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Asus RT-AC87U no boot

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mike89

New Around Here
I got an used Asus RT-AC87U router for basically free a few days ago. Plugged it in and it booted up without issue. Everything was working fine, just had an old firmware version installed (2.xxx).
I ran a firmware update to the newest 3.0.0.4.382.52288 version. Still worked after that and rebooted once. Then I unplugged it and wanted to replace my old router with it.

After that it didn't boot anymore. The power led was constantly on, WAN led was flashing like as if traffic was going over it and port 3 led was constantly on. Even though there was only something plugged into port 4 and WAN.
Plugging in my laptop only showed network cable not connected. Wifi leds where off and it also didn't show up on the computer. Waited for some time and nothing changed.

I tried getting it into rescue mode and do a NVRAM reset by holding down the WPS button when turning it on, also didn't work. After that I ordered an USB to TTS serial adapter.
With the serial adapter I booted it up and ran the "nvram erase" command and did a reboot. Wifi worked again I was able to configure it again. Rebooted it once from the interface and it still worked fine.

Then I unplugged it and hooked it up as main rooter again. Didn't boot anymore again. Plugged in the usb serial adapter and tried to get into CFE boot. Thats when I notice that half the time, when I booted it up, it didn't show the text properly anymore in Putty and started throwing stuff as seen in the attachment. It never booted into CFE boot properly. Its now throwing these symbols whenever I try to boot it up. It looks like its booting but I just can't do anything with that output.

Checked all the settings of the usb to serial adapter multiple times, tried a different computer and also confirmed that the adapter works fine with my Raspberry Pi.

Anyone an idea what could be the issue? Or did I finally brick it?
 

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I got an used Asus RT-AC87U router for basically free a few days ago. Plugged it in and it booted up without issue. Everything was working fine, just had an old firmware version installed (2.xxx).
I ran a firmware update to the newest 3.0.0.4.382.52288 version. Still worked after that and rebooted once. Then I unplugged it and wanted to replace my old router with it.
---
Anyone an idea what could be the issue? Or did I finally brick it?
Did you walk up to the new FW from the old one, i.e., 2.xxx.1; 2.xxx.2; 2.xxx.3; 3.xxx.0; 3.xxx.1; etc? If not that could shed some light on the first issue.

As to to the NVRAM erase — oh my. You may indeed have created a new doorstop. On the upside, since you are apparently handy with puTTy, maybe you can flash Merlin WRT instead and start fresh from there?

Of course if the hardware is damaged, surgery may be the only option for revival.

Sky
 

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