AC87R Issues

[Schuby]

Hello everyone.

Let me preface this by saying I've had an AC68U for a while now with Merlin FW.

I just received an AC87R today from Newegg. Before switching routers I decided to do some testing with the original firmware and Merlin's FW. So far there aren't any real issues (at least FW wise) but I do have a couple of concerns.

1. When I disable the 5GHz wireless radio, the LED on the front would turn off as it is supposed to, but then come back on. Furthermore, the status page states the radio is disable (and you cannot connect to it) but for some reason I can see still see a temperature (unlike the 2GHz channel).

2. LAN port one seems a bit finicky. After the router boots from being off, I would need to connect and reconnection the ethernet cable multiple times before the LAN port 1 light comes on and connects successfully. It seems to help when I connect it to another port first, then back to LAN port 1.

Note: This has occurred on both original and Merlin FW variants.

I can't find anything definitive across these forums or other resources citing these problems (some are similar, but don't offer any sort of resolution or feedback). I'm hoping someone might know what's going on before I put it into production or RMA it back.

Thanks!

 

[RMerlin]

1. When I disable the 5GHz wireless radio, the LED on the front would turn off as it is supposed to, but then come back on. Furthermore, the status page states the radio is disable (and you cannot connect to it) but for some reason I can see still see a temperature (unlike the 2GHz channel).

You still see a temperature because on the RT-AC87U, that chip contains both the 5 Ghz radio and an additional CPU. Disabling the radio doesn't disable the CPU, which runs a second firmware to handle that specific radio.

2. LAN port one seems a bit finicky. After the router boots from being off, I would need to connect and reconnection the ethernet cable multiple times before the LAN port 1 light comes on and connects successfully. It seems to help when I connect it to another port first, then back to LAN port 1.

Port 1 is on a second switch, separate from the other ports. That switch gets initialized separately, so it might behave a bit differently. It's also a Realtek switch instead of Broadcom. It shouldn't have any trouble handling connected devices however, you might have a defective router. Replace that Ethernet cable just to be sure.

 

[Schuby]

You still see a temperature because on the RT-AC87U, that chip contains both the 5 Ghz radio and an additional CPU. Disabling the radio doesn't disable the CPU, which runs a second firmware to handle that specific radio.



Port 1 is on a second switch, separate from the other ports. That switch gets initialized separately, so it might behave a bit differently. It's also a Realtek switch instead of Broadcom. It shouldn't have any trouble handling connected devices however, you might have a defective router. Replace that Ethernet cable just to be sure.

Thanks for the reply! I think the only thing I'm still confused about is why the 5GHz LED stays on despite the radio being off. Any ideas on that?

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for the reply! I think the only thing I'm still confused about is why the 5GHz LED stays on despite the radio being off. Any ideas on that?

No idea. LED is controlled by software, it's not hardwired directly to the radio. Must be a software issue.

 

[NetworkError]

I have the 5Ghz issue as well, 5Ghz is disabled then the light is full blast with no activity. config menu shows 5Ghz is disabled yet wifi bar is full not cut in half. Once I manually power cycle twice I can get the LED to turn off. Im getting close to throwing this router in the garbage where it belongs.