AC86U (Merlin 384.14_2) WebGUI hung

[Patrick9876]

An hour ago I tried getting into my AC86U WebGUI but the connection hung - no page was displayed. As near as I could tell, all function other that the GUI were working. All devices on the LAN could talk to each other. A remote OpenVPN client could form a VPN tunnel to the router's OpenVPN server. Just the HTTP server function seemed dead. (I had not activated SSH so I don't know about it.)

I powered the router down and back up with a minute or two pause in between. All works now. And I've enabled SSH (LAN access only) although I don't know what I'll do with it.

Is there any way I can correct this (or at least collect diagnostic info) if it happens again?

 

[faria]

i find that adding a cron job helps , but to have access straight away just run the following command via terminal ;

service restart_httpd

and you should be able to login asap.

Add this cron job to " jffs/scripts/init-start "

cru a restart-webgui-at-6-hours "0 */6 * * * service restart_httpd" #every 6 hours

 

[L&LD]

See my signature below to get the link to the amtm Step-By-Step Guide. Install amtm, the disk checker, a swap file and Entware at a minimum (I would recommend installing Diversion which installs Entware and then disable Diversion if you don't want to use it instead).

Now, type 'i' while in amtm and choose the scMerlin script by Jack Yaz. This will let you easily ssh in and restart the web interface.

Doing all the above will give your router the benefit of a swap file and the control you desire, plus the option to install any other amtm supported script or any script that requires a swap file and Entware properly installed on the router too.

 

[pjv]

This happens enough for me since I started managing a client's AC86U that I created a bash alias using SSH to fix it from the command line.

alias fix_router="ssh pjv@10.X.X.X service restart_httpd"

 

[redpants]

An hour ago I tried getting into my AC86U WebGUI but the connection hung - no page was displayed. As near as I could tell, all function other that the GUI were working. All devices on the LAN could talk to each other. A remote OpenVPN client could form a VPN tunnel to the router's OpenVPN server. Just the HTTP server function seemed dead. (I had not activated SSH so I don't know about it.)

I powered the router down and back up with a minute or two pause in between. All works now. And I've enabled SSH (LAN access only) although I don't know what I'll do with it.

Is there any way I can correct this (or at least collect diagnostic info) if it happens again?

I have the same problem. Cant access my router from my computer or asus app on phone. But the internet is working, i just cant access the webgui unless i reboot the router. I tried rebooting the computer but it didn't help. Only solution is to reboot router. Running RT-AC86U_384.14_0. Wonder if updating to RT-AC86U_384.14_2 will solve the problem?

 

[lighting]

RT-AC86U running RMerlin 384.14_2 I've seen the problem with GUI lockup, too, though only when I've kept the GUI up on a browser for long periods (to monitor for spurious reboots -- that problem I was having seems to be gone). Glad to know how to reset from my local command line so I don't have to cycle power to the router, but it would be nice if this didn't happen. Anyone have an idea what causes it?

 

[duepointe]

I was always getting a web gui lockup if I use the Asus router app. Nice to know I can fix it with out power cycling the router.

 

[a5m]

RT-AC86U running RMerlin 384.14_2 I've seen the problem with GUI lockup, too, though only when I've kept the GUI up on a browser for long periods

Same here, only one time it locked up when I was logged in for a long time to track something down in the Client List.

 

[L&LD]

@redpants it will fix it (at least temporarily) because the firmware update will reboot the router anyway.

The next RMerlin version (384.15 release) will feature amtm built-in! Simply ssh in, start amtm, enable the scMerlin script, done.

While knowing you can do it with a one-line script is possible, I am long past the point of remembering and counting spaces and dashes correctly now.

 

[Patrick9876]

i find that adding a cron job helps , but to have access straight away just run the following command via terminal ;

service restart_httpd

and you should be able to login asap.

This seems like the simplest of the solutions given.

Add this cron job to " jffs/scripts/init-start "

cru a restart-webgui-at-6-hours "0 */6 * * * service restart_httpd" #every 6 hours

I don't know Linux (or any flavor of *NIX) so I have no idea how to access that script and add your suggested command to it. If I figure it out (and don't brick the router in the process) is there a downside of issuing service restart command when httpd is already running? (I assume that it will stop and restart hpptd so anybody using it will be kicked off.)

 

[duepointe]

I don't know Linux (or any flavor of *NIX) so I have no idea how to access that script and add your suggested command to it. If I figure it out (and don't brick the router in the process) is there a downside of issuing service restart command when httpd is already running? (I assume that it will stop and restart hpptd so anybody using it will be kicked off.)

cru a restart-webgui-at-6-hours "0 */6 * * * service restart_httpd" #every 6 hours

You can also just run that line over telnet with out adding a script. That's what I did and it performs a service restart_httpd every 6 hours.
The drawback is if you restart or power off your router you need to run it again via telnet.
But if you rarely restart your router then you're good to go.

 

[TonyK132]

I too have been having this problem, but I found that doing a service restart_httpd did not solve the problem for me. But clearing out the Browser's cache did solve the problem. I'm using the Vivaldi browser that has an item in its Tools menu to do the reset. You can configure it to reset what you want. I selected reset cache, autofill, and Apps cache. In the morning when I 1st start Vivaldi and go to the GUI, lately it's been hanging on the VPN screen. But doing the cache reset kicks it in its butt, and the screen finishes painting. At other times when I would 1st go to the GUI, I would just have a blank screen. Doing the cache reset and nothing else caused the screen to get displayed properly. From then on, the screens all painted correctly without hanging.

I do not know why this problem has surfaced all of a sudden. I have always used Vivaldi and it worked great except for just recently. It uses Chromium at its base, so maybe something happened in one of its recent updates that caused this problem (Also, I'm using Win10 in case that matters).

 

[duepointe]

FYI, even if i have the cron job running to execute service restart_httpd every 6 hours there are times I need to pull up Putty and run service restart_httpd manually.
I found the culprit causing the web gui to hang and its the Asus Router app from my android phone.
Everytime I use the app and go to devices and manage a device the app would just hang and eventually stop working its the same thing with the web gui its inaccessible too.
I ran run service restart_httpd and use the app again and it hangs up again. I tried it again and again and ended up restarting the service via Putty.

 

[JGodfrey82]

Anyone able to help with what config to edit or how I can add my openvpn interface ip to the listener for httpd? I'm dialing into vpn from behind a wall and can ssh in to the remote ip but no web.

 

[Tech9]

To access the GUI you need to exclude your router's own IP address from VPN.

 

[JGodfrey82]

To access the GUI you need to exclude your router's own IP address from VPN.

I'm not certain what you're saying, I'm connecting to a pfsense vpn, I should exclude the routers Lan ip or vpn ip? Where am I excluding it from? Appreciate your help.

 

[Tech9]

I don't have a crystal ball. Describe exactly what do you need to do - where the VPN is, server or client, what UI do you want to access and how.

 

[JGodfrey82]

Ac68u behind a nat small office connection, connected to an openvpn pfsense instance that hands out a public ip to the client1 interface on the ac68. I'm just trying to access the webgui of the 68u using the private ip address (192.168.49.2) instead of its Lan or Wan up addresses. Webgui doesn't seem to listen anywhere besides the lan/wan. I am able to ssh into it using the private address once connected to pfsense. Rules are wide open on pfsense with appropriate rules added for openvpn.

 

[Tech9]

68u using the private ip address (192.168.49.2) instead of its Lan or Wan up addresses.

What's the LAN IP of this router? 192.168.49.2? What firmware is this router running?

 

[JGodfrey82]

That's the openvpn ip I assign it. I'm trying to access management interface on its VPN interface.