AT&T Very Limited Service, BGW320-500 6.34.7 (Thought ASUS Router Was Hacked)

[jzchen]

If the ISP tech solved the Internet connectivity on the ISP gateway then your routers in double NAT are just clients on the gateway's network and they must have no issues reaching NTP servers... over Internet.

Double NAT clients got normal Internet service, IP Passthrough clients got a turn back the clock experience that included many websites that I visit not loading...

It still happens whenever the third party router reboots (and is assigned IP Passthrough via MAC). Solved by pressing that Restart Broadband button, after which normal service is restored.

 

[Tech9]

Must be IP Passthrough issue then. I'm not familiar with your ISP.

 

[jzchen]

Must be IP Passthrough issue then. I'm not familiar with your ISP.

I got this:

"Reminder: The System time zone is different from your locale setting."

Env: RT-AC68U / ASUSWRT 3.0.0.4.384_21045 What does this message even mean? Where are there two different time zone settings? I only see a system one. Where is there a "locale setting" time zone? My system time zone is correctly set to (GMT-10:00) Hawaii. There are no DST settings to set...

www.snbforums.com

 

[jzchen]

That's all fine and dandy, except I tried ALL the different offsets!

Did you know that there's a 30 minute offset? A few of them, because I tried all of them!

Did you know that there's one 15 minute offset? Yup I tried that one too!

None of the offsets solved the issue.

I tried a couple of the different cities (with same offset)! (Because my first attempts were to guess it needed to be the same as place of manufacture of the chip responsible for the time setting).

 

[Tech9]

As explained the message comes on discrepancy between ASUS router time and the system time of the client you are accessing it with. If your router's time is accurate for the time zone focus your attention on the client.

 

[dave14305]

None of the offsets solved the issue.

I remember looking into it a long time ago: Try this post:

Release - RT-AC68U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386.43137

Asus fetches their TZ info from their website: http://nw-dlcdnet.asus.com/plugin/js/tz_db.json It was last updated in June. But since it is an http call within the System page, it will fail if you’re using https when logging in to the GUI. If it’s still wrong in that file, report it to Asus.

www.snbforums.com

 

[Tech9]

I don't understand the purpose of this message. ASUS routers offer remote access. Every time the owner logs in from a different time zone the message will show. If the owner wants to set some feature like scheduler between 10PM and 6AM it will obviously apply to whatever time the router has, not the remote client time.

 

[jzchen]

I don't understand the purpose of this message. ASUS routers offer remote access. Every time the owner logs in from a different time zone the message will show. If the owner wants to set some feature like scheduler between 10PM and 6AM it will obviously apply to whatever time the router has, not the remote client time.

Yeah I'm sorry there's another (new member has) a similar experience with an Arris modem. In that case both modem and router not booted with the correct timing then the time is off and service is "messed up".

The purpose is that if someone comes across this serious issue, (which is actually worse with the $900 router), they have a solution to restore service without asking AT&T to send a tech out...

 

[jzchen]

As explained the message comes on discrepancy between ASUS router time and the system time of the client you are accessing it with. If your router's time is accurate for the time zone focus your attention on the client.

No, it was 2023 and actually has proof my AiProtection signature shows 2.498 AND December 2023! WAN LED is red in this condition, ALSO router is receiving public IP address.

TP-Link website strangely loads so fast! ROG forum does not, neither ZenTalk, SNB Loads..... House alarm starts acting up because it is "connected" by Ethernet...

Router was accessed through local network LAN/Ethernet...

IF it does do a comparison of the offset, (which at this point the time offset in my mind may be causing a problem, then maybe trying every single offset will get it to sync. Maybe off, but at least sync/change. Turns out none of them got rid of the warning)!

 

[jzchen]

I don't understand the purpose of this message. ASUS routers offer remote access. Every time the owner logs in from a different time zone the message will show. If the owner wants to set some feature like scheduler between 10PM and 6AM it will obviously apply to whatever time the router has, not the remote client time.

I did not know this, but maybe because half or more of the time I am logging in by Instant Guard (VPN).

 

[jzchen]

I remember looking into it a long time ago: Try this post:

Release - RT-AC68U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386.43137

Asus fetches their TZ info from their website: http://nw-dlcdnet.asus.com/plugin/js/tz_db.json It was last updated in June. But since it is an http call within the System page, it will fail if you’re using https when logging in to the GUI. If it’s still wrong in that file, report it to Asus.

www.snbforums.com

Thank you thank you thank you!

The problem is not current. It was resolved by hitting that Restart button on the gateway GUI.

There are or were no manual settings available. In fact I went to the ROG forum to make the request to have manual settings of the time. Then I realized a few days later that that menu is supposed to be there but is missing in the GUI, turns out on both GT-BE19000Ai and GT-BE98 Pro.

 

[jzchen]

The enable NTP sync option is not available...

 

[jzchen]

 

[degrub]

Is it passive ? Maybe if a resolvable NTP server address is input, then the firemware automatically requests time update every hour ? day ?

 

[dave14305]

I don’t understand the point of this thread anymore. It started out as an observation about signatures and now goes in a totally weird direction and renaming about “hacking”.

 

[Tech9]

To me if the own router works fine in double NAT behind the ISP gateway the issue is somewhere around the IP Passthrough setup. Can't comment on specifics since I'm not familiar with this ISP and gateway. Perhaps the ISP have some support forums for tips and tricks.

 

[jzchen]

Is it passive ? Maybe if a resolvable NTP server address is input, then the firemware automatically requests time update every hour ? day ?

I found the CalTech time servers actual IP addresses and entered them. I still wonder if my network is hacked, AT&T has been reporting 1 TB (or more) monthly data use with the GT-BE19000AI as primary router. The only reason I went back to the text address was because that is what CalTech "prefers non-on campus users to use". They clearly provide the actual IP addresses of their 3 servers.

As far as I can tell, when I forced USB tethering (Dual WAN failover with fallback) by disconnecting the WAN ethernet cord) the time and date set correctly, immediately. I have no idea how often it checks I'm afraid...

I then plugged the ethernet cord back in, (hoping fallback would kick in), but found out the next morning when I remembered the router has a built in traceroute, that at least for IPv4, routing was still going through the phone tether.

 

[jzchen]

I don’t understand the point of this thread anymore. It started out as an observation about signatures and now goes in a totally weird direction and renaming about “hacking”.

Yeah sorry about that. I was wondering if the AiProtection version numbering being different on different routers was a concern. Then you noted there are actually two addresses that could be used. Which then made sense of it.

I was asking because I sometimes suspect being hacked. As just noted data usage as reported by my ISP is maybe double what it used to be, with the (new to me) GT-BE19000Ai router. I don't know what usage amount would be a concern for AT&T being sold as unlimited...

Then I started talking about how this all came about. I thought I could turn the thread into something usefull to someone with AT&T service, with the same gateway, (AT&T made so many there's actually a BGW320-505 by a different manufacture), and can find a way to restore service....

 

[Tech9]

As far as I can tell, when I forced USB tethering (Dual WAN failover with fallback) by disconnecting the WAN ethernet cord) the time and date set correctly, immediately.

Another clue something around IP Passthrough setup is not working properly.

routing was still going through the phone tether

This is common for ASUS Dual WAN. It's not very reliable and may drain your mobile plan.

 

[jzchen]

To me if the own router works fine in double NAT behind the ISP gateway the issue is somewhere around the IP Passthrough setup. Can't comment on specifics since I'm not familiar with this ISP and gateway. Perhaps the ISP have some support forums for tips and tricks.

They used to have a forum, and somewhere along the line they removed it. You may already be aware that DSL Reports went down as well....