M&M config resulted in something strange.

[^Tripper^]

Hi all.

Decided to do a M&M config on my 87U. Was on 384.11_2 and flashed the same firmware back on. Followed the M&M instructions to the letter. Also did a NVRAM reset. All seemed fine but I now cannot access the wireless settings page for some reason; it does not fully load (refer to screen shot). I'm using Safari and tried using Firefox as well, same issue. All other pages load fine. I've tried it thrice and am still facing this issue.

Any ideas?

 

[doczenith1]

Have you flushed your browser cache?

 

[^Tripper^]

Yup. First thing I tried.

 

[Jack Yaz]

When that happened to me, it was because the 5GHz radio had kicked the bucket

 

[^Tripper^]

When that happened to me, it was because the 5GHz radio had kicked the bucket

Beginning to think that’s the issue. The “temperature” and “tools” pages shows 5G as “disabled” which shouldn’t be the case. So 5G may be dead but as a result I can’t even access the 2.4 settings. Sigh. Brilliant.

 

[Jack Yaz]

A full electrical reset might help, i.e power off, remove power for a minute or two (try to power back on to clear any residual charge) and then plug it back in

 

[^Tripper^]

A full electrical reset might help, i.e power off, remove power for a minute or two (try to power back on to clear any residual charge) and then plug it back in

Tried that. No dice. Interestingly, was able to use the ASUS mobile app to access the basic 5G settings and rename the ssid and turn the radio off (trying to do via the GUI on my computer would just get stuck on “applying settings”.) Hoped that now that the firmware thinks the radio is actually turned off would allow me to access the 2.4 settings but unfortunately it didn’t.

Let’s see if it miraculously comes back to life. Fingers crossed.

 

[Jack Yaz]

Tried that. No dice. Interestingly, was able to use the ASUS mobile app to access the basic 5G settings and rename the ssid and turn the radio off (trying to do via the GUI on my computer would just get stuck on “applying settings”.) Hoped that now that the firmware thinks the radio is actually turned off would allow me to access the 2.4 settings but unfortunately it didn’t.

Let’s see if it miraculously comes back to life. Fingers crossed.

Is it still in warranty? I think the 87u has 2 years. Amazon gave me a full refund when I said the 5GHz had stopped working.

 

[^Tripper^]

Is it still in warranty? I think the 87u has 2 years. Amazon gave me a full refund when I said the 5GHz had stopped working.

Nope, have had this box of pain since it came out. Has always been iffy but, well, it’s lasted me long enough. Time to start shopping.

Thank you Jack Yaz and everyone else for the suggestions and advise. It’s very appreciated.

 

[martinr]

Nope, have had this box of pain since it came out. Has always been iffy but, well, it’s lasted me long enough. Time to start shopping.

Thank you Jack Yaz and everyone else for the suggestions and advise. It’s very appreciated.

The RT-AC68U might not have the bells and whistles of the 80 series, but it never bites the hand that feeds it.

 

[^Tripper^]

Update;

Was able to access the "wireless - professional" settings in a roundabout away; went to 'guest network' and used the link provided there. So am able to access all the tabs for 'wireless' EXCEPT "general" which means I can't set 2.4 channel. Oh well. Still an improvement from before.

 

[L&LD]

Update;

Was able to access the "wireless - professional" settings in a roundabout away; went to 'guest network' and used the link provided there. So am able to access all the tabs for 'wireless' EXCEPT "general" which means I can't set 2.4 channel. Oh well. Still an improvement from before.

What I'm reading doesn't seem to be a hardware failure (yet)? But definitely a very confused router!

I would suggest performing the steps in the following link if you want to be as sure as possible that the hardware is really gone before you start shopping.

Nuclear Reset https://www.snbforums.com/threads/major-issues-w-rt-ac86u.56342/page-4#post-495710

 

[^Tripper^]

What I'm reading doesn't seem to be a hardware failure (yet)? But definitely a very confused router!

I would suggest performing the steps in the following link if you want to be as sure as possible that the hardware is really gone before you start shopping.

Nuclear Reset https://www.snbforums.com/threads/major-issues-w-rt-ac86u.56342/page-4#post-495710

Thank you for the suggestion, will try it when Merlin drops the latest version of the firmware 384.12. Figure it’s gonna be soon. Will report back once done.

Thank you!

 

[Smokindog]

These are all variations on a theme

When I had a similar issue I was able to get access via SSH. Unplug EVERYTHING from the router except your PC. I did an NVRAM erase, let it sit for about 10 minutes, powered it down, unplugged it, let let it sit for about 10 minutes, hold reset button and power it up, that should put it in rescue mode. Use the rescue tool to flash an OLDER version of stock firmware. Then go through all the "scripted reset" including DIFFERENT names for the SSIDs than you normally use and DIFFERENT user/password than you usually use. IF that gets you up and running, rinse and repeat using the most current firmware (using rescue process).

BE PATIENT AND ALLOW THE ROUTER TO "STABILIZE" after every flash/reset/power cycle. I let things "settle" for about 10 minutes or more between those steps.

That worked for me on my 3100 when I had some radio issues and it's been stable for a couple weeks now.

PS - Unless you have no other options, AVOID AiMesh IMO

 

[^Tripper^]

Update-

Things keep getting worse...or interesting depending on point of view.

As merlin dropped the latest version, figured its time to try this again. First did the "nuclear reset" with 384.11_2. No improvement, the wireless page still did not load so I'm assuming the 5G radio has really died. So proceeded to flash 384.12 and... things get worse. All ethernet ports died.

Things were really weird. As router boots up, my network settings preference pane (I'm on a Mac) show signs of life (self assigned IP) as the router boots but once the router fully boots up, its shows disconnected, almost as if it is not physically plugged in. This is with any and all ethernet ports I tried. Probably a hardware fault? But....

I used the Asus rescue tool to flash stock and as per the instructions, I have to manually set IP address etc. Lo and behold, the Mac connects via ethernet and was able to successfully flash. Yay! But.....still, all ethernet ports are dead when the router fully boots up.

Heck it, I do another nuclear reset. Still dead ports and radio. Flashed 384.12. Still dead ports and radio. M&M config. Still...you get the idea.. At this point I'm thinking it must be hardware. Just my luck.

Not one to give up, I set up Dual WAN using ethernet port 4. And... that port now works!??!?!?

I notice that any physical port connected to VLAN1 is dead. Once I set up Dual WAN and ethernet port 4 is connected to VLAN3, it comes back to life (refer to attached pic).

Turn Dual WAN off and all LAN ports got to VLAN 1 and don't work. Turn on Dual WAN and that specific port goes to VLAN 3 and works fine (as a secondary WAN port).

I'm wondering if the changes made in 384.12 for the 87 as mentioned by @RMerlin are related to what I'm seeing here.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/b...ta-is-now-available.56988/page-17#post-499407

Pure speculation here, but I'm beginning to think that the Quantenna chip itself has gone bye bye.