Can kill switch trigger restart of AC86u?

[ColinTaylor]

So it suggests if the VPN were to disconnect the Asus would attempt to reconnect automatically?

Yes that's precisely how your VPN is configured. If it doesn't receive any traffic through the tunnel for 60 seconds it restarts the connection. That is what happened at 07:04. That was the only time that occurred. From that we must deduce that at all other times the the router had a working connection to the VPN server. This is also verified by the fact that we can see in the logs that every 60 minutes the VPN client renews its TLS key.

So all indications are that the connection from the router to the VPN server is functioning. In which case we can only assume that the problem lies with the connection between the VPN server and the wider internet. In other words, it's a problem on the VPN provider's side.


What firmware version are you using on your router?

Can you provide a screen shot of the VPN client's advanced settings, in case there's something we're missing?

 

[Cmeechan]

Hi Colin, thought I'd wait and see if issues repeats – and yes, this morning, same deal. Somewhere in the last XX hours it bombed again.

Firmware is 3.0.0.4.385_20630

And not sure where to find Advanced Settings? Under the menu, I only see attached: the profile I've set up using the VPN provider's ovpn file.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Again there's nothing of note in the logs. I can see you restarted the router at ~13:00 yesterday. The router seems to have been turned off from 16:00 to 18:00.

Sorry about the confusion with the VPN settings. Your router's firmware is different to mine and the menu's aren't the same. I'd guess you'd need to go to VPN > VPN Client and click Edit to see the settings.

Something you could try, just to get another data point when the problem has occurs... Instead of rebooting the router try logging into it and deactivating the VPN profile. Then see if your PC/phone can reach the internet. Then try re-activating the VPN profile and see if you can still access the internet (through the VPN).

 

[Cmeechan]

Hi again Colin, there's definitely no advanced setting in my control panel for VPN, all you can do is edit the VPN profile etc. This is falls all under 'Advanced settings'. I've done some grabs of other settings – bear in mind I just let the wizard set this up (which took several go's).

So the router was just down again. Deactiviating the VPN profile let me immediately access the internet. Reactivating VPN also immediately worked, and the IP was as it should be, in the UK.

I also talked to the VPN company on chat. They're offering to switch my server (I have a dedicated VPN account). I plan to try the VPN trial first since that will indicate if it really is the VPN provider at fault.

They also suggested I could "try a different port, eg from UDP 1194 to TCP 443". Don't know if that's worth trying, and I assume I would need to activate port forwarding to do that???

Thanks for your continued patience on this! Very much appreciated

 

[ColinTaylor]

So the router was just down again. Deactiviating the VPN profile let me immediately access the internet. Reactivating VPN also immediately worked, and the IP was as it should be, in the UK.

OK that's interesting. Can you post the log file again please.

I also talked to the VPN company on chat. They're offering to switch my server (I have a dedicated VPN account).

That's definitely something worth trying.

They also suggested I could "try a different port, eg from UDP 1194 to TCP 443". Don't know if that's worth trying, and I assume I would need to activate port forwarding to do that???

No, you don't need to do any port forwarding. Click on the Edit button shown in this screen shot. Hopefully it will show you the VPN settings, including the port number and protocol.

 

[Cmeechan]

Here it is minus the password, not a lot to see. And a new syslog, will show me deactivating VPN etc, I also turned port forward on and off, just for a look...

 

[ColinTaylor]

Sorry, can you clarify what you've done recently.

Was the router powered off yesterday between 16:00 and 18:00?

You said you found the VPN wasn't working this morning. But there's no indication you did anything to try and fix this. You didn't reboot the router or restart the VPN.

You just said "So the router was just down again". This implies that it was working a short while ago and then stopped. This contradicts the other information. Did you just forget the that VPN wasn't working and assumed it was? Or did the VPN start working again without you having to do anything?

Regarding the VPN settings; OK it looks like your firmware doesn't show that information which is a shame. So if you want to try a different port number you will have to create another VPN profile and import a different ovpn file.

 

[Cmeechan]

Hi, so I haven't touched the power button at all, and not between 16:00 and 18:00 yesterday (also no power cut).

I knew VPN wasn't working this morning because I have my phone wifi set to the Asus 5G VPN network, quickest way to check what the router is doing i.e. is the wifi/VPN network live and working. The phone would not connect.

So this time as suggested, I plugged my MacBook into the router, deactivated then reactivated the VPN and got the results I sent (working in both cases). I didn't touch the router's power button on purpose. Deactivating then reactivating started the VPN working again – but I did have to intervene, it didn't happen itself.

The time of when the router actually goes down is therefore hard to check precisely. I could possibly monitor if every hour one day to see if wifi is working, in the hope of getting a tighter timeframe of when it drops. But if the syslog isn't showing anything, will that help?

 

[ColinTaylor]

I knew VPN wasn't working this morning because I have my phone wifi set to the Asus 5G VPN network, quickest way to check what the router is doing i.e. is the wifi/VPN network live and working. The phone would not connect.

So this time as suggested, I plugged my MacBook into the router, deactivated then reactivated the VPN and got the results I sent (working in both cases). I didn't touch the router's power button on purpose. Deactivating then reactivating started the VPN working again – but I did have to intervene, it didn't happen itself.

OK so this seems to confirm my suspicion that between you discovering the VPN not working early this morning and you restarting the connection at 15:51 you didn't touch the router. So when you said at 15:1516:15 [edited for timezone difference] "the router was just down again" that was wrong because the connection had actually been down all day.

Anyway, you have three things you can try now. 1) Use a different server, 2) use a different port, and 3) try a free trial from another VPN provider.

 

[Cmeechan]

OK Colin, yes 'just' down wasn't accurate! I think I'll try them in order 3, 1 then 2 – since I'm not sure on how to change ports. Will let you know the outcome in several days once I choose a VPN trial and see. Many thanks, Charlie