RT AC87u keep needing to reboot to restore connectivity

[Rizwan]

Hi team
In a nutshell I went from virgin (residential) broadband using the SHUB to virgin business broadband with fixed IP addresses for what I needed to put my own router in so I’ve bought the Asus RT AC87u
I immediately flashed it to merlin 384.13.8
Other changes I’ve made are:
-changing the lan IP from 1.1 to 0.1 to save me having to make changes to the devices already on the home network
-adding the reserved IP addresses that I’d previously set some of my kit up on onto the Asus as well
-I found I had to turn on IGMP multicasting to allow my TV to see the media folders from my synology
-I did turn on the setting to release WiFi devices if there was an AP with stronger signal than the main router

When it works it’s great but I’m finding that I lose all connectivity (WiFi and wired). When I check on the Asus it says disconnected but the Hitron (virgin) still has access and all it takes is a reboot of the Asus and everything works again.

I am having to reboot roughly every other day.
At first I wondered if it was having to work too hard so I turned off IGMP snooping in the IPTV and WiFi settings and also the disconnect from WiFi if stronger AP setting but they didn’t make any difference.
I have after reading the forums also this morning changed the Ethernet cable between the wan ports but I’m perplexed why I’m needing to reboot to restore wan access ?

Should I revert to a stock firmware?
If I do revert firmware will I lose all the settings and have to start again with DNS/LAN etc settings or will they be retained?

All advice appreciated!

 

[AndreiV]

I seem to remember people saying you need to clone the Mac address with Virgin.

Personally I would also look at a newer ASUS router, the 87U is long in the tooth and not going to be getting much in the way of new features, Merlin has the 87U and AC3200 on "life support" .

 

[Rizwan]

Thanks but to be fair I don’t even use the QOS etc etc features that this one has so I don’t see what value there is spending even more for features I won’t use...?

 

[L&LD]

The value will be in having a router that is still supported, gets security updates, and is stable and reliable.

You'll still be free to ignore any features and options you don't want to use.

 

[Rizwan]

Sure. Something to consider down the line but in the meantime any wise words for what I can do with the kit I have please including the question about flashing to change firmware and settings?
Thanks again

 

[Advis]

-I found I had to turn on IGMP multicasting to allow my TV to see the media folders from my synology

I'm going to try and help you out in return for mentioning this. I have tried an failed for nearly 5 years with this router to get a set of Denon Heos wireless speakers to work with a QNAP NAS. This option is under IP TV?

Anyway to your issue.

1) What modem/router are you using with Virgin Media Business? Is is still the Superhub and did you put this into "modem" mode?
2) If you look in the RT-AC87U System Log tab when the problem occurs do you notice any repeated error messages?
3) When the problem occurs you say you "lose all connectivity". To clarify this do you mean the Internet or the router interface as well?
4) When the problem occurs can you ping an IP address? In the Asus interface you can use Network Tools tab to ping an external IP say your DNS provider (I use 9.9.9.9 as an example).

 

[Rizwan]

This option is under IP TV?

Yes indeed it is although as I worried about resource strain on the router I turned off IGMP Snooping to see if that might prevent the issues

1) What modem/router are you using with Virgin Media Business? Is is still the Superhub and did you put this into "modem" mode?

No : Virgin supply a Hitron modem/router for the set up with 5 Static IPs. It is in a locked stated as the static IPs are done via a GRM tunnel (or something - this is above my head but feeding back what I was told); for all intents and purposes it behaves like modem mode but I had to add the DNS settings etc into the Asus which I didn't have to do when the SHUB was in modem mode

2) If you look in the RT-AC87U System Log tab when the problem occurs do you notice any repeated error messages?

I tried to look but couldn't find any but I will look again next time. Sometimes I don't get to it as my kids now know to reboot to get connectivity back

3) When the problem occurs you say you "lose all connectivity". To clarify this do you mean the Internet or the router interface as well?

No I can log into the router interface but on the Asus router home page it says "network disconnected" or some such. ALL the lights on the router are still blue though including the WAN light until if I unplug the WAN cable or when the the line to the house did once actually go down (as per virgin faults page)
I can also log into the Hitron modem interface and that shows normal connectivity

4) When the problem occurs can you ping an IP address? In the Asus interface you can use Network Tools tab to ping an external IP say your DNS provider (I use 9.9.9.9 as an example).

I will try next time but (for example) my CCTV camera app also shows no feed on my phone

 

[Advis]

Thanks for the tip regarding IGMP I will test that out.

For your Hitron modem I did some research. I believe you are using "GRE Tunnelling" which I am not familiar with. I think what it does is behave like a VPN and put your traffic through a tunnel. Unfortunately I don't know what implication that has for Asus or Windows networking as it is a Cisco development. However let's not be deterred as I am sure something can be done.

There is still a modem only mode on the Hitron however it appears to be labelled differently. Can you confirm you've done the following?
https://www.virginmediabusiness.co....ter-guide/dynamic-modem-only-mode-user-guide/

The fact that you have said you need to enter the DNS settings in the Asus page suggests that you are using a dual-NAT setup. I don't think that this is the core of the issue however it is not ideal.

For point 2 you can setup a syslog server to try and capture events. An example of a syslog server is Visual Syslog Server for Windows although others are available and I am not being paid for my suggestion in any way. It would be useful to get events if we can so we can try determine what the router is doing when the problem appears.

 

[Rizwan]

Apologies for not revisiting this thread for ages.

Hopefully not tempting fate but I think I’ve sussed this too. Wasn’t anything technical but purely an issue of the cable I used between virgin and Asus. I used the short one that came with the tplink & I think that was causing bottle necks.
Swapped out for a proper cat5 and it’s been fine ever since!