Can't Login to GUI

[jata]

Just out of curiosity, what mode is your router in, and is it behind a bridge?

normal wireless router mode.

http service stopped working again today so it seems to be quite frequent on beta 1 - however I am not sure if it is an issue specific to the beta.

It's tricky to work out what is happening as there is nothing in the log to indicate that the http service is crashed. If it happens again, I will run 'top' from the terminal to see if the httpd process is running...

 

[Mike S]

Any more updates on this? Just happened to me again my RT-AC88U running 384.17. This really needs to get fixed.

 

[L&LD]

@Mike S, have you tried the latest RMerlin firmware for your router? Many fixes since that old one you're running.

 

[Mike S]

I did a little more testing. After entering my username and password on the RT-AC88U login screen, I ended up with a blank screen. The dashboard never downloaded.

While the screen was blank, I logged into the router via SSH and entered "service restart_httpd". As soon as I did this, my web browser once again showed the router login screen. I logged in again, and got another blank screen. I could do this repeatedly.

I'm not a guru on this stuff, so I don't know what this means. Maybe someone else who is more knowledgeable can give us a hint on how to further troubleshoot this.

 

[Mike S]

@Mike S, have you tried the latest RMerlin firmware for your router? Many fixes since that old one you're running.

I'm running 384.17, which is relatively recent. I'll try upgrading to 384.18 tonight and see if that changes anything.

 

[john9527]

Maybe someone else who is more knowledgeable can give us a hint on how to further troubleshoot this.

Since it's recreateable, when you get the login screen turn on the browser console with F12....then enter your credentials and see if the console posts any error.

 

[Mike S]

Since it's recreateable, when you get the login screen turn on the browser console with F12....then enter your credentials and see if the console posts any error.

After I click on the Logon button, the screen goes blank. The browser shows "Waiting for .......". The browser console is empty. Nothing seems to be getting received from the router.

 

[Wycleff]

I had this strange behavior with Wifi-Devices and the Protected Management Frames Setting. Had to disable it on an older Asus-Device.

With the AX-58U im currently experimenting with "Capable".

 

[Mike S]

Here's some more interesting info: The last syslog entry for my RT-AC88U was on the evening of July 6. The router was configured to automatically reboot each evening at 3AM. There were no syslog entries that this occurred on the morning of July 7.

This afternoon (July 8) the router was still functioning properly, except that I couldn't successfully login to the GUI. I did manage to successfully connect and disconnect OpenVPN connections to the OpenVPN server on this router from another Asus Merlin router, and was able to send traffic over the OpenVPN connection. Again, there was no record of these OpenVPN connections in the syslog of the router.

Finally, this evening, I logged onto the router using SSH and issued a REBOOT command. At that point the router hung for hours, until I finally power cycled the router, at which point it successfully rebooted. I subsequently upgraded the firmware to 384.18. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will help, but I am not particularly optimistic.

If anyone is interested in looking at my syslog file, I have saved a copy. Most of this is greek to me.

This problem really needs to get escalated and fixed. I am using these routers to connect multiple remote offices and I can't handle these types of reliability issues. What is really strange is that some of the routers in my network are having this sporadic issue, while others are solid as a rock.

 

[snakebite3]

I had this problem too. FW 384.17 and 384.18 on 68u.
The router time outs with Webui, SSH and asus router app.
I just factory reset it. I doubt it will fix the problem.

 

[pusb87]

Here's some more interesting info: The last syslog entry for my RT-AC88U was on the evening of July 6. The router was configured to automatically reboot each evening at 3AM. There were no syslog entries that this occurred on the morning of July 7.

This afternoon (July 8) the router was still functioning properly, except that I couldn't successfully login to the GUI. I did manage to successfully connect and disconnect OpenVPN connections to the OpenVPN server on this router from another Asus Merlin router, and was able to send traffic over the OpenVPN connection. Again, there was no record of these OpenVPN connections in the syslog of the router.

Finally, this evening, I logged onto the router using SSH and issued a REBOOT command. At that point the router hung for hours, until I finally power cycled the router, at which point it successfully rebooted. I subsequently upgraded the firmware to 384.18. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will help, but I am not particularly optimistic.

If anyone is interested in looking at my syslog file, I have saved a copy. Most of this is greek to me.

This problem really needs to get escalated and fixed. I am using these routers to connect multiple remote offices and I can't handle these types of reliability issues. What is really strange is that some of the routers in my network are having this sporadic issue, while others are solid as a rock.

try reflashing, that appears to have fixed it for me now

 

[John Wentworth]

I too am experiencing this issue for months over multiple Merlin builds on my 68u. Mine adds in the nice variable of the entire router crashing serveral hours after the webui crashes. Once the webui crashes, I also have no more syslogs written. I think that this shows that it's more than just the httpd service that's crashing. I recently even factory reset my router, upgraded to 384.18 and then factory reset again. I didn't use a backup config, but configured the router by hand. And after a little over a week the webui crashes again, though the router itself kept working for over a day without the router itself stopping. I eventually did a power cycle and enabled ssh, hoping I could diagnose the problem with ssh.

I do not have a complex setup. Wireless router mode, aiprotect on, samba server, guest network, adaptive QOS,a few port forwards, traffic monitoring to USB thumb drive, ddns.
For awhile I was use a VPN client but I have since stopped using it. And I recently added a openvpn server which continues to work after the webui crashes.

 

[K-2SO]

I do not have a complex setup. AP mode, aiprotect on, samba server, guest network, adaptive QOS,a few port forwards, traffic monitoring to USB thumb drive, ddns.

Sure it’s in AP mode?

 

[John Wentworth]

Sure it’s in AP mode?

Sorry I think I used the wrong term. It's my main wireless router. I do have an identical 68u that I run as a media Bridge and the issue doesn't appear on that device.

 

[K-2SO]

It's my main wireless router.

When I had my RT-AC86U routers, I found Asus stock firmware more stable than Merlin after 384.14. You should try latest Asus stock, perhaps?

 

[John Wentworth]

When I had my RT-AC86U routers, I found Asus stock firmware more stable than Merlin after 384.14. You should try latest Asus stock, perhaps?

The stock Asus firmware is missing some functionality that I need unfortunately.

 

[K-2SO]

The stock Asus firmware is missing some functionality that I need unfortunately.

What about running Merlin with no scripts? I also found some scripts causing more frequent GUI crashes.

 

[jdmc]

OH MY GOD I can't believe I just found this thread. This EXACT problem has happened to me TWICE over the past two weeks, running plain-vanilla Merlin 384.18 on my RT-AC68P. I literally wasted two full days of my life dealing with this BS. I run no scripts, I do nothing fancy, I never SSH in or anything, no VPN, etc. Just run the router as a router and AP. As far as I can recall, this NEVER happened to me before I installed 384.18 about three weeks ago. What a freaking nightmare.

After the first UI crash, I installed FreshTomato for the first time and tried that for a few days. It worked OK, but the interface didn't thrill me, so I did a factory reset and went back to Merlin 384.18. Welp, sure enough, within a few days it happened all over again. This time I broke down and installed the latest stock ASUS firmware. It's OK, but having used Merlin for years, I really miss what's not there.

I am not willing to waste whole days putzing around in wracked frustration with this nonsense again. This itsh needs to get FIXED.

 

[Mike S]

I had the same problem again today on my RT-AC88U running 384.18. The router still seemed to run fine, but the GUI was non-functional. I logged in with SSH and tried to reboot the router with a REBOOT command, but the router hung and never successfully rebooted. After power cycling the router, everything started working again. This is happening every two weeks or so. I'm getting ready to ditch the Merlin software.

 

[L&LD]

@Mike S, have you ever reset the router(s) fully and then minimally and manually configure them to secure them and connect to your ISP?

The following may help get your router back to a good/known state.

Fully reset router and network https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ax88-packet-loss.62891/post-563326

M&M Config https://www.snbforums.com/threads/n...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

Sanitize Network https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac66u-slow-wan-to-lan.12973/page-3#post-269410

Control Channel Set up https://www.snbforums.com/threads/a...details-in-the-description.55582/#post-472051

Control Channel Setup 2 https://www.snbforums.com/threads/very-slow-on-2-4ghz.26942/#post-205456

WPS NVRAM Erase https://www.snbforums.com/threads/b...eta-is-now-available.55520/page-9#post-473141

Nuclear Reset https://www.snbforums.com/threads/major-issues-w-rt-ac86u.56342/page-4#post-495710

Why a new SSID? https://www.snbforums.com/threads/i...-ax88u-rt-ac86u-node.60551/page-2#post-532915