Help Required AC68U (TM-AC1900) troubleshooting after power outage

[simbin]

I'm having some trouble with my AC68U router (T-Mobile CellSpot TM-AC1900 converted) after a power outage. It's showing some blue lights but lacks LAN and WiFi connectivity, with the ASUS light on the back remaining off despite the power adapter testing close to 19V. Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help!

Some other info that might be useful (off the top of my head)

• Downgraded to flash ASUS AiMesh firmware
• then Merlin; version was from about 2 yrs ago
• some commands were issued to prevent rollback

Edit: Just a quick follow-up: swapping the power adapter didn't help. Powering on with the WPS/reset buttons did nothing. Only the LAN/WAN and USB 2.0 lights stay on—nothing else. I may take it apart and look for any visible damage or attempt a serial connection. In the meantime, everything is humming along smoothly with my replacement.

 

[bennor]

Welcome to the forum. Note that you may not get much help from some here on that router due to it not being official supported by Asus-Merlin firmware.

If or when all else fails, perform a hard factory reset and see if anything changes.

[Wireless Router] ASUS router Hard Factory Reset - Method 1 | Official Support | ASUS Global

A note: RMerlin's commentary about the TM-AC1900:

After discussing it with @thiggins, we agreed that at this point, considering this device has long been EOL, it was time to drop this rule. If people can find ways to avoid TM-AC1900 from ending up as e-waste, then it's a Good Thing, and as this is an 8 years old device, I doubt either T-Mobile or Asus would complain.

That being said, one thing stays unchanged: that device is NOT support by Asuswrt-Merlin, and anyone trying to get things to work on it is entirely on their own, as I won't waste my time (or the community's time) trying to help people figure out issues that are caused by Asus's undisclosed protection measures they might have in place.

 

[simbin]

Welcome to the forum. Note that you may not get much help from some here on that router due to it not being official supported by Asus-Merlin firmware.

If or when all else fails, perform a hard factory reset and see if anything changes.

[Wireless Router] ASUS router Hard Factory Reset - Method 1 | Official Support | ASUS Global

A note: RMerlin's commentary about the TM-AC1900:

Thanks. I went ahead and ordered a replacement. I'm going to swap its power adapter first thing, just to rule that out. Out of curiosity, are there any newer $20 (Merlin supported) routers, that are solid like the AC68U? That thing has been an abolute tank for 2+ yrs!! only going down when the power cuts out.

 

[bennor]

are there any newer $20 (Merlin supported) routers, that are solid like the AC68U?

Quality router for $20? Not likely. The TM-AC1900 was a special case due to the need to jail break the router to use the RT-AC68U firmware. The Asus AC series of routers are apparently all End of Life by Asus, and the Asus-Merlin developer has indicated that support for Asus AC series routers will likely end by the end of this year.

End-of-life product list

Current plans regarding separate version branches

I thought I'd make a post clarifying the current plans regarding the separate versions (386 and 388), and future plans. 386 branch: This branch is for older models that Asus didn't move to the 388 codebase. This includes three Broadcom SDKs: - SDK 6.x (RT-AC68U) - SDK 7.14 (RT-AC88U...

www.snbforums.com

News - RT-AC68U End of Life Announced by Asus

Sadly, Asus has just announced that the RT-AC68U has been discontinued and has reached end of life. :-( When a product is end-of-life, it means: It is no longer manufactured Its certification will not be renewed Its firmware, utility, website, DM, QSG and manual will not be updated...

www.snbforums.com