router.asus.com works but not the IP

[road hazard]

For the past few weeks, I was testing out a couple of different firewalls (OPNsense and Untangle mainly) and had my AX86U in Access Point mode. When I was using my AX86U as the router, it was always at 192.168.1.1. When I brought my Dell server online and had OPNsense and Untangle on there, they jumped into the 192.168.1.1 chair and my router (being in AP mode) went to 192.168.1.whatever.

I decided to put the AX86U back in router mode and have it control everything coming and going. I restored my backup and everything is working perfectly/normally except one thing. When I go to router.asus.com, my router's GUI loads but when I try access it via the IP (192.168.1.1), I get a 'page can't be displayed' / 'unable to connect' error.

I tried clearing the browser cache, different PCs in the house, opening a private tab.... they all have the same problem. I'd prefer not to factory reset the router so is there a way to fix this?

Thanks

 

[AndreiV]

The IP changes when you go from Router to AP mode (and back again) As it says on the GUI > Administration page, you'll need to download the ASUS Discovery Tool , that will show you what IP the router is on.

 

[ColinTaylor]

What does nslookup router.asus.com return?

 

[road hazard]

The IP changes when you go from Router to AP mode (and back again) As it says on the GUI > Administration page, you'll need to download the ASUS Discovery Tool , that will show you what IP the router is on.

The router was restored from a backup and it's IP is 192.168.1.1. I can ping it and ssh into it.

 

[road hazard]

What does nslookup router.asus.com return?

nslookup router.asus.com

Server:        192.168.1.1
Address:    192.168.1.1#53

Name:    router.asus.com
Address: 192.168.1.1

 

[ColinTaylor]

Is your browser perhaps redirecting you from http://192.168.1.1 to https://192.168.1.1 ?

 

[PunchCardBoss]

The default port number for many Asus routers is 8443. Try https://192.168.1.1:8443. If you get a browser warning for a non secure site, proceed. This is the method I must use to access my router because my NAS behind my router is using a reverse proxy and does not work with router.asus.com.

Also try https://www.asusrouter.com:8443/ per [Wireless Router] How to enter the router setting page(Web GUI) (ASUSWRT) ?

 

[road hazard]

Is your browser perhaps redirecting you from http://192.168.1.1 to https://192.168.1.1 ?

Yes, all my browsers are redirecting to https://192.168.1.1. Also, I just noticed something..... I spun up a Linux VM workstation image that has never accessed that URL before. Opening up http://192.168.1.1 allows me to access the ASUS GUI! Trying https://192.168.1.1 fails. This is the expected behavior.

When using OPNsense and Untangle, I'm pretty sure those were https connections and now that the IP that USE to be associated with a secure connection is gone, my browsers are freaking out and not getting the expected, secure response? Of the few PCs in the house, I accessed OPNsense and Untangle from them at 192.168.1.1 and this is why every PC in the house is now failing to reach the ASUS router that is now back on 192.168.1.1.....because they want to redirect to the secure site.

I booted a spare computer with a Linux live USB just now and using the IP works (no redirect) so it's something in my browsers that needs cleared out. I deleted cache information but the problem persists.

 

[road hazard]

The default port number for many Asus routers is 8443. Try https://192.168.1.1:8443. If you get a browser warning for a non secure site, proceed. This is the method I must use to access my router because my NAS behind my router is using a reverse proxy and does not work with router.asus.com.

Also try https://www.asusrouter.com:8443/ per [Wireless Router] How to enter the router setting page(Web GUI) (ASUSWRT) ?

All those options failed. Accessing it via http://router.asus.com/Main_Login.asp works perfectly.

 

[ColinTaylor]

This is a known issue that has been reported more frequently recently. It usually appears after updating the browser (particularly Firefox). Obviously if the browser is force redirecting to HTTPS on port 443 that won't work. Either because HTTPS hasn't been enabled on the router or because the router's default HTTPS port is 8443. In other words, this is a browser issue.

 

[road hazard]

This is a known issue that has been reported more frequently recently. It usually appears after updating the browser (particularly Firefox). Obviously if the browser is force redirecting to HTTPS on port 443 that won't work. Either because HTTPS hasn't been enabled on the router or because the router's default HTTPS port is 8443. In other words, this is a browser issue.

I have a 2nd ASUS router (1900P) that's in Access Point mode and I can use the same browser that fails when going to 192.168.1.1 to access the 1900P on 192.168.1.240 and that loads fine.

 

[drinkingbird]

I have a 2nd ASUS router (1900P) that's in Access Point mode and I can use the same browser that fails when going to 192.168.1.1 to access the 1900P on 192.168.1.240 and that loads fine.

Is that one going to http or https? Maybe on the AP you have it set to allow both?

If you have it set to http only, you must use http://router.asus.com or the IP
If you have it set to https only, you must use https://router.asus.com:8443 (assuming you haven't changed the default https port)
If you it set to "both" you can use either one.

If your browser is force redirecting to https and you don't have it enabled (and/or have anything other than 443 as the port) obviously it won't work.

 

[road hazard]

Is that one going to http or https? Maybe on the AP you have it set to allow both?

If you have it set to http only, you must use http://router.asus.com or the IP
If you have it set to https only, you must use https://router.asus.com:8443 (assuming you haven't changed the default https port)
If you it set to "both" you can use either one.

If your browser is force redirecting to https and you don't have it enabled (and/or have anything other than 443 as the port) obviously it won't work.

Authentication mode for both is HTTP. When I access the 1900P, it stays on http. I get the warning about the connection not being secure but accessing it via IP is AOK.

Another plot twist..... on my main PC, I only ever used Brave and Firefox to access 192.168.1.1 (whether it was my ASUS router at that IP .... or Untangle or OPNsense). I installed Edge and Chrome just now on the same PC and accessing my ASUS router (via http://192.168.1.1) is working perfectly. This makes me think the problem is with FireFox and Brave. They're holding onto some bit of info that is making them expect a secure connection is at that IP so they're ignoring my http:// and switching to https://

I installed FireFox on another PC and accessing the ASUS router at http://192.168.1.1 works fine so it's definitely something lingering on those browsers that is gumming up the works. I did find some leftover certs for hose firewalls and nuked them and emptied the cache/cookies but still no go.