AC68U not working after flashing with latest build

[realjohny]

Hi,
My ASUS router AC68U had latest ASUS official firmware. I flashed this router with the latest firmware "RT-AC68U_380.66_6" after which a stable router started booting every few second with no LAN IP.

Then I flashed router back with original ASUS official firmware (RT-AC68U_3.0.0.4_380_7743-g2cf84e9) but in vain.

Then I tried flashing with the Alpha release (RT-AC68U_380.67_alpha3-g27c3540) and all I still observe is no LAN IP.

I can go in rescue mode of the router and original ASUS firmware rescue utility detects that it is in rescue mode.

Please help to restore my router

P.S. In all flashing I used original ASUS firmware rescue utility.

 

[martinr]

Sanna1957 describes the restoring of the router to its factory default settings, and you never mentioned this anywhere in your post. And you didn't say which firmware you were running before you flashed with 380.66_6.

If you haven't restored to factory default settings AFTER flashing as required, that would certainly be a likely cause, and is something that must be done. We need to know if you've been doing that.

For background on this https://www.snbforums.com/threads/faq-nvram-and-factory-default-reset.22822/

 

[unclebuk]

To clarify the merlin wiki info on new firmware flashes: factory restore IS MANDATORY, contrary to the install instructions provided on Merlin's website??

 

[martinr]

To clarify the merlin wiki info on new firmware flashes: factory restore IS MANDATORY, contrary to the install instructions provided on Merlin's website??

I don't know of the contradiction you're referring to. Could you quote the section (and the web page) please, so it can be cleared up?

 

[ColinTaylor]

I don't know of the contradiction you're referring to. Could you quote the section (and the web page) please, so it can be cleared up?

I think he is referring to this:

While it is generally not necessary to restore to factory defaults, it's not a bad idea, especially if there is a big jump in version number (from 112 to 178 for example). No need to do the 30/30/30 dance as required by DD-WRT - just do a plain Factory Default reset, or turn the device on while keeping the WPS button pressed (procedure can be different from one model to another).

 

[gattaca]

Hi Folks,

I'm going to echo the above comments + AC88U.
The latest firmware 380.66_6 has thoroughly messed up both my AC1900 and and AC88U. After flashing from this version RT-AC68U-380.66_4 and RT-AC88U-380.66_4 to "_6" versions, I am not longer able to communicate with the routers via the WEB login. I get no responses and FF (54.0.1) just spins on the router URLs (https://192.168.xxx.15:8443) and then times out. Tried IE too. All was working well until it completed the upgrade and then posted the message to manually reboot the routers which I did... then game over for getting back in using the WEB GUI.

I've been using the Merlin builds on these routers for a year plus and always update about every 1-2 months so I do not have a large jump in the version numbers.

Looks like 380.66_6 has been out for 3+weeks. I sure wish I would have checked this forum first this time. I usually just upgrade the routers while watching TV and last night, when I was unable to login after the manual reboot, (to check things out) I knew something was bad wrong.

Is no one else seen this? The routers boot. . The wireless works. The routers are pingable ... but NO WEB GUI to manage either unit or to easily backlevel the firmware.

Suggestions? This looks like a real problem with the WEB GUI maybe? G. Mobley

 

[martinr]

I think he is referring to this:

Thanks, Colin. Until now, I hadn't thought that was contradictory; however, I can see that one could come a cropper if Merlin had recently brought out an update for which he specified a factory default reset (FDR) was essential, and the user, unaware, decided not to do an FDR because they were only making a "small" jump.

Perhaps "ambiguous" rather than "contradictory", unless I've missed somewhere where it says it's mandatory? If that paragraph were to say an FDR was mandatory for the first flash, regardless of the source or version number of the existing firmware, it would be no bad thing. And no bad thing to add that, when updating from one Merlin version to another, all intermediate version changelogs should be checked to see if an FDR has been stipulated as mandatory. Perhaps it would help if, at the start of each chagelog, there was a note listing the most recent version for which an FDR was essential, so anyone coming from an earlier version would know they had to carry out an FDR?

 

[martinr]

Hi Folks,

I'm going to echo the above comments + AC88U.
The latest firmware 380.66_6 has thoroughly messed up both my AC1900 and and AC88U. After flashing from this version RT-AC68U-380.66_4 and RT-AC88U-380.66_4 to "_6" versions, I am not longer able to communicate with the routers via the WEB login. I get no responses and FF (54.0.1) just spins on the router URLs (https://192.168.xxx.15:8443) and then times out. Tried IE too. All was working well until it completed the upgrade and then posted the message to manually reboot the routers which I did... then game over for getting back in using the WEB GUI.

I've been using the Merlin builds on these routers for a year plus and always update about every 1-2 months so I do not have a large jump in the version numbers.

Looks like 380.66_6 has been out for 3+weeks. I sure wish I would have checked this forum first this time. I usually just upgrade the routers while watching TV and last night, when I was unable to login after the manual reboot, (to check things out) I knew something was bad wrong.

Is no one else seen this? The routers boot. . The wireless works. The routers are pingable ... but NO WEB GUI to manage either unit or to easily backlevel the firmware.

Suggestions? This looks like a real problem with the WEB GUI maybe? G. Mobley

Can you remember at which version upgrade you last carried out a reset to factory default settings (RFDS)?

Possibly the most likely way you will fix this would be to carry out an RFDS, remembering to remove any USB devices beforehand. (For background or as a reminder, normally, if you were updating your firmware and you'd needed to RFDS, you would do the RFDS AFTER flashing the firmware.)

Question is: how to restore your settings. If you did it manually, it should be foolproof and you'd know you'd done the job well, especially if you followed L&LD's plan https://www.snbforums.com/threads/n...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573


If you're familiar with John's NVRAM Save and Restore Utility you could try that to save a lot of time, but if you had the same problem afterwards you'd need to
RFDS again and manually input all your settings. Failing that, you might use the settings backup in the GUI, then RFDS and then restore those settings from your backup (because you're staying with the same firmware version), but again, you could be just reimporting the problem.


An RFDS using L&LD's guide may well be the most time consuming way to fix it, but it's also probably the one that's most guaranteed to work. You could try the others as a possible quick fix and have L&LD's as a fallback if all else fails.

How long ago - version-wise - did you last carry out an RFDS?

 

[Csection]

Thanks, Colin. Until now, I hadn't thought that was contradictory; however, I can see that one could come a cropper if Merlin had recently brought out an update for which he specified a factory default reset (FDR) was essential, and the user, unaware, decided not to do an FDR because they were only making a "small" jump.

Perhaps "ambiguous" rather than "contradictory", unless I've missed somewhere where it says it's mandatory? If that paragraph were to say an FDR was mandatory for the first flash, regardless of the source or version number of the existing firmware, it would be no bad thing. And no bad thing to add that, when updating from one Merlin version to another, all intermediate version changelogs should be checked to see if an FDR has been stipulated as mandatory. Perhaps it would help if, at the start of each chagelog, there was a note listing the most recent version for which an FDR was essential, so anyone coming from an earlier version would know they had to carry out an FDR?

Did you check to see if it responds at "http 192.168.1.1" without the "https"?

 

[gattaca]

Hi Guys,

OK this is crazy but I'm posting b/c it might make sense to someone. It sure baffled me.

Answers with background history.

Both of these routers are used as WAPs. I have 2 WAPs for redundancy which also allows me to upgrade one unit without hearing howls from the family about why the wireless is down. I just tell them to switch to the other unit while I upgrade.

To answer martinr's question: I do not remember 100% but it was very likely during my long overdue upgrade from 380.64_0 the 380.66_0 versions. Now, as a best practice and per this comment we are posting, I mark my calendar and upgrade every 1-2 months to keep the version jumps small.

To answer the question about using http/s://192.168.1.1. No, I'm sorry I did not but since I could ping both router's address (192.168.xxx.15 and 17), I'm 100% sure they were online. Also, since I had wireless connections to either, I concluded both WAP were actually booted and working, just no WEB GUI to administer them.

TY, the link is great! I generally follow the posting's outlines but this time, I got sloppy, see below:
1) Make backup cfg from Web GUI
2) I have no customized JFS partitions
3) Remove the USB (sorry I did forget this time on the AC1900 but there's nothing on the USB now that I stopped using the backup utility you mentioned and I stopped writing cstats to the drive. The AC88U had no USB to begin with.
4) I did NOT reboot either router BEFORE upgrading. My BAD b/c I agree, doing that seems to make things go smoother. I was distracted and just forgot.
5) Yes, I did a hard / cold reset afterwards, more than once by turning off the power to the routers and pulling the plugs.

On the NVRAM backup utilities. I used these for a couple of years but the last time I tried to restore, they did not work too well and I lost all my settings on all 3 routers. I'm sure it was b/c the jumps were too large. So now, I just backup the settings before I upgrade the FW and hope for the best.

Now, strangely enough, here's what I did to "fix" both and it gets weird:

1) After messing around on the RT-AC1900 last night and this AM, I connected to PORT1 wired, booted to recovery mode and then used ASUS restore utility to flash Merlin's 380.66_4 into the router. Power rebooted afterwards and WEB GUI popped right up snapo, no issues. I also tested connecting wireless, no issues. All of my settings were in place without restoring them from the WEB GUI backup.

2) On the RT-AC88U, I connected to PORT1 wired and just for hell of it, I refreshed / connected via the WEB GUI (https://192.168.xxx.17:8443) again and WOW, the WEB GUI popped right up in FF, no spinning, no delays. Hmmmm, OK I thought. I did not restore it or do anything else to it.

As a general rule, I keep PORT1 open so I can always connect there. I typically use a higher port for the WIRED connection from the WAP to the main switching gear. I know it should not matter.

In this case, since connecting to PORT1 in both cases seems to have allowed the WEB GUI to work, I am suspicious now. When I flashed both of these, the connection was wired but through a HIGHER port#. So could being connected on something other than PORT1 be causing issues with WEB GUI connection after this upgrade? I D K.
Now it gets weirder...

So then I went back and said OK, I can put the AC1900 back if needed so I put my up-link cable into port 1 on the RT-AC1900P and then I re-flashed it using a wired connection from 380.66_4 to 380.66_6.. hard rebooted it and the WEB GUI popped right up this time.

So, bottom line is... Could not being plugged into Port 1 for connecting the routers during this upgrade somehow causing the WEB GUI troubles like this? I know this sounds really, really strange but that's the way it is played today.

I do not use any extra features, no CIFS, no JFS, nothing but wireless basically as a WAP.

I have a 3rd RT-AC1900P which acts as one of the main internet facing routers, so I'm going to make sure the connection from the main switches is into port 1 before I attempt to flash it b/c messing that one up will bring down the whole house's internet service and the howls will begin.

Thoughts?
G. Mobley