Any ideas about why my RT-AC68U is unaccessible appreciated

[styhrman]

As title says...my 68U doesn't work besides powering on basically. We just got fiber connected and the router has been lying around for a few years as we've had DSL. A friend tried to bridge it earlier this spring but that didn't seem to work so he flashed a new fw. I should mention that he's pretty tech savvy so I don't think he messed up when updating the firmware. Now it's behaving erratically.

What doesn't seem to work:
- No wifi shows up, no wifi LEDs, nothing happens when pushing WiFi button
- No ping response from 192.168.1.1
- The router doesn't show up as gateway
- DHCP as Windows gives an auto-IP 169.254...
- Soft reset (reset 30 sec with power on) doesn't work; no blinking LEDs
- Recovery tool says not in rescue mode although power LED is blinking slowly and IP / subnet set to 192.168.1.10 / 255.255.255.0
- Device detection tool doesn't find it

What seems to work:
- Hard reset (wps ,+ power on) according to LEDs blinking
- Power cycling, which resets to normal mode
- Rescue mode (reset button and power on) makes power LED blink slowly

Notable:
- When trying to upload fw directly after reactivating NIC, recovery tool says "uploading firmware", nothing happens, then it tells me to check connection. Then, when trying to upload, it says rescue mode not activated once again
- After having the router powered off during the night and then starting, WiFi LED's lit and soft reset worked. Then it stopped working and WiFi turned off again.

What I've tried except what's already been mentioned:
- Clearing browser cache
- Accessing the router from different PC's
- Recovery Tool from different PC's
- Earlier version (2.000) of recovery tool
- Trying to access with and without WAN connected
- Powering on with only power supply connected to see if soft reset works
- All different LAN ports
- Wireless access

Any ideas appreciated as I'm about to scrap this router. Maybe it's hardware related and I should just give up on it? Let's say it's not, then what's the problem? And should I just try to get recovery tool working? Or something else first? How come recovery tool says the router is not in rescue mode? Is there any order or timing of doing things that might work better eg pull the power over night, hard reset, wait 1 minute, then rescue mode? Connecting to LAN port 1 and then ASAP try to upload fw?

Thanks! //S

 

[banger]

Does the Device detection utility detect it?

 

[styhrman]

Does the Device detection utility detect it?

No. Tried from two different computers, over LAN and WiFi

 

[wouterv]

In recovery mode wireless of the router does not work and the router does not give out IP address, causing the PC to fall back to an IP address in an other range.
Set the LAN port of the PC you use to access the router to a fixed IP address of e.g. 192.168.1.100 / 255.255.255.0 and make a wired connection to one of the router LAN ports.

 

[styhrman]

In recovery mode wireless of the router does not work and the router does not give out IP address, causing the PC to fall back to an IP address in an other range.
Set the LAN port of the PC you use to access the router to a fixed IP address of e.g. 192.168.1.100 / 255.255.255.0 and make a wired connection to one of the router LAN ports.

Thanks for the reply. I did use wired to LAN port 1, with IP // subnet manually set to 192.168.1.10 / 255.255.255.0. "Not in rescue mode" is what the recov tool said.

When inactivating and activating NIC and quickly trying to upload fw it said uploading firmware, nothing happened and then it said to check connection. After trying upload again: same thing - not in rescue mode although power LED is blinking slowly.

 

[wouterv]

I don't know what you mean by " activating NIC and quickly trying to upload fw", anyway:

1. Set a PC to the fixed LAN IP address of e.g. 192.168.1.100 / 255.255.255.0
2. Attach a known good working network cable between the PC LAN port and either port 1-4 of the router.
3. With the router powered, try to ping the router at 191.168.1.1
   1. If one router LAN port fails, try another.
4. If 3 does not succeed at all: bring the router in recovery mode:
   • Power down the router.
   • Remove USB devices from the router if any.
   • Press and hold the reset button, at the same time power up the router.
   • Wait for slow flashing power LED.
   • Release the reset button.
5. Start a browser and open address: 191.168.1.1
6. This should open the ASUSTeK - CFE miniWeb Server:

In the ASUSTeK - CFE miniWeb Server you can upload a Firmware File.

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

This router doesn't happen to have "Personal Cellspot" embossed on it's face, does it? If so, and it is running stock firmware, it factory- resets to 192.168.29.1. So you'd need to manually set your PC to that subnet (ex. 192.168.29.10) in order to see or access the router. Just tossing out an idea. BTW, that also would explain why Recovery is silently rejecting ASUS firmware.

 

[styhrman]

Tried what you told me without any luck.

Then the router made a faint clicking sound and wifi turned on. Now I can access it through wifi. Downloaded system logs and now I don't really know what to try. Flashing through the GUI I guess... I'm mostly just dumbstruck atm..

 

[styhrman]

Now I've got access to internet through wired connection as well. I've flashed latest original firmware and it wants me to restart manually but I'm not trusting this router for one second. Would it be easier to recover if I flashed DD-WRT?

 

[styhrman]

Rebooted and it's unaccessible again. Tomorrow I'm buying a new router and throwing this one away...

And now it's accessible again. Well, whatever

 

[ColinTaylor]

Would it be easier to recover if I flashed DD-WRT?

No. That's usually the cause of people semi-bricking their Asus routers.

 

[styhrman]

No. That's usually the cause of people semi-bricking their Asus routers.

Flashing latest AsusWRT didn't improve things, so might as well try with a modded fw. According to syslog I think the CPU failed a few times though... Anyway, I'm done with this router...gonna use it as a frisbee

 

[L&LD]

Before testing your frisbee national skills, try the link below (substitute your firmware of choice).

Fully Reset Router and Network

 

[styhrman]

Before testing your frisbee national skills, try the link below (substitute your firmware of choice).

Fully Reset Router and Network

OK. But this confuses me:

5. Make sure the routers power switch is in the off position.
6. Plug in the power plug to the router.
7. Hold down the WPS button and keep holding it until the router reboots/turns off while you turn the router on using the power button.

-- Holding down WPS button while the router is off doesn't do anything. Or do you mean holding down WPS, turning router on, wait for reset (flashing power LED) and then release WPS?

I get stuck at:

8. When the router boots up, it should be in the Setup Wizard. If it isn't, repeat the steps above until it is.

-- I still can't access the router.