First Install Help: Not working

[Rio]

Hey Guys,

I decided to take the plunge with the Merlin firmware but seem to be stuck with nothing working.

Router: RT-AC68U A2

Here is what I did so far:

Use the Asus Restore Utility to load the Merlin firmware 380.64
- It said it was successful, however for whatever reason the WiFi won't turn on.
- When I connected it to the Modem it shows the Internet LED
- The Power Button is fully on.
- When I plug in a computer through LAN, it does not get assigned an ip, nor shows the default gateway/router address

I have tried putting the router back into recovery mode again but it won't work for some reason, the power light never blinks. I used his page:https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1000814/

So I am not sure how to go about accessing the router page.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Rio]

From which fw you come from?

Full reset with this method:
Turn off the router, press the WPS button (on Asus routers), then turn on the router. Wait about 10 seconds, then release the WPS button.Wait 3 mins and try reconfig

Thanks for the quick reply!

I was using the latest Asus Firmware: 3.0.0.4.380_4164

Will give this a try now

 

[Rio]

From which fw you come from?

Full reset with this method:
Turn off the router, press the WPS button (on Asus routers), then turn on the router. Wait about 10 seconds, then release the WPS button.Wait 3 mins and try reconfig

It did not seem to work. Still no wifi and no way to get to the page

 

[sfx2000]

Use the Asus Restore Utility to load the Merlin firmware 380.64

Factory reset, and then do things from scratch on the wire...

 

[Rio]

Wired,not over wifi
Just hold reset button to be sure 5 sec. Wait 3 min
Enter: 192.168.1.1
admin:admin
Password:admin

FYI:There is a button Wi-fi On/off switch on the right side, just to be sure it is not just that

I tried over wired as well but haven't been able to access it.

The ethernet adapter shows 'Self-Assigned IP' even thought its set to DHCP.


Weird thing now:

Tried holding reset button. Power flashed, so I released.
Now the Power button is gone out and only the ethernet light is on.

 

[TonyH]

I tried over wired as well but haven't been able to access it.

The ethernet adapter shows 'Self-Assigned IP' even thought its set to DHCP.


Weird thing now:

Tried holding reset button. Power flashed, so I released.
Now the Power button is gone out and only the ethernet light is on.

IMO, your router is in unknown state. Are you sure the flash was completed?
Did you command 'ipconfig /all' ? What do you see there? What is gateway address?

 

[Rio]

IMO, your router is in unknown state. Are you sure the flash was completed?
Did you command 'ipconfig /all' ? What do you see there? What is gateway address?

Yeah, the bar was full and it showed successful.

How do I get it into a known state? Would Asus be able to help? I can try giving them a call. It seems nothing else is working.

There is no gateway address, it is just blank.

 

[TonyH]

Yeah, the bar was full and it showed successful.

How do I get it into a known state? Would Asus be able to help? I can try giving them a call. It seems nothing else is working.

There is no gateway address, it is just blank.

Hmmm, try these commands and see the result. 'ipconfig /release' ipconfig /renew' ipconfig /all'
Still no gateway address? Anything at all?

 

[Rio]

Hmmm, try these commands and see the result. 'ipconfig /release' ipconfig /renew' ipconfig /all'
Still no gateway address? Anything at all?

It gets stuck on ipconfig /renew

Says:

'An error occurred while renewing interface Local Area Connection : Unable to contact your DHCP server. Request has timed out.

 

[Rio]

Are you sure your DHCP Client service in Windows is still running?(services.msc),should be on "Auto"

Yeah. Even when I connect my Mac to it, it doesn't get assigned an IP address nor has a default gateway.

 

[Rio]

Called ASUS Support, told them it stopped working after a firmware update.

Attempted to reset, power cycle etc. Concluded hardware issue or something not fixable.
Luckily it is still under warranty. Going to be sending it in, hopefully they still fix it for me.

Is there any other way to switch to the Merlin firmware? Should I downgrade to an older official Asus firmware when I get it back and then do the upgrade to Merlin from the UI itself? (Not sure if that is how it works?) But seems less error prone for me

 

[martinr]

.....

Is there any other way to switch to the Merlin firmware? Should I downgrade to an older official Asus firmware when I get it back and then do the upgrade to Merlin from the UI itself? (Not sure if that is how it works?) But seems less error prone for me

While you are waiting for your router's repair/replacement, you could do some prep by way of L&LD's guide on minimal and manual configuration:

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/wifi-issue-with-rt-ac88u-and-380-63_2.35739/#post-291147


And the only other thing to be aware of is if you were coming from a very old version of Merlin's firmware:

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/re...c68u-fails-to-update-to-latest-version.36449/

 

[Xentrk]

I recall recently where someone had to flash to 380.59 or 380.60 when coming from ASUS factory FW before they could flash to 380.64.

I always flash with my router disconnected from the modem and USB devices removed. Coming from the dd-wrt world on a D-Link router, I always flash over Ethernet cable and also set my IPv4 properties on my windows 10 laptop set to assign IP address manually, 192.168.1.5 for example. Windows then auto populates the submask and I enter 192.168.1.1 as the gateway.

 

[Rio]

While you are waiting for your router's repair/replacement, you could do some prep by way of L&LD's guide on minimal and manual configuration:

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/wifi-issue-with-rt-ac88u-and-380-63_2.35739/#post-291147


And the only other thing to be aware of is if you were coming from a very old version of Merlin's firmware:

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/re...c68u-fails-to-update-to-latest-version.36449/

Thanks! Will give it all a read

I recall recently where someone had to flash to 380.59 or 380.60 when coming from ASUS factory FW before they could flash to 380.64.

I always flash with my router disconnected from the modem and USB devices removed. Coming from the dd-wrt world on a D-Link router, I always flash over Ethernet cable and also set my IPv4 properties on my windows 10 laptop set to assign IP address manually, 192.168.1.5 for example. Windows then auto populates the submask and I enter 192.168.1.1 as the gateway.

Thanks! That is what I thought I did but for whatever reason something went wrong. Will pay a bit more attentions this time I guess.

If your new router is on a fw base on 380.3XXX, no problem to flash directly from the GUI with 380.64 or 380.65_alpha
Simply reboot,flash ,config,reboot
If the firmware inside is base on 380.2XXX , to be sure, flash with 378.55 and then .64 or .65

Yeah! I am hoping I get the older version when they give it back. It would make things a whole lot easier for me

 

[Rio]

Hey Guys!

Just got the router back today. They ended up giving me a refurbished one as they couldn't fix the other one looks like.

There is no sticker with model number and stuff on the back. Is there any other way to tell which revision it is?


It looks like it is updated to the latest firmware: 3.0.0.4.380.4164

So here is what I plan to do later:

1. Use the Asus utility to flash an older official firmware: 3.0.0.4.380.3264
2. Use the built in flash utility to load the newest Merlin firmware.

Or should I just use the flash utility to load Merlin?

I will be extra careful this time.

 

[RMerlin]

Just directly flash my firmware, there's no need to downgrade.

 

[Rio]

Just directly flash my firmware, there's no need to downgrade.

Thanks! Appreciate all the replies. Successful!

Got to do the 2nd one now and hope it goes well!!

Any idea how I can find out what HW Revision of the router?

 

[RMerlin]

Any idea how I can find out what HW Revision of the router?

Sticker on the box or underneath the router - I'm not aware of any other way, sorry.

 

[Blinkyz]

Thanks! Appreciate all the replies. Successful!

Got to do the 2nd one now and hope it goes well!!

Any idea how I can find out what HW Revision of the router?

Maybe with this, and by looking your CPU speed in TOOL section
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-cpu-spec.31975/#post-253646

 

[Rio]

Maybe with this, and by looking your CPU speed in TOOL section
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-cpu-spec.31975/#post-253646

Sticker on the box or underneath the router - I'm not aware of any other way, sorry.

The unit they returned back came in a blank white box and no sticker

But the tools page shows 800Mhz so I guess it is A1 or A2.


One last question and I will be on my way to get familiar with the Merlin firmware

I have two of these units. One in the basement connected to the bridges ISP modem acting as the router.
The 2nd is on the 2nd floor in access point mode. Are there any significant benefits of using merlin for the AP one as well?