AC86U sometimes powers completely off during reboot

[madfusker]

Occationally when I reboot (either through the GUI, or reboot command in a terminal), my 86U powers off completely, even though the power button is still on. Typically not a problem as I can go toggle the button, but a huge problem when I am remote! So when this happens, all lights are off and I have to either unplug and plug back in, or I can toggle the power button off, followed by pushing back in to power it on again.

Has anyone else seen this? And if so, how can I avoid it happening?

 

[john9527]

reboot command in a terminal

First recommendation.....don't use 'reboot', use 'service reboot'. 'reboot' by itself just yanks the rug out from under the kernel.....'service reboot' allows the router to go through an orderly shutdown.

 

[Treadler]

Occationally when I reboot (either through the GUI, or reboot command in a terminal), my 86U powers off completely, even though the power button is still on. Typically not a problem as I can go toggle the button, but a huge problem when I am remote! So when this happens, all lights are off and I have to either unplug and plug back in, or I can toggle the power button off, followed by pushing back in to power it on again.

Has anyone else seen this? And if so, how can I avoid it happening?

Yes, reboot via GUI sometimes powers my 86u off.
More nuisance value than anything, I just unplug/replug, & off it goes......

 

[madfusker]

Good to know it's not just my router. But, still, very annoying if managing remotely.

 

[Butterfly Bones]

I get the same thing via GUI or terminal on my 86U, and it is off as I sit here and wait for it to come back up.

Thanks John9257 for the better reboot method. I'm a long term Linux user and wish the shutdown command worked in Asus routers, but now "service reboot" will be what I use.

 

[Marin]

First recommendation.....don't use 'reboot', use 'service reboot'. 'reboot' by itself just yanks the rug out from under the kernel.....'service reboot' allows the router to go through an orderly shutdown.

Sorry but what is a "service reboot" ?

 

[john9527]

This is really strange, there are cases where the reboot will hang, but as far as I know there is no mechanism for actually powering down. Just to confirm, there are no LEDs lit, including the power LED when this happens?

 

[john9527]

Sorry but what is a "service reboot" ?

when working logged in to the router and entering commands. There is a Linux based 'reboot' command and and a router firmware based 'service reboot' command which will orderly shut down the router services before rebooting linux.

 

[Marin]

Interesting...good to know. Thank you @john9527!

 

[madfusker]

Correct, no lights on at all. I've never seen a router do this before, ever, so thought I would report it.

I will use the service command from now on and see if it does it again. @Merlin maybe we can make the GUI reboot button execute the service reboot command?

 

[Butterfly Bones]

This is really strange, there are cases where the reboot will hang, but as far as I know there is no mechanism for actually powering down. Just to confirm, there are no LEDs lit, including the power LED when this happens?

Yes, in my experience, exactly that. No power led, no front led. Try to SSH in and no connection.

 

[john9527]

maybe we can make the GUI reboot button execute the service reboot command?

The gui does call 'service reboot' already

 

[Pierino]

I reported that in October of 2017.
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac86-weak-wireless-2-4g.41792/#post-355545

 

[Treadler]

This is really strange, there are cases where the reboot will hang, but as far as I know there is no mechanism for actually powering down. Just to confirm, there are no LEDs lit, including the power LED when this happens?

Yup, dead. To wake it up, either unplug/replug, or click the power switch on, & wait for the router to go through its boot up routine.

 

[john9527]

Yes, in my experience, exactly that. No power led, no front led. Try to SSH in and no connection.

Interesting. All the LEDs are actually controlled by the firmware, so in this case the reboot must be hanging even before it reads the power status and sets the LED (in other words, really early)

 

[Treadler]

The gui does call 'service reboot' already

Curiouser & curiouser!

 

[Gitsum]

Same here.

 

[madfusker]

Interesting. All the LEDs are actually controlled by the firmware, so in this case the reboot must be hanging even before it reads the power status and sets the LED (in other words, really early)

Pretty crazy.... I suppose the stock firmware does this too? Not that it matters since none of us are going there. Just wondering if it's something that Merlin could fix at some point. Maybe sometime when I don't need internets I will leave it hung for an hour and see if it's still warm, which would indicate it's not a true power off and hung in the black hole as you indicated.

 

[kvic]

Recalling from my days of using Asus 56U..that's a few years ago.

Command line reboot and GUI reboot used to be the same. Calling the same set of routines to shutdown services and then reboot the hardware gracefully.

Some time in 380.xx. This was broken. Perhaps by Asus. I reported the issue on this forum. No one cares. Neither me want to debug further back then. I believe it's possible to restore the consistency.

The 86U reboot issue surely looks like a new bug. Perhaps it's good chance for Asus or anybody else to re-visit the reboot feature altogether.

 

[Treadler]

Pretty crazy.... I suppose the stock firmware does this too? Not that it matters since none of us are going there. Just wondering if it's something that Merlin could fix at some point. Maybe sometime when I don't need internets I will leave it hung for an hour and see if it's still warm, which would indicate it's not a true power off and hung in the black hole as you indicated.

I can help. I have tried leaving the router overnight & in the morning it is stone cold.