problem updating rt-ac68u

[stonefeet]

having a real hard time updating firmware my router.

how this all started was, out of nowhere the router was randomly rebooting in the middle of the night, sometimes during the day where I was unable to connect wired or wireless until rebooted again.

so I thought i'd update the firmware, downloaded it, unpacked it of course and kept getting this message
firmware upgrade unsuccessful. this may result from incorrect image or error transmission. please check the version of the firmware and try again.

I get this with any firmware I try to use (even merlins)
it's running stock 3.0.0.4.378.9313
I've done clearing of the nvram a couple of times same deal there, nothing ever turned up in the logs for the either issue i'm having.

the only things I haven't tried are totally restoring and updating from the manual config then factory resetting again or using the restore utility.

thanks (I really enjoyed reading through this forum while researching this yesterday)

 

[Blinkyz]

If you have HDD hooked on it, unplug and try again
Which version do you trying to install?

 

[stonefeet]

ah, I should have specified that originally that I do not have a HDD plugged in to the router.

 

[L&LD]

May be a hardware failure?

I would unplug all devices (WAN, LAN and USB) from the router. Except a single laptop or desktop that you will use to configure it with.
Using the gui, reset to factory defaults.
When the router reboots and comes up with the wizard, skip it and drop into the gui again.
Reset once more to factory defaults.
When the router reboots the next time, skip the wizard and wait for 5 minutes (just browse the gui).
Now flash the firmware you want.
Reboot the router twice after it has successfully flashed (after waiting about 5 minutes and then doing a hard reboot, by pulling the power).
Reset it to factory defaults once more (this step is the important one) and reboot at least once (hard reboot).

Now, connect your WAN and configure your router as needed following an minimal and manual approach.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/no...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

If the proper steps above are followed and the issue persists, it may be time for a new router.

 

[stonefeet]

thanks i'll give that a shot when i get home and hope it works, unfortunate if it's broken only had it for about a month and a half. (outside the amazon return window I think)

i feel like i went wrong by restoring settings when i originally set it up but it's done several firmware updates since then. (they were ota from asus not manual)

(proving my weakness with routing and network stuff i guess lol)

 

[L&LD]

thanks i'll give that a shot when i get home and hope it works, unfortunate if it's broken only had it for about a month and a half. (outside the amazon return window I think)

i feel like i went wrong by restoring settings when i originally set it up but it's done several firmware updates since then. (they were ota from asus not manual)

(proving my weakness with routing and network stuff i guess lol)

You're welcome, the fact that you were restoring a saved config file over several updates may be your only issue.

Make sure you follow the steps in the link I gave (but I would not be too worried about saving a copy of the firmware and settings that you currently have now).

 

[stonefeet]

You're welcome, the fact that you were restoring a saved config file over several updates may be your only issue.

Make sure you follow the steps in the link I gave (but I would not be too worried about saving a copy of the firmware and settings that you currently have now).

full disclosure, the only time i restored from backup settings was when i originally set it up (which is totally pointless since all the settings i had to reset manually anyway)

but i can see how that would at least start the snowball of badness I've gotten into here.

 

[stonefeet]

got down to the step where i was flashing and same error.........

even tried the current firmware version and got the same message.

so hardware failure huh?

 

[stonefeet]

an update.

i created a ticket with asus
they gave me the answer i expected, use the rescue program to update it.
tried once with the 2nd to newest firmware and it failed after upload (what i wanted to do was to use this one then try the update the normal way to see if the issue was totally corrected)
tried with the current firmware on the router and that also failed
third time with the newest firmware was successful and it updated but did not factory reset it which i felt was kind of odd.
i guess we will see how it goes when the next update is released but i'm not hopeful that the normal update process will work ever on this thing (but like i say at work, working is working)

one thing i noticed that was a little weird was the first time i tried it when it was uploading the power light was solid (it was blinking at first)
the 2nd time the power light was off while it was uploading and the third time it was on and solid.