NTP issues 384.11 on AC68U

[dosborne]

When I installed the latest firmware, and I believe the last couple fo versions but I'd have to reload them to be sure, I started having issues with my VPNs.

After a bit of investigation I found that the router was not updating the date / time via NTP and causing a VPN certificate expiry error.

I assume that there is some detail date in the router (May 05, 2018) and on every reboot it would default back to that date. I was also not able to reboot via the GUI as I'd get a bit of rc_service errors.

In any case, I rolled back to 384.8_2 and NTP (and therefore VPN) started working as before (properly).

I know more information and logs are probably required to properly diagnose and fix and I will try and provide whatever is necessary, just thought I'd start the post to see if anyone else is having an issue.

 

[Swistheater]

The ntp service always starts up with a built in time and syncs from that this is due to the lack of a built in battery.

 

[Swistheater]

The vpn service issue might be an issue with the order of services. Logs would tell that

 

[L&LD]

When I installed the latest firmware, and I believe the last couple fo versions but I'd have to reload them to be sure, I started having issues with my VPNs.

After a bit of investigation I found that the router was not updating the date / time via NTP and causing a VPN certificate expiry error.

I assume that there is some detail date in the router (May 05, 2018) and on every reboot it would default back to that date. I was also not able to reboot via the GUI as I'd get a bit of rc_service errors.

In any case, I rolled back to 384.8_2 and NTP (and therefore VPN) started working as before (properly).

I know more information and logs are probably required to properly diagnose and fix and I will try and provide whatever is necessary, just thought I'd start the post to see if anyone else is having an issue.

If a few suggestions from others don't help you quickly track this down and fix it, and considering that you've had it for a few versions already, I have to ask you when was the last time you flashed to the firmware you want to use, did a full reset to factory defaults and then minimally and manually configure the router to secure it and connect to your ISP (and without using a backup config file afterward)?

If it has been more than 3 versions, a full M&M Config will get your router and network back to a good/known state and at the very least, will allow others to properly and quickly troubleshoot with you.

Please look for the link in my signature below for the M&M Config guide.

 

[dosborne]

The ntp service always starts up with a built in time and syncs from that this is due to the lack of a built in battery.

Yes, but in the later versions NTP doesn't update the time. I had to SSH into the router and set the time manually. After that, the VPN certificate expiry errors went away.

 

[dosborne]

The vpn service issue might be an issue with the order of services. Logs would tell that

THe VPN errors were quite straight forward. It was due to the NTP not picking up the time/.

 

[dosborne]

If it has been more than 3 versions, a full M&M Config will get your router and network back to a good/known state and at the very least, will allow others to properly and quickly troubleshoot with you.

Please look for the link in my signature below for the M&M Config guide.

Thanks. I must admit I haven't had to reset and manually reconfigure for quite a while. I did consider it, but I was lazy. Since I seem to be the only one with the issue, I will definitely plan to give it a try shortly.

Appreciate all the replies everyone!

 

[dosborne]

A couple of days later, so I thought I'd provide an update.

Things got really strange on the weekend. My VOIP service was really screwy. I could receive calls, but could not make outgoing calls. At first I did see the connection between this issue and the router firmware, but after some frustration I guessed it was related. This was just another factor pushing me to do the M&M config, but I was hoping to wait until the end of the week. (moved my VOIP ATA to a different router, which I've wanted to do for a while anyway, and it is working fine so at least I can make and receive calls again. I use a router from my ISP as the top layer , then the RT-AC68U as my internal router with Wifi disabled, then a RT-N66U as a wireless access point)

In any case, I was on 384.11. I was unable to perform the Reset to Factory Defaults. It would go through the motions, but would not reset. I tried to downgrade back to 384.4 and again, it would go through the motions, but stay on 384.11. Frustration building.

Time to try the reset button on the back of the router. Push and hold until the power light flashed. No joy, settings were not reset. Did some reading and figured out this was in the emergency recovery mode, so ran the Asus utility (hard wired to my laptop after changing my IP etc), but the utility could not "find" the router even though the connection and everything appeared to be fine. Frustration building.

At the point where I can't load any other firmware, I can't do a factory reset, half the services are "screwy". Almost tossed the router, but instead did a number of hours more searching and reading and stumbled across a post that said to use the WPS button instead of the RESET button. Duh, come on, it makes perfect sense! Why didn't I think of that before! LOL

Ok, fresh day, fresh idea. Pushed and held the WPS button and got the fast blinking power LED (now I know what the fast and slow blink look like). Great sign! The setting were reset. Finally making progress.

Flashed back to 384.4 (just for fun), and started following the M&M process (for the most part as some things didn't apply to me). Reset the JFFS, reset to factory through the UI,.... rebooting when appropriate.

Flashed the 384.11 update. Rebuilt the JFFS partition, reset to factory,.... rebooting when appropriate.

Now finally the frustration level is pretty much gone. The router is on the latest firmware and I can actually change settings, perform GUI actions, etc. Let the manual config begin. NTP is also working properly now, at least according to the logs and date/time in the UI.

Wireless -> Professional -> Disable 2.4GHz Radio
Wireless -> Professional -> Disable 5GHz Radio
LAN -> LAN -> Device Name -> RT-AC68U
LAN -> DHCP Server -> IP Pool Staring Address -> 192.168.1.200
LAN -> DHCP Server -> Default Gateway -> 192.168.1.1
LAN -> DHCP Server -> DNS Server 1 -> 8.8.8.8
LAN -> DHCP Server -> DNS Server 2 -> 8.8.4.4
WAN -> Internet Connection -> Enable UPnP -> No
Firewall -> General -> Enable IPv6 Firewall -> No (IPv6 is disabled)

Configured my 2 x VPN clients.

Rebooted my network devices that needed new DHCP addresses and populated the network map mapping MAC to IP where appropriate.

Saved config files along the way just in case.

All good now. A big Thank You to those who tried to help. Sorry to turn out to be lame user and not trying a rebuild without being told. I have 35 years in IT and should know better but I've been updating the RMerlin firmware for years without issues using the saved config files.