Asus RT-N16 bricked, no power light at all

[Clive.B]

Hi had my Asus router running well for 5 months, was rock solid I managed to brick it but the recovery option was great and saved me many times...

Was running a tomato firmware and doing well as a openvpn client...

However today was cleaning my room and unplugged it... plugged it back in and well no power light, only the wan 1 and other icons light up blue. Cant get the power light to glow blue no more.

Tried 30/30/30 reset via restore button and then tried the red wps button also with the 30/30/30 trick, nothing seems to clear the nvram though ? Tried plugging in power to and holding restore to get power light to flash to recovery but nothing at all. Tried flashing but no joy, tried entering web console and nothing not even with a static ip.

Google shows no ones really had the no power light issue with these NT-R16s either so cant get much help + no warranty.

any suggestions welcome? thank you

 

[PrivateJoker]

Hi had my Asus router running well for 5 months, was rock solid I managed to brick it but the recovery option was great and saved me many times...

Was running a tomato firmware and doing well as a openvpn client...

However today was cleaning my room and unplugged it... plugged it back in and well no power light, only the wan 1 and other icons light up blue. Cant get the power light to glow blue no more.

Tried 30/30/30 reset via restore button and then tried the red wps button also with the 30/30/30 trick, nothing seems to clear the nvram though ? Tried plugging in power to and holding restore to get power light to flash to recovery but nothing at all. Tried flashing but no joy, tried entering web console and nothing not even with a static ip.

Google shows no ones really had the no power light issue with these NT-R16s either so cant get much help + no warranty.

any suggestions welcome? thank you

You try these suggestions on this thread (2nd post)?
http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=696836

 

[Razor512]

Are you able to open the router, then test the voltage at the power jack while trying to power the device on. (how much of a drop in voltage do you see?)

Also does the voltage remain at the rated voltage on the adapter?

if it does not, then try using a different adapter with the same rating.

If that does not work, then check the other power handling components in the router. look at the traces on the PCB then text the voltage at each point in it's path to see if at a certain point, you get no voltage where there should be, then see if you can replace the component.

Also be sure to check each capacitor along the way.

 

[Clive.B]

Private joker:

Thanks yeah tried repeating those steps mentioned, I ain't too sure why so many guides mention to hold the red wps button usually its the restore button for 5 secs which triggers the asus self recovery mode.

Again no power light only the wan lights showing, and it still failed anyhow despite trying the static ip and flashing with that program to 192.168.1.2.

I have yet to see a case where the blue power light never came on... I think this really is the worst case scenario even more so if google fails to show a single case either ! Maybe since I used openvpn and have recently pushed the speeds it just burned out the cpu or parts inside, I hear openvpn client use taxes the cpu badly.


Razor512:

I may give that a go but I am going to try going through Asus support, try my luck with them. Some on the net suggested possibly jtagging it and re flashing it manually... not sure if that would fix it still.

 

[RMerlin]

I heard that quite a few ageing RT-N16 die from a bad capacitor. Not sure how skilled with a solder iron you are, but maybe you are also suffering from that same issue. Try a search on the Linksysinfo forums, that's where I first heard about RT-N16 issues with that capacitor - maybe someone will have posted the symptoms along with his fix, so you can tell if that's also what is affecting you.

 

[Clive.B]

Hi I think you guys maybe right I did check for threads via google and only 1 or 2 guys had similar type issues found one here:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewto...&start=0&sid=b29164e43dbd415d3401a2e8c86240db

Not sure if this is the one Rmerlin you saw, but he mentioned the same symptoms about wan 1-4 working just not power light, he replaced the bad cap and it kick started it was on another Asus model, another guy had same issue but was a bad capacitor on his power supply. I tried another power adaptor and no joy, mind you this power adaptor that came with my asus is branded Amigo from china, does not look very Asus ! it is the right volts/amps though....may need a volt checker to confirm it is genuine watts/amps.

I have soldered before but not that brilliant on it, managed to save a 24" inch LG screen which lasted 5 years, did some dodgy soldering skils on it but it was good enough and still working well!

I will wait for Asus reply tommorow, if Asus support is bad as it always has been then ill open up the NT-R16 and see if indeed it is a bad capacitor and ill post the findings so others in future know what the fix is!

 

[korenisko]

I bricked it too. Rmaed it and its at service point now

 

[Clive.B]

Ok asus emailed me back, they do not want to offer any support they just referred me back to the store so that idea goes out the window.

I opened the unit up but sadly all the capacitors are looking 100% fine, they are all flat and do not bulge or leaked.

I just think its gone completely, perhaps a jtag flash and reflashing may bring it back to life am not too sure...

 

[RMerlin]

Since you already opened it, you could try hooking a serial cable to it to further diagnose the problem.

 

[Clive.B]

Yeah was thinking of perhaps trying that out, I gotta look for some guides or info since never attached serial cables or jtagging before.