RT-AC68P Increasing instability

[Doug S.]

**Moved from wrong section of forum...**

I have never posted to this forum before, but have lurked with gusto for quite a while and find it to be a great learning resource.

I've had an RT-AC68p for a little over 3 months and it's been great, but the frequency with which reboot is necessary seems to be increasing. I've got a very simple setup -- standard 4 channel Arris Comcast cable modem into router, ethernet to old Macbook pro and to printer, and wifi to another Macbook, 3 iPhones, iPad, Roku, DirectTV. No separate access points, switches, extenders etc. Router has been flashed with Asuswrt-Merlin since getting it, currently on 378.55 (thank you Merlin for your exceptional work!)

The problem seems to be the same each time, and might happen 4 times a week but in some cases multiple times in a 4 hour period
1. All devices wired or wireless lose internet connection
2. Wireless Macbook can see SSID, but connection times out ("Can't join, try moving closer")
3. Wired (ethernet) Macbook's Network Preference shows that cable is connected, but no internet. In 90% of cases it reports Self-Assigned IP. Switching to wifi gives can't join message.
4. Using the wired Mac I try to connect to router admin, but it won't connect to login screen.
5. I hate Comcast, and want it to be their fault, so I restart the modem, but no success.
6. I reboot router with power button on back and once it restarts the issue is resolved.

Since it usually says self-assigned IP, I've increased the LAN DHCP lease time to 1728000 and set WAN DHCP query frequency to Normal (I thought Merlin mentioned that Aggressive might cause the router to jump the gun on the modem if it resets). But then there's the issue of connecting to the wifi, so not sure how that fits.

I've read lots of reviews on Amazon of the ac68u that describe smooth sailing for the first few months and then a flurry of issues. Is it reasonable for me to just accept the need to reboot often, which only takes a minute but is annoying?

**************************************************************
EDIT: 8/1
I checked the router’s operating temperatures and found the radios to be at ~53c and CPU art ~80c (176F). I thought that was high but it seems that many people on the forum say those are acceptable.
***************************************************************
Any advice appreciated.

Thanks,

Doug

 

[msb]

Any advice appreciated.

I've got a similar setup (Comcast, SB6141, RT-AC68P), the only IOS devices though are Iphones. I'd suggest rebooting the modem first and waiting for it to completely come up, then reboot the router and wait for it to fully come up, then reboot each of the attached devices. I've noticed rare IPv6 sight related issues that I'm guessing involves DHCPv6 DNS if the reboot sequence gets botched.

 

[Doug S.]

That's very interesting, thank you. I did a search and found (on a different forum) that Comcast has been increasing the traffic that they send through IPv6. I'll follow the reboot you describe but have also enabled IPv6 on the router (Connection: Native; IPv6 DNS Setting: Enabled)

 

[pinkfloyd1173]

My temps on that router are
2.4; 42c
5g; 46c
cpu; 53c

I bought a little fan for it and placed the fan right behind the router.

Since I have done this about 4 days ago, I have had no drops on any bands.

The only issues The do have are that the

Traffic Manager and Traffic Analyzer do not work?

Running Merlins FW 378.55

P.S

If you do put a fan behind it aim it to the side where the Lan ports are at, it gets really hot on that side.

 

[IAAI]

I m noticing my 68P has a lower range and speed than 68U <<< with old bootloader (Specially With 5GHz)

internet is not as stable as it used to be on with 68U + been getting negative feedback from clients since i changed to 68P
Using the same configurations that i used with 68U + same ISP + Same router location.