Bug causing router inaccessible

[bigeyes0x0]

As the title suggest, with RT-AC56U/R, firmware 380.59, from factory setting, setting VLAN without having WAN interface connected will cause the device inaccessible and does not respond to ping. The actual procedure is as follow:
- Device at factory setting
- Connect to device using a LAN port, WAN port has no LAN cable attached
- Skip over the quick setup wizard
- Go to full setup LAN -> IPTV and set:
. Select ISP profile: Manual Setting
. Internet VLAN: set to an acceptable number
. LAN port 4: set to an acceptable number
- Apply the above settings, device will reboot and won't ever respond to ping unless you have the WAN interface connected. Otherwise you would need to factory reset.

The reason I need to set it up without WAN is because I setup this router for someone else.

If you need anymore info I will gladly provide it.

 

[bigeyes0x0]

Bump, this issue is easy to reproduce, any comment on it?

 

[L&LD]

I hope you're not still 'setting it up' for them today?

Connect to your ISP and configure it, then at their location, simply run the Quick Internet Setup wizard via the gui to configure it for their ISP.

 

[bigeyes0x0]

Thanks for your satire, don't think I even know it after going through that. In fact, you don't actually need a WAN just an active Ethernet connection to the WAN port. This points to some script that set up the WAN VLAN goes fubar without the active connection.

Honestly without knowing it's a bug one would waste quite some time with it. In my case, it was over half an hour on this. I just hope this is a bug inside the open source part of the firmware and RMerlin can confirm it so he can fix it later.

 

[RMerlin]

Anything involving VLANs is not that easy to test/debug (as it's ISP-specific), so I generally don't mess with it.

 

[L&LD]

Thanks for your satire, don't think I even know it after going through that. In fact, you don't actually need a WAN just an active Ethernet connection to the WAN port. This points to some script that set up the WAN VLAN goes fubar without the active connection.

Honestly without knowing it's a bug one would waste quite some time with it. In my case, it was over half an hour on this. I just hope this is a bug inside the open source part of the firmware and RMerlin can confirm it so he can fix it later.

I didn't offer 'satire'. Just my humble attempt at helping since you didn't get any replies for 8 days and it seemed like you still needed help.

An 'active Ethernet connection' is either a WAN (to an ISP's modem) or a LAN connection that has internet access connected to the WAN port. Either way, glad you figured it out and that RMerlin answered you too.

 

[bigeyes0x0]

Anything involving VLANs is not that easy to test/debug (as it's ISP-specific), so I generally don't mess with it.

This is very much likely in the code to initialize VLANs on WAN interface so I think it's easy to check if it's something easy to fix. If it is we can improve the firmware for a rare use case that might cause the router inaccessible without clear cause (soft brick), otherwise I do agree with you.

If possible can you point me to the part of the source code around this. I maybe able to wrap my head around it.

I didn't offer 'satire'. Just my humble attempt at helping since you didn't get any replies for 8 days and it seemed like you still needed help.

An 'active Ethernet connection' is either a WAN (to an ISP's modem) or a LAN connection that has internet access connected to the WAN port. Either way, glad you figured it out and that RMerlin answered you too.

No need for Internet on the WAN interface, just connected WAN to a spare switch and go to nothing.

Sorry that I couldn't catch your tone correctly. This issue is quite frustrating because they have the same ISP and services like mine. As I buy them the same router, another AC56U, restoring my own config should work for them as figured, but it didn't. I lost over 30 minutes trying to pinpoint the issue.

 

[L&LD]

No need for Internet on the WAN interface, just connected WAN to a spare switch and go to nothing.

Sorry that I couldn't catch your tone correctly. This issue is quite frustrating because they have the same ISP and services like mine. As I buy them the same router, another AC56U, restoring my own config should work for them as figured, but it didn't. I lost over 30 minutes trying to pinpoint the issue.

Oh, I didn't realize a connection to the 'net wasn't a 'requirement'. Good to know.

No problem (hard to catch 'tone' from a typed message sometimes).

The RT-AC56U that you bought was running the same firmware as what you had for your saved configuration? Or, was a firmware updated needed to get there?

Afaik, it is not a good idea to use a saved backup config file between different routers (even if they're the same make and model) because it copies MAC addresses and other low level information too?

You may have had much better luck with john9527's NVRAM Save/Restore utility instead.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/user-nvram-save-restore-utility-r24.19521/


Particularly with the '-m', migrate, option.

 

[RMerlin]

If possible can you point me to the part of the source code around this. I maybe able to wrap my head around it.

There's a lot of VLAN-related code all over the place, so I have no idea where to point you at specifically.

My recommendation is to try to reproduce the issue using the stock firmware, and then file a bug report with Asus so they can fix it on their end.

 

[bigeyes0x0]

@L&LD of course not it wasn't running the same firmware as the one I have which is running 380.59 from Merlin. I made sure to upgrade to that firmware specifically, reset to factory then restore my settings from files. As soon as my settings are applied which included my VLAN settings the router is practically soft bricked. I did this a few times before I set the router from scratch to pinpoint the issue, causing me to lose quite sometime on it.

As I suspected if RMerlin can't pinpoint it, and IMO this is a major issue, it's better to report it to ASUS directly. I'd do that later.

 

[L&LD]

@L&LD of course not it wasn't running the same firmware as the one I have which is running 380.59 from Merlin. I made sure to upgrade to that firmware specifically, reset to factory then restore my settings from files. As soon as my settings are applied which included my VLAN settings the router is practically soft bricked. I did this a few times before I set the router from scratch to pinpoint the issue, causing me to lose quite sometime on it.

As I suspected if RMerlin can't pinpoint it, and IMO this is a major issue, it's better to report it to ASUS directly. I'd do that later.

I think you may have skipped over this part?

Afaik, it is not a good idea to use a saved backup config file between different routers (even if they're the same make and model) because it copies MAC addresses and other low level information too?

 

[bigeyes0x0]

Well I didn't because I have set up from scratch to reproduce the issue. Then again we can all drop it here as I will report this to ASUS when I have the time. Hopefully their support is better than the one I had with their Xonar line of audio products.

 

[L&LD]

Well I didn't because I have set up from scratch to reproduce the issue. Then again we can all drop it here as I will report this to ASUS when I have the time. Hopefully their support is better than the one I had with their Xonar line of audio products.

Please keep us updated then. I hope you get an answer you like.

I really don't see this as an issue though, when the 'solution' is to simply have a 'live' Ethernet cable plugged into the WAN port.