Asus RT-AC88U Faulty Router

[Qina]

Hi,

My friend got a Asus RT-AC88U router from an Auction and apparently it is faulty (lol).


The problem with the router is that it does not connect to the internet through my modem.
I also cannot access the routers web GUI via 192.168.1.1.


I have flashed the latest firmware but still the same problem arises.
Even if I try to connect to the router without the modem just to see the WebGUI,it does not work.

Any tips would be useful

 

[Qina]

Do this before,maybe something is stuck within the nvram:
from the wiki : Turn off the router, press the WPS button, then turn on the router. Wait about 15 seconds, then release the WPS button.Wait 3-4 mins and retry.

Also maybe you could retry by flashing again using this troubleshooting :
https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1030652/

Did you tried with different browsers to acces the GUI?

im curious, what was the final bid ! lool

he won the bid at: £44 (but after adding tax and charges it came out at £65).
it was his first time trying so yeh he messed up if it doesnt work.
But i will try doing that tomorrow morning.

 

[TonyH]

Hi,

My friend got a Asus RT-AC88U router from an Auction and apparently it is faulty (lol).


The problem with the router is that it does not connect to the internet through my modem.
I also cannot access the routers web GUI via 192.168.1.1.


I have flashed the latest firmware but still the same problem arises.
Even if I try to connect to the router without the modem just to see the WebGUI,it does not work.

Any tips would be useful

Being unable to access router using default ip address, how could you flash firmware? Have you reset the router B4 doing anything else?

 

[Qina]

Being unable to access router using default ip address, how could you flash firmware? Have you reset the router B4 doing anything else?

well the power light was flashing. and when i put the ethernet on it says no internet / unidentified network.
So i used the recovery tool and downloaded the firmware file from the website and flashed it. It said sucessfull and the router rebooted.

The router power and internet light was on, but not the LAN icon for some reason.

 

[Qina]

ok.
definately something wrong with the router.
I have flashed merlin FW and also official FW but still it does not work.

I cannot access the router homepage.

I somehow could access the CFE MiniWeb Server whilst doing a 30/30/30 reset.


When i try to ping 192.168.1.1 (router) it says Destination host unreachable.

 

[TonyH]

ok.
definately something wrong with the router.
I have flashed merlin FW and also official FW but still it does not work.

I cannot access the router homepage.

I somehow could access the CFE MiniWeb Server whilst doing a 30/30/30 reset.


When i try to ping 192.168.1.1 (router) it says Destination host unreachable.

Do the ping again after resetting the router.

 

[Rossmon]

I have noticed that repeated flashes have been necessary lately with the 68u and 88u to get various issues working so give it a try! This just happened with a brand new 88 out of the box.
I also have been going back in time with fw versions only to have the latest version ultimately return and fix whatever I was dealing with after trying up to 5 earlier versions.
I think I will be changing router brands for myself and clients!

 

[Qina]

I have flashed again a couple of times but still no advances in the router.
I still cannot access the router GUI and this is the only light on once the router is rebooted and running:

Also this is the ping test:

I can only access the CFE MiniWeb Server when the router is in recovery mode. But cannot access GUI for some reason :S

 

[VANT]

in cfe miniweb try nvram reset

 

[Qina]

in cfe miniweb try nvram reset

I tried it.
It says completed but then the same problem exists.

 

[Qina]

After reading this guide: http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=51486
I have flashed using Tftp the dd-wrt.v24_mini_asus.
Now am able to ping the router and get a response of TTL=100.
and when i access the router homepage (192.168.1.1) I get the CFE MiniWeb Server.

After that, I flashed the official firmware, but then Im back on square 1

 

[Qina]

Bump?

 

[Pierino]

There is no mini for the rt-ac88u. That guide was written long before your router existed. For the rt-ac88u, you would use the file specifically for it like this one ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/2017/07-27-2017-r32868/asus-rt-ac88u/

But if you have a newer cfe, it won't accept dd-wrt.

Get an rma.

 

[Qina]

How do I Jtag this router.

 

[Pierino]

There is no jtag support that I know of. You can try to flash it over serial.

Any reason why you can't get an rma?

 

[Qina]

There is no jtag support that I know of. You can try to flash it over serial.

Any reason why you can't get an rma?

I went to get RMA and since it was from auction/ amazon, they said contact your supplier.

 

[Qina]

also now after fiddling about with it, I have the following lights on the router:

Power - On (Solid)
Internet - Red
LAN - On (Solid)

But I still cannot access router GUI or ping to router.
And also cannot access Recovery Mode now either lol

 

[Qina]

Update:

I got a Serial USB adapter and attached the messages i found.
After booting up; it kept spamming with: et ioctl SIOCGETCROBORD failed!


Now I need to know what I can do to flash/fix the router.
Edit: I cannot use flash -noheader : flash1.trx

https://i.gyazo.com/d37713f8e2122c7c8b07a2144bf538e5.png
THanks

 

[Pierino]

Flash -noheader : nflash1.trx

But if you hold the reset button in while turning on the router and keeping an eye on your putty or whatever you are using, you should see the router asking for firmware.

 

[Qina]

Flash -noheader : nflash1.trx

But if you hold the reset button in while turning on the router and keeping an eye on your putty or whatever you are using, you should see the router asking for firmware.

Getting the same error with the flash -noheader : nflash1.trx command

https://i.gyazo.com/577476c10f3acb7a4993136307a2e41e.png