired to other's LAN.
Maybe I should flash back to TM firmware and start over? Maybe there is MTD5 issue?
iirc, there is a guide which mentions an extra 2 mtd5 commands. The bayareatechpros guide we all usually follow doesn't have those.
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Do I need to flash back to something or can I execute these on existing merlin?
Looks like i had a bunch of trash in my MTD5. I erased it. 🤞
Good luck, post results for posterity. To answer your Q, I don't know enough about the inner workings to answer.
In my research on 4 of these, the bootloader/CFE version installed determines if either the recovery software will work or the miniCFE server. The older versions I found, 2.1.2.1 and 2.1.2.2 work with the recovery utility. The newer 2.1.2.6 won't work with the utility and need the miniCFE server activated in recovery mode to flash new firmware.
Of course, you can't really determine what bootloader version is installed until AFTER you activate the SSH, after the new firmware is already installed.
Got it working. Don't know how.
I busted out my old TMO router and flashed that one. Used that one as the router and the two new ones as nodes. Both nodes are on merlin. Router is on stock FW—latest version.
I connected them using your technique: plug in the LAN of the router to the WAN of the node. The key was then for me to connect to the router through LAN and not wifi.
Doing WiFi always resulted in a failed mesh. I could not get them to connect via WiFi alone.