Asus AX-RT58U Web UI stops working in a few minutes

[matth]

Hi,

We had a big thunderstorm last Sunday and my cable model was dead (along with the garage door opener and sump pump switch) and the WAN port of my wireless router was also damaged. I got the cable model replaced from Comcast as it was rented from them. I got an Asus AX-RT58U from a Best Buy. After setting it up I found that the Web UI would stop working after a few minutes, but the wifi and internet still worked. I couldn't access the setting either through Web UI or ASUS Router App until I turned it off and on. I updated to the latest ROM and it did not help. After searching on the internet for a few days and I found this forum.

I haven't tried the custom rom because I don't know if it is the rom problem. I haven't found anyone having the same problem with this router on the web. I'm not sure if it is a hardware problem so that I should return it when I can. I have enable ssh and log on to the router. I found that I cannot run any command after a while. It will either say "Cannot allocate memory" or "Can't fork". I thought that some process might had memory leak and used up all memory. However, at one time I sshed into it in two windows, in one I ran "top", and I played around in the other. When I started encounter problem in the one I played around, "top" still showed that it had some free memory:

Mem: 485720K used, 26612K free, 146884K shrd, 60K buff, 229888K cached
CPU: 0.0% usr 6.4% sys 13.9% nic 61.6% idle 15.8% io 0.0% irq 1.9% sirq
Load average: 2.35 2.23 1.99 3/146 2864
PID PPID USER STAT VSZ %VSZ CPU %CPU COMMAND
1804 1800 admin D N 21224 4.1 0 15.3 minidlna -f /etc/minidlna.conf -r
833 2 admin RW 0 0.0 1 3.1 [wl0-kthrd]
1935 1 admin S 18468 3.5 0 1.4 aaews --sdk_log_dir=/tmp
236 2 admin SW 0 0.0 2 0.8 [bcm_archer_us]
1365 1 admin S 9148 1.7 0 0.3 nt_center
1800 1 admin S 11316 2.2 0 0.2 minidlna -f /etc/minidlna.conf -r
31 2 admin SWN 0 0.0 1 0.2 [kswapd0]
7 2 admin SW 0 0.0 0 0.1 [rcu_preempt]
1394 1 admin S 13748 2.6 1 0.0 wps_pbcd
1353 1 admin S 11044 2.1 1 0.0 nt_monitor
1675 1 admin S 3252 0.6 1 0.0 /usr/sbin/acsd2
2433 1926 admin R 3188 0.6 1 0.0 top
...
...

I didn't see anything using a huge amount of memory. I haven't tried reset to default yet. I might try that or even flash the custom rom later (when my wife is sleeping as I don't want to interrupt the internet for too long when she is using it). I need some advice here. Does it look like a hardware problem that I should return it when I still can, or is it a firmware/setting problem that can be resolved by myself? Any steps to diagnose the problem?

Thanks.

MattH

 

[SR-71]

I have the same router (just the RT-AX3000 branding as I bought it online). I’ve found its UI to be quite perky, likely due to its triple-core CPU. As I’ve never had the UI lockup problem you described, let me ask you several baseline questions to help troubleshoot:

1. Are you connected to the router via Ethernet cable from a laptop vs. wirelessly? The wired connection is obviously preferred in case you have any radio interference going on. If the lockup is happening over the wired connection, that is a problem and I might just return it quickly if the following didn’t resolve it. If it’s only happening over a wireless connection, then it could very well be interference which you can check with a WiFi analyzer app.

2. What services have you enabled on the router? For example, enabling any of the advanced features such as any of the Trend Micro protections, such as AiProtection, will cause the CPU usage to spike higher. That said, it should definitely NOT lock up the UI, but I’m just trying to rule out what you may have enabled as contributing to the problem. Try running it lean by turning off all of the Trend Micro services, don’t run the USB media server, etc., at least not until you’ve resolved this issue.

3. Try a factory reset, go through the very basic manual setup config wizard, and you can try reflashing the router with the latest stock firmware again just in case anything got wonky during the last update (and do everything over wired). Do NOT restore settings from any backup files, and instead do a very basic setup from scratch to run it “lean”. See if the problem returns.

You can also try #3 with Merlin.

4. It sounds like you had a serious electrical spike — have you tried plugging it into a completely different AC outlet and/or surge protector — run an extension cord if you don’t have another outlet nearby. As another thought, if you have access to another location to rule out your home wiring, that might help, but it’s also probably easier just to return it and try another.

5. Do you have it set to auto-reboot daily? I’ve noticed some slight-to-lightly moderate slowdowns in my Internet speeds after running several days, and the daily reboots keep it perky. (I’m purely guessing it could be some bugs/bloat/memory leaks in the software.) I don’t think this will address the problem by itself, but it can’t hurt either.

6. If all else fails, return it to BB before your return period runs out (double check, but it might only be 14 days — don’t believe the 15th day because of how they count the days — a BB manager told me about this gotcha a while back). It’s just not worth it to start off with a flaky new router, trust me. Better to start over with another unit than to get stuck with it.

If you want to get another of the same, I’d suggest going to a different BB location or ordering online just in case your store got a bad lot.

I’ve had very good luck with it so far (~2 months), and for small to medium-sized homes with moderate needs, it’s quite good with a lot of features. I think it offers the most bang for the buck in AX routers right now if you don’t need the extra power/range of the more expensive ones. I was using the wireless features of the Comcast XB3 combo modem/router before this, and the AX3000 has been noticeably better on the wireless side.

 

[matth]

Hi, SR-71,

1. Are you connected to the router via Ethernet cable from a laptop vs. wirelessly? The wired connection is obviously preferred in case you have any radio interference going on. If the lockup is happening over the wired connection, that is a problem and I might just return it quickly if the following didn’t resolve it. If it’s only happening over a wireless connection, then it could very well be interference which you can check with a WiFi analyzer app.

The lockup happened whether I used wired or wireless connection.

2. What services have you enabled on the router? For example, enabling any of the advanced features such as any of the Trend Micro protections, such as AiProtection, will cause the CPU usage to spike higher. That said, it should definitely NOT lock up the UI, but I’m just trying to rule out what you may have enabled as contributing to the problem. Try running it lean by turning off all of the Trend Micro services, don’t run the USB media server, etc., at least not until you’ve resolved this issue.

I just got it for less than a week, I haven't change much of the settings except attached a portable harddisk and share it to the home network through SMB (required for my wife).

3. Try a factory reset, go through the very basic manual setup config wizard, and you can try reflashing the router with the latest stock firmware again just in case anything got wonky during the last update (and do everything over wired). Do NOT restore settings from any backup files, and instead do a very basic setup from scratch to run it “lean”. See if the problem returns.

I will try this later.

You can also try #3 with Merlin.

4. It sounds like you had a serious electrical spike — have you tried plugging it into a completely different AC outlet and/or surge protector — run an extension cord if you don’t have another outlet nearby. As another thought, if you have access to another location to rule out your home wiring, that might help, but it’s also probably easier just to return it and try another.

I haven't tried that as everything plugging into the same extension cord (with surge protection) is working fine. I think that it is the surge from cable line that fried the cable modem and the WAN port of the old router with it.

5. Do you have it set to auto-reboot daily? I’ve noticed some slight-to-lightly moderate slowdowns in my Internet speeds after running several days, and the daily reboots keep it perky. (I’m purely guessing it could be some bugs/bloat/memory leaks in the software.) I don’t think this will address the problem by itself, but it can’t hurt either.

I set auto-reboot daily yesterday. It rebooted at 4am this morning and so far I can still use the Web UI, but it is painfully slow. Internet and intranet work fine, the only problem is logon to the router itself via WebUI. However I'm surprised that it does not lock up completely today.

6. If all else fails, return it to BB before your return period runs out (double check, but it might only be 14 days — don’t believe the 15th day because of how they count the days — a BB manager told me about this gotcha a while back). It’s just not worth it to start off with a flaky new router, trust me. Better to start over with another unit than to get stuck with it.

If you want to get another of the same, I’d suggest going to a different BB location or ordering online just in case your store got a bad lot.

I'm considering return it and get an AC router instead. Maybe AX routers are too new. It's just that my wife and I need internet everyday for WFH and I have to handle this very carefully and smoothly so I don't upset my lovely wife.

Thank you very much for taking time to response to my problem.

Matt H

 

[Super Dave]

I was having a similar issue with my AX58U and discovered four things.

1. It's always a good idea to do a factory reset after any firmware upgrade and reconfigure from scratch. Do not use a backup file.

2. If using QoS make sure you are configuring it correctly, the language used by Asus when describing different fields it isn't always clear what they mean. I made the mistake of inputting the wrong values such as in getting the download speed and upload speed fields confused. This will cause the everything to be super slow.

3. If using a VPN it can cause issues in logging into the router as well. I have to disable my VPN before I'm able to access my router.

4. Probably the most over looked potential problem is checking how congested your area is with Wifi. I've found it very useful in downloading a Wifi Analyzer app on my smart phone to determine which channels to specify manually in order to minimize interference. Sometimes just changing channels resolves many connectivity issues.

 

[SR-71]

Matt, I just saw there is a brand new stock firmware update available for this router. Not much listed in the changelog, other than a security patch and to “improve system stability.” Maybe worth a try as you never know what they fixed.

Also, the Merlin fw specifically adds a number of bug fixes and at least several other AX58U/AX3000 owners have reported here that their routers run even better on Merlin than on the stock fw.

As I have not experienced any significant UI slowness or lockup problems whatsoever with this router, even after several fw flashes, if you have not resolved this to get the UI a LOT snappier over ethernet (still wondering if you have radio interference on the WiFi access), then I would do a factory reset and return it to BB before you are stuck with it, remain unhappy, and continue to irritate your better half with continual troubleshooting (been there on many occasions with other equipment.). It’s just not worth it.

It might be worth getting another of this same router just in case you got a lemon, which is a possibility.

FYI, I bought the RT-AX3000-branded version of this online because at the time, there was some question in an online review or two of whether the AX3000 hw version had additional SkyWorks wireless amplifiers on the circuit board per some internal photos posted, whereas the AX58U was thought to only have the internal Broadcom amplifiers. Don’t know if that was correct or not, but figured it couldn’t hurt if accurate. If they are exactly the same, there was still no downside to getting the AX3000 hw ver. Not trying to post potentially inaccurate info here, but that was my thinking a couple of months ago when I got it. Also, these two similar models are made in two different countries from each other, go figure. IIRC, I think the AX58U is made in Taiwan, while the AX3000 is made in Vietnam. The AX58U is a Best Buy-exclusive, presumably so they don’t have to price-match against the AX3000 online (diff. model #s).

If you get another with the same problems (I’d probably try one from a different store/seller to get a different lot), then it’s probably worthwhile to get a decent AC router for the time being. Assuming cost matters to you, all AX routers right now are Draft AX routers, and are selling at a premium compared to AC models. That’s why I didn’t want to pop for the higher-end AX models when WiFi 6E is coming along with final AX ratification by the IEEE.

Or, to save some time and irritation for you both, you could just get two different routers st the same time (this and an AC router), try both, and return whichever one loses in the matchup. Then you wouldn’t be without a router during the interim.

FYI, if you go the AC route, I was leery of the ASUS AC3100/3200 routers because of a decent amount of user reports that one of the WIFi radios (usu. the 2.4GHz) failed prematurely, while others have had good luck. Could be heat-related, so putting a laptop cooling pad under it couldn’t hurt. I and a number of other AX58U/AX3000 owners have found that this particular model runs quite cool, but I still put an old cooling pad under it for good measure, and now it runs very cool to the touch.

Hope this helps, good luck.

 

[matth]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for people trying to help. I think that I might have found the problem. I will see how long the system can stay stable.

After digging around, I found that the system stop responding when /var is filled up gradually. Then I found that all the usage is in /var/cache/minidlna/art_cache/tmp/mnt/seagate_Backup_Plus_Drive/.... Then I realized that it is trying to cache all my pictures and videos in the USB harddrive. It is a 4GB harddirve and is almost full with all the photos and videos my wife took over years.

Then I checked what service that I forgot to turn off and it was the media server. I misunderstood the UI on that page, I thought the two on/off switches are linked and since I didn't turn on the first one (iTune server), I though the second one was not irrelevant even its default to on. After turning it off and restart, /var stays at % and hasn't grown for a while.

I don't need media server on the router, so it is fine with me. However, for some people using media server and they mount a large harddisk with a lot of photos and videos, what could be the solution for them?

Matt H