Support for Asus ZenWiFi BT8 Tri-band Wifi7 (Mediatek MT7988)

cat /etc/config/wireless

config wifi-device 'radio0'
option type 'mac80211'
option path 'soc/11300000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
option radio '0'
option band '2g'
option channel '1'
option htmode 'EHT20'
option disabled '1'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
option device 'radio0'
option network 'lan'
option mode 'ap'
option ssid 'OpenWrt'
option encryption 'none'

config wifi-device 'radio1'
option type 'mac80211'
option path 'soc/11300000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
option radio '1'
option band '5g'
option channel '36'
option htmode 'EHT80'
option country 'HR'
option disabled '0'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio1'
option device 'radio1'
option network 'wan'
option mode 'sta
option ssid 'MyWifi'
option encryption 'psk2'
option key 'mypass'

config wifi-device 'radio2'
option type 'mac80211'
option path 'soc/11300000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
option radio '2'
option band '6g'
option channel 'auto'
option htmode 'EHT80'
option disabled '1'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio2'
option device 'radio2'
option network 'lan'
option mode 'ap'
option ssid 'OpenWrt'
option encryption 'none'

Wifi 7 requires encryption I'm pretty sure, so encryption none is not going to fly.
In fact it may even mandate wpa3/sae.

For the sake of testing, can you just do something simple.
VHT20

AP mode, not STA. lan not wan.

Why introduce 48 variables at once... walk before you run.

It's it's not connected with a lan cable. I need to get it to join the existing wifi network to get internet first, but:

root@OpenWrt:~# vi /etc/config/wireless
option device 'radio1'
option network 'lan'
option mode 'ap'
option ssid 'MyWiFi'
option encryption 'psk2'
option key '123'

config wifi-device 'radio2'
option type 'mac80211'
option path 'soc/11300000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
option radio '2'
option band '6g'
option channel 'auto'
option htmode 'EHT80'
option disabled '1'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio2'
option device 'radio2'
option network 'lan'
option mode 'ap'
option ssid 'OpenWrt'
option encryption 'none'

Still can't ping google.com tho, says bad address.

Right, so wifi works.
Now you just need to get your settings right for client wifi like any other OpenWrt install.

Okay, I managed to get internet working. I did apk update apk add wget and sysupgraded to the latest snapshot. then i tried apk add luci and I get:
root@OpenWrt:~# apk update
[https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/mediatek/filogic/packages/packages.adb]
[https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/packages/aarch64_cortex-a53/base/packages.adb]
[https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/mediatek/filogic/kmods/6.12.39-1-249ee50dc7381a1250ef47872d98c6e0/packages.adb]
[https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/packages/aarch64_cortex-a53/luci/packages.adb]
[https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/packages/aarch64_cortex-a53/packages/packages.adb]
[https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/packages/aarch64_cortex-a53/routing/packages.adb]
[https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/packages/aarch64_cortex-a53/telephony/packages.adb]
[https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/packages/aarch64_cortex-a53/video/packages.adb]
OK: 10249 distinct packages available
root@OpenWrt:~# apk add luci
ERROR: unable to select packages:
▒luci (no such package):
required by: world[▒luci]

I just can't seem to catch a break with this thing. Or is this the expected outcome and we can't even manually install luci on snapshots?

Edit: Gemini says (and I'm really starting to dislike it... But it says that:
" Thank you for providing that output! This is exactly what we needed to see the problem.

Your builddate is 1753111049. Let's convert that Unix timestamp to a human-readable date: 1753111049 corresponds to: Friday, July 19, 2024, 09:57:29 AM UTC.

This is why you are having problems! You are currently running an OpenWrt snapshot from July 2024, not July 2025."

I'm running the latest snapshot from the firmware selector for snapshot asus zenfi 8: OpenWrt SNAPSHOT, r30497-d8e738e5c4

Edit 2: Gemini is really crap lol. I just did another sysupgrade, this time using wget https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/mediatek/filogic/openwrt-mediatek-filogic-asus_zenwifi-bt8-ubootmod-squashfs-sysupgrade.itb which was built on the 22nd, three days ago. Exact same revision. The very one listed on the website.

Still the same error regarding luci though :frowning:

this is an ongoing issue, install luci-base luci-light luci-app-package-manager packages instead.

garbage chars sure won't help.

Ty for trying to help. Sadly, that only gets me:

root@OpenWrt:~# apk add luci-base
ERROR: unable to select packages:
libubox20241219-2024.12.19~3868f47c-r1:
conflicts: libubox20250723-2025.07.23~49056d17-r1[libubox=2024.12.19~3868f47c-r1]
satisfies: world[libubox20241219]
jshn-2024.12.19~3868f47c-r1[libubox20241219]
jsonfilter-2025.04.18~8a86fb78-r1[libubox20241219]
libblobmsg-json20241219-2024.12.19~3868f47c-r1[libubox20241219]
libjson-script20241219-2024.12.19~3868f47c-r1[libubox20241219]
libubus20250702-2025.07.02~5952b48e-r1[libubox20241219]
libuci20250120-2025.01.20~16ff0bad-r1[libubox20241219]
libuclient20201210-2024.10.22~88ae8f20-r1[libubox20241219]
libudebug-2023.12.06~6d3f51f9[libubox20241219]
libustream-mbedtls20201210-2024.07.28~99bd3d2b-r1[libubox20241219]
logd-2024.04.26~85f10530-r1[libubox20241219]
mtd-26[libubox20241219]
netifd-2025.05.23~7901e66c-r1[libubox20241219]
odhcp6c-2025.02.06~8aa8b706-r1[libubox20241219]
odhcpd-ipv6only-2024.05.08~a2988231-r1[libubox20241219]
procd-2025.06.19~cde025d5-r1[libubox20241219]
procd-seccomp-2025.06.19~cde025d5-r1[libubox20241219]
procd-ujail-2025.06.19~cde025d5-r1[libubox20241219]
ubox-2024.04.26~85f10530-r1[libubox20241219]
ubusd-2025.07.02~5952b48e-r1[libubox20241219]
ucode-mod-nl80211-2025.07.18~3f64c808-r1[libubox20241219]
ucode-mod-rtnl-2025.07.18~3f64c808-r1[libubox20241219]
ucode-mod-uloop-2025.07.18~3f64c808-r1[libubox20241219]
urngd-2023.11.01~44365eb1-r1[libubox20241219]
usign-2020.05.23~f1f65026-r1[libubox20241219]
libblobmsg-json20241219-2024.12.19~3868f47c-r1:
conflicts: libblobmsg-json20250723-2025.07.23~49056d17-r1[libblobmsg-json=2024.12.19~3868f47c-r1]
satisfies: world[libblobmsg-json20241219]
jshn-2024.12.19~3868f47c-r1[libblobmsg-json20241219]
logd-2024.04.26~85f10530-r1[libblobmsg-json20241219]
procd-2025.06.19~cde025d5-r1[libblobmsg-json20241219]
procd-seccomp-2025.06.19~cde025d5-r1[libblobmsg-json20241219]
procd-ujail-2025.06.19~cde025d5-r1[libblobmsg-json20241219]
ubus-2025.07.02~5952b48e-r1[libblobmsg-json20241219]
ubusd-2025.07.02~5952b48e-r1[libblobmsg-json20241219]
ucode-mod-ubus-2025.07.18~3f64c808-r1[libblobmsg-json20241219]
wpad-basic-mbedtls-2025.06.27~ea08700a-r1[libblobmsg-json20241219]
libubox20250723-2025.07.23~49056d17-r1:
conflicts: libubox20241219-2024.12.19~3868f47c-r1[libubox=2025.07.23~49056d17-r1]
satisfies: cgi-io-2022.08.10~901b0f04-r21[libubox20250723]
libblobmsg-json20250723-2025.07.23~49056d17-r1[libubox20250723]
rpcd-2025.06.22~9389775c-r2[libubox20250723]
rpcd-mod-file-2025.06.22~9389775c-r2[libubox20250723]
rpcd-mod-luci-20240305-r1[libubox20250723]
rpcd-mod-ucode-2025.06.22~9389775c-r2[libubox20250723]
ucode-mod-log-2025.07.18~3f64c808-r1[libubox20250723]
libblobmsg-json20250723-2025.07.23~49056d17-r1:
conflicts: libblobmsg-json20241219-2024.12.19~3868f47c-r1[libblobmsg-json=2025.07.23~49056d17-r1]
satisfies: rpcd-2025.06.22~9389775c-r2[libblobmsg-json20250723]

I think something is horribly wrong with my install :frowning:

Do https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/luci/luci.essentials#tab__using_firmware-selector put a - in front of luci in the package list, add the three packages I listed earlier.

Click request build, and do another sysupgrade using the generated image.

Please use </> button when you paste cli output, otherwise it's unreadable.

1 Like

My installed packages look like this:
apk-mbedtls base-files ca-bundle dnsmasq dropbear firewall4 fitblk fstools kmod-crypto-hw-safexcel kmod-gpio-button-hotplug kmod-leds-gpio kmod-nft-offload kmod-phy-aquantia libc libgcc libustream-mbedtls logd mtd netifd nftables odhcp6c odhcpd-ipv6only ppp ppp-mod-pppoe procd-ujail uboot-envtools uci uclient-fetch urandom-seed urngd wpad-basic-mbedtls kmod-usb3 mt7988-2p5g-phy-firmware kmod-mt7996-firmware mt7988-wo-firmware -luci luci-base luci-light luci-app-package-manager

And I get:

Error: Impossible package selection

`STDERR`

Generate local signing keys...
WARNING: can't open config file: /builder/shared-workdir/build/staging_dir/host/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf
WARNING: can't open config file: /builder/shared-workdir/build/staging_dir/host/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf
read EC key
writing EC key
WARNING: opening /builder/packages/packages.adb: No such file or directory
Package list missing or not up-to-date, generating it.

Building package index...
ERROR: unable to select packages:
libubox20241219 (no such package):
required by: mtd-26[libubox20241219]
make[2]: *** [Makefile:227: package_install] Error 2
make[1]: *** [Makefile:167: _call_manifest] Error 2
make: *** [Makefile:345: manifest] Error 2

`STDOUT`

Then it's probably a temp glitch, and you just have to wait....

1 Like

Alrighty. As long as it's not on my end. Ty again, much appreciated. Learning as I go. My last encounter with openwrt was over a decade ago when i setup my tl830re as a repeater. we only had ht20/40 none of this vht and eht and what not :smiley:

Edit: While waiting... Can I assume I lost my chance of backing up the original asus firmware the first time i powercycled the device following the sysupgrade? And I can't just use someone elses files (due to mac adresses and whatever else was mentioned previously)?

Not that want to revert back, just curious.

The snaphots for many mediatek based routers recently went from kernel 6.6 to kernel 6.12 - luci is still not available for these and any custom build including luci will fail, and if you attempt to install it manually it will say that there are no such package.

Jasperx - you dont have to worry, your router is fine and you could at this point use remittors ubi cleaner and after that install asus original firmware.

It might be a better choice until luci is available for kernel 6.12

Edit:

Another option is to install an older version of the snapshots with kernel 6.6 where luci works.

2 Likes

Ty both so much. I wanna buy you coffee. And to the author of owrt-ubi-installer. Can I toss you guys a tip somehow :D? You guys are amazing. Pulver for getting the whole thing started and the ball rolling and frollic for all the help :smiley: Couldn't have done it without you guys.

I managed to build a custom sysupgrade image using -luci and adding the three packages frollic mentioned. It may not be full-fledged but luci is up and running now :slight_smile: It was still broken when I woke up, but looks like the buildbot is working fine again now :slight_smile:

Now for the actual fun part: Setting it up as a wireless repeater with relayd. Haven't done that in well over a decade (and i only had a single radio to work with back then so I could do it all though uci as per the guide on on the wiki). At least that's the idea for the single unit I got (coz openwrt support :D). And I really want to get more familiar with it until we get support for 4x4 stuff which is when I want to build a proper wifi7 mesh network using 802.11s (or EasyMesh if it gets implemented :smiley: *wink wink nudge nudge to all you lovely people out there xD). Been wanting to do that for years ever since I first heard about MLO. It just ticked all the right check boxes.

One last thing, don't want to derail the topic too much, I'll open another one if I need more help (which I probably will haha) but does anyone know if I can aggregate the networks to use MLO if radio 1 is operating in both sta and ap mode (with radios 0 and 2 operating in ap mode?). Ty in advance! Or am I stuck just using the radios 0 and 2 for aps?

Anyway, the important thing is I got the latest snapshot up and running, got internet access (forgot all about sta mode and wwan interface, now I have it up and running within 2 mins) if I just do a firstboot in case I majorly mess something up xd and luci installed. Plus Puver's reassurance that I can still go back to the official fw should I ever want to. I genuinely couldn't be happier right now :smiley: Love you folks and this entire project.

Kinda like when I found about diyHue for homeasssistant. Got some chinese bulbs that work flawlessly and no need for the Philips brdige :smiley: I just love it when technology works, especially in nifty ways like mlo :smiley:

So I was successfully following the guide on https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/relay_configuration until I had to install the luci-proto-relay package. Fails at that part :frowning:

This, I assume, Is going to be much longer wait haha

Executing package manager
apk add luci-proto-relay
(1/2) Installing relayd (2023.01.28~f646ba40-r1)
(2/2) Installing luci-proto-relay (25.206.68149~5857572)
luci-proto-relay-25.206.68149~5857572.post-install: Executing script...
1 error; 23 MiB in 161 packages
Errors
ERROR: relayd-2023.01.28~f646ba40-r1: ADB block error
The apk install command failed with code 1

Edit: I tried adding the luci-proto-relay to the custom firmware selector but it's broken again lol

Guess I've got more waiting to do. Is this normal with the snapshots?

Edit2: I got it working (by adding luci-proto-relay to the firmware builder) but only on the 2.4GHz band. I can't even select 6GHz for radio2 in luci. 5GHz shows nothing as well on the ap side, only the client is successfully connected. Is this normal?

Also I'm editing to avoid double posting. From experience, most forums frown down on double posts and give warnings, not sure if it's the same here.

I (think) I managed to follow the instructions on https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/relay_configuration successfully (I had to build a custom sysupgrade containing luci-proto-relay and get it installed that way due to an error in installing it through luci, but other than that, works like a charm).... At least on the 2.4GHz band.

I'd like to (if possible) use WiFi 7 and MLO, or at the very least, get the 6GHz channel working.
This is what it currently looks like:

The 2.4GHz OpenWRT network works just fine and clients can access the internet, so I assume I followed the guide correctly.

OpenWRT5GHz (I separated the SSID for testing purposes) doesn't even show up. Can I have radio 1 both in sta and ap mode at once? I should be able to, no?

And for radio 2, I can't even select the 6GHz band in the drop down menu after I click Edit (just 2.4/5). /etc/config/wireless had it preselected

Here's my /etc/config/wireless (I edited the radio2 manually since luci wasn't giving me the 6GHz dropdown).

config wifi-device 'radio0'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option path 'soc/11300000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
        option radio '0'
        option band '2g'
        option channel '1'
        option htmode 'EHT40'
        option cell_density '0'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
        option device 'radio0'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option ssid 'OpenWrt'
        option encryption 'sae-mixed'
        option key '123'
        option ocv '0'

config wifi-device 'radio1'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option path 'soc/11300000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
        option radio '1'
        option band '5g'
        option channel 'auto'
        option htmode 'EHT160'
        option cell_density '0'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio1'
        option device 'radio1'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option ssid 'OpenWrt5GHz'
        option encryption 'sae-mixed'
        option key '123'
        option ocv '0'

config wifi-device 'radio2'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option path 'soc/11300000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
        option radio '2'
        option band '6g'
        option channel 'auto'
        option htmode 'EHT160'
        option disabled '0'
        option ocv '0'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio2'
        option device 'radio2'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option ssid 'OpenWrt6GHz'
        option encryption 'sae'
        option key '123'

config wifi-iface 'wifinet3'
        option device 'radio1'
        option mode 'sta'
        option network 'wwan'
        option ssid 'MyHomeWiFi'
        option encryption 'sae-mixed'
        option key '123'
        option ocv '0'

Set your country code in luci, then disable the radio and enable it again.

That usually helps seeing the 6GHz option.

Dont forget that 6GHz requires wpa3 password.

I dont think MLO is implemented yet.

1 Like

Thank you once again, setting the country code did the trick for radio 2 and 6 GHz; already had pure sae selected for encryption so all good there. And I'm totally fine with MLO not being implemented yet, just tinkering with my favorite router OS :smiley:

Any idea why I can't broadcast on radio1/5GHz (country code didn't help there haha)? Not much to go on but, my old TL830RE was able to both sta and ap on its single radio0. I'd like to think the same should be possible for radio1 on this thing (and yes I know I'd be cutting the speed on 5GHz in half without a wired backhaul - Think my old installation used to say something along the lines of "Locked to Channel 11 used by Client" but it was broadcasting - that's not the case here). And I'm hoping MLO makes up for the difference in speed once it gets implemented. Running a cable isn't really feasible, sadly.

Edit: just got the radio1/5GHz working too, i just had to pick the channel manually to the same channel used by the client on the Master "OpenWRT5GHz" network... Which I don't like? What if the client switches channels? OpenWRT wouldn't be able to auto update, no?

Yup, it's official, Windows is showing 802.11be for all 3 bands: 344Mbit/s for 2,4GHz and 2,8Gbit/s for 5 and 6GHz bands which I believe is the max i can get with a 2x2 160MHz client. If I were to MLO that somehow... :drooling_face:

1 Like

I noticed that there is a new model out called Asus Zenwifi BT6 - its only available in the US at the moment but could probably reach europe soon too.

Its far less expensive than the BT8 (at the US Amazon store), but the only difference I can see is that it only has 1 2.5Gbps (wan) port instead of 2.

According to Techinfodepot the hardware inside is almost identical to BT8 with triband wifi7 - MT7988DV, MT7995AV.

Im not getting one, but it might be interesting for others.

Edit:

Another difference is that BT8 has 5GHz 3x3:3, 6GHz 3x3:3 and BT6 has 5GHz 2x2:2, 6GHz 2x2:2.

Prices are weird :smiley: Doesn't seem cheaper at all to me lol. Amazon US lists a single unit for $249. I paid 240€ for my BT8 here in the EU.

And honestly I don't find anything below 4x4 "useful" unless you can run a wire to each AP (which I can't) because of the halving effect. 5/6Ghz barely penetrates a single wall, so I kinda need a mesh if I were to cover the entire house, and the backhaul would be wireless. Think it's a safe bet a number of people are in a similar situation. That's why I'm hoping MLO will be an option for both the front and backhaul (you've no idea how hyped I am for OpenWrt MLO support for this thing, even in basic draft form - someone update this thread soon as a relevant commit comes up please lol). Didn't know BananaPi-R4 had MLO working :frowning:

I wanna hit those 1,7/1.8Gbit/s numbers I keep hearing about :smiley:

That said, I want 16x16 with SFP28 and stuff to hit the market (I know it's probably never gonna happen or cost so much I could never afford it/justify the price), not saturate it with 2x2 (I don't wanna say "junk" but...). I mean it's new tech. 2x2 was a thing 15 years ago with 802.11n. Kinda feel it's time for new and better things.

Reminds me of when 10G was supposed to be the next step up but there were only a few server motherboards with it integrated and I was waiting on that to become a thing before I would build my next pc. Then came 2016 and they introduced 2.5/5gig (although just about everything is 2.5G coz pennies) delaying adoption even more, 10G is only now becoming somewhat affordable. This kinda feels the same.

Yes, where I live we still have an offer when you can get one Asus BT8 for 160€ or two for 305€

Im thinking of buying more before the offer ends.

MLO on Banana Pi R4 is still from the Mediatek feed, right ? its been a while since I tried it and it did not work for me then,

Now I feel ripped off haha. But glad I got it, just need mlo to play nice :smiley: Once implemented, it should hopefully allow me to get the most out of my internet speed, otherwise there's not really a point paying extra for the 2Gbit/s. And you got me on the BPi, I was goofing off at work today checking up on things and remember ppl saying mlo was working on it and being like "oh man" and the thought crossed my mind to get one just because of the mlo lol. Even tho the whole set with the be14 card and the 5G module runs for 350ish... Maybe I was hallucinating or something, I dunno :smiley:

Still, having a box in my apartment that hits 80°C with the SFP+ modules running... I dunno xd

Edit: Looks like you're right, just took another look at the official thread and found this post which sounds like great news for them. While both are Mediatek, the BT8 doesn't use the filogic880 does it?

Edit 2: Okay I'm dumb. In my defense googles first Gemini answer was "No, the BT8 does not use the filogic 880, followed by it uses a 3x3 config...".But they're both under the same filogic target here so I guess that means good news for us as well?

This bit has me excited. The MLO commits are only 10 days old and one of them says Preparation for full MLO support.

So it looks like it's being actively worked on. Exciting times we live in :smiley: