ASUS RT-AC88U providing incomplete and unstable service

[Vince Edwards]

I recently had to replace my AC88U with another after the WAN port died and ceased to pick up a connection through my Virgin Media Superhub 3 (modem-only mode). I made sure that I saved the current settings so that my stable arrangements continued.

As soon as my replacement arrived I set it up with default settings without any LAN connection. Bit by bit I added network components, such as switches, clients, media and my old N66U in AP mode. All seemed well until my family tried to connect from their devices by Ethernet and wifi.


1) Devices dropped internet connection even though connected to the router by Ethernet.
2) Devices dropped internet connection even though connected to the router by wifi.
3) Virgin Media 'On Demand' and 'Catch up' ,which require an internet connection , became inaccessible.
4) My Kodi boxes failed to connect to the AC88U media server, but could access the N66U media server via the AC88U!
5) My Kodi boxes could not connect to my cloud media via Livedrive
6) My pal in Kefalonia could connect to my VPN server but could no longer stream BBC iPlayer content.
7) My FON hotspot went off line even though it was a visible client.

All these problems can be temporarily put right by rebooting my modem and the AC88U simultaneously and then rebooting devices and/or by disabling and re-enabling network adaptors. After a while the problems re-appear.

I have tried everything including reinstating my old settings, restoring factory settings and starting again and by allocating ip addresses manually. Bizarrely, if I reinstate my old N66U as the DCHP server, the network runs smoothly. This is not a permanent solution because the AC88U has features and capacity unavailable on the N66U.

Has anyone any ideas as to what might be the issue? 1) Firmware issues? 2) Faulty kit?

 

[ColinTaylor]

For clarity, can you confirm that you did not reload a "save settings" file from a previous router onto your new one?

 

[Vince Edwards]

For clarity, can you confirm that you did not reload a "save settings" file from a previous router onto your new one?

No, I didn't.

 

[tomtomclub]

I recently had to replace my AC88U with another after the WAN port died and ceased to pick up a connection through my Virgin Media Superhub 3 (modem-only mode). I made sure that I saved the current settings so that my stable arrangements continued.

As soon as my replacement arrived I set it up with default settings without any LAN connection. Bit by bit I added network components, such as switches, clients, media and my old N66U in AP mode. All seemed well until my family tried to connect from their devices by Ethernet and wifi.


1) Devices dropped internet connection even though connected to the router by Ethernet.
2) Devices dropped internet connection even though connected to the router by wifi.
3) Virgin Media 'On Demand' and 'Catch up' ,which require an internet connection , became inaccessible.
4) My Kodi boxes failed to connect to the AC88U media server, but could access the N66U media server via the AC88U!
5) My Kodi boxes could not connect to my cloud media via Livedrive
6) My pal in Kefalonia could connect to my VPN server but could no longer stream BBC iPlayer content.
7) My FON hotspot went off line even though it was a visible client.

All these problems can be temporarily put right by rebooting my modem and the AC88U simultaneously and then rebooting devices and/or by disabling and re-enabling network adaptors. After a while the problems re-appear.

I have tried everything including reinstating my old settings, restoring factory settings and starting again and by allocating ip addresses manually. Bizarrely, if I reinstate my old N66U as the DCHP server, the network runs smoothly. This is not a permanent solution because the AC88U has features and capacity unavailable on the N66U.

Has anyone any ideas as to what might be the issue? 1) Firmware issues? 2) Faulty kit?

He mem I have the same shirt
Trying everything no luck

 

[ColinTaylor]

I think I'd start by removing the N66U from the network and then rebooting everything. See if the problems still persist.

 

[Vince Edwards]

That is one of the many things I did. The puzzling thing is, the configuration, architecture and clients of my wired network are identical to the one I had before replacing my AC88U.

Shouldn't a quality router such as mine cope with all this?

 

[ColinTaylor]

I remember that the AC88U is unusual in that 4 of it's LAN ports are connected to a separate internal switch. I can't remember which way around they are so try only using LAN ports 1 to 4, then try using only ports 5 to 8.

 

[Vince Edwards]

TOM TOM. Is that with the AC88U?

 

[Vince Edwards]

I remember that the AC88U is unusual in that 4 of it's LAN ports are connected to a separate internal switch. I can't remember which way around they are so try only using LAN ports 1 to 4, then try using only ports 5 to 8.

Thanks. Trying that now. I will report back. Is that in the user manual?

 

[tomtomclub]

TOM TOM. Is that with the AC88U?

Asus 3200 I works 3 long weeks
Stil the same problem. ISP looks the conexcting everting is good
Met drop conexcting on vpn
Or L2tp

 

[ColinTaylor]

Is that in the user manual?

I don't think any of the Asus user manuals go into the internal design of the hardware. For that you'd have to look at sites this. TBH most Asus user manuals are about as useful as a chocolate teapot .

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wir...-band-wireless-ac3100-gigabit-router-reviewed

 

[tomtomclub]

Oke I find the problem if u use the remote app after 20 sec your router stop , remove the app from your phone or tablet
Try it and let mi no
Step 2

Take the power and kabels af from the router and is modem 10 minutes after 10 minutes plug firs isp modem and router

 

[Vince Edwards]

I remember that the AC88U is unusual in that 4 of it's LAN ports are connected to a separate internal switch. I can't remember which way around they are so try only using LAN ports 1 to 4, then try using only ports 5 to 8.

Lo and behold! Your suggestion seems to have done the trick. Thank you. I waited a few days to see if the immediate improvement would last. It has. I have opted to use only ports 1-4. All services are now normal and I can keep the N66U plugged in to the network. This obviously helps with the maximum wifi speed it offers.

This all begs a question: What if I needed more than 4 ports to service my network? Surely I would have stability issues, unless I made more use of external switches to keep LAN port use down. The obvious question is then: What is the point of having 8 LAN ports if you can't use them?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Well that's encouraging. Hopefully it will keep working.

The RT-AC88U has always been a bit of a problem child. But as you rightly say it should work properly with all 8 ports. I don't have that router so I'm not up to date with its issues/solutions. Maybe other owners can offer some advice.

You didn't say what firmware version you are running. Perhaps the problem is fixed in an updated firmware.

 

[JemTheWire]

Yeah. Ports 5-8 slowly died on my 88U but everything else worked great. I just got a gigabit switch and connected that. Never looked back and no loss of speed.

 

[Vince Edwards]

Yeah. Ports 5-8 slowly died on my 88U but everything else worked great. I just got a gigabit switch and connected that. Never looked back and no loss of speed.

I'm going to stick with ports 1-4 even if I expand the network. The general advice is to build networks like a pyramid rather than a daisy chain, but I shall have to live with that.

 

[Trip]

This is a bit of an extreme move if you're just trying to get by with what you've got, but a sure-fire way to clean up this mess, although more expensive and bit more complicated (initially) is to move to discrete components; ie. a separate modem, router, switch and APs. And junk the Virgin combo modem/router for a Virgin modem only, if possible. It may be an exception, but most of those ISP-supplied AIO's are a complete flake-show, and can royally screw up your ingress traffic flow if you get one with buggy firmware...

If the above is doable, then wire the modem to a solid wired router (Ubiqutui EdgeMax, Mikrotik, a black box x86 running a Linux community firewall of choice, whatever, as long as it's a proven platform). No consumer boxes. No faux-SMB "VPN" routers. Then put in a solid managed switch, L2/2+ or even L3 if you want to offload everything but routing from the router. I'd recommend Cisco SG, HPE or Adtran. Netgear ProSafe is OK. Lastly, the 88U and/or 66U should only be used as standalone AP's; I would either load the latest Merlin on each, or Tomato, and make triple-sure you have *all* ancillary services turned off on those boxes. Then correctly setup wifi with matching SSID's on non-overlapping channels, at the correct power levels.

Do that at a minimum, and I can virtually guarantee you your networking issues will all but disappear, assuming your basic power and ethernet infrastructure is legit and there isn't too much interference for your wifi boxes (and/or those boxes aren't burnt out). If they are, plunk down for some new AP's (TP-Link EAP225v3 for $66 a pop comes to mind), or a whole-house mesh running in bridge mode (Eero, etc.) and you should be good.