Is my WAN dead?

[hazartilirot]

Good day,
I've got two AC68U. The issue is I thought the WAN port of my router had been dead. I took the router home, connected it to LAN 1 of my home router - the WAN port was assigned IP address.

I then tried to connect the router to ISP - I got the following message The network cable is unplugged. My home router however works well.

I was thinking my two routers connects using 4-pairs (i.e. 1Gbps) - I went to Tools and saw: 100 Full Duplex. The questions I've got now is if they can somehow change 2 impaired pairs with 2 other working pairs?

When I plug in a DOCSIS modem to the WAN of my router the message I've got the same message: The network cable is unplugged even though I know the modem is capable of working at 1Gbps

I just don't understand if my router is unable to communicate with ISP in particular or the wan is actually dead.

Can I switch pairs in a patch cord to make it work with ISP again?

Thanks

 

[K-2SO]

Replace your cable first. If the WAN port doesn't work properly, use a LAN port instead. Dual WAN function, assign a LAN port as primary WAN.

 

[hazartilirot]

There is no need to change the cable. I did it anyway. I was used to Dual WAN however if I had 24 ports - minus one port wouldn't make any difference. If there is a change to get WAN port back - it would be fantastic!

 

[K-2SO]

I had a dead WAN port on one RT-AC86U. RMA was the only alternative. For more LAN ports an 8-port dumb switch is like $15.

 

[hazartilirot]

K-2SO

Your solutions is straightforward. Thanks! However how do you explain that when I connect one end of a patch cord to an impaired WAN another one to LAN1 of another router - it gets IP addresses and everything seems to be working?

 

[K-2SO]

Is it reporting Gigabit connection? Same cable used for both tests? I don't know. I just replace the faulty equipment and move on.

 

[hazartilirot]

Things are getting weird.

I switched to DUAL WAN, then selected
Primary WAN -> LAN1
Secondary WAN -> WAN

LAN1 - works! HOWEVER the magic comes in when I go to USB Application, Select 3G/4G and enable USB Mode as Android Phone to get Secondary WAN as USB (alternative WAN)

After restarting the router LAN 1 cannot get IP address from ISP at all.

The funny part, when I go to DUAL WAN

Primary WAN -> LAN1
Secondary WAN -> USB -> Changing to WAN

Restarting the router - everything works well though if I try go to DUAL WAN

Primary WAN -> LAN1
Secondary WAN -> WAN-> and change to USB

I would get a message that WAN should be selected. To my mind something is incorrect. My primary WAN is LAN 1, why would I need select WAN? What for?

 

[K-2SO]

I can't help you with that. I have no Asus router to test on. Never had an USB modem attached to my routers.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I would get a message that WAN should be selected. To my mind something is incorrect. My primary WAN is LAN 1, why would I need select WAN? What for?

Just ignore it. If you need to setup one of the internet sources to be USB you have to navigate the menus going via USB Application > 3G/4G. If you try and switch back and forth between WAN, LAN and USB directly on the Dual WAN page eventually the router ends up getting confused and the options don't make any sense any more.

 

[hazartilirot]

Just ignore it.

That's the case! I cannot ignore it.


Primary WAN -> LAN1 - gets IP address from IPS
Secondary WAN -> WAN

Primary WAN -> LAN1 - doesn't get IP address from IPS (Your ISP's DHCP does not function correctly)
Secondary WAN -> USB

I did a hard reset, cleared NVRAM, reconfigured the routers from scratch.

 

[ColinTaylor]

That's the case! I cannot ignore it.

Why not? Just leave it like this if it works:

Primary WAN -> LAN1 - gets IP address from IPS ISP
Secondary WAN -> WAN

 

[hazartilirot]

If the main link fails I want to get the second one. WAN seems to be useless I use LAN 1 instead. 4G is my fallback.

 

[ColinTaylor]

4G is my a fallback.

Well that's an entirely different conversation and something that you never mentioned before. Did you have Dual WAN set up and working previously on this router?

 

[hazartilirot]

Well that's an entirely different conversation and something that you never mentioned before. Did you have Dual WAN set up and working previously on this router?

Yes.... I don't remember the version of Merlin before upgrading, but it worked.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Yes.... I don't remember the version of Merlin before upgrading, but it worked.

Sorry, I can't help you with that as I have a different firmware version to you.

 

[K-2SO]

I like the thread. We started from a dead WAN port and ended up troubleshooting sort of tripple-WAN configuration. Reminds me of a customer calling for a HDD replacement on a PC and when I arrived the PC was actually a 24/7 virtual server with no backup and who knows what else running on it.

 

[hazartilirot]

I like the thread. We started from a dead WAN port and ended up troubleshooting sort of tripple-WAN configuration. Reminds me of a customer calling for a HDD replacement on a PC and when I arrived the PC was actually a 24/7 virtual server with no backup and who knows what else running on it.

We started from my router at work that has strange symptoms.

I've got doubts that a WAN port is completely dead since when I connect it to LAN 1 of another router it works - the question is why WAN port behaves differently with ISPs and LAN 1.

 

[hazartilirot]

Well, the solution has been found. Half of the port is impaired. I used robocfg port 0 media 100FD and the main WAN works again!

 

[hazartilirot]

Hm.... the funny part is it works until reboot. How can I force it to use 100FD connection after the router has been rebooted?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Hm.... the funny part is it works until reboot. How can I force it to use 100FD connection after the router has been rebooted?

https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng/wiki/User-scripts#wan-event