Asus RT-N56U Reviewed

[robwiel]

I have tried to no avail to get wake on lan working with my asus rt-n56u. This is a fantastic router but i just can NOT get this to work over the wan port. Anyone else experience this?

Strangely on the lan, I get WOL to work just fine. But doing it outside of home? No dice. Is this a bug?

edit: i'm using 1.0.1.4 firmware.

1.0.1.5 no problem with WOL even without port forwarding. Previously using dgl-4300 which failed with same computer.

I use magic packet from internet-enabled android phone, and logmein from other computers.

 

[sinman02]

Print

Well, I finally got the Router Mode working thanks to Shikami and ubimea's suggestions and a lot or trial and error. No thanks to ASUS support, btw... After about 6 calls to tech support, and 6 promises of call backs, NOT ONE call back...WORST SUPPORT EVER!!!

Anyway, now that I got that off my chest, I've encountered a couple other bugs.

1) Print server. I am able to get this working, but only for one printer at a time. Again, not sure if this is a limitation of current firmware (1.0.1.4) or problem with my unit. It seems to recognize the first printer I try, but when I plug in a second printer...nothing. Anyone else get two printers to work concurrently?

2) Media Share. Flakey at best. It recognizes a few or more files, but then stops. There is no refresh function to search for more media on the hdd. I've tried unplugging and replugging the usb hard drive, rebooting the router and computer. It simply won't recognize all the files on the drive... Anyone else have any other suggestions?

 

[ubimea]

sinman02: good for you!

We only have the one printer here; but I have found that firmware 1.0.1.5 (pulled from ASUS website and no longer available from ASUS) apparently causes the router to randomly reboot with a usb drive attached; as long as no drive is attached, the router works fine. I suspect this is one of the reasons ASUS pulled that firmware; I seem to recall that 1.0.1.4 worked fine, which proves the old maxim that if it aint broken, don't update to the lastest ASUS router firmware

We have had only limited experience with the media server, basically testing to make certain it worked (which it apparently did prior to 1.0.1.5) so can't help you there.

 

[Unregistered]

Question re: ipv6 and Windows 7 "Homegroups"

Hi all - I hope I'll get a reply here because this thread seems very lively and helpful!

My question is, does the Windows 7 "Homegroups" feature work on a LAN with this router, since there seems to be questionmarks over how much ipv6 support it provides?

Have any of you good people who have one of these boxes tried using Windows 7 homegroups, and what was the result?

If it works, I am well tempted to buy one.

Thanks in advance
Guest Rob

 

[Preddy]

Wireless Connection Problem

[Problem]
I just got the router last week, and have been having problems with wireless connectivity. I'm using this router in conjunction with a Powerline network... and the hard wired clients are doing fine.Although clients are able to connect, not all of the clients are able to access the internet. Sometimes, when one connects, the other can't. Any help anyone? *sniff*

[Troubleshooting done so far...]
1. I suspected it might have been my powerline network (with it's own wi-fi broadcast) interfering... so I turned the powerline wi-fi off. [Result: The problem still exists. However, with the powerline wi-fi "on", the RT-56NU wifi does not work - with DNS errors displayed on the device screen]

2. Maybe it could be the encryption mode? So I changed it to WPA-PSK-Auto instead. [Result: The problem still exists].

3. I upgraded the firmware to 1.01.13 and then 1.01.14 too. [Result: The problem still exists.]

4. I tried manual IP assignment via DCHP for each device in case they were "competing" for ip addresses. [Result: The problem still exists ]

I've heard many good things about this router... but i really wish "it just works"... *sniff*.
Any help from anyone?

 

[Parkupine]

RT-N56U stuck and won't reset...

Hi, I just bought the RT-N56U, plugged it in and as soon as I tried accessing the config page the router froze or something. Only one blue light stays on even when I unplug it the plug it back in. It's as if it doesn't reboot... Tried holding the reset button for minutes and nothing. Tried flashing it to restore the firmware. Nothing. Does anyone know anything I can try? Can't get any help from support and they've promised to call me back but don't. I'd hate to have to ship it back to amazon. Hope someone out there can help me... Thanks in advance

 

[HHawk]

1.0.1.5 no problem with WOL even without port forwarding. Previously using dgl-4300 which failed with same computer.

I use magic packet from internet-enabled android phone, and logmein from other computers.

Can someone explain or tell me how to setup Wake On Lan (WOL)...? I want to use it, so I don't have to leave on my (Free)NAS 24/7, but only when I want it by using WOL.

Thanks in advance for your help and input!

 

[Shikami]

Gentlemen, there is another version of firmware that has been released. Download via FTP at ftp.asus.com. The new version is 1.0.1.4m which was released today.

 

[foxyloxy]

Do we know what is included in this new firmware?

 

[Shikami]

There is no information as of now, but by the looks of things I would say that this is .5 with some additions, fixes, etc (it is slightly bigger than .5). For instance the ability to select NAT handlers for PPTP, L2TP, and IPsec are not a toggle anymore. They are fields that you select which are still located in DMZ configuration tab. However, these handlers-except PPTP-still disable HW NAT.

 

[Shoehorn]

Constant reboots with access point mode.

So here's a quick rundown of the grief I've had with this unit today. Hopefully I can find a solution as generally the hardware seems pretty fantastic albeit dogged by buggy f/w.

We ordered two of these units to cover each end of the office, so I unboxed the first unit to see it came with the 0.9.1 fw, ok no problem with that, set up the WLAN as prompted, put the unit into AP mode and rebooted, only to find it constantly reboots. Took out the second one, same procedure, same problem. Boots up and allows full inet access for a few mins then just hangs and all the blue LEDs just stick 'on' and the rear port LEDs sometimes flash like they are doing 1000gb/s transfers, though it's doing nothing. Surely it should work out the box?

So these are some things I've tried:

- factory reset, upload new firmware, factory reset again. Done this with all firmware versions listed on the asus site, none of them made a difference to the AP mode. Device will actually reboot rather than 'stick' on 1013+ firmware.

- rebooting without any LAN or the LAN uplink cable connected. Also tried using the LAN ports rather than the WAN one for AP mode, no luck.

- Messing with an array of options from setting an assigned static LAN IP to disabling the radios and disabling all the FTP/media servers.

- in the default 'IP sharing' mode it seems I can reproduce the constant rebooting by disabling the internal DHCP server and firewall. Otherwise the default mode runs for hours without an issue.

So it seems from other reviews they are using AP mode without an issue and even bridging, yet on these two units a vanilla AP configuration just reboots constantly.

So have I been fudged by ASUS or have I fudged it myself, I don't see anything glaringly obvious. The same issue on two units seems a little suspect. Any pointers would be appreciated as I'd hate to have to return these units, I'd actually like to test them!




- remove our internal LAN uplink cable from the unit, s

 

[Shikami]

It is official and the information is up now:

ASUS RT-N56U Firmware Version 1.0.1.4m
Support language: English / Traditional Chinese / French / German / Czech / Polish / Russian / Turkish / Thai / Malaysian / Simplified Chinese / Brazil / Dansk / Finsk / Norsk / Svensk
Fixed bug:
01. fix duplicate usb storage share directory
02. fix ntfs issues
- fix default nls setting
- fix wrong file size information
- fix reboot due to I/O load
03. improve media server robustness and interoperability
04. improve vpn passthrough support
05. fix firewall packet logging function
06. fix to restart telnet server service without reboot
07. remove GUI QIS username/password max input length limit
08. add GUI hostname check
09. fix GUI ASUS DDNS hostname check
10. fix WPS logic
- fix HW PBC to be 2.4G single band
- SW PIN/PBC still dual band switchable
- default WPS ssid is randomly generated as RT-N56U_**** format
- fix GUI uptime display
11. remove username/password prompt on GUI QIS pages
12. fix DHCP server issuess
- add ISP DNS server list to DCHP options to fix ISP interoperability issue
- restart no reboot now
13. fix some GUI wording
14. fix http server security vulnerability due to no authentication for URLs in white list

 

[klas]

Asus engineers are on crack there... briefly release .5 version then over a month gap and release .4m... and what the heck is "m"? minor?

 

[megane72]

I can confrim that with this new version of firmware 1.0.1.4m the AT&T IBM vpn connection (for example) is now working perfect, when before hangs constantly.

And that the browser navigation on the net when before hangs the first time you connect to a site and after a minute or so goes smooth, now is immediately smooth (I supposed that was a DNS problm, and in effect they correct it in this FW release)

Now I'm very pleased with this router.

 

[HHawk]

I wish I could get WOL through WAN working with this router for my FreeNAS. Sigh.

 

[ubimea]

It is official and the information is up now:

ASUS RT-N56U Firmware Version 1.0.1.4m

Thanks Shikami for posting the FTP heads up so quickly and following up with the fix list; I download from the FTP site, as you so kindly posted, and installed.

I noticed immediately the router rebooting syndrome with external NAS fixed!

So, at least for this user, 1.0.1.4m appears to be the firmware of choice.
Kudos to Asus for fixing the nits and bugs; this is a nice router, as confirmed by Tim Higgins' review here.

Again, thanks.

 

[Shikami]

I can confrim that with this new version of firmware 1.0.1.4m the AT&T IBM vpn connection (for example) is now working perfect, when before hangs constantly.

Did you enable any of the NAT handlers for VPN, such as IPsec, L2TP, PPTP? The only one, if configured, that does not disable HW NAT is PPTP. I am curious about this because this is one of the issues. If you do not know already, if you enabled multicasting for wireless, QoS, or IPsec and L2TP you will disable HW NAT acceleration.

 

[Shikami]

I wish I could get WOL through WAN working with this router for my FreeNAS. Sigh.

How are you set up and what NIC are you using? In the BIOS do you have power on for PCIe/PCI devices? That can be a easily overlooked caveat.

What are you using to send the mlagic packet?

 

[HHawk]

How are you set up and what NIC are you using? In the BIOS do you have power on for PCIe/PCI devices? That can be a easily overlooked caveat.

What are you using to send the mlagic packet?

Yes, I have enabled PME-function in the bios. Through LAN it works, but through WAN is doesn't and the problem is the router.



I also created my own thread, but nobody seems to know the answer. http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=5455

 

[Shikami]

I also created my own thread, but nobody seems to know the answer. http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=5455

Placing a reply there.......