386.3_2 killed my RT-AC68U

[Hellgore]

Last night I updated my AC68U with the latest Merlin FW - and it killed it outright. No joke: The WLAN-function is gone, the LEDs show "power" and the connection to my cable modem - but the rest is dead, network totally shut down. I have no chance to connect to the router anymore, my laptop which I connected via ethernet just switches to a 169.-Emergency IP - and even with a static IP with the former settings it won't connect to the router anymore. I tried to set it back to factory settings, but it blinked for hours with nothing else happening. Is there any chance to get back a connection or the factory reset? I used wrt merlin since I bought this router and only had at some time small problems that could be solved. But this time it seems the firmware has somehow killed the router...

 

[ColinTaylor]

Download a fresh copy of the firmware and check the signature to make sure it's not corrupted. Double check that it's the firmware for the correct model (i.e. RT-AC68U and not RT-AC86U for example).

Then follow the instructions for flashing the firmware in rescue mode.

[Wireless Router] How to use Rescue Mode (Firmware Restoration)? | Official Support | ASUS UK

 

[Hellgore]

Download a fresh copy of the firmware and check the signature to make sure it's not corrupted. Double check that it's the firmware for the correct model (i.e. RT-AC68U and not RT-AC86U for example).
Then follow the instructions for flashing the firmware in rescue mode.

[Wireless Router] How to use Rescue Mode (Firmware Restoration)? | Official Support | ASUS UK

 

[Hellgore]

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately it didn't repair the router. The Firmware (original asus 384.10_2 which was running on the router before) was uploaded by the Restoration tool, but the autorepair just went on for 2 or 3 percent. After that it reports a successfully repaired system and rebooting. But I still can't access after switching back to DHCP on the ethernet adapter, it keeps getting the 169.254.-IP, same with other Laptops I try to connect. And the router keeps rebooting every few minutes. I tried it two times, and a third time with a the latest ASUS-Firmware, which isn't working at all (the byte count keeps rising while uploading but the percentage restarts constantly after reaching only about 30 percent and then the tool reports a failed update).

 

[ColinTaylor]

I have found it easier to use the router's recovery web interface to upload the firmware rather than use the Windows utility.

Follow the same instructions as before up to step 3-3 where you put it into rescue mode. Then instead of using the Windows utility simply open a browser on your PC and go to http://192.168.1.1 You should see the following screen which will allow you to upload the new firmware.



If you don't get this page then you haven't successfully put your router into rescue mode. You may need to reset the NVRAM before flashing the firmware.

 

[Hellgore]

I can reach the webinterface and I can reset the Nvram, but after selecting the firmwarefile the router stays in rescue mode (20 minutes by now) and the webinterface is no longer accessible.

 

[Hellgore]

Sorry: selecting and uploading

 

[ColinTaylor]

You do have to wait a while after uploading the firmware, despite what messages may appear on the screen. But with the RT-AC68U it's usually only about 10 minutes (unlike the RT-N66U when it can be an hour!). I do find that after waiting I often need to completely power off, wait, and then power on the router. Even then I sometimes have to go through the whole clear nvram/flash firmware process a couple of times before it works.

 

[eibgrad]

Worst case scenario.

RT-AC66U B1 bricked, I think

Hey guys so I tried to flash the firmware and now it’s only showing two lights. Pictures attached. Here are the steps I followed: Downloaded the Asus Firmware Restoration Tool first, downloaded the firmware I wanted to flash 380.70, Unplugged the power, held down the Reset button, and plugged...

www.snbforums.com

 

[dhendodong]

Last night I updated my AC68U with the latest Merlin FW - and it killed it outright. No joke: The WLAN-function is gone, the LEDs show "power" and the connection to my cable modem - but the rest is dead, network totally shut down. I have no chance to connect to the router anymore, my laptop which I connected via ethernet just switches to a 169.-Emergency IP - and even with a static IP with the former settings it won't connect to the router anymore. I tried to set it back to factory settings, but it blinked for hours with nothing else happening. Is there any chance to get back a connection or the factory reset? I used wrt merlin since I bought this router and only had at some time small problems that could be solved. But this time it seems the firmware has somehow killed the router...

+1 very exact same thing happened to mine, i thought it was due to old age(almost 8 years old) that it broke its wifi adapter(no wifi but lan is still good), good thing i did not throw it yet. i hope it can still be fixed and same as mine buy the first time i got it i quickly flashed merlin. and been using it since day 1.

 

[Hellgore]

Wow, the patience has payed off, thank you so much! I need to reconstruct my network but at least I got it going again, thanks to your help! KUDOS!