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AX88U Static IP devices can't connect to router?

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marsamania

Occasional Visitor
Hi,

I'm on my 2nd AX88U after having the first replaced with a suspected hardware fault. However I'm suffering a very similar issue with this one.

Issue summary:
Router has address 192.168.1.254. Devices are in a static range from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.63 (My DHCP runs from .64 to .253)
After 2 to 7 days of router being on uninterrupted. Static IP attached devices (only tested cabled not sure if same with wireless) can no longer connect to the router.
By "connect" I mean the following.
Static devices cannot ping router but can ping ALL other devices on network, Static and DHCP ones.
Using routers network tools tab, the router cannot ping any Static devices but can ping all DHCP devices.

All devices still seem to be able to communicate but its this communication with the router that fails.
I have also tried making one of my working DHCP devices static at the time of the fault and the PC immediately lost network. I put it back to DHCP but then router wouldn't assign me an IP.
Its as though once this problem occurs and the router "stop talking to a device" it won't work again without turning the router off and on.

Rebooting router and then rechecking pings then confirms all devices can be communiated with static or otherwise by the router and vice versa.

Any one any idea's what it might be or things I can try? I've referred to ASUS support but it seems very slow and I imagine if its a firmware bug then that won't be a quick fix.

The reason I notice the issue (and also why its a problem considering all other network traffic seems ok) is I run my own DNS server (for ad filtering, child filter etc) this is on internal address 192.168.1.50 (Static). As a result of this communication failure between router and static devices. My DNS Resolution starts to fail so all my devices appear to have no internet (setting a static DNS on a single device as a test proves internet is still connected, its just DNS resolution thats failing as a result of this strange issue).

I'm on base firmware at the moment - 3.0.0.4.384_9566

Would appreciate any idea's to try or things I could try when it next happens to try and pin the issue down.

Had netgears before this and never had an issue, my first Asus (technically 2nd now as its a replacement) and its not agreat experience so far :(
 
I can't think of a reason why this is happening, but can you just clarify something...

When you say the devices have a "static IP" do you mean that the IP information is manually set on each device's network adapter, or that you have created a manual assignment in the router's DHCP server (i.e. a reserved IP) and the clients are using DHCP?
 
The devices are set to Static IP on their own device adapter. No static IP reservation set on the router.
However my DHCP range runs from 192.168.1.64 to 192.168.1.253 and all my static IP devices are 192.168.1.50 and below generally as an example.
The only ones I set to static are ones that are generally some kind of server. CCTV system, File share, DNS Server etc.
All PC's / Phones / Tablets etc are all just DHCP.

Open to any suggestions at this point, tried everything I can think of so far.
The reason for my Weird IP address set up for router, DHCP etc is to match my internet providers default router config BT in the UK.
Just meant that I could swap out their router for this one without having to reconfigure any of my client devices.
 
Sounds like it might be ARP problem. If you were using Merlin firmware, I would suggest you try creating static ARP entries on the router for those devices w/ a static IP defined on the client itself. Then again, if you changed to Merlin, perhaps the problem wouldn't happen in the first place.
 
@eibgrad. Thank you for this suggestion.
I'm happy to try the merlin firmware to resolve the issue to be honest. I did try it on my previous model but the fault on that was slightly different and seemed to be LAN port hardware issue.

I will google ARP for some more information on it thank you.

@ColinTaylor Yes they lose internet but only because the issue effects my local DNS server. I assume that if I was to just use my internet providers DNS server (default setting) then i might not notice the fact the router / devices can't talk properly. However I do wish to keep the DNS Server setting due to my ad blocker / child filters.
So i guess in short, if i didn't use a DNS server. Even when this connectivty problem occurs, no device would lose internet not even the static ones.

My need to use a DNS Server is the only reason its a problem for me and why i notice it at all.
 
Can you confirm that your static devices are plugged directly into the router's LAN sockets and are not going via an intermediate switch.
 
@ColinTaylor thanks for your continued help.

All static devices are a direct cable into the router itself yes.

No switch involved. I am using all bar 1 of the lan ports.

If its of any importance one of those static devices is a tp-link wireless ap to extend my wifi. Its cabled directly into the router as i ran cables under the floor. So still no switchsles involved.

When the issue occurs no clients can connect to the wireless via that ap unit even as dhcp (as router maintains dhcp control not this unit and due to the connectivity failure router never talks back to requests for ips when the problem occurs) but i can connect dhcp wirelessly to the router itself when this issue present.

Id like to understand more about this ARP if possible. I guess its not static ip reservation within the dhcp range is it? I see the default firmware has that functionality but i never used it.
 
ARP is unrelated to DHCP. For our purposes it's simply the way a device discovers the MAC address associated with an IP address. See the wiki example here. Fundamentally it is the MAC address that is needed to communicate with another device.

Without ARP you wouldn't have a functioning network. So it's a bit of a stretch to say this is the cause of your problem, but it's a place to start and may give clues as to the real problem.

SSH into the router and run either arp -an or ip neighbour show to view the current ARP table. Not only does it show MAC addresses but also the associated network interface and whether the entry is still valid.

Code:
# ip neighbour show
192.168.1.88 dev br0  FAILED
192.168.1.186 dev br0 lladdr ec:1f:72:f8:4a:21 DELAY
192.168.1.95 dev br0 lladdr 00:22:61:ab:ab:c2 STALE
192.168.1.100 dev br0 lladdr 60:57:18:5b:58:d3 STALE
192.168.1.49 dev br0 lladdr 94:de:80:c5:79:52 REACHABLE
192.168.1.10 dev br0 lladdr 94:c6:91:1d:47:42 STALE
192.168.1.86 dev br0  FAILED
192.168.1.231 dev br0 lladdr c0:a0:0d:a9:b9:4d STALE
192.168.1.156 dev br0  FAILED
192.168.1.20 dev br0 lladdr a8:6b:ad:4d:3e:4a STALE
192.168.1.142 dev br0 lladdr d4:11:a3:c3:05:25 STALE
192.168.1.96 dev br0 lladdr b4:7c:9c:50:81:bf STALE
80.11.22.33 dev eth0 lladdr 00:01:5c:7a:fa:47 REACHABLE
192.168.100.1 dev eth0 lladdr 48:d3:43:1d:c6:72 STALE
When you have the problem with the static devices check the contents of the router ARP table.

P.S. Do you see any messages in the router's syslog just prior to the problem occuring?
 
Last edited:
I have a number of devices wired to my AX88U that have IP address defined statically on the devices. I also have a MAC/IP reservation defined in the router to handle the scenario where I reset the device to default or some other unforeseen event, the device should maintain the expected IP. I have not seen the issue you are facing so it may be worth testing to see if adding a reservation has any impact or not.

Also, are you running *anything* on the router such as a script, USB device, etc that could also be having an impact?

Have you tried a full reset and manual configuration of the router? I wouldn't completely rule out the AP messing something up either. Can you test with it disabled?
 
Hi,

I'm on my 2nd AX88U after having the first replaced with a suspected hardware fault. However I'm suffering a very similar issue with this one.

Issue summary:
Router has address 192.168.1.254. Devices are in a static range from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.63 (My DHCP runs from .64 to .253)
After 2 to 7 days of router being on uninterrupted. Static IP attached devices (only tested cabled not sure if same with wireless) can no longer connect to the router.
By "connect" I mean the following.
Static devices cannot ping router but can ping ALL other devices on network, Static and DHCP ones.
Using routers network tools tab, the router cannot ping any Static devices but can ping all DHCP devices.

All devices still seem to be able to communicate but its this communication with the router that fails.
I have also tried making one of my working DHCP devices static at the time of the fault and the PC immediately lost network. I put it back to DHCP but then router wouldn't assign me an IP.
Its as though once this problem occurs and the router "stop talking to a device" it won't work again without turning the router off and on.

Rebooting router and then rechecking pings then confirms all devices can be communiated with static or otherwise by the router and vice versa.

Any one any idea's what it might be or things I can try? I've referred to ASUS support but it seems very slow and I imagine if its a firmware bug then that won't be a quick fix.

The reason I notice the issue (and also why its a problem considering all other network traffic seems ok) is I run my own DNS server (for ad filtering, child filter etc) this is on internal address 192.168.1.50 (Static). As a result of this communication failure between router and static devices. My DNS Resolution starts to fail so all my devices appear to have no internet (setting a static DNS on a single device as a test proves internet is still connected, its just DNS resolution thats failing as a result of this strange issue).

I'm on base firmware at the moment - 3.0.0.4.384_9566

Would appreciate any idea's to try or things I could try when it next happens to try and pin the issue down.

Had netgears before this and never had an issue, my first Asus (technically 2nd now as its a replacement) and its not agreat experience so far :(

Instead of using static IP config on the client, try moving to assigning static leases via DHCP. As stated above your issue is most likely layer 2 (ARP) related. You can check your ARP table on the clients and that will tell you if they can "see" the routers MAC address by having a complete entry in the ARP table. In Windows use "arp -a" to see the ARP table.
Code:
Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19043.1237]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\name>arp -a

Interface: 10.34.0.6 --- 0xa
  Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
  10.34.0.5                                   dynamic
  224.0.0.22                                  static
  224.0.0.251                                 static
  224.0.0.252                                 static
  239.255.255.250                             static

Interface: 192.168.86.209 --- 0x11
  Internet Address      Physical Address      Type
  192.168.86.1          8c-3b-ad-b7-75-07     dynamic

Also if you're running a Circle device, it will perform arp spoofing to intercept traffic which may also mess with your arp table.
 
Thank you everyone for the help and suggestions so far.

I've done the arp commands suggested on my PC, DNS Server and router. So I have copies of a "working" state.
I can inspect and post if necessary what they look like once it fails again.

P.S. Do you see any messages in the router's syslog just prior to the problem occuring?
These are the kind of things I see in the error log at time of the problem. This is the first occurence with this router (due to it being my 2nd one of this model.
I imagine the Link UP DOWN messages are my PC being turned on as I came to investigate the issue.
Not sure if the others are common or not. Assuming thats devices going to sleep? Although the cabled ones are generally servers as I've said like DNS, File, CCTV etc so they don't ever get switched off.
Code:
Sep  8 12:50:17 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(464): eth6: Deauth_ind B6:75:A8:B4:66:AC, status: 0, reason: Disassociated due to inactivity (4)
Sep  8 13:00:40 kernel: eth4 (Ext switch port: 3) (Logical Port: 11) (phyId: b) Link UP at 10 mbps full duplex
Sep  8 13:00:53 kernel: eth4 (Ext switch port: 3) (Logical Port: 11) (phyId: b) Link DOWN.
Sep  8 13:00:56 kernel: eth4 (Ext switch port: 3) (Logical Port: 11) (phyId: b) Link UP at 1000 mbps full duplex
Sep  8 13:00:57 kernel: eth4 (Ext switch port: 3) (Logical Port: 11) (phyId: b) Link DOWN.
Sep  8 13:01:00 kernel: eth4 (Ext switch port: 3) (Logical Port: 11) (phyId: b) Link UP at 1000 mbps full duplex
Sep  8 13:07:10 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(464): eth6: Deauth_ind 50:F5:DA:10:C1:04, status: 0, reason: Unspecified reason (1)
Sep  8 13:07:10 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(499): eth6: Auth 50:F5:DA:10:C1:04, status: Successful (0)
Sep  8 13:07:10 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(527): eth6: Assoc 50:F5:DA:10:C1:04, status: Successful (0)
Sep  8 13:08:18 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(464): eth6: Deauth_ind 50:F5:DA:10:C1:04, status: 0, reason: Disassociated due to inactivity (4)

I've attached my logs on the first occurence and this latest one. You can see the end of the occurence as the log date switches back to a date in MAY until the time gets updated with current time (assuming thats normal on a reboot for this router)

But interesting that second occurence has got some ERROR notes in the logs. But not sure if they're any help.

I'm very confused how I've had this type of issue with 2 asus routers now of the same model. All my existing devices worked fine with the previous netgear router I had.
The only reason for my change is that I upgraded my broardband from 50mbps to 500mbps and my old router could only run at 100mbps.

Also, are you running *anything* on the router such as a script, USB device, etc that could also be having an impact?
Thank you for sharing your details of similar set up and not experiencing the problem it helps to narrow things down some.

I've got nothing running that I am aware of. I've certainly put nothing there, So unless there is something defaulted that I should turn off?
I don't even do my DDNS update from the router as my old netgear one had a firmware bug where it didn't work. So I have one of my server machines doing that.

Have you tried a full reset and manual configuration of the router? I wouldn't completely rule out the AP messing something up either. Can you test with it disabled?
I haven't done a full factory reset yet on this replacement model. I did try that on my last one and the issue seemed to go 10 days without occuring then fell back into its roughly 5 day cycle.
If all else fails I can certainly try without the AP but it never seemed to have an issue when I used a netgear router.

I am looking to wait for the next time if fails to happen then check the ARP details. Then I have a few options it seems from the many good suggestions

- Reserve the machine IP's on the router
- Switch the devices to DHCP on their local settings with the IP reserveration above
- Factory reset with manual reconfigure (not loading settings file)
- Switch to the merlin firmware and look into how to make these manual ARP entries

Also @ColinTaylor and @Bostonvex thank you for your explanations and information about arp. I'd never heard about it before (and I thought I knew a little bit about networking :D. Seems I have alot still to learn).

Based on the failure rate of this issue I expect it may happen again around Tues - Thurs so at the very latest I'll feedback then with my findings and explorations at that time.

If its of any relevance, I forgot to mention that this latest occurence happened whilst I was working from home. I was working on a mac connected to my work network and on the work VPN. All my local devices lost their internet due to DNS resolution failure. But my work laptop continued working via the VPN tunnel (as I would expect I guess as its DNS was within the work network). That device was DHCP and wireless.
 

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So im having the problem again right now. Not dure if anyone around for any suggestions.

My pc which cabled but dhcp is also dead this time. I was on it at the time. So i wonder if whatever the issue is. It effects any devices attachdled at that time. Currently cannot get to web ui of router
Going to attempt ssh but also trying to boit up another computer

Using my phone 4g at the minute
 
Is it only effecting wired devices. Can you get access to the router and/or internet (by IP address) from a device connected to the router's WiFi?
 
So this latest occurence it was every device. Wired, Wireless, DHCP or Static. None of them could connect (to the router that is).
They could all communicate with each other, just not the router.
Again I lost internet due to the DNS Server not talking with the router.

The issue occured at 19 or 20 minutes past the hour. Nothing in the logs apart as far as I can tell apart from logs that seem to suggest devices trying to query for DNS but failing (which I expect due to this issue).

Could not ping or SSH into the router.

Code:
Sep 19 18:12:46 kernel: eth4 (Ext switch port: 3) (Logical Port: 11) (phyId: b) Link UP at 1000 mbps full duplex
Sep 19 18:13:42 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(499): eth7: Auth CA:65:7E:F3:1D:37, status: Successful (0)
Sep 19 18:13:42 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(509): eth7: ReAssoc CA:65:7E:F3:1D:37, status: Successful (0)
Sep 19 18:19:03 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(499): eth6: Auth B6:75:A8:B4:66:AC, status: Successful (0)
Sep 19 18:19:03 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(509): eth6: ReAssoc B6:75:A8:B4:66:AC, status: Successful (0)
Sep 19 18:19:27 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(464): eth6: Deauth_ind B6:75:A8:B4:66:AC, status: 0, reason: Disassociated due to inactivity (4)
Sep 19 18:20:57 kernel: ERR: rdpa_cpu_tx_port_enet_lan#213: rdpa_cpu_tx_port_enet_lan failed. rdd_rc=120 tx_rdd_error_count=1
Sep 19 18:22:18 kernel: ERR: rdpa_cpu_tx_port_enet_lan#213: rdpa_cpu_tx_port_enet_lan failed. rdd_rc=120 tx_rdd_error_count=1025
Sep 19 18:22:31 pppd[18073]: Serial link appears to be disconnected.
Sep 19 18:22:34 WAN Connection: Fail to connect with some issues.
Sep 19 18:22:34 nat: apply redirect rules
Sep 19 18:22:38 pppd[18073]: Connection terminated.
Sep 19 18:22:38 pppd[18073]: Modem hangup
Sep 19 18:23:23 pppd[18073]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Sep 19 18:23:31 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(481): eth7: Disassoc CA:65:7E:F3:1D:37, status: 0, reason: Disassociated because sending station is leaving (or has left) BSS (8)
Sep 19 18:23:31 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(481): eth7: Disassoc CA:65:7E:F3:1D:37, status: 0, reason: Disassociated because sending station is leaving (or has left) BSS (8)
Sep 19 18:23:33 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(499): eth7: Auth CA:65:7E:F3:1D:37, status: Successful (0)
Sep 19 18:23:33 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(527): eth7: Assoc CA:65:7E:F3:1D:37, status: Successful (0)
Sep 19 18:23:37 wlceventd: wlceventd_proc_event(464): eth7: Deauth_ind CA:65:7E:F3:1D:37, status: 0, reason: Deauthenticated because sending station is leaving (or has left) IBSS or ESS (3)

ARP From my raspberry pi showed this below couldn't connect to router on any device to try the command on there.
Code:
ip neighbour show
192.168.1.165 dev eth0 lladdr 8c:a9:82:85:51:74 STALE
192.168.1.254 dev eth0  FAILED
192.168.1.241 dev eth0 lladdr b4:2e:99:a1:2e:43 REACHABLE
192.168.1.236 dev eth0 lladdr 3c:22:fb:0e:fd:36 STALE
192.168.1.40 dev eth0 lladdr 00:11:32:e6:cf:13 STALE
192.168.1.27 dev eth0  FAILED
192.168.1.175 dev eth0  FAILED
fe80::fca6:a339:b2:f821 dev eth0 lladdr b4:2e:99:a1:2e:43 STALE

192.168.1.241 is my PC on DHCP at the time.
Screenshot below is a network scanner app on my pc showing all available devices at the time. I guess Grey denotes devices it couldn't communicate with.
top grey being my phone (which may have idled at the time) amazon TV stick which again might have idled. and the bottom is the router itself.

I will add I've had to reboot it as I couldn't get any device connected at the time or new, to talk to the router. Once a phone had disconnected from the WIFI it could no longer connect. If it was connected at the time. It stayed "connected" but couldn't get to the router either.


Also interestingly its almost exactly 3 days since the last occurence. Last time i rebooted it was 7:05PM on thursday and it died this time 7:20PM. Could be coincidence though.
Just wondering if anything on the router might run for that period and then refresh and its that which is the problem.
 

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Is it only effecting wired devices. Can you get access to the router and/or internet (by IP address) from a device connected to the router's WiFi?
All devices wired and otherwise. Couldn't get a single device to connect had to reboot it in the end.
A wireless device stayed connected but if you disconnected it and tried to reconnect it couldn't get back on.
I had same behaviour with a cable pc. That wouldn't reconnect after i unplugged / replugged cable. Fresh laptop cabled in could connect but still no access to router, only client devices.

Other message is moderated atm so waiting for my longer reply to be posted here.
 
Consider the possibility that one (or more) of the Ethernet cables connected to the router may have an intermittent fault which is causing the router to "hang".

Can you post the complete syslog on pastebin for us to look at?
 
It looks like your connection to the internet failed after this error, which then repeats:
Code:
Sep 19 18:20:57 kernel: ERR: rdpa_cpu_tx_port_enet_lan#213: rdpa_cpu_tx_port_enet_lan failed. rdd_rc=120 tx_rdd_error_count=1
Although I think it's just saying that all the switch ports (WAN and LAN) have failed.

The same problem was reported here. There are a few other reports of that error message that seem related to Samba file transfers to the router (probably an effect rather than the cause). Do you have a USB drive plugged into the router?

I wonder if thats true on cable i could just rip cables out until it starts to respond?
It's worth a try.

Also, try replacing the cable between the modem and the router. And check the logs on the modem itself.
 
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Thanks again for more help @ColinTaylor

No usb plugged into the router.
My raspberry pi is running samba that used to share a usb flash drive plugged into the raspberry pi. However the usb flash drive plugged into the raspberry failed some time ago. So that was thrown away so samba might still be running on the raspberry pi but the mount location for that share will no longer exist. Do you think that could somehow be related?

I have my isps stock router i could swap in. I ran that for months without issue (it doesnt give me flexibility of dns server config, splitting wireless bands etc which is why i replaced it). Which leads me to believe cable from router to fibre modem should be fine. Difficult to replace that as its ran through several walls unfortunately. Also im not sure theres a way to connect or access the modem but i can look into that it was fitted by my isp and simply had 3 lights on it indicating its connection to the fibre network.

Suspect cable is a good avenue though. None were faulty on my older router but. It might be a stretch but perhaps when i removed one from my old router to install this then one may have become damaged. If true I have a theory which one and I could recrimp and fit a new head on it. I could prove that by isolating that off the network for a while and seeing if the issue comes back.
 

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