Asus RT-AC5300 dead?

[TheArtiszan]

Hello all,
I am wondering if there is anything else you might be able to recommend.
This morning I woke up to my internet not working through my RT-AC5300 that I have been using for a few years. (only running stock firmware)
At first I was seeing wifi after rebooting it but on a second reboot, the wifi does not broadcast anymore nor can I access anything on it.
I have tried resetting it by holding the reset button for 10 seconds with it on, I have tried the reset with the WPS button, as well as the Asus Recovery mode flash.
The recover appeared to work saying that it was successful, but I am still not able to access it on 192.168.1.1 or it's previous 10.1.10.1 address.
Not sure if something else crashed or if there is anything else I can do to try and get it working.
My tests with the resets has been with only power and the laptop plugged into it to rule out other issues that might have been on the network.
I also notice that when I boot it up, the power light comes on but that is all no matter what else I connect. (wan, etc.)
It also doesn't really seem to be getting warm like it was before.
My best guess is something is hanging during boot for some reason but I am not sure how to fix it.
Any advice you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

 

[L&LD]

Welcome to the forums @TheArtiszan.

What firmware (specifically, provide a link/screen snip) did you try to flash in Recovery mode? How long did you wait for the router to finish flashing itself? If you interrupted this process, you may have bricked it.

When using the WPS button reset method, did you use the appropriate method for your specific router following the link below?

[Wireless Router] When Standard Reset Isn’t Working: Hard Factory Reset - Models list | Official Support | ASUS USA

Did you try accessing the router only via WiFi without any Ethernet cables connected to it (WAN or LAN), after doing a proper reset?

Have you tried accessing it via 192.168.50.1?

 

[TheArtiszan]

Welcome to the forums @TheArtiszan.

What firmware (specifically, provide a link/screen snip) did you try to flash in Recovery mode? How long did you wait for the router to finish flashing itself? If you interrupted this process, you may have bricked it.

When using the WPS button reset method, did you use the appropriate method for your specific router following the link below?

[Wireless Router] When Standard Reset Isn’t Working: Hard Factory Reset - Models list | Official Support | ASUS USA

Did you try accessing the router only via WiFi without any Ethernet cables connected to it (WAN or LAN), after doing a proper reset?

Have you tried accessing it via 192.168.50.1?

I used the latest firmware from the Asus site 3.0.0.4.386.48377
After I did the recovery, I let it sit for about 15 minutes before attempting to do anything with it.
The recovery utility did say it was done before I have done anything.

This is the issue I followed to reset it on my side I found with a google search
https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1046971 which does match my model.
I was only accessing it via ethernet I am just noticing that the wifi lights aren't coming on. I do not see it broadcasting wifi sids either.
I have not tried that address but will try that soon. I wasn't aware of that one as DHCP wasn't working on it either.

 

[L&LD]

The only thing is that 15 minutes may not have been enough to properly flash it.

 

[TheArtiszan]

Interestingly, I was able to use the recovery mode and access the CFE miniserver.
That allowed me to upload the DD-WRT release for it and that seems to be booting okay and the router is running now with DD-WRT.
How should I go about getting it back to stock?
Do you think I should try the recovery mode thing again and just let it sit for a longer amount of time?

 

[L&LD]

Great!

See how DD-WRT works if you're curious. If you just need to get back to where you were, flash stock and reconfigure minimally and manually.

And yes, let it sit for longer (the router should boot up fully when it's ready.

 

[TheArtiszan]

On older Linksys routers I used to use DD-WRT. All of the things I wanted out of it, the new Asus firmware had plus their nice application I can manage it from for remote wake on lan etc.
Should I flash back with the recovery or how should that be done?
Going to try with recovery mode and let it sit for 30 minutes and see what happens.
All the videos I found on recovery mode said it should be 5 to 10 but I will let it sit longer and see what happens.
When in the CFE, I also saw an option for resetting NVRAM defaults. Do I need to do that too?
Not sure what that is for.

 

[L&LD]

Sorry, I can't help with DD-WRT. All I can say is be careful what you do now. You may possibly brick the router.

 

[TheArtiszan]

Yeah, don't want to do that. These ones are expensive.
The NVRAM thing is part of the Asus CFE miniserver thing.
I get that when I boot in recovery mode and just hit 192.168.1.1 in my browser that I can upload a firmware, reboot, and reset nvram.
Those options were present before DD-WRT as well.

 

[TheArtiszan]

Sorry, I can't help with DD-WRT. All I can say is be careful what you do now. You may possibly brick the router.

I think I was able to fix it and get it working correctly.
I booted it into the recovery mode buy unplugging it, holding reset, plugging it in again.
Accessed the CFE mode under 192.168.1.1 and used the option for setting default nvram option.
unplugged it after that was complete, then unplugged it and entered into the recovery mode like above again
then used the CFE mode to restore the stock firmware and waited 30 minutes
nothing happened
I then unplugged it again and just plugged it back in and left it alone and now I am back on the default setup screen for it.
I will try setting it up later when I have time to really focus on config but I think it might be back in business.

 

[L&LD]

I would do a few WPS resets after you do a quick/default config. To be sure it is fully reset afterward.

As it is now, I would not trust it.