New RT-AC86U behaving badly - Is it faulty?

[Venturis]

I recently purchased an ASUS RT-AC86U (AC2900) and after intial setup it seemed to be working fine for a few days before encountering some very strange behaviour.

It started with completely losing the previously configured DHCP reservations and ended with the router spontaneously resetting itself to factory defaults. Only knew this had happened when I couldn't get any IP addresses for the client devices and found the wifi SSIDs had reverted back to factory default names.

I've tried now factory reset and reinstalled both official and Merlin firmware around 4 times but the last time I noticed that during power on that the indicator lights on router were behaving differently to what I'd expect.

At power on, after a short while, the Power, 2.4Ghz, 5.0Ghz, WAN and local ethernet LEDs light up solidly. A few seconds later the POWER LED flashes OFF/ON three times then remains ON. Immediately after, the 2.4GHz LED light flashes OFF/ON at about 1 second intervals for about the next 3 minutes before finally staying ON.

I can't find any documentation to confirm if the LED flashing routine that I'm seeing on power on is normal. Not something I've seen before on either my RT-AC68U's although appreciate this is a different router entirely.

When I checked the Syslog, I found a couple of unusual entries but nothing specifically that appears during the period when the 2.4Ghz LED starts flashing.

The first message is a reference to MTD10 which appears is mounted and unmounted several items during the boot process.

May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: attaching mtd10
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: scanning is finished
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: attached mtd10 (name "misc1", size 8 MiB)
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: PEB size: 131072 bytes (128 KiB), LEB size: 126976 bytes
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048/2048, sub-page size 2048
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: VID header offset: 2048 (aligned 2048), data offset: 4096
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: good PEBs: 64, bad PEBs: 0, corrupted PEBs: 0
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: user volume: 1, internal volumes: 1, max. volumes count: 128
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: max/mean erase counter: 8/3, WL threshold: 4096, image sequence number: 661685855
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: available PEBs: 0, total reserved PEBs: 64, PEBs reserved for bad PEB handling: 4
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: background thread "ubi_bgt1d" started, PID 197
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: detaching mtd10
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: mtd10 is detached

Secondly a message about BCM963xx core 2 having failed.

May  5 05:05:19 kernel: PCIe HCD (impl1)^M
May  5 05:05:19 kernel:   bcm963xx-pcie: found core [0] Rev [ 3. 4]^M
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: pci 0000:00:00.0: of_irq_parse_pci() failed with rc=-22
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: pci 0000:01:00.0: of_irq_parse_pci() failed with rc=-22
May  5 05:05:19 kernel:   bcm963xx-pcie: found core [1] Rev [ 3. 4]^M
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: pci 0001:00:00.0: of_irq_parse_pci() failed with rc=-22
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: pci 0001:01:00.0: of_irq_parse_pci() failed with rc=-22
May  5 05:05:19 kernel:   bcm963xx-pcie: found core [2] Rev [ 3. 4]^M
May  5 05:05:19 kernel:   bcm963xx-pcie: failed to bring up core [2] link^M

Do either of these messages indicate a faulty router or can someone advise if the LED flashing sequences that occur during startup are normal?

Cheers.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I recently purchased an ASUS RT-AC86U (AC2900) and after intial setup it seemed to be working fine for a few days before encountering some very strange behaviour.

It started with completely losing the previously configured DHCP reservations and ended with the router spontaneously resetting itself to factory defaults. Only knew this had happened when I couldn't get any IP addresses for the client devices and found the wifi SSIDs had reverted back to factory default names.

I've tried now factory reset and reinstalled both official and Merlin firmware around 4 times but the last time I noticed that during power on that the indicator lights on router were behaving differently to what I'd expect.

At power on, after a short while, the Power, 2.4Ghz, 5.0Ghz, WAN and local ethernet LEDs light up solidly. A few seconds later the POWER LED flashes OFF/ON three times then remains ON. Immediately after, the 2.4GHz LED light flashes OFF/ON at about 1 second intervals for about the next 3 minutes before finally staying ON.

I can't find any documentation to confirm if the LED flashing routine that I'm seeing on power on is normal. Not something I've seen before on either my RT-AC68U's although appreciate this is a different router entirely.

When I checked the Syslog, I found a couple of unusual entries but nothing specifically that appears during the period when the 2.4Ghz LED starts flashing.

The first message is a reference to MTD10 which appears is mounted and unmounted several items during the boot process.

May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: attaching mtd10
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: scanning is finished
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: attached mtd10 (name "misc1", size 8 MiB)
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: PEB size: 131072 bytes (128 KiB), LEB size: 126976 bytes
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048/2048, sub-page size 2048
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: VID header offset: 2048 (aligned 2048), data offset: 4096
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: good PEBs: 64, bad PEBs: 0, corrupted PEBs: 0
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: user volume: 1, internal volumes: 1, max. volumes count: 128
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: max/mean erase counter: 8/3, WL threshold: 4096, image sequence number: 661685855
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: available PEBs: 0, total reserved PEBs: 64, PEBs reserved for bad PEB handling: 4
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: background thread "ubi_bgt1d" started, PID 197
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: detaching mtd10
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: mtd10 is detached

Secondly a message about BCM963xx core 2 having failed.

May  5 05:05:19 kernel: PCIe HCD (impl1)^M
May  5 05:05:19 kernel:   bcm963xx-pcie: found core [0] Rev [ 3. 4]^M
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: pci 0000:00:00.0: of_irq_parse_pci() failed with rc=-22
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: pci 0000:01:00.0: of_irq_parse_pci() failed with rc=-22
May  5 05:05:19 kernel:   bcm963xx-pcie: found core [1] Rev [ 3. 4]^M
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: pci 0001:00:00.0: of_irq_parse_pci() failed with rc=-22
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: pci 0001:01:00.0: of_irq_parse_pci() failed with rc=-22
May  5 05:05:19 kernel:   bcm963xx-pcie: found core [2] Rev [ 3. 4]^M
May  5 05:05:19 kernel:   bcm963xx-pcie: failed to bring up core [2] link^M

Do either of these messages indicate a faulty router or can someone advise if the LED flashing sequences that occur during startup are normal?

Cheers.

Looks dead on arrival. The log entries look like failed hardware subsystems. Could try a hard reset and flash with latest stock firmware and reset again a couple times.

OE

 

[Venturis]

I'm inclined to agree but the router does appear to work properly once it fully powers up. Its the fact that I've had to go through the whole manual setup 4 times now that I'm reluctant to try again unless I can get some assurance that I'm not wasting my time.

I've tired several hard resets between firmware updates. The hard reset procedure of holding down the WPS button at power on drops the router immediately into the CFE recovery environment and from there I've tried loading the latest ASUS official firmware hoping that whatever the problem might be corrected. And also factory default the unit using the pushbutton at the rear just for good measure.

Are you able to tell me if your current AC86U routers go through the same flashing light sequence that I described in my first post? Particularly if the POWER LED flashes OFF/ON three times after which the 2.4GHZ LED Flashes ON/OFF for about 2-3 minutes at 1 second intervals before finally staying ON?

 

[cooloutac]

I recently purchased an ASUS RT-AC86U (AC2900) and after intial setup it seemed to be working fine for a few days before encountering some very strange behaviour.

It started with completely losing the previously configured DHCP reservations and ended with the router spontaneously resetting itself to factory defaults. Only knew this had happened when I couldn't get any IP addresses for the client devices and found the wifi SSIDs had reverted back to factory default names.

I've tried now factory reset and reinstalled both official and Merlin firmware around 4 times but the last time I noticed that during power on that the indicator lights on router were behaving differently to what I'd expect.

At power on, after a short while, the Power, 2.4Ghz, 5.0Ghz, WAN and local ethernet LEDs light up solidly. A few seconds later the POWER LED flashes OFF/ON three times then remains ON. Immediately after, the 2.4GHz LED light flashes OFF/ON at about 1 second intervals for about the next 3 minutes before finally staying ON.

I can't find any documentation to confirm if the LED flashing routine that I'm seeing on power on is normal. Not something I've seen before on either my RT-AC68U's although appreciate this is a different router entirely.

When I checked the Syslog, I found a couple of unusual entries but nothing specifically that appears during the period when the 2.4Ghz LED starts flashing.

The first message is a reference to MTD10 which appears is mounted and unmounted several items during the boot process.

May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: attaching mtd10
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: scanning is finished
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: attached mtd10 (name "misc1", size 8 MiB)
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: PEB size: 131072 bytes (128 KiB), LEB size: 126976 bytes
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048/2048, sub-page size 2048
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: VID header offset: 2048 (aligned 2048), data offset: 4096
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: good PEBs: 64, bad PEBs: 0, corrupted PEBs: 0
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: user volume: 1, internal volumes: 1, max. volumes count: 128
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: max/mean erase counter: 8/3, WL threshold: 4096, image sequence number: 661685855
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: available PEBs: 0, total reserved PEBs: 64, PEBs reserved for bad PEB handling: 4
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: background thread "ubi_bgt1d" started, PID 197
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: detaching mtd10
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: ubi1: mtd10 is detached

Secondly a message about BCM963xx core 2 having failed.

May  5 05:05:19 kernel: PCIe HCD (impl1)^M
May  5 05:05:19 kernel:   bcm963xx-pcie: found core [0] Rev [ 3. 4]^M
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: pci 0000:00:00.0: of_irq_parse_pci() failed with rc=-22
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: pci 0000:01:00.0: of_irq_parse_pci() failed with rc=-22
May  5 05:05:19 kernel:   bcm963xx-pcie: found core [1] Rev [ 3. 4]^M
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: pci 0001:00:00.0: of_irq_parse_pci() failed with rc=-22
May  5 05:05:19 kernel: pci 0001:01:00.0: of_irq_parse_pci() failed with rc=-22
May  5 05:05:19 kernel:   bcm963xx-pcie: found core [2] Rev [ 3. 4]^M
May  5 05:05:19 kernel:   bcm963xx-pcie: failed to bring up core [2] link^M

Do either of these messages indicate a faulty router or can someone advise if the LED flashing sequences that occur during startup are normal?

Cheers.

wow just when I thought I've seen every error on this thing. that 1st one I see all the time. maybe its normal? no idea. that second one i never seen. looks very bad. wow.

I'm returning mine after 3 weeks.

 

[Venturis]

I couldn't get a definitive answer on whether the logs showed any critical errors and having also had problems with loss of settings I decided not to take the risk and sent the router back to the vendor for a refund.

Asus' own tech support didn't give me any clear indication of whether the messages were normal.

I found a recent post by another AC86U owner who included their system log from power on and found both the same messages appeared in that sys log.

Does make me think that both these messages are a normal part of the AC86U system log.

 

[cooloutac]

I couldn't get a definitive answer on whether the logs showed any critical errors and having also had problems with loss of settings I decided not to take the risk and sent the router back to the vendor for a refund.

Asus' own tech support didn't give me any clear indication of whether the messages were normal.

I found a recent post by another AC86U owner who included their system log from power on and found both the same messages appeared in that sys log.

Does make me think that both these messages are a normal part of the AC86U system log.

I don't blame you good move! I have had every error you can google for on my ac86u in the past 3 weeks and I have yet to see that second message. I don't think thats normal at all. but who knows maybe I missed it. the first one happens all the time not just from a system boot but also when changing settings.

also your light sequence seems normal to me except for the 2.4 ghz flashing on and off for 3 minutes. definitely not normal. but then again, i'm returning mine due to the 2.4ghz constantly dropping out, even though the light stays on with mine and even in the gui it appears to be normal. Your light flashing was probably a good early warning sign.