Is my Asus RT-AC68U broken?

[fezon]

Hi,

My Asus RT-AC68U has been up and running for several years but for two days something happend. In the router web interface the internet status is "Disconnected". The Internet WAN LED light is flashing. I´ve installed the latest firmware and also try the reset function but the problem is still there. Now I´m running with an old router and it´s works well, So, is my Asus router broken? Or is there something I can do to get the router up and running again?



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[Sanna1967]

Not necessarily
Have you try Factory reset.
For some users, the last 2 firmware gives problems, you could try downgrade to 384.45717 to see

 

[fezon]

I have done the reset by pressed the reset button for 5 sec. Or is there an other way to do a factory reset? I Will try to downgrade and come back with the result.

 

[Pierino]

The wan port might have gone out. You can use the dual wan function to assign one of the lan ports to be the wan port.

 

[RMerlin]

Make sure you disable the WAN monitoring options on the System page (both DNS and Ping monitoring), as these can trigger false alarms.

 

[jonasitanga]

Hi,

You have the same problem as me. I'm on ac66u b1.

I got it sins latest firmware update. Both merlins and official release.

I have tickeded a case to asus. Got an answere to download the 385.. firmware and flash it.
Did that but nothing changed. All the same.

BUT if you try, internet worcsorks anyway.
The issue seems more like firmware having problem repporting the right status to the Led and network map page.

Try to klick the little grayed out icon up to the right. There it say connected. Its a bit of contradiction.

I post you any answere I get from Asus if you like.


One difference is noticed if you use official or merlin's fw.
On Merlin - led flickers red AND blu
On Official my led is only red.
Also the red collor start just a few secs before the wifi led's lit up.

Jonas

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[fezon]

Hi,

Now I have done som progress. I have tested all tips above with no success. But I saw that the MAC adress row was empty under Special requirement from ISP in WAN settings. So I use MAC clone button and now I have internet connection! I dont why the information has been removed but I suppose that the MAC adress should be filled in because it´s now working.

BR

 

[jonasitanga]

Hi

I have got a new answer for our oproblem and it was only a firmware reset. (Hold reset for 30 sec and whait 3 min)
Tried it with the same negative outcome.

I have sent Asus some syslogs plus more via the built in function in the latest official firmware. And waiting further answer.

I also called there support and I explained the problem.
That I have tried everything.

The answer was that It's probably a firmware issue and that I have to for an update. She gave me a standard answer. Did not sound like she had any in deapth knowledge about the problem.
But maybe she is right and we have to wait.
Keep you updated if I hear anything more.

Update:

Got an answere from an other person at Asus Nordic.
He just said he was sending this issue further up in the chain and that I have to wait for a firmware update.

If some body else have the same problem, please make a repport to asus. The more repports the fadter an update I hope.

 

[JH2K]

I have the same same issue where the router shows "disconnected" but isn't. Also NTP won't sync. It started happening 2 or 3 firmware updates ago - factory reset doesn't help. The only thing that works is running these commands that I got from an old thread that RMerlin posted in:


nvram set link_internet=2
service restart_ntpc

 

[fx20]

Hi my ac68u also facing the same problem after updating firmware. Surprisingly rolling back to the old firmware did not solve the problem.

 

[fx20]

I have the same same issue where the router shows "disconnected" but isn't. Also NTP won't sync. It started happening 2 or 3 firmware updates ago - factory reset doesn't help. The only thing that works is running these commands that I got from an old thread that RMerlin posted in:


nvram set link_internet=2
service restart_ntpc

I also noticed that it will revert itself back to link_internet=0 after a while. I can't seem to figure out what triggered it.

 

[dave14305]

I also noticed that it will revert itself back to link_internet=0 after a while. I can't seem to figure out what triggered it.

Try setting the debugging for wanduck and watch the system log for WAN DNS probe errors.

nvram set dns_probe_debug=1
/sbin/tcpcheck 3 $(nvram get wan0_dns1_x):53
/sbin/tcpcheck 3 $(nvram get wan0_dns2_x):53
[ $(nvram get dnspriv_enable) = 1 ] && /sbin/tcpcheck 3 127.0.1.1:53
cat /proc/net/dev | grep $(nvram get wan0_ifname) | awk ' { print $3 } '

For the last command make sure the number is greater than 40.

If any of these commands turn up something interesting, we can go from there.

EDIT: remember to unset the dns_probe_debug when done testing.

nvram unset dns_probe_debug

 

[fx20]

When I keyed in this command,

[ $(nvram get dnspriv_enable) = 1 ] && /sbin/tcpcheck 3 127.0.1.1:53

it says

[: 1: unknown operand

 

[fx20]

My AC68 doesn't has any value for dnspriv_enable

 

[jonasitanga]

Hi.. I have problem with wan repported down though internet actually working.

I ran the last command a few posts away and it printed a few numbers: 15411588

Im really a amateur regarding programming.

Is this numbers saying anything?

I also run this lines yesterday nvram set link_internet=2
service restart_ntpc
And after that web gui is reporting wan connection.
But the wan- led is still blinking both red and blue leading to a more purple colored led.

I also understand that wanduck is disciding about the wan led.. is there a conglict in wanduck?

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[dave14305]

Hi.. I have problem with wan repported down though internet actually working.

I ran the last command a few posts away and it printed a few numbers: 15411588

Im really a amateur regarding programming.

Is this numbers saying anything?

Skickat från min SM-G955F via Tapatalk

It's good. It means the WAN interface is passing traffic (packets). A number below 40 would trigger the "disconnect" alert if it were the cause. There must be another reason for your issue.

 

[jonasitanga]

Hi.. When you answered my post I edited it. Perhaps there is som more input you could make any sens out of?


I also run this lines yesterday:
nvram set link_internet=2
service restart_ntpc

And after that web gui is reporting wan connection.
But the wan- led is still blinking both red and blue leading to a more purple colored led.

I also understand that wanduck is desciding about the wan led.. is there a conflict in wanduck?

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[RMerlin]

Asus's WAN monitoring code (known as "wanduck") has been broken for quite a while, and that piece of code is such a mess that I'm not holding my breath for this being properly fixed anytime soon.

That whole piece of code needs to be scrapped and rewritten from the ground up IMHO.

 

[jonasitanga]

Thanks for that clearification.

If some one had the mandate to request anything like that, it would be you.
But I guess attempts have already bin made earlier regarding other issues.

And my guess is Asus is not so transparent and open to sugestions?

We wait and see.

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[RMerlin]

If some one had the mandate to request anything like that, it would be you.
But I guess attempts have already bin made earlier regarding other issues.

On large development teams, decisions as to what to work on are generally made by the project managers overseeing development. Rewriting that piece of code would be a major task on its own, so it's not something a junior developer can do over a couple of days. That code is hard to understand to begin with, and has ties with a bunch of other sections of the code, so any change make to it can require changes throughout the firmware. And it has a large amount of conditional blocks that get compiled or not based on build-time options (single WAN, Dual WAN and Multi WAN are all different build time options for a firmware).

For the brave, here's a link to the actual beast:

https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng/blob/master/release/src/router/rc/wanduck.c

And my guess is Asus is not so transparent and open to sugestions?

Anyone can be open to suggestions. Whether following on these suggestions is in line with your own goals, priorities, and available resources, however, is another story. Project managers need to manage resources that they have at hand, while meeting the goals set by upper management. Just consider the fact that Asus has to support like 30+ different models (I stopped counting years ago long ago) means a lot of work just maintaining all of these different models. Does Asus simply have too many different models? Personally I think they do. Their marketing/product management teams don't seem to think so.

Also keep in mind some issues only appear under very specific scenarios. I for one have never been able to reproduce this WAN disconnected issue here.