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ASUS RT-AC86U - 5GHz band dead / MAC Address shows up blank

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Amey Kanikdale

New Around Here
Hello SNB Forums,

Have been a SNB Forum browser for some time. I specifically created an account here because my Asus RT-AC86U 5GHz band just died on me, from what I have read on the forums.

I bought this router in January of 2018 from China after reading multiple reviews and user comments calling it one of the best and feature rich routers. And I am also aware of the problems of the 2.4GHz band dying being faced by some of the users on here.

Coming to my problem, I will try to summarise it as follows-

My current setup involved in this issue is the following:-
1. WAN- Coming from the terrace of our building in the form of a LAN Cable. The main connection comes to the terrace from the ISP and the LAN cable for my connection comes from a LAN Switch on the terrace to our house snaking through our home.
2. ASUS RT-AC86U - Connected to: UPS for Power, LAN Cable from terrace for WAN, LAN connections to the PC and Synology.
3. APC BE700Y-IND UPS (with USB control) - Supplying Power to AC86U and Synology (also for Shutdown control)
4. Synology DS218+ - Connected to the UPS for Power, to RT-AC86U for network.
5. Lenovo Laptop - Connected to Mains for Power, to AC86U through LAN cable.


What happened was, during a recent thunderstorm, while I was working on the laptop, a sudden Voltage Fluctuation took place and the electricity supply was shut down to the entire area.
Usually when that happens, the UPS kicks in and the Synology directs it to shut down after a minute as defined by me. Its a seamless process and I only have to switch off the power switch of my computer table for all of the above to happen.
Now, when I switched on the main switch the next day, the router wouldn't switch on. This had happened to me with my previous router too and I assumed that the power adapter of the router must have been bricked, though how that could have happened inspite of the UPS having surge protection is another issue altogether.
So, I bought a new power adapter, the same model with the exact specifications and as expected, the AC86U started up.
Now the issue was that the 5GHz LED would not come on. After searching for it on google, I followed all the options: Trying a different socket, Switching it on without any cables connected to it, Toggling the 5GHz radio on and off, Downgrading the firmware and finally Resetting the router. But to no avail. The 5GHz band MAC address shows up blank in the WRT web page, and the 5GHz SSiD is not visible either.

Thinking it must be a hardware issue, I contacted ASUS Support but they refused to do anything about it saying the router only has a local warranty and not an international one and it can only be replaced and not repaired. They wouldnt even replace it even after I told them I was willing to pay any charges as required.

I am really at my wits end on what to do next as its a pretty expensive router (approx ₹13,000) and I cant just scrap it altogether. I really hope somebody can provide me with any solution which would be greatly appreciated.

Thanking you,
Amey Kanikdale.
 
I think your USP is not as good as you might think and not the protection you hope it should give.

You can try M&M procedure from member L&LD (in his signature), maybe NVRAM only corrupted (fallen bits) and can be revived.
 
I think your USP is not as good as you might think and not the protection you hope it should give.

You can try M&M procedure from member L&LD (in his signature), maybe NVRAM only corrupted (fallen bits) and can be revived.

Thank you Grisu,

Tried contacting everywhere regarding the warranty but to no success.

Will try the method you recommended today and see if I can revive my router.
 

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