Network drops with RT-AC68U, 384.11_2

[DHLarson]

Need some suggestions. Upgraded to subject version and am having a new issue. I power cycle the ISP gateway and the AC68 every night to clear buffers, etc. using a power timer. Prior to this release, everything came up clean for years now. But, as of late, the AC68U loses the internet connection (shows disconnected on the network map). I re-apply the network settings by clinking through the disconnect link and the connection reestablishes. Did something change or need to be changed to have this all get reestablished on its own? I can't tell when the connection actually drops since there isn't a log message that indicates the network went down (there is a message that the network is back up.) Suggestions?

 

[ColinTaylor]

I power cycle ..... the AC68 every night to clear buffers, etc. using a power timer.

Ouch! Not a good idea to do this so frequently, you're just shortening the life of the router. If the router is working properly (yeah yeah, I know) there should be no reason to reboot it at all, let alone that frequently. If you really feel the need to do it then there's an option in the router's GUI to schedule an automatic reboot.

 

[Grisu]

use L&LD's M&M procedure from his signature to completely reset your router, should help in your case: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/r...384-11-is-available.56501/page-42#post-494081
And you could try with for most very stable new 384.12 but still in alpha2, think soon there will be a beta and final.

 

[L&LD]

use L&LD's M&M procedure from his signature to completely reset your router, should help in your case.

Hey! I didn't say it first this time.

 

[Grisu]

And you never did it on your own router as far as I can remember!
Like a virgin speaking about sex or a vegetarian telling you about beaf ...
But for strange symptoms it is very helpful and well done docu.

 

[dosborne]

Ouch! Not a good idea to do this so frequently, you're just shortening the life of the router. If the router is working properly (yeah yeah, I know) there should be no reason to reboot it at all, let alone that frequently. If you really feel the need to do it then there's an option in the router's GUI to schedule an automatic reboot.

I disagree as I see no validity in in the "you're just shortening the life of the router" statement.

Although I now just use the GUI option myself to schedule a daily cycle, I used a digital timer to cut power to my router, modem, hubs and various other pieces for 1 minute every day for 20+ years. From a performance and troubleshooting standpoint it is a great idea to reboot regularly, particularly a hard power reset.

I do agree with the above post about reseting to factory and manually configuring the router to see if it resolves the problem. I went through a similar issue recently that was resolved that way.

Too bad there isn't an export settings function that would safely save all your personalizations and allow for an import after an update. Saving the configuration to a binary file seems kind of pointless these days.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I disagree as I see no validity in in the "you're just shortening the life of the router" statement.

I'm not suggesting that the "shortening" is particularly significant but you are creating unnecessary thermal stress on the components which reduces component life. But the main point I was trying to make was that it's unnecessary when there's already an GUI option to restart the router in a controlled manner.

Component life aside, chopping the power off the router should be avoided as much as possible. Routers running Merlin's firmware are no longer simple turn-key appliances. They typically have attached USB drives contain things like media collections and run add-on applications like Entware, torrents, etc. In addition the router itself periodically writes to its internal JFFS storage. "Pulling the plug" whilst any of the these processes are writing data risks corruption or data loss. Granted, most systems have methods to recover from such errors, but again it's unnecessary. Or do you just unplug your PC when you've finished using it and expect Windows recovery to fix things when you turn it back on?

 

[dosborne]

I'm not suggesting that the "shortening" is particularly significant but you are creating unnecessary thermal stress on the components which reduces component life. But the main point I was trying to make was that it's unnecessary when there's already an GUI option to restart the router in a controlled manner.

Component life aside, chopping the power off the router should be avoided as much as possible. Routers running Merlin's firmware are no longer simple turn-key appliances. They typically have attached USB drives contain things like media collections and run add-on applications like Entware, torrents, etc. In addition the router itself periodically writes to its internal JFFS storage. "Pulling the plug" whilst any of the these processes are writing data risks corruption or data loss. Granted, most systems have methods to recover from such errors, but again it's unnecessary.

Again, I will have to disagree I feel you are presenting one side only and I am trying to present another in balance, leaving the choice up to the user.

I fail to see where cutting the power for a minute, then reapplying it causes any undue "thermal stress". (I have been a chip designer and programmer for 20+ years not that it matters). It the chips can't handle that, then the sun shining through the window in the summer would cripple it.

The rest of your statement is only relevant to those who actually are running anything beyond basic. I am not, nor was I advocating that EVERY user should use a hardware switch to cut power, I was merely stating that if that was a particular desire for a user, then it should not be an issue. I would have continued along that route myself except I started having concerns over the are of my power switch and did not feel the need to replace it. Worked well for 20+ years.

I do however still like the benefits of resetting daily (either "soft" through a schedule, or "hard" by a digital power switch) as it can point out issues that may otherwise go unnoticed until some critically unfavourable time. I do agree with your comment about many device not being too friendly with a hard reboot.

I've seen many issues with soft boot failing to fulling initialize a device and that is why my personal preference is a hard boot.

Or do you just unplug your PC when you've finished using it and expect Windows recovery to fix things when you turn it back on?

Not taking your bait on this silly point

 

[Grisu]

and we all know how often a soft reboot fails on RT-AC86U, never coming up again and needing power off to restart!
Over a year many saw schedule reboot not working for no known reason.

And beside this it has often been recommended in the past to reset possible hacks.

So there are also good reasons to do it this way.
Nobody said it will be a good solution for all!

 

[bbunge]

Power cycling aside...

One thing you can try is to turn off Network Monitoring. Administration - System - Network Monitoring. Uncheck both DNS Query and Ping. Your router will work without either. Prior to Stubby DoT being incorporated in the firmware (Stubby/Entware) we had to disable Network Monitoring. Seemed to fix a connection issue we had.

I almost never reboot my bridged DSL modem and only reboot the router on firmware update or if I hose up something that requires a factory reset. I have a UPS for the modem, router and NAS.

 

[dosborne]

I have a UPS for the modem, router and NAS.

Never a bad idea. I too use 4 x UPS to avoid frequent brownouts, blackouts and other power issues where I live. Fortunately, the UPSs are monitored so most of the devices are able to shutdown "cleanly" prior to complete battery consumption. I even have a remote wifi controlled switch for the UPSs

I have 2 schools of thought on rebooting. If I have *ANY* doubt about a devices memory management then I reboot OFTEN. If it doesn't have a scheduling option built in, then a hardware solution is in order. Some devices (I have a dozen Raspberry Pis) I like to schedule on a weekly basis, partly to perform maintenance during the restart and perform synchronization tasks that can't be done "live'.

On the other hand, if a device has proven stable, and there is no other underlying need, I pride myself in seeing how long it can go between reboots of any kind. I have one device that is currently at 473 days of uptime. Silly things make me happy sometimes

After a M&M Config, I have no issues on my AC68U with 384.11.2

 

[CooCooCaChoo]

Yeah I noticed 11_2 dropping the connection after a week of uptime. I rolled back to 10_2 on my 1900P.

 

[jsbeddow]

One thing you can try is to turn off Network Monitoring. Administration - System - Network Monitoring. Uncheck both DNS Query and Ping. Your router will work without either. Prior to Stubby DoT being incorporated in the firmware (Stubby/Entware) we had to disable Network Monitoring. Seemed to fix a connection issue we had.

YES, finally somone else that has acknowledged what I have seen and experienced: that the (relatively new) Network Monitoring function seems to lead to more trouble than it is worth. More often than not, enabling those options for ping and DNS query (and I have seen the side discussion of using an IP address for the ping target) leads to the "Internet Status: Disconnected" on the main page. I have yet to find any working combination myself, so I leave those two unchecked everytime, with no seeming downside. Your thoughts?

Edit: I do run the DNS Privacy/DOT options setup with Clouldflare, just as I did prevously when using the older setup of Stubby.

Unless...(just thinking)....maybe I still have remnants of the old Stubby installation present from when I first purchased and setup this router about 2 months ago on 384.10_2. Later, I did a proper uninstall of Stubby before migrating to the 384.11 integrated DOT version, but perhaps it did leave some setting behind that I am not aware of. Awww, I can't believe it is already time for a full M&M procedure after less than two months and only a few firmware releases.