Is one of my 86U's a paperweight now?

[Easy Limits]

I have two 86U's. One as a router and one as an access point. Yesterday, the 86U I have running as a router all of a sudden I could not log-in to it and then the LED's on the front all turned off. Upon rebooting only the power LED would blink on and off slowly. I have tried factory resetting with no results. It does have the latest Merlin firmware on it. I have had it for 13 months.

Ideas?

 

[L&LD]

Try a different power supply.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Try the new power supply and then if necessary put the router into recovery mode and see if you can get it working.

If not join the club of people of have had short lived AC86s that died what they consider an early death and then buy another router.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I have two 86U's. One as a router and one as an access point. Yesterday, the 86U I have running as a router all of a sudden I could not log-in to it and then the LED's on the front all turned off. Upon rebooting only the power LED would blink on and off slowly. I have tried factory resetting with no results. It does have the latest Merlin firmware on it. I have had it for 13 months.

Ideas?

If you can't revive it, it should have a 2-year warranty so call Asus Support for an RMA and get it replaced.

OE

 

[CaptainSTX]

In the US the more standard warranty is one year. If you purchased the router with a credit card that doubles the length of a manufacturer's warranty you could go that way also.

The credit card is a better option as ASUS on an RMA is likely to send you someone else's problem router without much testing. With the credit card option you will get the cash so you can buy a new router.

 

[OzarkEdge]

In the US the more standard warranty is one year. If you purchased the router with a credit card that doubles the length of a manufacturer's warranty you could go that way also.

The credit card is a better option as ASUS on an RMA is likely to send you someone else's problem router without much testing. With the credit card option you will get the cash so you can buy a new router.

The box for my 86Us says 2-year warranty.

OE

 

[L&LD]

The box for my 86Us says 2-year warranty.

OE

Yes, but that doesn't include the router. Just the box...

 

[Easy Limits]

I tried using the power supply that is connected to my working 86U with no results.

I got it as a gift.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Upon rebooting only the power LED would blink on and off slowly.

That would suggest that it's gone into rescue mode and is waiting for you to upload a firmware image to it. Try using the Firmware Restoration utility.

https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1000814/
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/RT-AC86U/Rescue_RT_AC86U_2101.zip
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/4G-AC53U/Rescue_2102.zip

 

[Easy Limits]

Good news.....so far.

I did a 30-30-30 reset then did a WPS reset then did a firmware restoration to latest stock firmware and it seems to be working now. At least it stays powered on and I am able to log-in to it for now.

 

[ColinTaylor]

That's good news indeed. I suggest that you do a factory default reset now after having installed the new firmware.

P.S. A 30-30-30 reset is not applicable on Asus routers, a normal reset will suffice.

 

[L&LD]

In addition to another factory reset, I would recommend to also flash the same firmware again followed by another full reset to factory defaults too.

And @ColinTaylor is correct; no 30-30-30 reset possible on Asus routers.

 

[Easy Limits]

Update: Everything is working now except for WiFi. Both bands seem to be dead. The LED's on the front are not on and nothing happens when I press the WiFi on/off button on the side. When I look at the temperature tab it says disabled for both bands. In Wireless settings I am not able to select a control channel on either band.

Currently running Merlin 384.13

 

[ColinTaylor]

Update: Everything is working now except for WiFi. Both bands seem to be dead. The LED's on the front are not on and nothing happens when I press the WiFi on/off button on the side. When I look at the temperature tab it says disabled for both bands. In Wireless settings I am not able to select a control channel on either band.

You said in your previous post that the router appeared to be working. Was the WiFi working at that point and it has now stopped, or has the WiFi never worked?

Did you do the factory reset that we told you to do after you initially installed the firmware?

 

[Easy Limits]

I don't recall if the WiFi lights were on or not after the initial failure and recovery. I have done factory resets.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I tried using the power supply that is connected to my working 86U with no results.

I got it as a gift.

RMA or paperweight, your choice.

OE

 

[Easy Limits]

Well, it is still usable as a switch or router with no WiFi.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Well, it is still usable as a switch or router with no WiFi.

Maybe it is... maybe it isn't. But it can always be a paperweight.

OE

 

[Going_Strong]

Update: Everything is working now except for WiFi. Both bands seem to be dead. The LED's on the front are not on and nothing happens when I press the WiFi on/off button on the side. When I look at the temperature tab it says disabled for both bands. In Wireless settings I am not able to select a control channel on either band.

Currently running Merlin 384.13

Had a similar problem a year or so ago with my 12-month old RT-AC86U, you can read about it here: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/r...on-off-buttons-not-working.54862/#post-468708. I took a warranty refund and never looked back.

 

[Easy Limits]

Anyone had any luck with the RMA process. Digging around on Asus's website is not easy to get answers.

I did get this 86U as a gift so I am not really out anything.