AX88U driving me crazy because it keeps crashing

[dornadeluxe]

Hi all,

I have some serious issues with my AX88U, which I hope someone will be able to help me with here. To be honest, I am so frustrated that I am happy to donate anyone 20€ via PayPal who's able to solve my issue.

To my configuration:
I am using an AX88U as my primary router, which sits behind an Arris TG3442DE - Vodafone Station. Unfortunately the Vodafone Station cannot be used in bridge mode in the area in Germany I live, therefore I have a double NAT configuration. WiFi on the Vodafone Station is disabled.
In addition to the AX88U, I currently also own an AX58U, which is configured as AI mesh node and connected to the AX88U via LAN.

To the problem:
My router is crashing on an regular basis, sometimes several times a day, sometimes once in two weeks. On average I would say it happens twice per week and the symptoms are always the same. By crashing, I mean that I will lose internet connection every time and approx. 50% of the time I will even not be able to connect to the router via WiFi or LAN any more at all (seems like it also depends on the timing, it will lose internet connection first and then slowly loose all other connections as well). The only thing that helps, is turning the router off and then back on again or if it still accepts local connections a soft restart will also do.
I can actually "force" the problem to happen by moving to a room in my house which has pretty bad WiFi reception and then start streaming video from my iPhone. After a few minutes, it will drop the internet and then all other connections as well - although sometimes it will continue to work just fine. Also, it is definitely not only related to streaming video, sometimes the router will just stop working during night time when everyone is asleep and there are various other scenarios as well.
Everything is working just fine when the router is not crashing, I have no performance issues or other problems.

What have I tried already:

• I have reset the whole system and started from scratch setting it up - problem persists
• I have installed both the latest Merlin and the latest official firmware on both ASUS routers - problem persists
• I have exchanged the AC87U, which I have been using previously to extend my WiFi range, against the AI mesh capable AX58U - problem persists
• I have now bought a brand new AX88U a few days ago, since in the end I believed it would be a hardware issue. I set it up as a completely new router - and the problem still persists!

Please find attached several logs that I downloaded after the crashes happened:

• June 13th, crash at approx. 20:10 (merlin) -> 1st AX88U
• June 14th, crash at approx 6:50 (merlin) -> 1st AX88U
• June 14th, crash at approx 8:24 (merlin) -> 1st AX88U
• June 14th, crash at approx 10:00 (merlin) -> 1st AX88U
• July 13th, crash at approx 7:12 (merlin) -> new AX88U
• July 17th, crash at approx 9:00 (original ASUS) -> new AX88U

Looking forward to your ideas on how to solve this!

Thank you and best regards

Oliver

 

[Kingp1n]

If youre having the same issues with a brand new router...than the problem is not your hardware. Maybe its something with either your ISP wiring or signal loss coming into the home. Recommend contacting your ISP tech support to come check the wiring/signal for any external issues, if you havent done so already.

Also try to isolate the problem and removing some devices and jsut setup the AX88U without the node and Vodafone. You may slowly add a device at time and see if any of these devices are causing the disconnect.

 

[Adooni]

to check where you have a problem you can use WinMTR soft - you can find a lot tutorials on yt how it works.
It will tell you if it is inside your network or internet provider is responsibility for it. For me if you will not investigate it alone, and will not have proof, provider always is telling it is your fault.

 

[dornadeluxe]

Thank you for your replies! I was thinking of an issue with my ISP as well, however as I have written before I am able to "force" a crash of the router, by behaving in the way written above. Therefore I doubt it is related to my ISP.
WinMTR I haven't heard of but will give it a look. Is that also available for Mac users? How exactly could I use it to get ahold of the problem?
Besides that, does anyone recognize anything out of the ordinary in my log files (latest crash from yesterday attached at 22:40)?

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

Do you have a Guest #1 SSID configured with Access Intranet disabled? This seems to cause mine to crash periodically.

 

[bsdsource]

I noticed that you are having constent roaming issues due to bad rssi (bad reception) which is causing alot of disconnection and reconnection attempts. Your router is essentially showing non-stop activety which is probably causing your router's cpu and wireless temperatures to run hot. I would attempt to activately cool it with a fan to see if that helps. Obviously this is just my point of view based on a couple of logs I looked at.

 

[Kanji-San]

I used to have an AX88U which dropped my WAN connection every 1 to 5 days. Your problem is a bit different but I would like to give you some troubleshooting advice:

Assume the AX88U has a systematic problem, hardware or software. Since you have an AX58U, try it as a router with the most minimal and simple configuration possible. Don't connect the AX88U! See if your problem returns.

All my problems went away once I replaced my AX88U with any, I tried three different, other router. I now have an AX86U which is completely stable.

 

[juko]

I have pretty much identical problem. I'm using AX88U as main router and AX58U as a mesh node connected with LAN and AX88U connected to internet box with ethernet cable (my WAN box is Zyxel LTE7480-M804). The AX88U loses the internet connection and most of the time I'm not able to connect to the router using browser. Wifi devices are not disconnected from wifi but they cannot access any addresses, not even the router. I need to power off and on the AX88U and then everything will work again. Sometimes it happens daily, sometimes once per week. I've tried also using scheduled restart of the router but that doesn't solve the problem.

I've also noticed couple of times that using my mobile (iPhone) where the wifi signal is weak, may cause the router to crash. But I've had it happening when nobody is home and only "static" devices (like Apple TV, Arlo hub etc) are connected. I have lots of devices connected to wifi (many Apple devices, Arlo security system, smart lock "hub", etc.) It would be pretty difficult to isolate the problem by connecting devices one by one especially as the problem happens so randomly.

 

[Morris]

Your router is not crashing, your DHCP lease is not renewing and this is an know problem with a fix. Upgrade to the latest firmware and set the WAN DHCP query frequency to "Continuous Mode"

 

[juko]

Your router is not crashing, your DHCP lease is not renewing and this is an know problem with a fix. Upgrade to the latest firmware and set the WAN DHCP query frequency to "Continuous Mode"

I'll try that. I've been using the latest firmware all the time. I'm just wondering why would that cause the router not being accessible via it's local IP address making it look like it crashed. There's no way to connect to it when that happens. Nor can I connect any local clients with their (fixed) IP addresses. Then only remedy is to power the router off and on again. Also it's very odd that it happens so randomly. Sometimes it may happen multiple times per day, sometimes it works a week without problem.

 

[dornadeluxe]

I have pretty much identical problem. I'm using AX88U as main router and AX58U as a mesh node connected with LAN and AX88U connected to internet box with ethernet cable (my WAN box is Zyxel LTE7480-M804). The AX88U loses the internet connection and most of the time I'm not able to connect to the router using browser. Wifi devices are not disconnected from wifi but they cannot access any addresses, not even the router. I need to power off and on the AX88U and then everything will work again. Sometimes it happens daily, sometimes once per week. I've tried also using scheduled restart of the router but that doesn't solve the problem.

I've also noticed couple of times that using my mobile (iPhone) where the wifi signal is weak, may cause the router to crash. But I've had it happening when nobody is home and only "static" devices (like Apple TV, Arlo hub etc) are connected. I have lots of devices connected to wifi (many Apple devices, Arlo security system, smart lock "hub", etc.) It would be pretty difficult to isolate the problem by connecting devices one by one especially as the problem happens so randomly.

I could have written that Seems we have the exact same issue. I will try the fix Morris proposes and let you know if that worked. I also have lots of Apple devices connected (6 Homepods, 2 Apple TVs, 2 Macbooks, 2 iPads, 2 iPhones) and most of the times it seems to be my iPhone 12 Pro Max that's causing the crash when there's limited Wifi signal but just like you say, it might also happen without this any time...

 

[dornadeluxe]

Your router is not crashing, your DHCP lease is not renewing and this is an know problem with a fix. Upgrade to the latest firmware and set the WAN DHCP query frequency to "Continuous Mode"

Forgot about it but for me this cannot be the fix since I already set my WAN connection type to static IP.

 

[DUSTOFF]

Hi all,

I have some serious issues with my AX88U, which I hope someone will be able to help me with here. To be honest, I am so frustrated that I am happy to donate anyone 20€ via PayPal who's able to solve my issue.

To my configuration:
I am using an AX88U as my primary router, which sits behind an Arris TG3442DE - Vodafone Station. Unfortunately the Vodafone Station cannot be used in bridge mode in the area in Germany I live, therefore I have a double NAT configuration. WiFi on the Vodafone Station is disabled.
In addition to the AX88U, I currently also own an AX58U, which is configured as AI mesh node and connected to the AX88U via LAN.

To the problem:
My router is crashing on an regular basis, sometimes several times a day, sometimes once in two weeks. On average I would say it happens twice per week and the symptoms are always the same. By crashing, I mean that I will lose internet connection every time and approx. 50% of the time I will even not be able to connect to the router via WiFi or LAN any more at all (seems like it also depends on the timing, it will lose internet connection first and then slowly loose all other connections as well). The only thing that helps, is turning the router off and then back on again or if it still accepts local connections a soft restart will also do.
I can actually "force" the problem to happen by moving to a room in my house which has pretty bad WiFi reception and then start streaming video from my iPhone. After a few minutes, it will drop the internet and then all other connections as well - although sometimes it will continue to work just fine. Also, it is definitely not only related to streaming video, sometimes the router will just stop working during night time when everyone is asleep and there are various other scenarios as well.
Everything is working just fine when the router is not crashing, I have no performance issues or other problems.

What have I tried already:

• I have reset the whole system and started from scratch setting it up - problem persists
• I have installed both the latest Merlin and the latest official firmware on both ASUS routers - problem persists
• I have exchanged the AC87U, which I have been using previously to extend my WiFi range, against the AI mesh capable AX58U - problem persists
• I have now bought a brand new AX88U a few days ago, since in the end I believed it would be a hardware issue. I set it up as a completely new router - and the problem still persists!

Please find attached several logs that I downloaded after the crashes happened:

• June 13th, crash at approx. 20:10 (merlin) -> 1st AX88U
• June 14th, crash at approx 6:50 (merlin) -> 1st AX88U
• June 14th, crash at approx 8:24 (merlin) -> 1st AX88U
• June 14th, crash at approx 10:00 (merlin) -> 1st AX88U
• July 13th, crash at approx 7:12 (merlin) -> new AX88U
• July 17th, crash at approx 9:00 (original ASUS) -> new AX88U

Looking forward to your ideas on how to solve this!

Thank you and best regards

Oliver

I have been having the same issue with this router and it has been driving me insane, I came here for the exact same reason. The phone's connecting seems interesting. My family was gone and the problem stopped for the 2 weeks they were gone, they all have iphones, and when they came back the system started crashing as if they were cursed. Please let us know if you figure it out before I chuck this thing and this router becomes the first ax88u to reach outer space.

 

[Morris]

This is hardly the first time iPhones have been implicated in WiFi crashes and even LAN crashes with Macs. In the past the problems have been related to error recovery with constant retries that turn into a network storm. Multicast streaming complicates that issue. Another one has been DHCP Renewal where the iPhone keeps asking for a different IP running out the range and/or overwhelming the DHCP server.

For those that believe it's related to apple devices try these changes in this order and wait to see if fixed before trying the next step:
- Update all Apple devices to the latest firmware and OS patches
- Assign all iPhones and possibly all Apple devices a fixed IP
- In Wireless Professional for both bands Enable Bluetooth Coexistence and Enable IGMP Snooping
- In Wireless Professional experiment with setting a slower Multicast Rate(Mbps). Note that this can have a noticeable impact on overall wireless throughput and/or any multicast applications

Good luck,

Morris

 

[juko]

This is hardly the first time iPhones have been implicated in WiFi crashes and even LAN crashes with Macs. In the past the problems have been related to error recovery with constant retries that turn into a network storm. Multicast streaming complicates that issue. Another one has been DHCP Renewal where the iPhone keeps asking for a different IP running out the range and/or overwhelming the DHCP server.

For those that believe it's related to apple devices try these changes in this order and wait to see if fixed before trying the next step:
- Update all Apple devices to the latest firmware and OS patches
- Assign all iPhones and possibly all Apple devices a fixed IP
- In Wireless Professional for both bands Enable Bluetooth Coexistence and Enable IGMP Snooping
- In Wireless Professional experiment with setting a slower Multicast Rate(Mbps). Note that this can have a noticeable impact on overall wireless throughput and/or any multicast applications

Good luck,

Morris

Thank you! I'll try those. I think I'll skip the fixed IP part as I've been monitoring the network very closely because of this very irritating bug in the router and I have not yet seen IP address of any device changing and device logs don't suggest anything like DHCP being overwhelmed. I still think the problem is with the router, not with any client connecting to it. I've not experienced anything similar with any other router and I've been using many. Also I must note that the router has crashed when everyone was away and not really any apple devices were connected to the router.

 

[Morris]

Thank you! I'll try those. I think I'll skip the fixed IP part as I've been monitoring the network very closely because of this very irritating bug in the router and I have not yet seen IP address of any device changing and device logs don't suggest anything like DHCP being overwhelmed. I still think the problem is with the router, not with any client connecting to it. I've not experienced anything similar with any other router and I've been using many. Also I must note that the router has crashed when everyone was away and not really any apple devices were connected to the router.

Why are you saying the router "crashed"? Do you see evidence of a crash or hang in the log?

With what you are experiencing, I recommend a reset to factory default. Then only change only what is necessary to get ISP and clients to connect. If you want to tune, wait a few days, then when you are confident every thing is stable, make one change at a time and keep a log of your changes with a date stamp. This way you will know what breaks your setup and how to get back to a working setup.

Good luck,

Morris

 

[dornadeluxe]

I feel it might be related to Wifi 6 devices, because my iPhone 8 seemingly cannot force the crash. Also it seems that after a crash, the router cannot be reached on the 5Ghz at all anymore but it's still possible to connect on 2.4Ghz. Can any of the others with the issue confirm this?

 

[Morris]

I feel it might be related to Wifi 6 devices, because my iPhone 8 seemingly cannot force the crash. Also it seems that after a crash, the router cannot be reached on the 5Ghz at all anymore but it's still possible to connect on 2.4Ghz. Can any of the others with the issue confirm this?

You are calling this a crash yet 2.4Ghz is working so the router has not crashed. What is in the log when this happens? Does 5Ghz come back after a time and how long?

Morris

 

[Deleted member 76736]

Maybe you can post your complete WIFI-Settings?

I've got an AX88U too. Works with 386.3 MerlinWRT without any errors. I've got an ipad air 2020 and iphone11 on wifi 6 and some AC-devices on 5GHz. Some IOTs at 2.4GHz guestnet. All without any errors or abnormilities.
On WAN: 600/600 FTTH with native DHCP ipv6 and (unfortunatly) cgnat ipv4 DHCP adressing.
No VPN, no QOS, no scripts at all.
On LAN-side there is a list with about 30 devices manually assigned IP-adresses.
Router works perfekt...

 

[dornadeluxe]

You are calling this a crash yet 2.4Ghz is working so the router has not crashed. What is in the log when this happens? Does 5Ghz come back after a time and how long?

Morris

Can you check my first few posts? Lot's of logs there with the time of the crashes. I don't see anything conspicuous in them though. 5Ghz never comes back just like the internet connection. The only thing that helps is to reboot the router.