Ethernet (RJ45) Problem

[Alex Sutherland]

Recently it appeared my AC68U had stopped working, I could still connect via WiFi but I couldn't ping the LAN address via the RJ45 connection. I tried resetting to factory defaults but this didn't work.
The router was a out of warranty so I decided to purchase a AC88U router as a replacement.
After transferring the config using the NVRAM Save/Restore Utility everything worked fine... for about 2 days.
This router now the same problem are the first one?? I think its very unlikely both routers would develop the same problem so I closer look.
I reset the AC88U back to factory defaults and reapplied the latest firmware reapplied the settings and the device came back to life?? I tried the same process on the AC68U device and now it also is working again.

Can someone advise whats going on and suggest a way to prevent it re-occuring?

 

[Martin - SNBuser]

I don't know, but I'm not so happy about my AC87U - especially the USB-disk, keeps (at random times, after moderate or high low, for around 1-2 minutes) corrupting and unmounting my USB-disk-drive. Tried different USB-disks, so I'm sure it's the router now. I have around 8-10 months left of warranty, but I suspect they'll never ever find this random occuring error (also because I'm not running official Asus firmware). So it works - but not according to specs. I consider the problem with my router to be hardware-related. Yesterday I added a CIFS drive mount to /etc/fstab (actually /jffs/configs/fstab) and soon I'll see if I can install entware on a CIFS-mounted folder (ext2-file-container). If I make it work, I could be happy without the USB-drive... I would not be surprised if you have a hardware-problem also - but what devices do you have connected then? Could it be any of your connected network devices, that causes problems? Is it possible to see anything unusual in syslog?

 

[microchip]

when doing a factory reset, you should NEVER restore from a backup file, especially not from one from a different model, as this defeats the purpose of factory reset since you're re-introducing the exact same values that made problems for you. After factory reset, ALWAYS (or at least virtually always) reconfigure manually!

 

[Alex Sutherland]

I'm not using the restore option from the GUI but the Migration option from the NVRAM Save/Restore Utility. http://www.snbforums.com/threads/user-nvram-save-restore-utility-r24.19521

This utility states it can migrate most of the configuration settings between different models of router.

 

[john9527]

I'm not using the restore option from the GUI but the Migration option from the NVRAM Save/Restore Utility. http://www.snbforums.com/threads/user-nvram-save-restore-utility-r24.19521

This utility states it can migrate most of the configuration settings between different models of router.

The utility can be used to move the settings....but one thing to keep in mind. If you are having a problem on the 'from' router, and it's due to a problem in the user settings, this will faithfully be transferred as well. It isn't meant to correct user setup problems.

Having said that, it's pretty unusual for it to work for a couple of days, then fail, if it's a setup problem. The first thing that comes to mind is you are running out of nvram space (check on the Tools>Sysinfo page). You need about 5000 bytes free for the router to be able to work properly.

The second possibility is that you have a network problem that is causing the router to fill up it's file system with one of it's logs. telnet/ssh to the router and do a 'df' command and check the utilization of the tmpfs filesystem.

 

[Alex Sutherland]

Thanks, I will keep an eye on the logs. Currently I have WiFi and VPN turned off and there isn't much to look at. I will re-enable things gradually and see if anything changes. I do seem to remember a large number of warnings messages appearing in the log, I will see if they reappear.

 

[sfx2000]

non-obovious hint - swap out the cable.... they're cheap, and they do go bad from time to time...