Internet drops out and router becomes completely unreachable after an indeterminate amount of time (AX88U, 388.8)

[newsletter]

I'm experiencing a bizarre and incredibly frustrating issue with my RT-AX88U after updating. I initially thought it was with the new WG kill switch but now I'm not so sure, there's an inconsistent and sometimes massive delay between changing settings and the problem rearing its head. I have a VPN client running 24/7 and need the kill switch feature, which is why I've stuck with OpenVPN for so long, but I'd really love to start using WireGuard.

Everything's fine for a while after configuration, however at some point the router will stop working and become completely unreachable. Sometimes it happens within minutes, sometimes it takes hours to start bugging out. Can't access 192.168.x.1 on any device/browser, can't ping said address, and no internet. Restarting doesn't do anything, the only way I've been able to resolve this is by factory resetting.

I want to provide logs but I'm not sure how to, as like I just said, I can't access the device at all when it's in this state. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, no addons of any sort, no USB. JFFS and SSH disabled.

 

[eibgrad]

Not clear to me whether the VPN configuration, OpenVPN or Wireguard, is relevant here, and perhaps just a red herring. Because if you eliminate the VPN entirely, does it make a difference in terms of stability?

If it doesn't help, and it's pretty much plain vanilla, I would return to the OEM firmware if only to see if that makes a difference. If NOT, then I would question the hardware itself. How old is the router? Big difference between something you just acquired and never been stable, vs. you've had it quite a while and things only recently deteriorated.

One thing I always look for is overheating and/or power supply issues. Devices like the router that run hot and heavy 24/7 will often deteriorate and become unstable given enough time.

 

[newsletter]

Not clear to me whether the VPN configuration, OpenVPN or Wireguard, is relevant here, and perhaps just a red herring. Because if you eliminate the VPN entirely, does it make a difference in terms of stability?

If it doesn't help, and it's pretty much plain vanilla, I would return to the OEM firmware if only to see if that makes a difference. If NOT, then I would question the hardware itself. How old is the router? Big difference between something you just acquired and never been stable, vs. you've had it quite a while and things only recently deteriorated.

One thing I always look for is overheating and/or power supply issues. Devices like the router that run hot and heavy 24/7 will often deteriorate and become unstable given enough time.

I purchased the device used around 2 years ago so a hardware issue is very likely, I'm gonna try setting up a remote log server to see if that's the case. Have a feeling it'll be for naught though.

Since I posted this thread the VPN has been disabled, and it's gone longer than it ever has without happening, so now I'm pretty much certain it's related.

EDIT: Skipped over the OEM firmware part, I will give that a go soon.

EDIT 2: I'm also not sure it's power supply related. I am likely misunderstanding how power supplies work, but the device appears to start and stay powered on normally even while experiencing the issue. LEDs begin blinking in the order they're supposed to, if I unplug ethernet the light turns off, etc. However I can't connect to it, the internet completely drops out.

 

[BigScream]

I'm also having a weird issue with the new firmware as well. IPv4 internet is not reachable. ONLY IPv6.

This instantly started happening as soon as I updated to the new build today. I tried downgrading the firmware, and the issue persisted. So I have no idea whats going on.

The router itself can ping IPv4/6 Google no problem, a device on the network that pings google IPv4 results in "Request timeout for icmp_seq", but IPv6 is fine. So I have no idea what this update did, but its causing issues.

 

[eibgrad]

EDIT 2: I'm also not sure it's power supply related. I am likely misunderstanding how power supplies work, but the device appears to start and stay powered on normally even while experiencing the issue. LEDs begin blinking in the order they're supposed to, if I unplug ethernet the light turns off, etc. However I can't connect to it, the internet completely drops out.

Power supply issues can be tricky. They can appear normal, but may suffer from intermittent problems, often due to failing capacitors. You might develop ripple as the caps deteriorate. But the only way to see this happening is w/ appropriate test equipment, and under load. So you can't just see everything light up normally and assume all is well. Under load, things might be very different.

 

[Tech9]

Since I posted this thread the VPN has been disabled, and it's gone longer than it ever has without happening, so now I'm pretty much certain it's related.

Doesn't sound like hardware issue to me. Test with stock Asuswrt and see how it goes.

 

[newsletter]

Doesn't sound like hardware issue to me. Test with stock Asuswrt and see how it goes.

Reverted to stock firmware 3 hours ago and have been running my VPN since. No issues. It's possible that it'll drop out again, but it's gone an incredibly long time without failing on me, almost as long as the last test I did.

EDIT: Never mind, ~15 or so minutes after I posted this I started experiencing a completely different fatal issue related to the stock firmware. I'm just gonna get a new router, thanks for all the help everyone.