Major Problems: Three Lights of Death

[tenchi71]

Hope someone knows whats going on...

Got my RT-AC66U about two weeks ago. Brand new , in box, .270 firmware installed. I power it up, configure and start to surf for about an hour, turned it off to move it to its permanent location, and then problems start...
Plug everything in and power... only three lights come on (Port 2, Port 1, WAN), slightly dimmer than before. I let it sit, no change after several minutes. I reboot, same thing. No wifi, no DHCP via wired connection, set a static of 192.168.1.xxx but I cannot connect to the router via web or firmware recovery, doesn't register a connection on ports 3 or 4, disconnect WAN but the light stays on. I try the reset button, nothing, go online and find several ways of performing the 30/30/30 reset, which finally worked after many tries.
The router reboots, is extremely slow, so I set it to recovery mode and upload .270, reconfigure it, confirm I connectivity and leave. Come back a few hours later and I that I cannot connect ANY device to either 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wifi, DHCP isn't working so I set a static IP and hit the website, to find the webpage stating a change had been performed and I needed to reboot the router. I power off/on and back to the three lights... after several attempts of the 30/30/30 reset, I finally can run the firmware recovery, this time I update to .354. End of day one with this device.

The above happens again two days later. I repeat all of the above, again finding it very difficult to get the router out of what I've named now named "the three lights of death". After I get it all setup, I have to power cycle it again because the router becomes unresponsive, refuses to allow WIFI connections, issued DHCP, etc.. etc.. which again triggered the three lights of death. I finally get it up and functional, this time reverting back to the .270 firmware.

The router stays very stable for the next two weeks.

Last night, I suddenly loose traffic over WIFI. Disconnect WIFI and try to reconnect to either SSID, and I get the time out error. Hook up wired, and no DHCP, and setting to static gives me no access to the routers admin page. I already know what's going to happen, but I reluctantly walk over to the router, power cycle the device, and bang... the Three Lights of Death stare back at me defiantly. I wanted to fling the damned thing across the room and into the wall.

So... any help guys? Right now I'm stuck, still trying to get the damned thing into recovery mode. I can't remember which method I used to get it back up last time, nor can I find it anymore by searching for some reason. Probably just overly frustrated... I'm a sys admin, and am very familiar with how these open-source based routers work, having a lot of experience with DDWRT since it's inception. I'm over seas on deployment, so getting the router back to support may be difficult.

 

[capkirk]

Try to clear nvram "mtd-erase -d nvram" (via telnet).

Hope someone knows whats going on...

Got my RT-AC66U about two weeks ago. Brand new , in box, .270 firmware installed. I power it up, configure and start to surf for about an hour, turned it off to move it to its permanent location, and then problems start...
Plug everything in and power... only three lights come on (Port 2, Port 1, WAN), slightly dimmer than before. I let it sit, no change after several minutes. I reboot, same thing. No wifi, no DHCP via wired connection, set a static of 192.168.1.xxx but I cannot connect to the router via web or firmware recovery, doesn't register a connection on ports 3 or 4, disconnect WAN but the light stays on. I try the reset button, nothing, go online and find several ways of performing the 30/30/30 reset, which finally worked after many tries.
The router reboots, is extremely slow, so I set it to recovery mode and upload .270, reconfigure it, confirm I connectivity and leave. Come back a few hours later and I that I cannot connect ANY device to either 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wifi, DHCP isn't working so I set a static IP and hit the website, to find the webpage stating a change had been performed and I needed to reboot the router. I power off/on and back to the three lights... after several attempts of the 30/30/30 reset, I finally can run the firmware recovery, this time I update to .354. End of day one with this device.

The above happens again two days later. I repeat all of the above, again finding it very difficult to get the router out of what I've named now named "the three lights of death". After I get it all setup, I have to power cycle it again because the router becomes unresponsive, refuses to allow WIFI connections, issued DHCP, etc.. etc.. which again triggered the three lights of death. I finally get it up and functional, this time reverting back to the .270 firmware.

The router stays very stable for the next two weeks.

Last night, I suddenly loose traffic over WIFI. Disconnect WIFI and try to reconnect to either SSID, and I get the time out error. Hook up wired, and no DHCP, and setting to static gives me no access to the routers admin page. I already know what's going to happen, but I reluctantly walk over to the router, power cycle the device, and bang... the Three Lights of Death stare back at me defiantly. I wanted to fling the damned thing across the room and into the wall.

So... any help guys? Right now I'm stuck, still trying to get the damned thing into recovery mode. I can't remember which method I used to get it back up last time, nor can I find it anymore by searching for some reason. Probably just overly frustrated... I'm a sys admin, and am very familiar with how these open-source based routers work, having a lot of experience with DDWRT since it's inception. I'm over seas on deployment, so getting the router back to support may be difficult.

 

[tenchi71]

Try to clear nvram "mtd-erase -d nvram" (via telnet).

Unfortunately, I can't do that right now...
When its locked with the three lights, the router is unresponsive on any ports. I can't ping 192.168.1.1, even if i set my ip static on the same subnet. The router doesn't register a connection on ports 3 or 4 even when a cable is plugged in.

If I can get it our of this three lights of death state, I'll definitely try clearing nvram via telnet.

 

[capkirk]

Did you try to press the little switch on the back of the router? That should also clear the nvram.

 

[tenchi71]

Did you try to press the little switch on the back of the router? That should also clear the nvram.

I've tried holding down the WPS button powered on for 30, off for 30, and on for 30. I have also that sequence with the reset button, and in combination. Tried using the power button and completely disconnecting from power. Still see the three blue lights.

 

[capkirk]

I've tried holding down the WPS button powered on for 30, off for 30, and on for 30. I have also that sequence with the reset button, and in combination. Tried using the power button and completely disconnecting from power. Still see the three blue lights.

I think your router is defective, you should return it.

 

[mikeg]

I have had similar issues and powered the router off and tried next day with better luck to put it in recovery mode and use the Asus utility to restore the firmware , use the .354 f/w then. If you have no luck still it looks like you have a faulty unit ....

Unfortunately, I can't do that right now...
When its locked with the three lights, the router is unresponsive on any ports. I can't ping 192.168.1.1, even if i set my ip static on the same subnet. The router doesn't register a connection on ports 3 or 4 even when a cable is plugged in.

If I can get it our of this three lights of death state, I'll definitely try clearing nvram via telnet.

 

[TonyH]

Hi.
Have you tried 30-30-30 reset? Checked power adopter to make sure it is good?

 

[njweb]

I would suggest trying it in the original location again.
Is the power adapter fully plugged in? Just wondering if it is getting enough power from the outlet or surge protector in case it is some bizarre eletrical issue.
Then again, since you said it intermittently works for longer periods of time a(2 weeks at a time e.g.) after a reset, it might just be that the router itself is simply faulty (still strange though that it would work fine for 2 weeks if that is the case).

I assume it has adequate ventilation?

When you had the issue last night, did you try connecting your internet line directly to a PC, bypassing the router.
I would just want to make sure it wasn't an internet outage of some sort on your provider's end, given that it worked fine for 2 weeks and then very suddenly stopped working last night.

As suggested, you could also (re)download the latest firmware and see if that helps in case there is some sort of corruption going on.

Just some ideas. I realize you may have tried some or most of these steps, but this isn't an easy one to diagnose given the steps you have already taken and that the router did work for 2 weeks before failing again.

Good luck and keep us posted! Would love to know what the root cause ends up being (if it isn't a faulty unit).

 

[mahmoud_qawasmi]

I just got my brand new RT-AC66U, and unfortunately after the first day of using the router with no problems; my devices couldn't connect using wireless/wire connection, so I reboot the router, and I am stuck with the three lights of death!

I tried 30-30-30 reset, but even that wouldn't work. I am interested to know if you got your problem solved, and how.

thanks

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
Do you have another AC adapter by any chance to borrow and try? Maybe it is flaky.

 

[mahmoud_qawasmi]

Thanks TonyH for the reply.

I do have another AC adapter as I purchased two units of the router; one for home and one for office. The office router is working great, so I tried the adapter on the home router, but unfortunately it behave exactly the same; problem not resolved, and still can't reset or connect using wire or wireless

 

[RMerlin]

I've seen a few reports lately of routers being stuck with those three LEDs. Might be interesting if someone could attach a serial cable to see what comes up on the console.

 

[mahmoud_qawasmi]

I am not aware this router has any serial ports, can you explain more to see if I can do it?

 

[RMerlin]

I am not aware this router has any serial ports, can you explain more to see if I can do it?

Most small devices come with an internal serial port, used for debugging. Many only have solder pads on the board, but Asus have all the pins soldered on, making it easy to plug in a TTL serial adapter. See the photo I posted in this thread:

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=10664

You need a serial adapter that can handle 3.3V TTL signalling. You cannot directly connect it to a PC serial port, you will fry your router due to the totally incompatible voltage levels used by the signals.

This also involves opening the router's case - not a good idea if you have a defective device that's still under warranty.

 

[mahmoud_qawasmi]

In this case it seems more wise not to do it as I have just purchased my router and I can exchange it. I thought it is better to try fix it if there is any easy fix; but sure I don't want to lose warranty on it!

Thanks for the help.