Asus RT-AC66U NTP failure; wrong time

[DEJ710]

Hey all,

I was getting the same "start NTP update" spam in my syslog too, but I found the culprit in my case and it wasn't the firmware.

Problem was, my rt-ac66, running in AP mode on a static IP behind my piece of junk Comcast modem/router, was working fine as a wifi AP but the device itself couldn't reach the public internet.

Check the Network Tools on your rt-ac66 to make sure you can ping, traceroute, or nslookup addresses outside your local network. Alternatively, use telnet to get on your device and use those tools natively from the command line (works better than the browser interface).

My Comcast modem/router will only serve DHCP addresses up to 10.0.0.99, so I set my rt-ac66 to use 10.0.0.100. Well, lo and behold, the Comcast box also won't let any internal IPs outside range that reach the public internet. So, setting my rt-ac66 to 10.0.0.99, I was suddenly able to ping, nslookup, etc. outside my home!

Also, be sure, if your rt-ac66 is on a static IP instead of DHCP, to set the DNS server to either your ISP's or one of google's free public dns servers (8.8.8.8; 8.8.4.4). Otherwise, it won't be able to find any ntp server by name, just IP. It also won't be able to do firmware update check from the Administration page without working DNS.

Once that was fixed, my rt-ac66 correctly set the time and stopped spamming the syslog with NTP messages.

Thanks for your response. What about if you want to use the rt-ac66u to serve the dhcp addresses instead. Is it possible to achieve this?

The interesting thing is that when I was able to set the internet config to PPPOE via the dropdown option, the time used to be able to set automatically.

My ISP changed something their end as now I have to use the Static IP dropdown option to get a successful dsl connection instead. Of course, they say "it's an ASUS problem". I disagree as it used to work before THEY stuffed it by changing their end.

Now, I have to set the Wan IP manually, using Static IP option. The PPOE option used to set the WAN IP automatically, but no longer works. Any suggestions on what else I can try or do I have to use the cron job script method?

 

[Bad2theBone]

NTP Sync

For those that have Comcast and are getting NTP sync errors. Have the Comcast/Xfinity modem/router/ap set to bridge mode. This will shut off the wireless ap on the comcast modem as well as the internal router. If you have a modem from within the last 2 or 3 years, you maybe able to do it yourself by just going into their admin web page on the modem and go to Gateway->Connection->Local IP Configuration and you may see near the top of the page a softbutton to enable/disable bridge mode click to enable. Reboot the modem and then reboot the ASUS router. I too had ntp sync problems that just drove me crazy until I did that. It now works fine. Also more recently I noticed when you log into your Xfinity account you can also sent a config change or hit to your modem to do the same thing.

 

[lifeisfun]

I have the same problem with time never updating on my ac66u.
Tried everything posted here but no success.
The router is behind Bell Home hub 2000 that is in bridgemode.
Is there way for me to set the time manually to get at least close to current time?
Thanks!

 

[snbjam]

Hi there, I also have a few RT-AC66's currently running merlin 378.56_2.

They have been running as access points for about a 1/2 year now without issue.

I never notice until I tried to do some scheduling, but the time/date on all of mine has been wrong as well.
I also had a bunch of the "start NTP update" messages all throughout the log file.

I was able to fix it by simply specifying a default gateway and DNS server under http://hostname/Advanced_LAN_Content.asp (i had to enter both)

I had these APs all set to use a static IP, so only device name, IP address and subnet were filled out on this page.
I don't remember if I had a reason for not entering the gateway or not, but they worked fine for months without it, so I must of just left it out, I don't know if they will act differently now that they have a gateway specified, my guess is now even local network traffic will route thru my router, maybe.

In anycase, I was able to use the ping at http://hostname/Main_Analysis_Content.asp and I was unable to ping any of the ntp address, I tried:
pool.ntp.org, us.pool.ntp.org, and 206.108.0.131
none of them worked.

After entering the gateway and dns, all three now work.

I still have a bunch of "start NTP update" at the beginning of the log after reboot, but they seam to stop after a successful one goes thru (once enough of the system is booted up, i guess)

Just wanted to pass this along incase it helps anyone else with a RT-AC66 is access point mode with a static configured IP address.

Thanks!

 

[R. Combs]

None of the methods listed above worked for me and I still don't have NTP sync, however, my alternative method to set the time was to SSH into the device and set the date / time that way.

 

[RubenPortier]

I've been having the same issue for a long time on my AC66U. Today I tried to view some videos over SAMBA share using the AP's WiFi. I've noticed that it's super slow as it seems like the router has been degrading again like it used to before. One thing I found to fix this problem was rebooting the router at night (automatically). However, when I looked at the logs the uptime was 6 days... I noticed the time was completely off and the log was spammed with NTP Updates.

The router is in AP mode, and has a static ip (behind my actual router). I did notice that trying to ping any website (google.com) does not give any output in the Network Analysis tool. However, when I put in an IP address (8.8.8.8) it did output. This made me realise that the AP did not have a working DNS server. If you look inside the LAN page, there is "Connect to DNS Server automatically" which is greyed out for me, but both DNS server values are blank... I've tried putting in my routers' IP (192.168.1.1) but that didn't work. I'm not sure if it's because I didn't have a 2nd DNS server put in or if something else is at fault here, but putting Server1 8.8.8.8 and Server2 8.8.4.4 respectively worked! I can now ping again using the build in tool and the NTP server synced after a reboot.

 

[Lex Nesta]

You are, of course, correct. I typed it into my AC66's server address correctly, I mistyped when I was responding here.

Thanks.

I don't use a password manager.

The dlink thing: This is INTERNAL to the AC66 settings, before it gets to a browser. (Edited: I just figure that out. I had not pressed the "Apply" button. D'OH!)

However, even with pool.ntp.org set as the ntp update address, the AC66 still cannot update. The System Log shows the same ~27 second cycle of failed "start NTP update".

My Admin/System page:



My System Log:

I had a similar problem with my RP-AC56 repeater. I solved the problem by enabling Telnet.

 

[Chris4President]

I've had this exact problem with my RT-N66R ever since I owned it, it never was able to sync no matter what time server I used.

Today I updated the WAN DNS setting for the first time since I could remember and changed it to valid DNS entries:
Under WAN --> Internet Connection --> WAN DNS Setting
Connect automatically? No
Primary: 8.8.8.8 (Google)
Secondary: 208.67.222.222 (OpenDNS)

Suddenly I am able to sync time! Only took me years to figure it out... thanks for the telnet workaround too, that also worked

 

[ApexRon]

ISP DNS servers are generally not a high priority for ISP. Consequently, it is not uncommon for them to have performance issues resulting customers having connection issues. The same is true for ISP mail servers.

I moved from using my ISP DNS server to Google and OpenDNS years ago and have had zero issues. I dropped my ISP email servers, which had technical and performance issues, and am now using Google mail.