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Asus RT-AC88U and Virgin media - newbie in search of help getting a stable connection

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Jason66

Occasional Visitor
The situation is that I'm trying to get a stable network at home, that will support WiFi for 3 or 4 streaming devices on TVs, lots of phones and laptops plus a few wired ancillaries (home hub for Hive heating, a few IoT devices) and some Raspberry Pi projects I have yet to build - maybe a NAS or a personal cloud.
What I've got it is a network that does most of that then falls over and does none of that!

Firstly, a little history in case it's relevant.
I've been a Virgin customer for many years (I was with NTL before they were taken over - that was 14 years ago!) and the service has always been fast when it work but baffling when it doesn't. I'm on a Super Hub 3 (SH3) and a 100Mbs fibre connection. I get good speeds and a generally reliable service from Virgin.
Several years ago I switched to putting the SH3 into modem mode and connected a Buffalo WiFi router, then another Buffalo as a repeater and then a third - I was running WiFi throughout the house with kids phones, laptops and several Roku media streamers connected. We then extended the house and things got a little sketchy - more devices, more distance and several steel beams later, the Buffalo kit wasn't up to the job, the Buffalo NAS died and well I relented and cleaned all that old stuff out and bought a Synology router - and that's where the real problems started. I got two dead Synology routers in a row from the supplier (or so I thought) one worked for a week then died, the next I had trouble setting up, it then worked few a few days then died. Both went back to the supplier and a full refund was made, they were very good and as they didn't say otherwise, I just assumed it was a dodgy batch of routers.
I went back to the drawing board and bought an Asus RT-AS88U - with it's features and multiple RJ45 sockets, it seemed ideal - and all was well with the world, it was set up (had to boot up router and SG3 in the 'correct' order but other that that it' was OK). Until Christmas came when I kept losing the internet.

Here's the current problem set
When the Virgin connections drops and with the loss of the internet, I cannot access the router - I can't get to the Asus dashboard nor can I get to any of the other PCs on the network- in the Buffalo days, if the Virgin connection went down, I could still access my local network and the video files on the various drives - so there was always some entertainment accessible. Now I get nothing, no internet means no access to the Asus router software page (or to the SH3).
So I've tried rebooting everything without success - doesn't matter which order I reboot, still no access to the internet or to the other devices on the network.
The only way I can seem to get a connection to the internet is if I factory reset the SH3 and connect it straight to the 'master' PC as either a router or a modem (both work if the Asus is completely bypassed). As soon as I connect the Asus, I lose all connectivity.

If you've read this far, well done and thank you!

I'm a baffled and have reached the end of my limited talent for these things so I need to ask for some help and this felt like a good place to start;
* Should I be able to operate the Asus as a router without the internet connection being live? It feels like I should and seems wrong that if I lose the internet connection I lose everything else - where's the dependency and is that right?
* Why would a working internet connection die when connected to a WiFi router (that was working yesterday!) Having been through two 'defective' routers already, I am suspicious that the 'failure' of the router is not really a fault with the router but something else - what?
* Is there an idiot proof walk through of setting up the kind of network I want that I can follow and/or a kindly guru available to hand hold?!
 
I'm a virgin media customer too. All recent disruptions of service are fully VM fault. VM very slow on reaction and underestimate the situation checking stupid connectors all the time. The last issue continued two days 24-25 December when the service was unavailable or too slow to use it. Don't blame Asus for that.
 
When the Virgin connections drops and with the loss of the internet, I cannot access the router - I can't get to the Asus dashboard nor can I get to any of the other PCs on the network
You need to use your router's internal IP address to access the Dashboard. It works 100% in any situation.
 
As a fellow Virgin Media customer I suggest that you first look at the Network Log of the Hub. If you see lots (more than one a day) of "Partial Service" messages that is your core problem.
 
I'm a virgin media customer too. All recent disruptions of service are fully VM fault. VM very slow on reaction and underestimate the situation checking stupid connectors all the time. The last issue continued two days 24-25 December when the service was unavailable or too slow to use it. Don't blame Asus for that.

Thanks for the response, I'm not looking to 'blame' anyone, just trying to understand and fix the problem. I'm aware of the multiple issues with Virgin - it's got it's problems - I've spent a long time listening to hold messages only to get put through to an overseas call centre where they hang up before even speaking! The thing is, blame doesn't get it fixed. I'll get into blame when I've figured it out and fixed it :)
 
You need to use your router's internal IP address to access the Dashboard. It works 100% in any situation.

Yeah, that's what I'm trying - 192.168.1.1, but that gets resolved to router.asus.com/index.asp and then fails :-(

I've rebooted everything, set the SH3 back to Modem mode and can now get to the internet, for now. However, I can't get to the router (192.168.100.1) on the main Windows machine either BUT the Linux machines hard wired into the ASUS can get to the internet and to the ASUS dashboard! Makes no sense to me.
 
Log into the Asus and go to Administration > System. Make sure Enable WAN down browser redirect notice is set to No.

Also take a look at the System Log > General Log. If the Hub is continually rebooting itself you will see the WAN interface constantly going up and down.
 
As a fellow Virgin Media customer I suggest that you first look at the Network Log of the Hub. If you see lots (more than one a day) of "Partial Service" messages that is your core problem.

Colin, thanks for your reply, I found the logs and can see this sort of thing;


31/12/2020 14:52:21​
critical​
No Ranging Response received - T3 time-out;CM-MAC= [redacted by me];CMTS-MAC=[redacted by me];CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
30/12/2020 06:44:35​
notice​
DHCP Renew - lease parameters tftp file-cmreg-vmdg505-bbt057-b.cm modified;CM-MAC=[redacted by me];CMTS-MAC=[redacted by me];CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​
30/12/2020 06:44:35​
Error​
DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option;CM-MAC=[redacted by me];CMTS-MAC=[redacted by me];CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;​

I have no idea what the above means :oops:

That was the last issue, there's nothing from yesterday/today, internet was down from around midday 1/1 and I think I'm getting it all back now - I was able to get this from the router via the main Windows machine hard wired to the router.
 
Colin, thanks for your reply, I found the logs and can see this sort of thing;
That looks fairly normal. The messages that could indicate a problem would look like this:
Code:
30/12/2020 20:48:53    Warning!    RCS Partial Service;CM-MAC=48:d3:43:1d:c6:73;CMTS-MAC=00:01:5c:7a:fa:55;CM-QOS=1.1;CM-VER=3.0;
 
Yeah, that's what I'm trying - 192.168.1.1, but that gets resolved to router.asus.com/index.asp and then fails :-(
it could be cache in your browser. Try another browser.
(!sic) Check on the LAN - LAN IP - IP Address that your router's address is really 192.168.1.1 and you use port 80 (Administration - System - HTTP LAN port )
By the way, it's better to change it because VM router has the same IP. It switched to 192.168.100.1 in modem mode, but anyway, move away from it.
I set up 192.168.10.1, for example, and don't have an issue.
 
Thanks for the reassurance Colin :) It's all behaving rather strangely now - WiFi is up - other devices can connect to and get the internet BUT I cna't seem to get back into the ASUS from anywhere. I can get to a sign-in screen where I input my credentials but then it just stalls, sits there on a blank coloured page and doesn't go anywhere. Have tried it on the Windows machine hard wired to the ASUS and also on a Linux laptop via WiFi - same result.
I got to the SH3 and signed in and navigated to advanced settings but when I went to have a look through the rest of the log it threw me out with a page not found :-( I tried again and succeeded - there are plenty of entries but nothing like your example, most are:
No Ranging Response received
or
DHCP RENEW WARNING - Field invalid in response v4 option
 
it could be cache in your browser. Try another browser.
(!sic) Check on the LAN - LAN IP - IP Address that your router's address is really 192.168.1.1 and you use port 80 (Administration - System - HTTP LAN port )
By the way, it's better to change it because VM router has the same IP. It switched to 192.168.100.1 in modem mode, but anyway, move away from it.
I set up 192.168.10.1, for example, and don't have an issue.

My SH3 is on 192.168.0.1 when in Hub mode and 192.168.100.1 when in Modem mode.
Doesn't seem to matter which browser or machine I use, I cannot now get to the ASUS dashboard @ 192.168.1.1

If I ping it it's there!

Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms
 
(!sic) Check on the LAN - LAN IP - IP Address that your router's address is really 192.168.1.1 and you use port 80 (Administration - System - HTTP LAN port )
By the way, it's better to change it because VM router has the same IP. It switched to 192.168.100.1 in modem mode, but anyway, move away from it.
Incorrect. The Hub's IP address in router mode is 192.168.0.1 so there's no conflict with Asus' default IP addresses which are 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.50.1 depending on the particular model.
 
My SH3 is on 192.168.0.1 when in Hub mode and 192.168.100.1 when in Modem mode.
Doesn't seem to matter which browser or machine I use, I cannot now get to the ASUS dashboard @ 192.168.1.1

If I ping it it's there!

Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms
Did you perhaps change the access restrictions on the Asus from HTTP to HTTPS? If so try using https://192.168.1.1:8443
 
BTW, when I had an issue with VM, my router got the external IP 192.168.1.1 from VM
so 1.1 anyway should be excluded
 
Did you perhaps change the access restrictions on the Asus from HTTP to HTTPS? If so try using https://192.168.1.1:8443

I very much doubt it as I haven't been able to get into the ASUS dashboard at all since this issue started yesterday. I can get to the sign in screen but once I enter my credentials and hit enter, it just churns as if opening a page then times out after 3 or 4 mins.

As for changing browsers, I can get there quicker if I use Edge but the result is the same - a blank page and a timeout message.
 
I very much doubt it as I haven't been able to get into the ASUS dashboard at all since this issue started yesterday. I can get to the sign in screen but once I enter my credentials and hit enter, it just churns as if opening a page then times out after 3 or 4 mins.

As for changing browsers, I can get there quicker if I use Edge but the result is the same - a blank page and a timeout message.
I think at this point if I were you I would factory reset the Asus by pressing the button on the back of the unit and setting it up again from scratch.
 
I think at this point if I were you I would factory reset the Asus by pressing the button on the back of the unit and setting it up again from scratch.
I Agree. It's the first step that should be done
And avoid 0.1, 100.1, 1.1 even 10.1 which I use can be in conflict with some cheap chineese AP.
 

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