RT AC68U - Bricked with only USB led on

[starry_air]

I bought a new RT AC68U and could never get it stable - it would become inaccessible and unresponsive after about 5 minutes of operation (I was using it in AP mode - I couldn't enter the settings page or connect to WiFi). The only thing I did was an OTA firmware upgrade to the latest version of the official firmware. And then it stopped working altogether. So I tried the recovery mode and was able to initiate it once - the power led started blinking slowly. But it wasn't accessible through either the recovery software or 192.168.1.1. I did follow the guidelines and set a static ip address beforehand. And now I cannot even get into the recovery mode, and the only thing that happens when I turn it on, with or without holding the reset button, is the USB led turns on and the ethernet port led does too if a cable is connected. I think I can return it, but obviously I'd rather just get it to work. Do you have any suggestions?

 

[L&LD]

Welcome to the forums @starry_air.

Exchange it while you can. This one looks like it has inherent hardware issues.

You can try the following suggestions, but I would return if I had the chance.

Fully Reset Router and Network

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

Those are symptoms of a corrupt CFE. It can't boot from the bootloader. Could be caused by a hardware failure or maybe you tried flashing a bad CFE. If it can be fixed (big IF), it would require opening the case - which would void any warranty. Return it while you can.