Asus AC87u dropping out

[Stevemcclure]

Hi,
Recently purchased this router, flashed it to merlin 378.55 but have been having terrible problems with it completely dropping out, wifi, lan, the lot. Cannot even access the router page through 192.168.1.1
The only way to solve this is to restart it, now I have come back today and the missus has said she has had to restart it 6 times! The longest it has lasted is 3 days.
I want to upload the log but noticed it was logging incoming and outgoing packets which has filled the log not allowing me to scroll back through the day.

By the way this is the second router I have had, I sent back the first ac87 I bought as it was doing the same and I thought it was faulty, obviously I was wrong.

Any help would be much appreciated, I will also upload a log when it next a cuts out.

Also here is how I have things connected if this is of any help.

Bt open reach box - ac87u Wan port
Lan port 1 cat5e cable running upstairs to PC (media server)
Lan port 2 cat5e cable running upstairs to a netgear wn3700 used as a switch dhcp & wifi disabled, for ps4, skybox & smart TV.

Apologies, think I should of put this in the Asus section, new around here.


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[Jong]

Very hard to say with the info to hand, but best guess is you haven't fully disabled the Netgear, or it has a conflicting IP. Make sure it has a unique IP (eg 192.168.1.2) and the router is set to assign from .3 and up.

If you cannot find a problem, I'd try for a while without the Netgear, eg. with Skybox directly connected. Switches are dirt cheap if that is the problem.

 

[Stevemcclure]

Very hard to say with the info to hand, but best guess is you haven't fully disabled the Netgear, or it has a conflicting IP. Make sure it has a unique IP (eg 192.168.1.2) and the router is set to assign from .3 and up.

If you cannot find a problem, I'd try for a while without the Netgear, eg. with Skybox directly connected. Switches are dirt cheap if that is the problem.

Hi Jong, thanks for the reply.
Yes netgear is set as 192.168.1.2 dhcp server off. Asus set from 192.168.1.3
I shall be unplugging it tonight and just have my PS4 plugged in directly and see how that goes after an evening of gaming. To be honest was only using it as i had it too hand, but yes a switch will be my next purchase. Process of elimination I guess now.
Another thing is the missus thinks its only happening when the kids are using the PC, but I shall look at that next if the problem persists.

 

[NetworkError]

2 the same ? Wifi dropping ? Have you enabled the DoS protection ? I have read all over the 5Ghz band is flakey but the 2.4 I cannot complain about...

 

[Stevemcclure]

2 the same ? Wifi dropping ? Have you enabled the DoS protection ? I have read all over the 5Ghz band is flakey but the 2.4 I cannot complain about...

Yes it appears both units were doing the same, when it goes down you can still see the wifi on my devices but you would not be able to connect to them, or they would say incorrect password. Lan will also be inaccessible, pc says its connected to an unknown network with the yellow exclamation mark. Yes DoS is also enabled on the router

Had a gaming session last night without the netgear connected being used as a switch, everything seemed fine. PC was also disconnected from the network last night, but will see what happens when the kids start using that tonight.

I was also reading about other users complaining about heat issues on these routers, i wonder if it is possible they lock up when they get to hot?

 

[Veldkornet]

If it's only WiFi devices with the problem, try disabling the 5Ghz. Your problem sounds typical to those of the current 5Ghz issues which I experienced prior to the latest beta.

 

[Stevemcclure]

Update

Since having the netgear being used as a switch disconnected from the network, I have had no dropouts/lockups. Router has been up for 3 days and has been performing very well indeed, fingers crossed and hope I haven't jinxed it by writing this post!
This weekend will tell as kids are home and everything will be connected for streaming movies, gaming etc.


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[Stevemcclure]

Ok so it looks like I did jinxed it, i have had two dropouts today where i have had to manually reset the router.
Trying to look at my logs, wanted to look what was going on before when i reset the router but for some reason the date says 25th august which is strange.

Anyhow, i noticed these lines "Aug 25 03:29:15 kernel: DROP IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=08:62:66:92:45:b0:84:26:2b:c0:06:5b

08:62:66:92:45:b0 is my asus router
84:26:2b:c0:06:5b is my bt open reach modem

As you can see by the pics this is happening a lot, would i be safe in saying that there is a problem with my open reach modem for it to be logging this many drops?

 

[RMerlin]

Enabling firewall logging for an extended period of time is a bad idea. You run the risk of filling up the router's memory with the logfile.

 

[Stevemcclure]

Enabling firewall logging for an extended period of time is a bad idea. You run the risk of filling up the router's memory with the logfile.

Thanks for the advice Merlin, I was unaware of this and shall disable it.
So is it common to see these drops between modem and router when firewall logging is activated? Is this just the firewall doing its job?

I will be disabling the 5ghz radio next and see if this makes a difference and stops the router dropping all connectivity.



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[VANT]

i have disabled 5GHz radio but my 87u is still have sporadicly crash on 55fw

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for the advice Merlin, I was unaware of this and shall disable it.
So is it common to see these drops between modem and router when firewall logging is activated? Is this just the firewall doing its job?

The Internet has a LOT of background noise these days, between malware-infected PCs scanning the Internet looking for new victims to infect, pirates looking for vulnerable systems to take over and so on. Logging every single attempt can generate a lot of logging activity.

 

[VANT]

maybe max log size parameter, or path for external location like mounted usb drive is solution for this ?
Possibility deep loging is very usefull

 

[sfx2000]

Enabling firewall logging for an extended period of time is a bad idea. You run the risk of filling up the router's memory with the logfile.

http://www.linuxcommand.org/man_pages/logrotate8.html

Turning up log levels impacts performance, as it will generate an interrupt every time an event needs to be logged, so it's wise to only log what is needed...

 

[Authority]

deep loging is very usefull

For what?

I had a friend who used to run a website called myNetwatchman that would aggregate firewall logs. He eventually came to the conclusion that Merlin did... there's too much background noise for anything useful to come from firewall logs.

 

[VANT]

i use loging for some services some ports etc on my rb951. its very usefull

 

[Stevemcclure]

i have disabled 5GHz radio but my 87u is still have sporadicly crash on 55fw

It is strange, i am wondering if it is a common problem with these routers as i have seen a couple more articles on the internet with people experiencing the same problem. It would be nice to know exactly what is causing it to completely drop out like this.
Last night i checked all my network cabling with a lan cable checker and they were all fine, i changed the cable between modem and router with a new cat5e one anyway just to be sure.

Disabled 5Ghz radio
Disabled firewall logging

It always seems to happen when the router is being used heavily, ie when films are being streamed to tv downstairs, whilst i am on ps4 and kids are on ps3, and all our phones connected.

 

[Haggster]

Hi,
Recently purchased this router, flashed it to merlin 378.55 but have been having terrible problems with it completely dropping out, wifi, lan, the lot. Cannot even access the router page through 192.168.1.1
The only way to solve this is to restart it, now I have come back today and the missus has said she has had to restart it 6 times! The longest it has lasted is 3 days.
I want to upload the log but noticed it was logging incoming and outgoing packets which has filled the log not allowing me to scroll back through the day.

By the way this is the second router I have had, I sent back the first ac87 I bought as it was doing the same and I thought it was faulty, obviously I was wrong.

Any help would be much appreciated, I will also upload a log when it next a cuts out.

Also here is how I have things connected if this is of any help.

Bt open reach box - ac87u Wan port
Lan port 1 cat5e cable running upstairs to PC (media server)
Lan port 2 cat5e cable running upstairs to a netgear wn3700 used as a switch dhcp & wifi disabled, for ps4, skybox & smart TV.

Apologies, think I should of put this in the Asus section, new around here.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I restart my router automatically every day at 5AM and I've had this router for a year now...

this morning I got up and had the exact same problem as you: wifi APs visible, but "no internet connection", router config page couldn't be reached either ...I had to physically turn it off and on again.

This is extremely frustrating since I haven't changed the configuration or *anything* else since July or early August - and never had the problem before. I want to be able to rely on my router. Especially when I'm not at home and I need to connect via VPN with no option to physically turn it off and on again.

And yes, it's being actively cooled and the temps are low.

 

[Stevemcclure]

I restart my router automatically every day at 5AM and I've had this router for a year now...

this morning I got up and had the exact same problem as you: wifi APs visible, but "no internet connection", router config page couldn't be reached either ...I had to physically turn it off and on again.

This is extremely frustrating since I haven't changed the configuration or *anything* else since July or early August - and never had the problem before. I want to be able to rely on my router. Especially when I'm not at home and I need to connect via VPN with no option to physically turn it off and on again.

And yes, it's being actively cooled and the temps are low.

I feel your pain and yes it is frustrating. Did you manage to find anything in your logs after you reset it? I have looked at my logs after a reset and for some reason nothing has been logged before all the re initialization gobbledygook, only stuff from weeks ago and noting for the particular day it goes down.

What modem do you have plugged into your Wan port? I have the Bt open reach fiber modem, just curious to see if we have anything in common plugged in that could be the cause of the problem.

 

[Haggster]

I feel your pain and yes it is frustrating. Did you manage to find anything in your logs after you reset it? I have looked at my logs after a reset and for some reason nothing has been logged before all the re initialization gobbledygook, only stuff from weeks ago and noting for the particular day it goes down.

What modem do you have plugged into your Wan port? I have the Bt open reach fiber modem, just curious to see if we have anything in common plugged in that could be the cause of the problem.

Checking the logs was the first thing I did - I found nothing seemingly related.

My modem is a ZyXel VMG8324 which I use in bridge mode, so the AC87 does the PPPoE login. However the modem just keeps running and never gives me any problems or disconnects. I think the last time I turned it off was in April this year.