Please Help! RT-AC68U wifi can't connect

[turtle313]

First off, I'm new on here but I have tried searching but can't find anything exactly like what I'm experiencing nor have any of the solutions to similar problems worked.

I have an RT-AC68U with Asuswrt-Merlin version 380.66_4 that won't allow me to connect wirelessly. Initially after firmware flash I can connect one time. After that first connection, all connections are refused with an authentication error. I've searched google and this forum and even emailed ASUS tech support with no success. the only way I can consistently connect wirelessly is to enable an open guest network which works perfectly so I know that the switch and radio are working fine. Wired connections are perfect too. Only problem is normal wifi connections are one and done!!! I had the same issues with dd-wrt which is how I found Asuswrt-Merlin builds. Please somebody help or point me to a thread where I can find a solution.

 

[RMerlin]

I had the same issues with dd-wrt which is how I found Asuswrt-Merlin builds.

Then the issue isn't with the firmware, but with your clients.

 

[turtle313]

if the problem is with the clients, why will they connect one time after I reflash the router and why is it with all clients with different settings and different OS's? I don't think there is a problem with the firmware, but maybe a setting somewhere that I have wrong. I'm using WPA2-Personal with AES encryption. I've reset and reconfigured the wireless adapters on the clients multiple times. Tried assigning static ip's, tried using WPA, tried open, tried WPS with PIN and with the Pushbutton. The common denominator is the router. I can connect to other AP's just not my own.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Try using a simple on-worded SSID and a simple password with the standard WPA2 and AES configuration.
If that works, go from there with further configuring.

 

[martinr]

Try using a simple on-worded SSID and a simple password with the standard WPA2 and AES configuration.
If that works, go from there with further configuring.

Yes, there's an excellent point: does the SSID or its password have any special characters in it?

 

[turtle313]

Yes, there's an excellent point: does the SSID or its password have any special characters in it?

no, alphanumeric only, upper and lower case

 

[turtle313]

Try using a simple on-worded SSID and a simple password with the standard WPA2 and AES configuration.
If that works, go from there with further configuring.

tried it, still no luck. Windows 10 laptop says "Can't connect to this network" Android phone says "Authentication error occurred"

 

[thelonelycoder]

tried it, still no luck. Windows 10 laptop says "Can't connect to this network" Android phone says "Authentication error occurred"

You have to forget or remove the WiFi network in Windoof, it is too stupid to ask for a password again if it changes.
Same for iOS and likely Android devices.

 

[turtle313]

Yep, did that. Forgot all networks, added new SSID and password manually and it still won't connect. Did the same on android with no change in result. I'm thinking about erasing NVRAM again and starting over just in case I've tweaked something during my troubleshooting. Is there an easy way to erase it from the web interface or should I just do it from the command line?

 

[thelonelycoder]

Yep, did that. Forgot all networks, added new SSID and password manually and it still won't connect. Did the same on android with no change in result. I'm thinking about erasing NVRAM again and starting over just in case I've tweaked something during my troubleshooting. Is there an easy way to erase it from the web interface or should I just do it from the command line?

Reset the router, it's the tab beside the firmware page.

 

[florid]

I had similar wireless connection issue after applied some change to malicious blocking scripts. Cannot connect wireless. But the connected clients can still access network.
I did a factory reset and a power cycle to back it normal.
I have no idea but only observed some weird syslog. Seems like some kernel service hung not started properly.

 

[turtle313]

ok, switched routers, RT-AC56U, same firmware version, exact same results. Connected first time. will not reconnect after on 2.4 or 5.o. No way this is not a firmware issue. Tried 5 different clients, with 3 different os's. none will connect to either router.

 

[TonyH]

tried it, still no luck. Windows 10 laptop says "Can't connect to this network" Android phone says "Authentication error occurred"

Then try without any pass phrase.

ok, switched routers, RT-AC56U, same firmware version, exact same results. Connected first time. will not reconnect after on 2.4 or 5.o. No way this is not a firmware issue. Tried 5 different clients, with 3 different os's. none will connect to either router.

Hard to believe. Just try without any pass phrase. By the way you reset the router, right? Also tried via WPS? Happens on both bands? Also reflash firmware. Lastly did it ever work?

 

[turtle313]

Thanks for the help all. I finally got it working. Definitely not a firmware issue. One of the wired clients was preventing wireless clients from authenticating. Disconnected the wired portion of the LAN and everything starting working perfect. Now I guess I'll connect the rest one by one until it crashes and I find my culprit. Thanks again for the suggestions.

 

[WWY]

hi turtle313, i had the same problem, tried/reset/re-setup/re-cabled everything but could not connect wirelessly to the AP using any device (laptop or mobile). I'm using a RT-N12 setup as a wireless AP. Connecting to the AP via cable was fine. Then i came across this thread and unplugged all wired connections, and it now miraculously works. My setup is modem > router > switch > AP. Does anyone know why there's such an issue..? Now I'm gonna re-connect the wired connections one by one to see what happens..

 

[ColinTaylor]

@WWY Obvious things that come to mind are; there's another access point nearby with the same SSID, there's more than one DHCP server on the LAN, there's multiple devices using the same IP address, there's a "loop" in your network design.

 

[Steve Young]

I'm having a similar issue.

I have a RT-AC68U that has worked for years. Several months ago I put in an Araknis router, so now I have it just set up as an AP. A few weeks ago I was having intermittent problems with wifi, but I also have an eero AP set up, so my phone and tablet would just jump over to that and I didn't dwell on it. I pulled it out today to do a bench test to compare several access points, AC5300, Araknis, eero, Pakedge, and I noticed that I couldn't connect to the AC68 at all.

I reset, and noticed the firmware was a little out of date. I think I did one less than a year ago, when the mesh firmware came out, so I updated the firmware...same thing. I did a factory reset...same thing. Did another factory and then forced a manual firmware...same thing.

I can log in wired, everything looks good. I saw this thread and unplugged the wired connections...same thing.

My phone keeps saying the password is incorrect after 2-3 times trying to connect. The password is definitely correct. Forgot the network and re-entered the password multiple times. Did this on a Samsung S8+, Samsung tablet, iPad, and laptop...same result.

So, get this. I change the 2.4GHz to open...now I can get on the 2.4GHz as an open network and the 5GHz as a WPA Personal (didn't touch the settings on the 5GHz). Switched the 2.4GHz back to WPA personal with the same password I had...so far it works.

What a waste of 3hrs of my life...what a joke, but I'm somewhat satisfied I figured it out...somewhat...

 

[L&LD]

I'm having a similar issue.

I have a RT-AC68U that has worked for years. Several months ago I put in an Araknis router, so now I have it just set up as an AP. A few weeks ago I was having intermittent problems with wifi, but I also have an eero AP set up, so my phone and tablet would just jump over to that and I didn't dwell on it. I pulled it out today to do a bench test to compare several access points, AC5300, Araknis, eero, Pakedge, and I noticed that I couldn't connect to the AC68 at all.

I reset, and noticed the firmware was a little out of date. I think I did one less than a year ago, when the mesh firmware came out, so I updated the firmware...same thing. I did a factory reset...same thing. Did another factory and then forced a manual firmware...same thing.

I can log in wired, everything looks good. I saw this thread and unplugged the wired connections...same thing.

My phone keeps saying the password is incorrect after 2-3 times trying to connect. The password is definitely correct. Forgot the network and re-entered the password multiple times. Did this on a Samsung S8+, Samsung tablet, iPad, and laptop...same result.

So, get this. I change the 2.4GHz to open...now I can get on the 2.4GHz as an open network and the 5GHz as a WPA Personal (didn't touch the settings on the 5GHz). Switched the 2.4GHz back to WPA personal with the same password I had...so far it works.

What a waste of 3hrs of my life...what a joke, but I'm somewhat satisfied I figured it out...somewhat...

With the symptoms you're describing, it doesn't look like you did a full/proper reset.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/n...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

It is unfortunate that we need to fully sanitize our networks once in a while, but it is very worthwhile doing so.

 

[Steve Young]

Thanks L&LD for the info. The funny thing is that this router has worked for...I don't know...at least 5+ years. The issue has come up in the past month or so.

The fix was just changing the 2.4GHz to unsecured and then back to a WPA Personal. It's been working fine since. It's weird, but true.

I didn't have to go through all of what you had on the thread. Out of everything (firmware, resetting, unplugging and leaving it totally power down, reflashing firmware and resetting) didn't work. I tried just setting to unsecured and back to secured and that did the trick.

I would recommend this as the first step vs all of the voodoo for anyone experiencing the same issue.

I am curious though as to how the steps of disabling all of these perimeters is a sanitize/ cleansing process. Wouldn't the firmware reset most of that? You would thing a factory reset and a firmware and crossing your fingers would completely sanitize the system.

I'm not condescending, but very curious and trying to understand more...

 

[martinr]

On switching to unsecured and then back to WPA2 Personal, do you also have to re-enter your password or is it remembered ? I wonder if the password is somehow possibly getting corrupted? Any unconventional special characters in your password? Having said that, I have a few in mine without problems.

You wrote “WPA Personal”, did you mean WPA2 Personal?