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Asus RT-AC88U rapid flashing power LED light after firmware upgrade

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Robert McQuinn

Occasional Visitor
I have an Asus router that is flashing rapid lights on the power LED indicator. It won't factory reset or boot into recovery.

It started doing this after the official firmware update. It did this a month ago after last official firmware update, and after messing with it for hours, reading several threads, and trouble shooting it finally just started working.

I can't access the GUI or any router settings. Nothing will broadcast Ethernet or WiFi.

I called Asus tech support and they want recovery logs which I can't access.

Of course I'm out of warranty, does anybody have any ideas that I can try?

Thanks in advance!
 
I have an Asus router that is flashing rapid lights on the power LED indicator. It won't factory reset or boot into recovery.

It started doing this after the official firmware update. It did this a month ago after last official firmware update, and after messing with it for hours, reading several threads, and trouble shooting it finally just started working.

I can't access the GUI or any router settings. Nothing will broadcast Ethernet or WiFi.

I called Asus tech support and they want recovery logs which I can't access.

Of course I'm out of warranty, does anybody have any ideas that I can try?

Thanks in advance!

Try a different power adapter?

OE
 
I tested my power adapter and it is puting out the correct voltage with my multimeter. Could it still be bad if it shows 19.25 voltage and it is supposed to be 19v output?
 
Yes, it could still be bad. The adaptor may still not have the required amperes to reach the total wattage needed by the router's components.

If you're able to test it under full load and the V and A are as indicated on its markings, even then it still may not be okay, depending on what your testing equipment can show.

Another adaptor is needed to rule out this (power adaptor) issue.
 
It won't factory reset or boot into recovery.
I was under the impression that the flashing LED was indicatíg one or the other of those conditions (I never remember which one is fast blink vs slow blink).

So what happens when you apply power while holding the WPS button?
 
Last edited:
I was under the impression that the flashing LED was indicatíg one or the other of those conditions (I never remember which one is fast blink vs slow blink).

So what happens when you apply power while holding the WPS button?

From what I've read, slow blinking indicates that it is in recovery mode, and fast blinking power led means WPS mode is enabled. I can't connect via WPS when it is blinking rapidly

Holding WPS button while powering on does, it goes back to solid light then back to fast blinking. Same thing for with holding reset button with power toggle.
 
Is there any way that I can connect to the router via my pc and force the firmware update without it running the recovery mode?
 
I can ping the router

Pinging 192.168.1.5 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.1.5: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.5: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.5: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 192.168.1.5: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.5:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

I read somewhere that the TTL=100 means that it is in recovery mode.
What does TTL=128 mean?
 
I have what seems to be a bricked asus ac-88u router. It powers on and has a power led for about 3 seconds, then it goes to fast blinking and stays like that. I have tried WPS hold into recovery mode, and holding the reset button. I have even tried both buttons for the 30/30/30 reset.

My power adapter has been tested and is fine.

This issue happened after the latest official firmware update from ASUS. This is the second time that the router did this after a firmware update. The last time it just came out of it, but this time I think it is bricked.

I have played with WinSCP, asus rescue, putty, and tftp,.... but I don't know how to force it to flash the firmware.

Has anybody ever had this issue, or can someone give me an idea to try?
 
I have what seems to be a bricked asus ac-88u router. It powers on and has a power led for about 3 seconds, then it goes to fast blinking and stays like that. I have tried WPS hold into recovery mode, and holding the reset button. I have even tried both buttons for the 30/30/30 reset.

My power adapter has been tested and is fine.

This issue happened after the latest official firmware update from ASUS. This is the second time that the router did this after a firmware update. The last time it just came out of it, but this time I think it is bricked.

I have played with WinSCP, asus rescue, putty, and tftp,.... but I don't know how to force it to flash the firmware.

Has anybody ever had this issue, or can someone give me an idea to try?
Usually happens when you install openwrt or dd wrt.

With stock I have never experienced this on both of my Asus router which I own AC88u and AC68U.

Did you switch off before the update process was completed?

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk
 
Usually happens when you install openwrt or dd wrt.

With stock I have never experienced this on both of my Asus router which I own AC88u and AC68U.

Did you switch off before the update process was completed?

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk

After the firmware update, I clicked the asus link to restart the router on the web based gui.

I would like to go to merlin, but I can't get it to recovery mode.
 
The 30/30/30 reset doesn't do anything on an Asus router.

Get the router into recovery mode and flash the firmware you want on it. (384.17_0 release final). :)

Use the Rescue Mode to flash the firmware you want.

https://www.asus.com/us/support/faq/1000814/

After successfully flashing, I would proceed with the following links to make sure the router is as stable as possible now and in the future.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ax88-packet-loss.62891/#post-563326

M&M Config https://www.snbforums.com/threads/n...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

Nuclear Reset https://www.snbforums.com/threads/major-issues-w-rt-ac86u.56342/page-4#post-495710
 
The 30/30/30 reset doesn't do anything on an Asus router.

Get the router into recovery mode and flash the firmware you want on it. (384.17_0 release final). :)

Use the Rescue Mode to flash the firmware you want.

https://www.asus.com/us/support/faq/1000814/

After successfully flashing, I would proceed with the following links to make sure the router is as stable as possible now and in the future.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/ax88-packet-loss.62891/#post-563326

M&M Config https://www.snbforums.com/threads/n...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

Nuclear Reset https://www.snbforums.com/threads/major-issues-w-rt-ac86u.56342/page-4#post-495710

The router will not go into rescue mode. I unplugged router from dc adapter cord, unplugged all other cables. I pressed the reset button and plugged in dc adapter to power on, held reset button for another 15 seconds. (I did the same thing with the WPS utton). I plugged the ethernet cable to port 1 and setup my ethernet settings to what they show you from ASUS.com for DNS. Opened up rescue mode, and it errors out saying that the device is not in rescue mode. The router continues to blink fast with the power led.

Any suggestions?
 
Is the Power LED flashing slowly?



You need to assign static IP to your LAN adapter only.
The blinking is fast, not slow
 

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Unplug, hold Reset, plug back in, continue holding Reset until it starts flashing slowly. Correct?

Correct, however no matter if I continue to hold the reset button for 10 seconds or 2 minutes, still it goes solid power led for 5 seconds, the internet light flashes 1 time, then all lights go dark for 1 second, then fast blinking LED forever.

I did this reset again today, then left it for 3 hours,.... I came back to router in setup mode. I went through the steps to setup the router as a repeater, typed in the my verizon Mifi's password, then it went back to constant fast flashing of the power led. I have tried both wps and reset button resets again with no luck.

I don't know what is going on?
 
typed in the my verizon Mifi's password

This is a 4G modem device. How you connect it to the router? If you see the setup mode, Reset button has to bring you back to the beginning of the setup wizard. If this is not happening, the router has some issues. Have you ever managed to get it in recovery mode?
 
I used to connect the verizon mifi to my cradlepoint mbr-95, then connect a wired ethernet to the asus router. Today, during the setup of my asus router, I setup the asus as a repeater. After I typed in the password for the mifi in asus setup, the fast blinking light thing started up again
 

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