It took 48 hours, but the mystery of the mass Asus router outage is solved

[tdi200]

i was affected since Wednesday May 17th 3Am EST i was running 386.10 on my RT-AC5300 using my phone hotspot i first flashed the newest firmware which is 386.11 and had the same issue same thing for my node RT-AC86U. i got so frustrated plus family was working at that hour so i did a quick swap and brought back my old netgear R7000 and we were up and running, we use comcast i felt like the provided modem might be an issue too so i was busy on facebook market place to score a deal and get a motorolla MB8600. (P,S i dont pay modem fees with comcast so that why i had it for this long)

 

[RMerlin]

sam

That video has nothing to do with router issues.

 

[Tech9]

What the hell is locking AC68U routers and variants? I had my RT-AC66U B1 locked, needed restart to access, downgraded the firmware and it's up for now. I had to send a replacement router to a person with RT-AC68U losing connection to wired APs. Today another person with RT-AC1900P is calling me wired computers through switch don't get Internet, but can ping each other and the router. None have anything obvious in the logs. What is happening? This can't be coincidence. My own router had like 150 days uptime recently before last firmware updates.

 

[Yakkosmurf]

388.xxxxx firmwares were not affected.

Good to know. That explains why I seemed to be one of the few AX89X owner's not having an issue, as I was already on a 388 firmware.

 

[ggeinec]

i was affected since Wednesday May 17th 3Am EST i was running 386.10 on my RT-AC5300 using my phone hotspot i first flashed the newest firmware which is 386.11 and had the same issue same thing for my node RT-AC86U. i got so frustrated plus family was working at that hour so i did a quick swap and brought back my old netgear R7000 and we were up and running, we use comcast i felt like the provided modem might be an issue too so i was busy on facebook market place to score a deal and get a motorolla MB8600. (P,S i dont pay modem fees with comcast so that why i had it for this long)

I'm a bit confused on whether the modem you were using that you wanted to replace was an MB8600 or one provided by Comcast. But if it was\is an MB8600 have you been happy with the way it performs on Comcast?

 

[Tech9]

Not sure what's going on but something is damaging older routers. Three routers already in few days with no access to GUI and random no routing to wired or wireless devices symptoms. One was never updated for a long time and had to be replaced, no recovery after hard reset - RT-AC68U, one more had to be rebooted and firmware downgraded as preventative shooting in the dark measure - RT-AC66U B1, another pair of RT-AC1900P with wired backhaul and the second router doesn't work even in AP Mode anymore. The first recovered with hard reset, but the second has to be rebooted every 2h now. All routers in remote locations and only one is mine - the working now AC66U B1. I don't know what advice to give to the 2x RT-AC1900P person. Wait, reset again, reflash, replace? I don't know what the issue is. Is there any information about what's going on @RMerlin?

 

[drinkingbird]

Not sure what's going on but something is damaging older routers. Three routers already in few days with no access to GUI and random no routing to wired or wireless devices symptoms. One was never updated for a long time and had to be replaced, no recovery after hard reset - RT-AC68U, one more had to be rebooted and firmware downgraded as preventative shooting in the dark measure - RT-AC66U B1, another pair of RT-AC1900P with wired backhaul and the second router doesn't work even in AP Mode anymore. The first recovered with hard reset, but the second has to be rebooted every 2h now. All routers in remote locations and only one is mine - the working now AC66U B1. I don't know what advice to give to the 2x RT-AC1900P person. Wait, reset again, reflash, replace? I don't know what the issue is. Is there any information about what's going on @RMerlin?

Random guess, if they were impacted by this issue, maybe the high CPU for extended time finally started cracking the old solder joints?

 

[Tech9]

No idea what is happening. The 2x RT-AC1900P just refuse to work together for >2h time. Hard reset, configuration from scratch, reflash in recovery mode - nothing helps. The owner will try again tomorrow and head for BestBuy for 2x new routers. Like BestBuy knew about issues coming and now offer both RT-AX86U and RT-AX86S on sale price.

 

[tdi200]

No idea what is happening. The 2x RT-AC1900P just refuse to work together for >2h time. Hard reset, configuration from scratch, reflash in recovery mode - nothing helps. The owner will try again tomorrow and head for BestBuy for 2x new routers. Like BestBuy knew about issues coming and now offer both RT-AX86U and RT-AX86S on sale price.

had the same issue, have the them restart the modem too along with router, also i had to install stock firmware and that solved the issue on my side

 

[Smokey613]

Are the new firmware updates not compatible with the older units or is there something else going on?

 

[Smokey613]

I just logged into my neighbors RT-AC1900P, that I “loaned” him last year. It is running Merlin 386.5_2 and update checks are disabled.

The uptime is 130 days

 

[Smokey613]

Hey @Tech9 , I was thinking of sending the RT-AX86U Pro back to Amazon but I got busy and my return window expired!

Looks like this will be with me for awhile. I hope Asus continues to develope the features in the Beta firmware.

 

[Swistheater]

388.xxxxx firmwares were not affected.

Thank goodness I already shot most of my older routers outside in the barn. I am kind of worried about consumer backlash like @Tech9 and @scajjr2 were reporting.

 

[Tech9]

388.xxxxx firmwares were not affected.

What about 382 firmware? Four RT-N19 late 2020 model routers Qualcomm QCN5502 hardware in AP mode and three lock every about 1h. Started happening this week and now investigating options. If this setup needs a reset someone has to reset + initialize in GUI each one, disconnect the cables from the main router one by one, log in by Wi-Fi and switch to AP mode again. Repeat all four times. I see no way to help remotely. The house is in Europe.

How come those routers also lock up? When they lock up even scheduled reboot doesn't work. They have SSH option. Any options with no reset?

 

[Tech9]

I am kind of worried about consumer backlash

This is a HUGE issue for people with routers in remote locations. I'm trying to help some friends and turned into customer service for many hours. Tomorrow I have to investigate why Qualcomm 382 firmware routers are locking up. I have TeamViewer option and a laptop connected to the only working AP. This is a nightmare going on for few days. One router is in Copenhagen Denmark (mine - recovered), one in Calgary Canada (replaced), two in a cottage in Huntsville Canada (one recovered, one with issues), four near Paris France (got the news today, no idea yet what's goin on). Add time difference on top for Europe locations. I'm in Toronto Canada.

 

[Swistheater]

What about 382 firmware? Four RT-N19 late 2020 model routers Qualcomm QCN5502 hardware in AP mode and three lock every about 1h. Started happening this week and now investigating options. If this setup needs a reset someone has to reset + initialize in GUI each one, disconnect the cables from the main router one by one, log in by Wi-Fi and switch to AP mode again. Repeat all four times. I see no way to help remotely. The house is in Europe.

How come those routers also lock up? When they lock up even scheduled reboot doesn't work. They have SSH option. Any options with no reset?

Have you tried EoIP ? or https://www.snbforums.com/threads/is-it-possible-to-upgrade-firmware-remotely-via-vpn.45623/

 

[Tech9]

I have access to the routers. The issue is resetting them. Once reset you lose the access no matter what access you had before. Someone there has to go through the setup wizard screens so I can get the access back. Some routers are APs. Once reset someone has to disconnect the cable and turn them to AP mode again in setup wizard. This is the issue - person there and with some knowledge. You can't do it over Internet.

 

[RMerlin]

What about 382 firmware?

Dunno, depends on when asd was implemented. I was working with 384 code only by the time asd was implemented.

 

[sfx2000]

I have access to the routers. The issue is resetting them

another vendor perhaps?

 

[RMerlin]

Is there any information about what's going on @RMerlin?

No idea what is happeing with your routers. I got quite a few deployed, two of them were affected by the broken asd signature. Updating them to the latest firmware resolved the issues in both cases.