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Often times when rebooting router, router hangs/crashes requiring manual reboot

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fun4stuff

Regular Contributor
i have the Asus rt n66u running merlin Firmware: 380.66_6. I know I need to update the firmware.

Often times when I soft reboot the router from settings page, it will reboot and all lights will come back on but I cannot connect to its wifi (cannot see SSID) and connecting physically with Ethernet does not work- no internet connection.

Once I reboot manually by unplugging and plugging back in, it usually works fine. Sometimes I have to physically reboot it a couple times though. Although yesterday I did a hard reset by pushing the small reset button on the back for 10 seconds because I could not get it to work after plugging/unplugging multiple times.

Any idea what's going on or how to troubleshoot? It did the same thing prior to installing merlin.... Was actually hoping it would fix it but no cigar.

Part of me was thinking the router was on its last legs... But it's been doing this for 3-4 years. I just have been trying to not reboot it often.
 
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Any idea what's going on or how to troubleshoot?

The only way to properly troubleshoot this is to have the router connected to a serial interface while it happens. Since so far I"ve been unable to reproduce it on my own development models, tracking down the source of the crash will be difficult.
 
The only way to properly troubleshoot this is to have the router connected to a serial interface while it happens. Since so far I"ve been unable to reproduce it on my own development models, tracking down the source of the crash will be difficult.

Thanks for the reply. Has anyone else been reporting this or is it just me?
 
3 or 4 years! You have the patience of a Saint, you should be canonized! I run two N66Us, three years, never (knock on wood) a failure and never a reboot problem.
 
3 or 4 years! You have the patience of a Saint, you should be canonized! I run two N66Us, three years, never (knock on wood) a failure and never a reboot problem.

Well no problems unless I reboot it....So I just try not reboot it. Bought a new one a couple years ago when was having the problem...But then got this one working again after rebooting multiple times/factory reset as so I returned it.

I'll try updating the firmware. Sounds like it's some problem specific to my router.l and the eventual solution will be to buy a new one.
 
Thanks for the reply. Has anyone else been reporting this or is it just me?

On that model it's the first time I remember seeing it. I've seen a number of these mostly with the RT-AC68U.
 
i have the Asus rt n66u running merlin Firmware: 380.66_6. I know I need to update the firmware.

Often times when I soft reboot the router from settings page, it will reboot and all lights will come back on but I cannot connect to its wifi (cannot see SSID) and connecting physically with Ethernet does not work- no internet connection.

Once I reboot manually by unplugging and plugging back in, it usually works fine. Sometimes I have to physically reboot it a couple times though. Although yesterday I did a hard reset by pushing the small reset button on the back for 10 seconds because I could not get it to work after plugging/unplugging multiple times.

Any idea what's going on or how to troubleshoot? It did the same thing prior to installing merlin.... Was actually hoping it would fix it but no cigar.

Part of me was thinking the router was on its last legs... But it's been doing this for 3-4 years. I just have been trying to not reboot it often.
Did you ever get anywhere with this? I have an RT-AC68U running 380.68_4 and have the same problem. I am doing a scheduled reboot one a week from a script. The reboot runs, all the lights come back but I cannot connect to the router and get no internet etc. A power cycle always works. I'm using reboot and was wondering if there's another command. I've never had the problem selecting rebbot from the GUI but it's not something I do often.

Thanks
 
The only way to properly troubleshoot this is to have the router connected to a serial interface while it happens. Since so far I"ve been unable to reproduce it on my own development models, tracking down the source of the crash will be difficult.

Can you point to instructions on using a serial logger. I know how to get serial data into a PC (USB-Serial dongle) but how do I get it out of the router, an RT-AC68U. I am running 380.68_4 which I know is old(ish). The failure to boot happens whether I put a cru script in or use the menu. I am doing the reboot because occasionally the ability to log into the router disappears though the route continues to route.

Great product! I understand if this is too rare to warrant your time.

Richard
 
I’m having the exact same issue. I’ve set the router to reboot once a week on a specific day / time. Sometimes (once every few months) (Murphy’s law - when I’m travelling) the router will hang while doing a reboot and my spouse needs to physically reset the router. It only seems to hang on a command reset and works fine after a physical reboot. The issue being it’s random, like every 7/10 weeks or sometimes more. It’s typically after there been a lot of network activity like streaming or downloads or backups.

Running the latest versions of Merlin John’s Fork on a RT-N66U
 
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is there a way to “force” a power cycle of the router if it crashes? To take a crude analogy when Windows has a BSOD there is an option to have it automatically reboot after making a crash dump. What’s would be the equivalent command line option to schedule a reboot and say that if while rebooting it crashes then automatically restart ?
 
I have @Martineau 's ChkWAN script running on my AC68U but continue to have the same symptoms- after a scheduled reboot the router almost always crashes and is unreachable via wireless and ethernet. A manual power-off-power-on cycle always gets it back online though. Weird issue!
 
On that model it's the first time I remember seeing it. I've seen a number of these mostly with the RT-AC68U.
It happened to my AC68 when I upgraded to 384.16, lock me out everytime I hit "apply" or reboot.
I needed to reset to factory 4 times.
Back to .15 and everything normal. 2 suspects Dual wan and DOT.
I disabled dual wan and modify DOT servers so I'm going to try again .16.
 

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