Let me jump to the conclusion first. Likely, you are having the “flashing blue light” problem with your Asus router, and are looking for a solution. I know it is frustrating and you just want it fixed! So here is what I did. You can read on for the details.
To fix my Asus ZenWiFi AX node not connecting to my router, indicated by a flashing blue light, I simply powered off the router and then turned it back on. Once the router was fully back, the node re-connected shortly thereafter.
Obviously this is no guarantee of a fix for your particular router/mesh issue, but it is a prudent troubleshooting action to power-cycle the relevant devices.
Recently, I decided to upgrade my home WiFi from a LinkSys AC router, which I used for about six years. It was very reliable, but had been starting to show signs of stress due to new demands (e.g. security cameras) that I placed on my private network.
After a short tour of exploring options, I bought the Asus ZenWiFi AX mesh 2-pack. At the highest level, I can say the setup went amazingly smooth, including a firmware update on both the router and node. The instructions were simple and using the Asus Router app for iOS was straightforward. It actually seemed almost too easy.
A couple of days after the setup, I decided to move the node slightly, noting that until this point, I had not powered off either the router or node since I completed my home WiFi transfer/setup to the new devices. To move the node, about five feet, I powered it off so I could reconfigure the cables. When I turn the satellite node back on, after pulsating green lights (normal), the LED started flashing blue, not the stable white light I was expecting! The node was not connecting back to the router, as indicated within the Asus Router app.
At this stage, I should have realized, as an IT person, to try “rebooting,” not just the node, but the router as well. I performed multiple restarts and resets of the router, but the flashing blue light always returned. Specifically, there was a looping light pattern:
Power On -> Pulsing Green -> Steady Blue -> White (~1 sec) -> No Light -> Pulsing Green -> Flashing Blue -> White (~1 sec) -> No Light -> Repeats Sequence with Pulsing Green Again
I decided, for the heck of it, to restart the router, by powering it off, waiting about 10 seconds, and then turning it back on. After the router went through its setup and was online, indicated by a steady white light, I checked the still-on node to see that its light had resumed being steady white as well! In truth I do not know how long it took the node to finally reconnect after the router reboot, but it could not have been more than two minutes.
Interestingly, as part of the node troubleshooting, I removed the node from the Asus Router iOS app, so that my WiFi system was only showing the single router with no satellite node. When the node’s light turned stead white again, the node re-appeared in the app, without any intervention on my part.
Here is my guess as to what happened:
The firmware upgrade caused a change in the restart/reconnect process from node to router. Since I had not rebooted the router since the firmware update, the router was still using the “old” connect protocol from the prior firmware, but the node, after its reboot, was trying to connect to the router with the new protocol from the latest firmware. After the router rebooted, the router activated the new protocol and everything was fine.
I would like to hear from you if you fixed the problem on your own! Or if you have questions about my troubleshooting process for my Asus mesh WiFi, please leave a comment below!
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My Asus mest network don’t work and have never worked properly. The nodes are constantly blinkning blue and when they dont the light is yellow. (Weak signal)
Expensive crap. A system that don’t work. I’m surprised that Asus get away with this. When i Google this problem I realy have to search furuly. Every reseller say it’s the best you cab have. Either they earn more money on Asus or the compeeting brands are even worse.
This is exactly what happened to me too today. Soon after firmware update.
Rebooting router manually fixed the issue and confirms your findings.
Glad to see others are having the same problem, but if I’m understanding you right, you’re saying unplugging the router and plugging it back in worked? No such luck for me, I’m afraid. My router stayed white after the firmware update, but the nodes are stuck flashing blue no matter what I do.
Have you tried to remove node(s) via the app?
Removing the secondary node from the app caused the second node to be removed from network and it was automatically readded and connected fine. Note that I had to restart the main node before doing this in app.
Looks like Asus released a firmware upgrade, at least for my AX/XT8 ZenWiFi on May 15th. Guessing by the huge uptick in traffic to this article, it caused a lot of headaches for ZenWiFi owners.
I have written an article on how I upgrade my ZenWiFi firmware to hopefully avoid these problems. I did upgrade to the 05/15 firmware (3.0.0.4.388.23285) and have not had issues.
https://computerlookingup.com/asus-zenwifi-firmware/
Reference from Asus’s website:
—
ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) Firmware version 3.0.0.4.388.23285
Version 3.0.0.4.388.23285
48.5 MB
2023/05/15
This version of firmware is only applicable to ZenWIFI XT8 of HW Ver: 1.0, please check the product label before utilizing. You can check the hardware version from the product SN label or box label.
Bug fixes and functionality modifications:
-The ARP response issue has been resolved, along with the connection issue between the router and the ROG Phone 6 and 7.
-Resolved the issue where the USB path is not displayed on the Media Server page in the AiMesh node
-Resolved the Download Master login issue. Please click the update link in the USB Application to update it.
Security updates:
-Fixed the cfg server vulnerability. Thanks to Swing and Wang Duo from Chaitin Security Research Lab.
-Fixed the vulnerability in the logmessage function. Thanks to Swing and Wang Duo from Chaitin Security Research Lab C0ss4ck from Bytedance Wuheng Lab, Feixincheng from X1cT34m.
Please unzip the firmware file, and then verify the checksum.
SHA256: 450307439b402fdbdc71ffcf44d195c2d42270092b000387fbcc4f801241fe75
I’m not in IT, so sorry for noobism :)) I have 1 main Asus Ax6600 and 2 nodes. All worked well until yesterday, when 1 of my nodes in 1 room went blinking blue. Today the other one in other room did the same. Restarting everything doesn’t help. No idea what to do. No buying ASUS bs.
Just restarting didn’t work for me either. I had to press the reset button on my main router (from my internet provider). Once that was completely rebooted I powered up the mesh units one at a time and now everything is stable again.
Thank you Steve for your advice and explaining how you fixed your problem. Yes rebooting (assuming not a hard reset wipe) of your Internet router is also something to add to troubleshooting.
I had similar situation. Nodes were connected with router by LAN. When I put the nodes in different places of my house, the blue LED started to flash after few minutes from succesful pairing during the configration. What solved the problem? When I changed the setting of connection of the nodes from “Automatic” to “LAN”. Now everything works fine 🙂
Glad to hear sir that you were able to fix your problem!
Asus ZenWiFi AX 3 nodes..
3.0.0.4.386_48706 saved the day.
Oh my gosh, thank you! I tried everything and the blue light wouldn’t disappear. After rebooting my main router, I then had to reboot the node, and all is well. White light and online again.
Excellent, glad I could help. Thanks for reading and stopping by.
Asus ZenWiFi AX
My story: new place with unlabelled breaker board. After a year (…) got round to flipping the the switches one at a time to figure out what circuit they control so I could label them up.
After this powering down of the router and nodes at different times, my office node (1) was in the dreaded ‘blue light blinking’ stage. Based on reading the article alone (should have read the comments too) I checked out the state of affairs via the app and concluded I might have a firmware imbalance as the router had been up for months and was asking for an update, which I applied. Unfortunately this didn’t fix things (numerous power cycles of router and node), the office node was still blue blinking while the basement node was fine. I tried adding a new node, also didn’t find the node.
WHAT WORKED FOR ME:
I took the office node (1) up to the router and connected them with an ethernet cable. The node went to white.
Mid state firmware
Router 3.0.0.4.388_22525
2 x Nodes 3.0.0.4.386_48706
I then experienced the issue of the 2.5g/1g WAN port no longer working on the basement node (2), which I had swapped into the office so i could keep working.
IDK if this has always been this way but despite the comment of Falsoo, I downgraded the router back to 3.0.0.4.386_48706 but the WAN port on node (2) still did not work, so I swapped (1) and (2) back to the way they were and the WAN port of node (1) works… so i’m just quitting while ahead now…
End state firmware
Router & 2 x Nodes on 3.0.0.4.386_48706
Thank you sir for your detailed explanation and experience. It does seem like a key part of the solution is hard wiring (i.e. connecting via Ethernet cable) from router to node.
Not sure if I had heard of the WAN port issue before that you mentioned.
Crossing fingers and hoping it continues working for you on the prior firmware.
ET12 user here. Same irritating blue light blinking now and then.
But the NAS connected by wire still works so wifi is there.
The only thing is that the app does not detect it as online.
Hope they fix this soon. Roll back to an older version of the firmware seems to be the correct fix.
ASUS needs to get their s*it together. My XT8 node has been constantly disconnecting for several months now. Firmware upgrades is not solving the issue. Downgrading to 3.0.0.4.386.48706 helped me. How on earth can Asus release a software that is 100% worthless?! This is a quite expensive router, and should work.
It seems that the latest 3.0.0.4.388.22525 firmware has solved the problem here. My devices have been working properly for almost a month. Only there is one thing that disturbes me. The node broadcasts the wifi on 40 MHz even if the router does it on 20 MHz. Actually it is not a problem cause devices can handle it but is strange to me.
Has any of you experienced such symptom?
My upstairs node had been flashing blue for a few weeks and I just had not had the time to address it. The previous “fixes” I had found on the internet were far more involved. Brought it downstairs to work on the issue and stumbled across this post. Thanks. Problem solved and as a former IT professional I feel kind of embarrassed that I missed this step but happy it was this simple.
I hear ya, working in IT myself. Sometimes the simplest route is overlooked!
Thanks for sharing and stopping by.
I hope I am not too late to join the discussion. I thought I was the only person having an issue with XT 8 node blue blinking light issue. I bought XT8 2.5 years ago and have had 3 failures. 1st time, the blue light froze after a few months of use. 2nd time (New Set) blue light keeps blinking after another few months. 3rd time (New Set) again blue light blinking issue after a few months. So on 2nd March 2023, I changed to another New set. Hopefully, it will last longer this time.
Thank you sir for sharing your experience. Sorry to hear you had problems for so long.
For what it’s worth, my Zen/Asus setup has (knock on wood) but very solid these last few months. I have not rebooted either the main router or node myself in all that time. Occasionally there is a “blimp” of lost WiFi connectivity on my main home PC, but that happened for me even with my old LinkSys AC router, and probably more so back then. I work from home and might see the loss of connectivity two or three times per week, and everything almost always recovers, even my secure/VPN/Citrix connections to work.
I also have the XT8 2 pk, unfortunately try as i might it refuses to recover using the recovery software always saying ‘ Failed to recover the system.
I can get into recovery mode and the restore software can upload to it, but it always fails.
i have followed all of the usual procedures advised by ASUS site.
The one (whilst the main one work)in particular displays a slow flashing green light, I have tried the oldest firmware and the newest and neither has had any impact.
ethernet connected using the IP provided by ASUS support video and still no joy, i think im ready to trash it.
Also I have a XT8 2 pk. I was very happy when I bought the pair. Everything went well with the latest firmware for some weeks. Then suddenly after the first power outage it started to messing around. I downgraded the router and also the node to an older verison. On both device I run the same version of firmware. They worked well again for some weeks but after a while there was a power break again and the problem came up again… I started to play with the firmwares. I even mixed them (there were different versions installed on node and the router). Based on my experiences I would say that it is all the same which firmware version you use. The node will work properly only until its first restart. Anyway also I can confirm that starting the router at first and starting the nodes later may help. This can be a good way to make your system work again. It worths to try out. But the best would be if the ASUS developed the firmware. Must be firmware problem.
I have had the same issues as well. My “solution” to it all was to downgrade to an older firmware until ASUS have resolved it in general. Download it from here and apply via the web interface. https://www.asus.com/supportonly/asus%20zenwifi%20ax%20(xt8)/helpdesk_bios/
I don’t really want to return the product cuz when it’s working it’s crazy fast and I also like the features and configurations built in.
I have an xt8 and I would say that I have good troubleshooting skills. To all of you that have the blue flashing light problem, the fastest and easiest way to solve the problem is to roll back to 3.0.0.4.386.48706. Start with the router and then the nodes. You can thank me afterwards. And to any Asus employee reading this I would like to say, shame on you!
I have an ET12 and have had the exact same problem since around the middle of December, this is clearly a firmware issue and ill be reporting it to Asus technical when the phone lines open tomorrow. Really disappointed for a £500 system.
I am on XT12 and it was working fine with Ethernet backhaul until recently with the latest firmware 3.0.0.4.388_22127.
Restarting, reset to have the entire system back to its factory setting and switching between ethernet backhaul or wireless for my two satellites nodes didn’t help.
Powering off did not work for me either 🙁
Sorry to hear, Tim. It seems like the simple power recycle works for some and not for others. Probably indicating there are separate types of problems that all result in the flashing light.
Regards,
Paul
Found this post when searching for a solution for my ‘flashing blue light problem’, that indeed started after I triggered a firmware upgrade on my set of Asus Zenwifi AX. Your fix actually seems to have solved my problem!
Awesome, glad to hear! Thanks for letting me know.
Interesting and really happy to hear you fixed your issue. My node has been intermittent with solid connectivity then without cause or warning will disconnect and go into blue flashing and stay that way for hours. Then somehow re-establish connection work perfectly. This seemed like a firmware issue to me and once the node was connected I updated the firmware through the app. All seemed happy for a few hours and now back to the intermittent disconnects. It’s frustrating and I have scoured the interwebs trying to find different fixes, but nothing seems to work. This system worked perfectly for about 7 months and now staring to have intermittent connectivity issues with the node. I am using the wifi backhaul due to the layout of my house, but I may have to rethink that go wired to make this a more reliable system.
Hi, sorry to hear you’ve been having the problem for so long. Though I fixed the blue light problem and it’s been good for a few months, I was having another problem, maybe similar to yours, where my WiFi would cut out and reconnect far too often. I was using the WiFi backhaul as well. I switched to an Ethernet setup using power-over-Ethernet and my WiFi has been rock solid ever since.
I have also played with the firmware a few times, doing various manual re-loads. Never have had the blue light problem since. For what it’s worth, after a firmware update I always power off both the router and node, then power on the router first, then wait “a while” before powering on the node, sometimes up to an hour.
Happy Holidays! Thanks for the advice and I will try to power off the router and pause for 10sec. I did a recent firmware update and i thought all was well, but the constant blue flashing LED is really an issue. with my node in full operation my bandwidth is awesome, but it drops (flashing blue) about 15 times a day if not more. If the router fix doesn’t work i will try to backhaul via ethernet and see if that fixes the problem. I have been reluctant to go that route because of how our house built..vaulted ceilings, etc.
Best of luck – I really do hope you find a fix. The frequent drops are the worst part, worse than the WiFi simply being down, because it is far more annoying.
I do have some follow-up notes in my latest article, particularly around node spacing that might off suggestion for the drops.
https://computerlookingup.com/improve-wifi-mesh-performance/