Asus Router Not Accessible, No Access to LAN, Yet passes Internet

[joeschmuck]

I have a very strange issue. I am running Merlin on an RT-AX86U ZAKU II Edition, don't recall the version of Merlin but it was updated a few months ago.

The issue: I cannot access any hardware on my LAN, which includes the router, using a hardwired computer.
I can access the internet just fine, my NAS shares are working fine as well.

When did this apparently start? Saturday evening on my TrueNAS server I disabled Tailscale, then the NAS rebooted, and it should not have. I was unable to enter the NAS GUI after that, and it had worked previously as I was in the GUI to disable the Tailscale app. I suspect this caused some strange glitch, maybe, or was the result of the router issue. I was using SSH into the NAS previously as well all day long. Very strange.

What have I done?
I have cycled power to the router, twice. It is apparently working to some extent.
I tried to access the router via WiFi (laptop) as well, same result, did not work, but the internet and NAS shares are working.
I unplugged the NAS from the LAN, rebooted the router, still no joy.

This is not the end of the world, but not being able to access my NAS, or SSH into anything on the network is a problem.

I am resisting a hard reset until someone suggests that. I do have quite a bit configured in the router that I'm sure I saved, last year, but not current. Guess I learned a painful lesson, yet again, if I have to do a hard reset.
Unfortunately my backup router is being used at a friends house, not close by. It is an older router, maybe time to purchase a new one to update my hardware, but that is not the solution for the current problem.

Advice appreciated

 

[OzarkEdge]

The issue: I cannot access any hardware on my LAN, which includes the router, using a hardwired computer.

If you disconnect everything from the router except your wired admin PC and reboot the router, can you login to the router webUI?

OE

 

[joeschmuck]

If you disconnect everything from the router except your wired admin PC and reboot the router, can you login to the router webUI?

OE

Nope, just tried it. As I said, very strange problem.

in the meantime, I'm playing is safe, I did order a new router, RT-BE92U, unfortunately not Merlin compatible.
That router should arrive tomorrow. Once I get that setup, I will try a hard reset to see if it comes back to life. If it does return to life, the new router will likely become my backup for a while. I'd like to make sure the RT-AX86U still works reliably and doesn't have the same issue.

If there are other suggestions other than a hard reset, I'll try them, but while the internet is working and all out TV is streaming, I will keep the wife and myself happy. Well, I'm not happy but I will survive.

I did notice a new Merlin firmware came out last week. I will of course update to that, but as I said, the version I currently have is not very old at all. I just can't say what version that was, I deleted the firmware files from my computer last week. Great timing of course.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Nope, just tried it. As I said, very strange problem.

So, the browser could not find the router's LAN IP address? Did you have any WAN remote access enabled on the router?

When ASUSWRT is not behaving normally, I Hard Reset the firmware and reconfigure from scratch.

OE

 

[Tech9]

RT-BE92U, unfortunately not Merlin compatible

There is Asuswrt-Merlin firmware for it, but this model is known for issues. Some unresolved since release (broken QoS), others ASUS trying to fix (mostly connectivity), it has many hardware revisions for unclear reasons. You had to do some homework before purchasing this specific model. I would send it back.

 

[joeschmuck]

So, the browser could not find the router's LAN IP address? Did you have any WAN remote access enabled on the router?

When ASUSWRT is not behaving normally, I Hard Reset the firmware and reconfigure from scratch.

OE

No WAN remote access. I suspect the fix will be a hard reset. My configuration isn't terrible to recover, well the important stuff. I did have a lot of Static IPs, but that was more for home automation hardware, so not a big deal.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[OzarkEdge]

I did have a lot of Static IPs, but that was more for home automation hardware, so not a big deal.

Given the access issue and in case it matters... the router DHCP server IP Pool setting should include the dynamic and manually assigned IPs that the router assigns to clients; and exclude any static IPs you assign on clients.

OE