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My RT-AC3200 almost died. What to do with it?

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FTC

Senior Member
Hi,

10 days ago my trusty rt-ac3200 lost (suddently weakened to minimum power) its 5Ghz signal 1, and the 2.4Ghz one was also somehow affected and started acting strange. This was during a big thunderstorm so I believe it was not the hardware that caused it, but somehow a power peak or similar. This was after almost 4 years of hard service, so nothing to complain. I replaced it with a rt-ax88u that is giving me now satisfaction and working flawlessly.

With the 3200, I attempted several times a soft and a hard reset, an electrical reset, went through various official and merlin firmwares, and it still behaves the same way.. 5Ghz1 almost undetectable (too low power), and 2.4Ghz behaving strange. I also disassembled the unit but did not see signs of any burned component...

Now, any idea of something I may have left out / forgotten to revive this router ? Other than the problems with these 2 wifi bands, 5Ghz2 band is operating normally as well as all the rest of the router. any idea on what could this router still be used for ?
 
Hi,

10 days ago my trusty rt-ac3200 lost (suddently weakened to minimum power) its 5Ghz signal 1, and the 2.4Ghz one was also somehow affected and started acting strange. This was during a big thunderstorm so I believe it was not the hardware that caused it, but somehow a power peak or similar. This was after almost 4 years of hard service, so nothing to complain. I replaced it with a rt-ax88u that is giving me now satisfaction and working flawlessly.

With the 3200, I attempted several times a soft and a hard reset, an electrical reset, went through various official and merlin firmwares, and it still behaves the same way.. 5Ghz1 almost undetectable (too low power), and 2.4Ghz behaving strange. I also disassembled the unit but did not see signs of any burned component...

Now, any idea of something I may have left out / forgotten to revive this router ? Other than the problems with these 2 wifi bands, 5Ghz2 band is operating normally as well as all the rest of the router. any idea on what could this router still be used for ?

Have you tried a new power adaptor?

How long have you left the power plug unplugged from the router (and not just from the AC wall plug)? I would leave the power button in the 'On' position with the power plug removed for at least 24 hrs or more (good thing you have a working router to use).

Also, after doing a full reset, a WPS NVRAM Erase and a format JFFS partition on next boot and then only change the Wireless to manual Control Channels (11 on 2.4GHz and 36 on 5GHz), does it behave the same? Do not use a saved backup config file.

If doing all the above still gives you similarly bad results, it is time to dispose of your router.
 
For sure, thats the first thing going bad and to be tested after some years and a thunderstorm!
Maybe you can even test it with the power plug from your new router, if the got same volts and connector its ok for a test case.
 
Hi. Thanks. yes, I tried 2 different adaptors.. (the one from the new rt-ax88 and a generic laptop one).. and in fact I did the last tests yesterday, after 10 days with the router unplugged and stored in the box (I was using already the new one for all these days). Also did the WPS reset thing yesterday.. The only missing part from your post is storing it with the power switch on for a long time. I may do this today and test in a few days once more...
In any case and since the first reset I am always testing with nvram cleared.
 
If doing all the above still gives you similarly bad results, it is time to dispose of your router.

Never say Dead!! :)

Although less functional, if it is only the Wireless functions that are not working, the base router can still be a viable option for other things.

First an foremost an opportunity to play around with new software without using your live unit. I like to have a dedicated AP (or APs) and disable wireless on my main router, this too would work in your case. Play with the NAS functions, Diversion, Skynet, ...... lots of possibilities left for this device.
 
Never say Dead!! :)

Although less functional, if it is only the Wireless functions that are not working, the base router can still be a viable option for other things.

First an foremost an opportunity to play around with new software without using your live unit. I like to have a dedicated AP (or APs) and disable wireless on my main router, this too would work in your case. Play with the NAS functions, Diversion, Skynet, ...... lots of possibilities left for this device.

Possibly, but I don't think I could trust a device that was only partially working and particularly after a thunderstorm as described. :)

How would I know if other parts weren't going bad as I was using it too? ;)
 
If he doesn't want it, I'd pay for shipping!!!

I'm always looking for something to practice on! I want to setup a native compiling environment.
 
Thanks again for all the input. For sure I will keep the router and use it to experiment... It is a very good idea to use it as a 'preproduction' environment for those new features that I may be attempting to use in the future. Of course I'll have to take into account that the unit is not fully functional .. and even that it is not the same model that I have in 'production', but there is still much in common between both environments to be useful.
 

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