Is this a bug on Asus firmware? WAN disconnections

[QMax]

Same WAN disconnect problem on my RT-N16 with Merlin .43.

Jul 19 10:50:06 pppd[389]: LCP terminated by peer
Jul 19 10:50:06 pppd[389]: Connect time 2458.8 minutes.
Jul 19 10:50:06 pppd[389]: Sent 858317712 bytes, received 546584878 bytes.
Jul 19 10:50:07 WAN Connection: Fail to connect with some issues.
Jul 19 10:50:07 stop_nat_rules: apply the redirect_rules!
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq[21681]: read /etc/hosts - 5 addresses
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq[21681]: read /etc/hosts.dnsmasq - 1 addresses
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq-dhcp[21681]: read /etc/ethers - 13 addresses
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq[21681]: using nameserver 8.8.8.8#53
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq[21681]: using nameserver 4.4.4.4#53
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq[21681]: exiting on receipt of SIGTERM
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq[1889]: started, version 2.69 cachesize 1500
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq[1889]: asynchronous logging enabled, queue limit is 5 messages
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq-dhcp[1889]: DHCP, IP range 192.168.1.200 -- 192.168.1.220, lease time 1d
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq-dhcp[1889]: DHCP, sockets bound exclusively to interface br0
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq[1889]: read /etc/hosts - 5 addresses
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq[1889]: read /etc/hosts.dnsmasq - 1 addresses
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq-dhcp[1889]: read /etc/ethers - 13 addresses
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq[1889]: using nameserver 8.8.8.8#53
Jul 19 10:50:07 dnsmasq[1889]: using nameserver 4.4.4.4#53
Jul 19 10:50:10 pppd[389]: Connection terminated.
Jul 19 10:50:10 pppd[389]: Sent PADT
Jul 19 10:50:10 pppd[389]: Modem hangup
Jul 19 10:50:20 pppd[389]: PPP session is 41005 (0xa02d)
Jul 19 10:50:20 pppd[389]: Connected to 00:21:55:99:6c:1b via interface eth0
Jul 19 10:50:20 pppd[389]: Using interface ppp0
Jul 19 10:50:20 pppd[389]: Connect: ppp0 <--> eth0
Jul 19 10:50:20 pppd[389]: CHAP authentication succeeded: Successful login
Jul 19 10:50:20 pppd[389]: CHAP authentication succeeded
Jul 19 10:50:20 pppd[389]: peer from calling number 00:21:55:99:6C:1B authorized
Jul 19 10:50:20 pppd[389]: local  IP address 94.36.189.146
Jul 19 10:50:20 pppd[389]: remote IP address 213.205.24.49
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq[1889]: read /etc/hosts - 5 addresses
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq[1889]: read /etc/hosts.dnsmasq - 1 addresses
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq-dhcp[1889]: read /etc/ethers - 13 addresses
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq[1889]: using nameserver 8.8.8.8#53
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq[1889]: using nameserver 4.4.4.4#53
Jul 19 10:50:20 start_nat_rules: apply the nat_rules(/tmp/nat_rules_ppp0_eth0)!
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq[1889]: exiting on receipt of SIGTERM
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq[1916]: started, version 2.69 cachesize 1500
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq[1916]: asynchronous logging enabled, queue limit is 5 messages
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq-dhcp[1916]: DHCP, IP range 192.168.1.200 -- 192.168.1.220, lease time 1d
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq-dhcp[1916]: DHCP, sockets bound exclusively to interface br0
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq[1916]: read /etc/hosts - 5 addresses
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq[1916]: read /etc/hosts.dnsmasq - 1 addresses
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq-dhcp[1916]: read /etc/ethers - 13 addresses
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq[1916]: using nameserver 8.8.8.8#53
Jul 19 10:50:20 dnsmasq[1916]: using nameserver 4.4.4.4#53
Jul 19 10:50:21 rc_service: ip-up 1895:notify_rc stop_upnp
Jul 19 10:50:21 rc_service: ip-up 1895:notify_rc start_upnp
Jul 19 10:50:21 ddns: clear ddns cache file for server/hostname change
Jul 19 10:50:21 ddns update: ez-ipupdate: starting...
Jul 19 10:50:21 ddns update: connected to updates.dnsomatic.com (67.215.92.215) on port 80.
Jul 19 10:50:22 ddns update: request successful
Jul 19 10:50:22 ddns update: asusddns_update: 0
Jul 19 10:50:22 ddns: ddns update ok
Jul 19 10:50:22 WAN Connection: WAN was restored.

No problems reading modem log, no disconnections, so the problem seems coming from Asus router bridged to D-Link DSL-320B modem.

This happens 2/3 times a day.... but router status report thet is up and running since 3 days, so I think I'm loosing WAN connection without a router reboot.

 

[Handyman]

Merlin's advice about using cat5e cable between cable modem and router really helped me out today, and I just wanted to thank him and reiterate the importance of this advice.

After installing a new RT-AC68 router, I noticed online music streaming and YouTube videos stalled and buffered. After seeing Merlin's cable advice I replaced the cat5 cable I was using between the cable modem and the router, with a cat5e that I had on hand. Much better. No more stalling videos.

But a few days later, I did a speed test, and was getting only 5 Mbps down (should be 25) and 6 up (which is normal). After much futzing around, I finally swapped again the (already replaced) cat5e cable between the modem and router, with another, and boom! 28Mbps down! Problem resolved.

The cable that ended up fixing this wasn't labeled cat5e... It had "350Mhz" written on it... I read that cat5e (or GB Ethernet, can't recall which) used 100Mhz cable, so I guess this cable exceeds the required spec. Please correct me if that's flawed logic.

Anyway, thanks Merlin. I'm enjoying the new router (and your firmware).

 

[pcbrand]

Pointers :

1. Unplug Power & Cable from Modem > Unplug Power from Router > Wait 15 minutes > Plug in Cable and power to Modem > Wait 5 mins > Plug in Router.

2. Telnet to router and Execute following commands
nvram set detectWan=0
nvram commit
reboot

3. LAN > Switch Control > NAT Acceleration >> Disable it.

4. Check modem's Upstream Signal (192.168.100.1 > Signal @ Motorola SB6121) if it is 50 dBmV or higher then may be the splitter is bad quality or Junction box to home cable is poorly done. Call Internet cable guy to fix cable and bring signal level below 50 dBmV. Alternatively get RF Amplifier ( like Motorola Signal Booster BDA-S1 )

5. Put a cheap router between AC66U and Modem, to use AC66u as Access point.

6. Set Wireless > General > Channel Bandwidth > 40 Mhz

* I did #1, 2 & 3 so far it's been stable for past 7 hours. If I still face issue then I will try #6, then #5 and then finally #4. Mine is Comcast cable, Motorola SB6121 modem and AC66U router running on latest stock firmware.

Let try different combination of above and see what works the best.

Cheers !

Interesting... #2 looks promising - but I noticed that 'detectWAN' did not exist at all before I added it with the 'set' command. In any case, I executed the nvram command and will report if it makes a difference in the next few days/weeks.

 

[sybergeek]

Interesting... #2 looks promising - but I noticed that 'detectWAN' did not exist at all before I added it with the 'set' command. In any case, I executed the nvram command and will report if it makes a difference in the next few days/weeks.

I tried all options I mentioned in my post but still it was disconnecting so I decided to install very old Merlin build 3.0.0.4.270.26 which has kind of stablized the connection.. I would highly recommend to update with Merlin's 3.0.0.4.270.26 and share your experiences ... Could this be a firmware issue ? May be Asus did change something in firmware somewhere within last 12 months that could be causing this issue..

I couldnt find Asus original 3.0.0.4.270.x firmware ? Anybody has that or link to download..?

Cheers !!

 

[QMax]

I'm also sure it's a firmware related problem.
My first Merlin's firmware was RT-N16_3.0.0.4_374.35_4 and I never had any problem of WAN disconnection, also using the same CAT6 cable.
Then I upgraded to .4X and problems started.
I also tried to change cable between RT-N16 and modem without success.

 

[pcbrand]

I tried all options I mentioned in my post but still it was disconnecting so I decided to install very old Merlin build 3.0.0.4.270.26 which has kind of stablized the connection.. I would highly recommend to update with Merlin's 3.0.0.4.270.26 and share your experiences ... Could this be a firmware issue ? May be Asus did change something in firmware somewhere within last 12 months that could be causing this issue..

I couldnt find Asus original 3.0.0.4.270.x firmware ? Anybody has that or link to download..?

Cheers !!

After a few weeks of experimentation with option 2 the disconnects are still observed... It did seem to be disconnecting less frequently but still disconnected. I just upgraded to the 376.45 (this probably erased my nvram "option 2" settings as well), and can confirm the disconnects are still there. Also now have a pretty reliable way to reproduce this - I just load up 5-6 popular torrent downloads with a global max of 500 connections (150 max per torrent) at full bandwidth and a WAN disconnect occurs within minutes.

I have a feeling this is not actually a bandwidth usage that causes this behavior - but rather the number of concurrent connections and how quickly they are being requested.

It's frustrating that my old and puny Linksys EA2700 can actually handle this scenario without any disconnects.

sybergeek - I will try to downgrade the firmware as you suggested and will do some testing. Where can I download older versions?

 

[sybergeek]

After a few weeks of experimentation with option 2 the disconnects are still observed... It did seem to be disconnecting less frequently but still disconnected. I just upgraded to the 376.45 (this probably erased my nvram "option 2" settings as well), and can confirm the disconnects are still there. Also now have a pretty reliable way to reproduce this - I just load up 5-6 popular torrent downloads with a global max of 500 connections (150 max per torrent) at full bandwidth and a WAN disconnect occurs within minutes.

I have a feeling this is not actually a bandwidth usage that causes this behavior - but rather the number of concurrent connections and how quickly they are being requested.

It's frustrating that my old and puny Linksys EA2700 can actually handle this scenario without any disconnects.

sybergeek - I will try to downgrade the firmware as you suggested and will do some testing. Where can I download older versions?

Older Merlin Version available at http://www.lostrealm.ca/asuswrt-merlin/download

Select your Router and download the older version ( 3.0.0.4.270.26 ) and try installing it.. ( if you don't find this specific version then pick the oldest you could find there )

I am on this older version for over a month now, downloaded huge huge files in parallel, connected to my office VPN whole day, Family watching youtube/Netflix .. and NO DISCONNECTION AT ALL.. This is ROCK Solid connection so far after so many frustrating months.

I am very sure ASUS screwed up something big time in their some of the firmwares within last year..

 

[pcbrand]

Older Merlin Version available at http://www.lostrealm.ca/asuswrt-merlin/download

Select your Router and download the older version ( 3.0.0.4.270.26 ) and try installing it.. ( if you don't find this specific version then pick the oldest you could find there )

I am on this older version for over a month now, downloaded huge huge files in parallel, connected to my office VPN whole day, Family watching youtube/Netflix .. and NO DISCONNECTION AT ALL.. This is ROCK Solid connection so far after so many frustrating months.

I am very sure ASUS screwed up something big time in their some of the firmwares within last year..

Looked in there... Unfortunately The oldest file there for my router (AC68) is RT-AC68U_3.0.0.4_374.34_2.zip ...

 

[RMerlin]

Looked in there... Unfortunately The oldest file there for my router (AC68) is RT-AC68U_3.0.0.4_374.34_2.zip ...

The RT-AC68U didn't even exist back in the 3.0.0.4.2xx days 3.0.0.4.372 was the first official release for it.

 

[RichardNixon]

WAN disconnected after disabling Dual Wan

I have been running Merlin for years without this problem. I am running an AC66U and Merlin .47. I was testing Dual Wan and it worked with the secondary Wan on Ethernet 1. When I disabled Dual Wan and rebooted, the primary Wan came up disconnected. The only way I was able to connected to the primary Wan was to re-enable Dual Wan with Ethernet 1 on the secondary Wan. I tried downgrading to .45 and re-install an older configuration, and had the same problem. I tried setting the secondary wan to USB, and the primary Wan was still disconnected. So I am currently running the Dual Wan with nothing plugged into Ethernet 1 and the router works . I am just wasting a port.

 

[pcbrand]

The RT-AC68U didn't even exist back in the 3.0.0.4.2xx days 3.0.0.4.372 was the first official release for it.

Thank Merlin - I figured as much..

I can replicate the disconnect now on demand pretty much every time by downloading several parallel high-speed high-seeded torrents.

This is really a downer on an otherwise excellent router that causes the WAN to choke. I know this is nothing to do with the Merlin Firmware since the same happens with the stock. I actually found Merlin in my attempts to fix this issue with the stock version.

Frustrating because my 2 year old dinky Linksys EA2700 and much older D-link are able to do this without any issue - plugged into exactly the same infrastructure and don't go down no matter how many torrents I throw at them, but they don't have the wireless range of the AC68. Looks like my only choice right now for a stable solution is to "demote" the AC68 to be just an Access Point and use the Linksys as the primary. I would still much prefer to have the AC68 as my main router though.

 

[rumblpak]

The easiest way for me to get a stable connection is to disable dhcp on my gateway and give my router a static ip to wan. Once I did that, I haven't had a single dropped connection in 5 months. Prior to that it was near daily. Seriously, comcast needs to either fix their software, or let someone else manage it.

 

[bodean]

The easiest way for me to get a stable connection is to disable dhcp on my gateway and give my router a static ip to wan. Once I did that, I haven't had a single dropped connection in 5 months. Prior to that it was near daily. Seriously, comcast needs to either fix their software, or let someone else manage it.

Can you explain how you did this / the steps? I have comcast internet also

 

[timosu]

Got same issue with rt-ac68u And cisco cable Modem from cableprovider unitymedia Germany.
Without any traffic behind the router the internet connection went down.
Status of dhcp ip is expired. Set Mode to normal.nothing helped.
Cable between Modem and Router are cat6.
Hope to find a fix for this issue in the next time

 

[timosu]

today i have received my new RT-AC87U ... there was no disconnect since 4h.
runs with recommed Firmware-Version:3.0.0.4.376_2769
dhcp looks normal... all 1h renew but without any problems till now

 

[Yumey]

Oct 9 15:16:55 WAN Connection: Ethernet link up.
Oct 9 15:16:55 rc_service: wanduck 177:notify_rc restart_wan_if 0
Oct 9 15:16:55 stop_wan(): perform DHCP release
Oct 9 15:16:57 start_nat_rules: apply the nat_rules(/tmp/nat_rules_eth0_eth0)!
Oct 9 15:16:57 rc_service: udhcpc 290:notify_rc stop_upnp
Oct 9 15:16:57 miniupnpd[275]: received signal 15, good-bye
Oct 9 15:16:57 rc_service: udhcpc 290:notify_rc start_upnp
Oct 9 15:16:57 miniupnpd[319]: HTTP listening on port 52661
Oct 9 15:16:57 miniupnpd[319]: Listening for NAT-PMP traffic on port 5351
Oct 9 15:16:57 dhcp client: bound 89.160.66.53 via 89.160.66.1 during 10800 seconds.

Disconnects happening at the spot every hour, dont know what to do.

 

[RMerlin]

Disconnects happening at the spot every hour, dont know what to do.

The first line of your post shows that the Ethernet link just came back up. As already posted in 6-7 different posts showing a line about Ethernet link - your issue is the modem rebooting itself, not with the router.

 

[Jallopy]

My solution?

RT-N66U; PS3 Slim; SB6141 Modem; Cat 6 cables; Provider: Cable One (50 Mb); Netflix

Started getting modem rebooting disconnects of "Ethernet link down" after subscribing to Netflix and using it on PS3 wired to router. Usually reboots about 1 to 2 times an hour. Netflix works great with wired PC and wireless devices. Amazon Prime video works fine.

Tried most of the tips in this thread and other forums, but to no avail.

Trying wireless connection with PS3 now and has worked for about 8 hours without a reboot. If this works I'm assuming it is because the modem/provider does not get as heavy of a demand from Netflix on PS3 wireless vs wired.

After reading the multitude of modem rebooting issues that are occurring, there are technical issues (software and hardware) that need to be addressed to accommodate high streaming rates by the industry. In this case Netflix PS3 software interaction with the modem and internet provider appears to be the problem.

Note that I left the router out the mix. Merlin has been right that it's not the router; it is the modem rebooting; the issue is finding the root cause of the modem rebooting. The only puzzling thing here is that sometimes the issue does get solved with a new router??? And sometimes a new modem does not solve the problem???

I've now gone deeper than I can think......

 

[jay_zoom_asusrtn10P]

Zoom 5431 + Asus RT-N10P intermittent connection

I just switched to Zoom 5431 + Asus RT-N10P two days ago. I started experiencing drop outs. The speed was good with the router, however internet connection started losing very few minutes and will restore again by itself, both wired and wireless mode.
So, I first directly connected modem to the windows 7 computer. I started having same dropout. Read in one more site about ipV6 and ipv4 and disabled ipV6 on my computer. The were no more dropouts with direct connection to modem, but when i connected the router in wired mode dropout still persisted.

I switched to 802n mode only and changed the DHCP query frequency to normal.I followed sovereignty68's suggestion (http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/archive/index.php?t-8433.html) and registered MAC id of my computer to the router. This seem to fix the issue. The drop outs disappeared both in wired and wireless modes.

I pinged google, youtube and the modem itself and monitored to see if there is dropout and once in a while there will be one packet drop, but nothing major to disrupt activities.

I just joined this site to thank for the suggestions and to share my experience.

 

[pcbrand]

Update

Thank Merlin - I figured as much..

I can replicate the disconnect now on demand pretty much every time by downloading several parallel high-speed high-seeded torrents.

This is really a downer on an otherwise excellent router that causes the WAN to choke. I know this is nothing to do with the Merlin Firmware since the same happens with the stock. I actually found Merlin in my attempts to fix this issue with the stock version.

Frustrating because my 2 year old dinky Linksys EA2700 and much older D-link are able to do this without any issue - plugged into exactly the same infrastructure and don't go down no matter how many torrents I throw at them, but they don't have the wireless range of the AC68. Looks like my only choice right now for a stable solution is to "demote" the AC68 to be just an Access Point and use the Linksys as the primary. I would still much prefer to have the AC68 as my main router though.

Since I suspected this is caused by requesting too many connections too quickly - I have been experimenting with different utorrent settings to try slow down the connection request rate. I increased the default timing for bt.connect_speed from 7 to 14. So far it looks like this made a difference since I did not have a single drop for about a week now and still downloading at full speed.

This seems to work but this is a workaround rather than a solution since any other machine or application could come in and start flooding the router with connection requests. I wish there was a way to control the connection request frequency on the router, I am not a Linux guru so don't know where to look...