GUI Reboot vs Power off/on restart

[armsAC3100]

I had a situation this morning where my ROKU would not connect to 5 GHz which is it's normal power up connection. It would connect to 2.4 GHz. My Laptop was still connected to 5 GHz and was working normally. Normal speed test results.

So, I did a ReBoot of the Router using the GUI and restarted the Roku.

Still unable to connect to 5.0 Ghz. Roku would connect 2.4 Ghz and operate normally. The router was responding normally to Putty from my laptop on a 5Ghz connection. My NAS which is connected to LAN ports 1&2 was working normally. I stopped Skynet but no change.

Next I unplugged Router power with Skynet stopped, and waited about 30 seconds before plugging power back in. Everything worked normally after that.

This is the second time in the last month that this has occurred.

My question (curiosity killed the cat) is what is difference that requires full power off / on? It appears that ReBoot does not reset something. Is my 4 year old AC3100 just getting "tired"? Perhaps my AC3100 has heard that I am looking to replace it with a RT-AX88u

Al

AC3100 router running Merlin 384.17 with Skynet, running latest version, installed via AMTM

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

Whats the difference between a warm boot and a hard boot? A lot. On a hard boot, all hardware is reset to it's initial (presumably known good) state. On a warm boot, any component that is already in a failure mode could possibly stay in that state.

If this is happening frequently, it may be a sign of failing hardware. But first you should eliminate a possible configuration issue by doing the infamous M&M config route.

 

[thecheapseats]

I really miss/would like a clean shutdown state... more necessary than ever with external swap disks running and scripts tailing... it's like making margaritas in a blender while it's running...

 

[armsAC3100]

Whats the difference between a warm boot and a hard boot? A lot. On a hard boot, all hardware is reset to it's initial (presumably known good) state. On a warm boot, any component that is already in a failure mode could possibly stay in that state.

If this is happening frequently, it may be a sign of failing hardware. But first you should eliminate a possible configuration issue by doing the infamous M&M config route.

I guess that my mindset is a hold over from the Mainframe Computer days. An IPL reset everything. No power cycle required.

 

[Butterfly Bones]

I really miss/would like a clean shutdown state... more necessary than ever with external swap disks running and scripts tailing... it's like making margaritas in a blender while it's running...

SSH into the router

halt <enter>

Orderly shutdown commences, you can see it in syslog.

 

[thecheapseats]

SSH into the router

halt <enter>

Orderly shutdown commences, you can see it in syslog.

of course - but does it power off?... if it does - that's news to me...

 

[atkinsom]

of course - but does it power off?... if it does - that's news to me...

No it doesn't power off BUT it shuts down all services gracefully at which point you can then use the power button.

 

[Butterfly Bones]

of course - but does it power off?... if it does - that's news to me...

My RT-AC86U shuts down / turns off completely.

 

[L&LD]

As does my RT-AX88U too.

 

[thecheapseats]

now THAT would make me happy...

 

[martinr]

My RT-AC68U also powers off completely. The LEDs go out almost one by one until they are all out. And the power switch has to be cycled in order to bring it back to life.

Thanks, Butterfly Bones.

 

[L&LD]

SSH into the router

halt <enter>

Orderly shutdown commences, you can see it in syslog.

@Jack Yaz, maybe this needs to be included in scMerlin too?

'Orderly Shutdown' seems like a nice addition to the menu options. Along with a warning about remote users to not do this if they want/need/expect to reconnect again without physically visiting the remote location soon!

 

[thecheapseats]

My RT-AC86U shuts down / turns off completely.

now that's great news - thank you... since my AC66 days, I've used a script to send 'reboot', then a time-wait to send an out-of-band console command to a remote power-boot device to kill the power to that router's power-brick - and re-energize ten seconds later... I never saw this documented anyplace... again, thank you...

 

[armsAC3100]

SSH into the router

halt <enter>

Orderly shutdown commences, you can see it in syslog.

Tried it on my RT-AC3100. It appears to shut down. It's hard to say exactly what happens since all LED's go out except Power LED. The power LED remains lit and then the unit restarts.

 

[RMerlin]

Routers can't "fully shutdown". It's not a PC where the pcboard can send requests to the power supply to cut the power. All you end up is with a router still running, but "stuck" with a non-running operating system.

 

[thecheapseats]

Routers can't "fully shutdown". (-snip- ) All you end up is with a router still running, but "stuck" with a non-running operating system.

which is why I've always found it necessary to cut the power to the router with a remote power-boot device to get a 'true' cold boot... ttl level serial pins on the motherboard are your friends...

 

[dosborne]

I guess that my mindset is a hold over from the Mainframe Computer days. An IPL reset everything. No power cycle required.

Flashback to running an IBM Series 1 with a big red IPL button that you could easily lean against by accident. Full power shutdown (usually tested once a year) had about a 20% successful reboot rate and usually resulted in thousands of dollars worth of replacement hardware to get powered back up. Lol

 

[slytho]

Routers can't "fully shutdown". It's not a PC where the pcboard can send requests to the power supply to cut the power. All you end up is with a router still running, but "stuck" with a non-running operating system.

Yes. The dark LEDs are misleading. The router still consumes energy although it's halted. Even more, energy consumption doesn't differ much from normal operation.

To cut it short: one has to cut off power manually after halting it, only then it's fully switched off. As soon as it's powered on again, it starts booting.

 

[Morris]

I had a situation this morning where my ROKU would not connect to 5 GHz which is it's normal power up connection. It would connect to 2.4 GHz. My Laptop was still connected to 5 GHz and was working normally. Normal speed test results.

So, I did a ReBoot of the Router using the GUI and restarted the Roku.

Still unable to connect to 5.0 Ghz. Roku would connect 2.4 Ghz and operate normally. The router was responding normally to Putty from my laptop on a 5Ghz connection. My NAS which is connected to LAN ports 1&2 was working normally. I stopped Skynet but no change.

Next I unplugged Router power with Skynet stopped, and waited about 30 seconds before plugging power back in. Everything worked normally after that.

This is the second time in the last month that this has occurred.

My question (curiosity killed the cat) is what is difference that requires full power off / on? It appears that ReBoot does not reset something. Is my 4 year old AC3100 just getting "tired"? Perhaps my AC3100 has heard that I am looking to replace it with a RT-AX88u

Al

AC3100 router running Merlin 384.17 with Skynet, running latest version, installed via AMTM

By any chance are you using a DFS channel? There is a regulatory requirement of the router listening to make shore it dose not interfere with aircraft or weather radar before it begins to transmit on a DFS channel.