My Asus RT-N66U crashed upgrading to 3.0.0.4.374.32. Urgent Help Please

[NetorkinghelpSan]

My entire office is stuck at the moment. Please help.
I only see the below screen (check image attachment)

I was trying to upgrade the Asuswrt-Merlin firmaware from 3.x.240.4 version to 3.0.0.4.374.32.

Entire upgrade went smoothly till 100%, but now i cannot get the old interface + the internet wont connect too.


Regards,

 

[DanielCoffey]

Your N66U has a Firmware Recovery Mode which you can activate. Try this...

Disconnect power from the router. Press and hold the reset button. Connect power to the router. Continue holding the reset button until the power light starts slowly flashing. The router is now in recovery mode and you can release the reset button. Its IP address is 192.168.1.1.

You can now either use the ASUS Firmware Recovery Utility to re-flash the router, or you can assign 192.168.1.2 to your NIC and visit the recovery mode website to try an NVRAM reset from it. Either one should work, assuming you chose a flash that's compatible with the RT-N66U.

 

[NetorkinghelpSan]

You can now either use the ASUS Firmware Recovery Utility to re-flash the router, or you can assign 192.168.1.2 to your NIC and visit the recovery mode website to try an NVRAM reset from it. Either one should work, assuming you chose a flash that's compatible with the RT-N66U.

Thank You very much for your reply, can you please answer following, as I am novice user.

Where can i fine the asus firmware recovery utility ? (I have the Asus router installation disc).

How can i assign 192.168.1.2 to my NIC ?

I do not have an internet connection at present, as 3 PCs were connected to this router for accessing internet.

Regards,

 

[Sky1111]

the easiest way:
- set the wired network card to 192.168.1.2,
- get your router into recovery mode (as Merlin described above),
- type again 192.168.1.1 in browser

You will see recovery window, you just re-flash the firmware again...
(worked for me many times)

The key factor: convince your router to get into recovery mode.

 

[DanielCoffey]

Your router's normal address is 192.166.1.1 and if you type that into your browser, you should be able to see the N66U web page and have another go at flashing the modem.

I can only speak for OS X users but I would go to the Network preferences, set DHCP Manually, choose 192.168.1.2 as the IP address and then the browser should let me see the router at 192.168.1.1.

Once you have successfully reapplied the firmware you should be able to reset your network settings back to what they were.

 

[NetorkinghelpSan]

I am using a Windows XP PC and Firefox browser to control the router settings.
Will try your suggestions above first and then return back here, if any problems.

Thanks again

 

[RMerlin]

If you get that MiniWeb page, then you are already in recovery mode. Just provide the router with the .trx file, then click on upload. After that, recovery can take up to 10-20 minutes, at the end of which the router will reboot automatically. Just make sure you give it enough time to complete the whole process.

 

[NetorkinghelpSan]

If you get that MiniWeb page, then you are already in recovery mode. Just provide the router with the .trx file, then click on upload. After that, recovery can take up to 10-20 minutes, at the end of which the router will reboot automatically. Just make sure you give it enough time to complete the whole process.

Hello SIr,
Thank You for your reply, I tried this thing and waited for more then 30 mins thrice, nothing happened..
I tried above method of holding reset button and router is restored now.

But i am not able to connected all the wireless devices to router.

Automatic connection to router gives SSID = xxxx (I restored my settings from an old file)

Existing connections to router gives SSID = zzzz (few devices work and few does not).

Thanks, I am able to get all wired PCs back to work, but cannot get all wiresless devices online.


Regards,

 

[RMerlin]

Hello SIr,
Thank You for your reply, I tried this thing and waited for more then 30 mins thrice, nothing happened..
I tried above method of holding reset button and router is restored now.

But i am not able to connected all the wireless devices to router.

Automatic connection to router gives SSID = xxxx (I restored my settings from an old file)

Existing connections to router gives SSID = zzzz (few devices work and few does not).

Thanks, I am able to get all wired PCs back to work, but cannot get all wiresless devices online.


Regards,

How old was the saved settings file? If it was too old then it might not work properly with the newer firmware. I'd say any saved backup older than 372.30 should not be used, as there was a bug related to settings saving that was fixed with 372.30.

 

[RMerlin]

If you did upgrade from 240.4 to 374.32 then you definitely need to clear your settings again and manually reconfigure. There has been far too many changes between these two versions.

 

[NetorkinghelpSan]

I tried to re-configure everything manually again, but the wireless devices are still unable to connect.

Is there any way, to delete all the settings (each and every setting) and start from scratch ?

Regards,

 

[RogerSC]

I tried to re-configure everything manually again, but the wireless devices are still unable to connect.

Is there any way, to delete all the settings (each and every setting) and start from scratch ?

Regards,

Yes, clearing the nvram deletes all settings by definition, the nvram is where your settings are. You can do this by:

1. Turn router power off, push in the WPS button, and turn the router power on. Hold the WPS button for a few seconds after powering the router on. The router nvram and your settings will be cleared.

2. Go to "Tools" -> "Run Cmd" tab in the router admin web GUI, and enter the command:

mtd-erase -d nvram.

Then reboot your router and your nvram and settings will have been cleared.

3. Enable telnet login, and login with a terminal emulator like putty. Issue this command:

mtd-erase -d nvram

and reboot the router.

 

[jlake]

You could always read your manual to learn how to reset the settings to factory defaults.

 

[PrivateJoker]

You could always read your manual to learn how to reset the settings to factory defaults.

My router doesn't work, can't google the manual. Classic chicken/egg situation.

 

[NetorkinghelpSan]

My router doesn't work, can't google the manual. Classic chicken/egg situation.

My manual alongwith Asus router only has information about installing router which is of 5 pages only.
I am a novice user.

Regards,

 

[RogerSC]

The Asus manual for the rt-n66u is about the poorest manual I've ever seen. Large areas of setup and operation are not covered. That makes this forum very valuable for those that are inexperienced with routers and try to do what they need to do from the manual. If you've been around the block a few times with routers, you can figure out a lot, but if you haven't, then you need to ask questions.

Got no problem with that, glad to help when I can.

 

[jlake]

My manual alongwith Asus router only has information about installing router which is of 5 pages only.
I am a novice user.

Regards,

I googled "Asus RT-N66U manual". The link below is the first page that comes up. But I think the manual is also on your CD that came with the router. 5 pages? You must be referring to the quick start guide. I'm talking about the "manual".

http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?slanguage=en&m=RT-N66U+(VER.B1)&os=8

Section 1 of the manual-table of contents is the Quick Look. Page 5 and page 6 shows where all the buttons are located and labels them. Labeled Button "9" tells you what the reset button does.

Section 5 of the manual-table of contents is Troubleshooting. This tells you on page 51 "how to restore the system to its default settings". "Press the reset button at the rear panel of the wireless router for more than 5 seconds". A ball point pen or paper clip often works well for pressing the reset button. Personally, I use a different reset method, but it's good to know it's there.

Page 8 and possibly page 12 of the manual will help you learn how to position the router antennas which is very important too. I think you'll find other useful tidbits in the manual.

The manual isn't perfect, but not many manuals are.

 

[PrivateJoker]

This thread inspired me to write up my OCD method of manual storage & retrieval.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=12941

I also found the full Asus manuals in different languages on the link @Jlake mentioned, thank you!

http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?slanguage=en&m=RT-N66U+(VER.B1)&os=8

And am I crazy, or is this "ver B1" designation new?


Does that just signify it's now shipping w/ SDK6 drivers or something?

 

[RMerlin]

This thread inspired me to write up my OCD method of manual storage & retrieval.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=12941

I also found the full Asus manuals in different languages on the link @Jlake mentioned, thank you!



And am I crazy, or is this "ver B1" designation new?


Does that just signify it's now shipping w/ SDK6 drivers or something?

It has always been revision B1. Revision A1 was never mass produced, and it had a cooling fan.

 

[RogerSC]

I googled "Asus RT-N66U manual". The link below is the first page that comes up. But I think the manual is also on your CD that came with the router. 5 pages? You must be referring to the quick start guide. I'm talking about the "manual".

http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?slanguage=en&m=RT-N66U+(VER.B1)&os=8

Section 1 of the manual-table of contents is the Quick Look. Page 5 and page 6 shows where all the buttons are located and labels them. Labeled Button "9" tells you what the reset button does.

Section 5 of the manual-table of contents is Troubleshooting. This tells you on page 51 "how to restore the system to its default settings". "Press the reset button at the rear panel of the wireless router for more than 5 seconds". A ball point pen or paper clip often works well for pressing the reset button. Personally, I use a different reset method, but it's good to know it's there.

Page 8 and possibly page 12 of the manual will help you learn how to position the router antennas which is very important too. I think you'll find other useful tidbits in the manual.

The manual isn't perfect, but not many manuals are.

I didn't do anything with the CD, they're always out of date. Downloaded the manual.

Yes, there are one or two tidbits in the manual...I remember when I first got this router and it didn't work with my Verizon Network Extender, Adam Kwong in support told me to try the "mtd-erase" thing via Telnet because the reset button didn't do a complete reset. That actually worked, so I haven't used the reset button since then. But I can't say that I remember ever finding anything I needed in the manual. And I'm pretty good at searching manuals.

Glad you like it, though, enjoy *smile*.