Dead RT-N66U

[Mike0211]

Dead RT-N66U (Fast blinking power led, NOT restore mode)

Hello Everyone,

I have an issue with my RT-N66U (B1rev)

When it's powered on, the power led blinks fast, wifi leds are not blinking, lan& wan are up (if a device is connected) and the router is not reachable anymore on it's default address ( 192.168.1.1)

I tried almost all the solutions mentionned here and in other forums.
I took an XP laptop, and used the firmware utility, put the router in reset mode (power led slowly blinking).

In reset mode, i can access the CFE mini website, i tried flashing the stock firmware, the latest one, tomato, etc .

I tried flashing with either the utility or the CFE website (after clearing NVram).

Everytime, when the flash process starts, the ping to the machine cease to reach it, and everytime the flash process goes well, but after 58% it goes to 100% and stipulates the router will now reboot.
After a few min it reboots (blue led goes from always on to fast blinking), but the machine is back in it's initial stage, and i can't reach it at 192.168.1.1.

I also tried the "WPS" reset when powering up , but i guess, if i cleared the NVram trough the website it does the same thing.
I've read that you have to wait sometimes quite a long time to have it reboot after flash, how do you guys know it's a "proper" reboot, only thing i saw was the power led that went from static to fast blinking.
The flash process compared to what i've read here is suspiciously fast ,20 sec to upload, 5 min to write the complete FW (to 58% >100%).

Am i missing something? The router is out of warranty, is there any hope ?

It's sad because it was a wonderful device.

 

[L&LD]

Are you possibly rushing the firmware flash? How long do you wait after you start the flash to determine it still doesn't work?

Why are you pinging the device while flashing it?

 

[enr00ted]

- How did it end up like this ?
- Did you try the asus restoration utility ? (maybe he has went into flashing mode).

 

[wouterv]

blue power led blinks fast = router in recovery mode.
The steps to recover are:

1. Have a firmware file available, ending with the extension .trx
2. Set your computer to a fixed IP address, such as 192.168.1.100 / 255.255.255.0.
3. Hardwire your computer to the router.
4. Start the Firmware Restoration utility.
5. Follow the instructions to locate the firmware file and start the installation.
6. Wait for the Firmware Restoration utility to finish (this step takes usually at least 5 minutes, take a break, get a coffee, often the utility end with a message it can not reach the router. Try to ping it, eventually give it a hard reset (while the router is powered: hold the reset button pressed more than 5 seconds).
7. Access the router at the default IP address 192.168.1.1 and admin/admin
8. Manual configure the router again (do NOT load a firmware backup file).

 

[Mike0211]

Hi Guys, thanks for the help,

@ L&LD
I start the flash, wait for the utility to complete it.
Then i wait for the reboot by looking at the power led, i assumed when it stop being "static" and started to blink again it was the sign of post-flash reboot.
Maybe my assumption was wrong?

I tried flashing with either the CFE mini site and the utility (even different versions) . Always the same result, the light stays static for 5 min, then it starts blinking fast (not reset mode) again, but nothing else happens and the device is unreachable.
I can only reach/ping it in reset mode trough the mini website.
Maybe i rushed it, but last time i did the process described above, i went out for 1h and nothing changed, power led on, fast blinking (normal activity) , lan led on, all the rest is down and device is unreachable.



@enr00ted
I just woke up and it was like that, it had stock FW, i never messed with custom FW. And suddently it was unreachble with the WIFI leds down.

I did a ping -t on it so i could check if it was reachable when doing the reset process to be able to flash it.


@wouterV
Did all the steps you mentionned, i can reach the device in recovery mode and do the flash trough the mini site or via the utility.
Maybe my statement was confusing, but when i mean fast blinking i mean normal activity, recovery mode is a "slowish" (2 sec alternate) blinking in my perception, i just wanted to clear up the difference between that fast bliking after reboot and the "always on" static mode during the firmware flash.




Steps i did the last time :


1>Use fixed IP 192.168.1.12/24
2>Press reset and holding while powering on (after 5 sec power led starts to blink slowly and device becomes pingable ttl =100) GIF>
http://i.giphy.com/yoJC2OuZI7zo0Mv59S.gif
3> I used the FW utility to inject the latest FW (downloaded from asus website)
4> Utility upload the firware (power led down)
5>Utility starts writing the firmware (power led lights up and is on static mode)
6>Utility finishes and can't detect the device and tells me to watch the led for signs (ie reboot sign)
7> After 2-3 additional minutes, led stop being static , power off (i see the thernet link going down) and then go back up with fast blinking > GIF http://i.giphy.com/yoJC2x1lIU57Hg1X0Y.gif

Edit, that fast power led blinking is abnormal, just check vs a friends router, but it's not the same rate as when i put it in restore mode. Does that fast blinking means anything, is there an error code guide?

After all this wifi leds are still down and device is unreachable.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

Time for the trash

You can still buy new ones if you really want the N66.

 

[Mike0211]

Yeah i believe it's dead, but maybe someone had the same issue and found a solution. I wonder if i'm the only one to have that fast blinking power led.

 

[bbsc]

@Mike0211
I'd try to flash it via tftp.
If no success - then I'd try to reset nvram via serial console.

AFAIR, I've had a similar problem when flahsed RT-N16U with RT-N66U firmware. Just was a little drunk :lol:

 

[wouterv]

Hi Guys, thanks for the help,
@wouterV
...recovery mode is a "slowish" (2 sec alternate) blinking in my perception

Yes, my fault.
I still think you need to wait longer after loading the firmware.
The blinking Power led indicates the router is starting up, the firmware is building its NVRAM and not ready yet.
Wait untill the power LED is constant on.

 

[hggomes]

Use a serial cable connection and upload the .trx file.

 

[VANT]

small info about flash process using restoration utility.

In my case i must wait 30min when i want flash tomato fw, but when i back from tomato to Merlin build i wait 1hour (tomato have small file size). I have runing ping 192.168.1.1 -t, and i see when my router is back.

 

[Mike0211]

Thanks guys, i'll give it the night to make sure.
I noticed on a tutorial that the fast blinking light could be due to a stuck WPS button.
As for serial connection, i'm guessing i need to use JTAG, but i'm not very familiar with this , is there a comprehensive tutorial somewhere?

Thanks again, this is a great community

 

[hggomes]

Serial is different from JTAG, you have a bootloader working so you dont need JTAG, you can use serial connection to access the CFE and upload the firmware from there.

 

[Mike0211]

My bad, this is a bit out of my realm, where is the serial port located? What kind of connector is it?
Is there a small tutorial somewhere?

 

[bbsc]

@Mike0211
Have you tried tftp? It's quite simple and worth to be tried. At least you'll have some kind of log of flashing process.

 

[hggomes]

Open your router and connect 4 pin cable to the serial port inside, use putty or other software to connect to it.


http://www.ftdichip.com/Products/Cables/USBTTLSerial.htm

 

[BigIronPops]

Wait at least 40 minutes after flashing "seems" finished to do anything. I seem to recall Merlin indicated it could take up to 40 minutes for it to actually complete.

Hi Guys, thanks for the help,

@ L&LD
I start the flash, wait for the utility to complete it.
Then i wait for the reboot by looking at the power led, i assumed when it stop being "static" and started to blink again it was the sign of post-flash reboot.
Maybe my assumption was wrong?

I tried flashing with either the CFE mini site and the utility (even different versions) . Always the same result, the light stays static for 5 min, then it starts blinking fast (not reset mode) again, but nothing else happens and the device is unreachable.
I can only reach/ping it in reset mode trough the mini website.
Maybe i rushed it, but last time i did the process described above, i went out for 1h and nothing changed, power led on, fast blinking (normal activity) , lan led on, all the rest is down and device is unreachable.



@enr00ted
I just woke up and it was like that, it had stock FW, i never messed with custom FW. And suddently it was unreachble with the WIFI leds down.

I did a ping -t on it so i could check if it was reachable when doing the reset process to be able to flash it.


@wouterV
Did all the steps you mentionned, i can reach the device in recovery mode and do the flash trough the mini site or via the utility.
Maybe my statement was confusing, but when i mean fast blinking i mean normal activity, recovery mode is a "slowish" (2 sec alternate) blinking in my perception, i just wanted to clear up the difference between that fast bliking after reboot and the "always on" static mode during the firmware flash.




Steps i did the last time :


1>Use fixed IP 192.168.1.12/24
2>Press reset and holding while powering on (after 5 sec power led starts to blink slowly and device becomes pingable ttl =100) GIF>
http://i.giphy.com/yoJC2OuZI7zo0Mv59S.gif
3> I used the FW utility to inject the latest FW (downloaded from asus website)
4> Utility upload the firware (power led down)
5>Utility starts writing the firmware (power led lights up and is on static mode)
6>Utility finishes and can't detect the device and tells me to watch the led for signs (ie reboot sign)
7> After 2-3 additional minutes, led stop being static , power off (i see the thernet link going down) and then go back up with fast blinking > GIF http://i.giphy.com/yoJC2x1lIU57Hg1X0Y.gif

Edit, that fast power led blinking is abnormal, just check vs a friends router, but it's not the same rate as when i put it in restore mode. Does that fast blinking means anything, is there an error code guide?

After all this wifi leds are still down and device is unreachable.

 

[hggomes]

Yes, time is the key, lots of people thinks the router is bricked but its not, just wait after upload the FW, the routers should reboot by itself.

 

[Mike0211]

Thanks a bunch guys, after many succesful flash, even with the serial connexion, and still the same result i tried to pry it open out of despair and (quite brutally) extracted the WPS button , after checking the mechanism, i saw the contact was stuck, i unstuck it and now all is back in order!

That fast blinking was indeed linked to the WPS button, thank god for that video tutorial where i saw that behavior when someone erased NVram by holding the WPS button.
Now i know how to flash it in any way possible, thanks again everyone for all your input, friendliest help tech forum i've ever been on!

 

[hggomes]

Im glad you could make it, i just hope other WPS buttons don't follow yours