RT-AC3100 Firmware.

[bsdsource]

did a 30/30/30 reset

This is not how you reset an RT-AC3100. I suspect you didn't successfully erase the NVRAM settings.

followed by another factory reset

Are you referring to another 30/30/30 reset? If this is the case, I doubt you erased anything. This could possibly be your issue.

 

[Quad80]

This is not how you reset an RT-AC3100. I suspect you didn't successfully erase the NVRAM settings.



Are you referring to another 30/30/30 reset? If this is the case, I doubt your erased anything. This could possibly be your issue.

30/30/30 isn't the standard overkill procedure anymore? I did that first, then a recovery to the new firmware, then another reset from the UI, after recovery uploaded the new firmware.

I'm not saying you're wrong, it's just since I've ever started dabbling with third party firmwares, 30/30/30 was always the most thorough and recommend action for a reset, so I'm surprised to hear otherwise.

What is the best way to reset this unit? Is it to hold the button for five seconds, or to do it from the UI? I've always thought hardware resets were preferred but maybe it doesn't matter anymore?

EDIT: To be clear, I'm not using third party firmware here. It's always Asus. I haven't even tried Merlin yet.

 

[bsdsource]

This is how I reset my RT-3100:

1. Turn off router
2. Press and hold down the WPS button
3. With WPS button held down turn on router and wait until power led starts to rapidly blink
4. Release WPS button
5. Wait for router to completely reboot

And no, 30/30/30 isn't the means to reset every router. Also I would try to start from scratch so don't restore settings from a saved configuration file. Manually configure your router settings again.

Reset router (not from webui)
Flash router using ASUS recovery tool
Reset router (not from webui)
Configure router
Done

 

[Quad80]

This is how I reset my RT-3100:

1. Turn off router
2. Press and hold down the WPS button
3. With WPS button held down turn on router and wait until power led starts to rapidly blink
4. Release WPS button
5. Wait for router to completely reboot

Cool. I'll try that tomorrow.

For the record, I did some further searching and, yeah, looks like 30/30/30 is really for older routers (largely associated with DDWRT, it seems, which explains why it was engrained in my head). That said, it looks like 30/30/30 on Asus puts it into recovery, which is indeed what I experienced. If what I read is correct, that does clear the settings. It just also forces you to use the recovery tool as well, which isn't strictly necessary.

At any rate, I did both resets, but Asus support replied a short while ago and wants some logs, so I'm going to try and respond to their email then reset and try an older firmware or latest Merlin and see what happens.

I'm actually worried the hardware is defective based on some wonky behavior described previously. It seems unlikely, since it is practically brand new (sat in a box for almost a year until I used it as a mesh node and then was only in service for a couple months). Guess we'll find out. Thanks for the info.

 

[Grisu]

Well, I went into the TCP/IP settings in Win 10 and assigned a static IP (192.168.1.100), but the client list on the router says it's 192.168.1.21. But, when plugged into LAN, I'm also watching the Ethernet drop in the Network and Sharing Center. It's there, then gone, then back again, etc. This is definitely sketchy behavior, and probably explains why when I was setting it up, I kept getting kicked out and having to log back in, even when I didn't change anything. On wireless, it seems to behave just fine.

I checked the logs in the admin, and I don't see anything that looks nefarious (like frequent on/off), but it's possible I'm just not seeing it. Though really, there doesn't seem to be much of anything. I'm thinking maybe a roll back really is the best option here, just to see if I can get some stability. If yes, then there would appear to be some kind of glitch in the new firmware. If no, then perhaps the hardware is shot (even if pretty much brand new).

Unless you (or anyone else) have any other ideas, this would probably be the next best step, and I'll probably try it tomorrow, since it's getting late here and my daughter is about to get home.

Again, though, thank you very much for these ideas.

Hardware failure, look at the pins inside seem to me to be your last hope, maybe soldering problem inside LAN pins or corrosion. You still can use it without WAN-port in other configuration, no guarantee?

 

[a98h98h]

I updated to this firmware within the admin UI. Now after the firmware update, the "AiMesh Node" section does even display on the summary page? It used to display even if the node count was 0, but now it doesn't even show that whole section completely.

 

[arthurlien]

I updated to this firmware within the admin UI. Now after the firmware update, the "AiMesh Node" section does even display on the summary page? It used to display even if the node count was 0, but now it doesn't even show that whole section completely.

Which Model you are using as AiMesh Router and AiMesh Node ? Which FW version you are using (include upgrade before and after) ?

 

[Sammy2]

RT-AC3100 with 3 RT-AC68U nodes.. still dropping clients like flies causing the need to reboot clients to get connected. Not pleased but how to report it?

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

 

[jtmpush18]

Hello. A real novice here.
Question: I have a 3100U, with the 88U firmware on it.
Should I do a complete reset (as described above) to put the correct firmware on it, or should I just continue to use it as is? (It seems to be working fine.)

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Question: I have a 3100U, with the 88U firmware on it.

I didn't know you could use the 88 firmware on the 3100 news to me. Yeah i would put the correct firmware on it and do a factory reset and reconfigure.

 

[Grisu]

Hello. A real novice here.
Question: I have a 3100U, with the 88U firmware on it.
Should I do a complete reset (as described above) to put the correct firmware on it, or should I just continue to use it as is? (It seems to be working fine.)

for most (normal) users it is fine just to update, if you see troubles (others dont have) make factory reset before you post your problems.
But if it is new, there is no worry about doing factory reset, not many things are set which will take long time to be set again.

 

[jtmpush18]

for most (normal) users it is fine just to update, if you see troubles (others dont have) make factory reset before you post your problems.
But if it is new, there is no worry about doing factory reset, not many things are set which will take long time to be set again.

So, I did a factory reset via the WPS button as described above. However, I can't sign into the router now, and the red status light for internet is on. Suggestions?

 

[Quad80]

So, I did a factory reset via the WPS button as described above. However, I can't sign into the router now, and the red status light for internet is on. Suggestions?

Try the recommendation from @azdps:

Reset router (not from webui)
Flash router using ASUS recovery tool
Reset router (not from webui)
Configure router
Done

I think this may have removed the gremlins from my initial reset, but I'm going to test more tomorrow. I've had encouraging results setting up a cascaded router and a subnet from my main router, but haven't yet plugged it directly into my modem. I don't know why it wouldn't work at this point, though.

 

[Grisu]

it must be configured first for internet working.
If you connect over Wifi (SSID default ASUS no password) it doesnt work???
Any browser should be fine even mobile: 192.168.1.1

 

[bsdsource]

So, I did a factory reset via the WPS button as described above. However, I can't sign into the router now, and the red status light for internet is on. Suggestions?

When you reset the router all the previous settings are lost and are reset to ASUS default settings. You must login and configure the router again. The login information after a reset are listed below:

IP address: 192.168.1.1
Username: admin
Password: admin
2.4 Ghz SSID: ASUS
5.0 Ghz SSID: ASUS_5

If you are still having issues I would repeat the whole firmware install process installing the correct firmware for the RT-AC3100. I'm not surprised you were able to accidentally install the RT-AC88U firmware since the 2 devices are almost exactly the same. But they aren't the same so use the correct firmware.

 

[Quad80]

So, unfortunately, I cannot get my second RT-AC3100 to work with the internet. I keep getting a DHCP error. Additional steps I took this weekend:

1) Completely reset the router, did another rescue to install 20942, reset again.

2) Set up new router to cascade the internet connection. This was an effort to test WAN functionality. Set up second router as 192.168.2.1 and connected its WAN to a LAN on my main router (which is hooked directly to modem). Everything seemed to be fine with this setup. The WAN light was white, the internet status on network map was connected, clients I tested seemed to work just fine and could access the internet.

3) Unhooked main router from modem and plugged the modem directly into the second router. DHCP error again. Power cycled router, still DHCP error.

4) Plugged modem back into existing router, everything is fine again. No issues at the modem/main router level.

5) Did another factory reset and rescue, this time to 20379. Another factory reset. Attempted to configure secondary router using 20379. Still DHCP error.

In short, going back to the previous firmware (20379) did not fix anything. My current router (also RT-AC3100) is still chugging along without any issues on 20379, and I'm hesitant to upgrade it until I can resolve this matter. It might be a hardware issue with the router, but two additional thoughts occur.

a) When set up as a subnet, everything seemed to function just fine.

b) The regular disconnects I saw when connected from my old laptop to the WAN/LAN ports did not occur when I plugged into an even older laptop running Windows 7. Point being, I wouldn't be at all surprised if my older Win10 laptop's port was bugged up and not the router itself. That laptop was always glitchy (though I never recall any issues with the LAN on it).

I have updated Asus support on my status, but I'm completely out of ideas. If it was hardware related, I'd think the port would have displayed issues on my second Win7 laptop. However, since the old firmware version did not resolve the matter, I cannot rule out hardware at this stage (though perhaps not the port itself). Still, I'm pretty stumped, as I seem to have ruled out both hardware and software causes. Modem and all cables used for testing are the same across both setups.

If anyone else has any ideas, I'm all ears.

 

[Grisu]

your older laptops probably have only 100Mbps LAN-ports, so only using 4 out of 8 pins, thats why it could be fine with 100Mbps, but as soon as you plug it into a Gb-port it will try to establish Gb-connection which cant work with only 1 broken pin.
You never answered if you had a look inside the port.

Yes you can upgrade other router to 20942, think thats as far the most stable mesh-firmware.

 

[Quad80]

your older laptops probably have only 100Mbps LAN-ports, so only using 4 out of 8 pins, thats why it could be fine with 100Mbps, but as soon as you plug it into a Gb-port it will try to establish Gb-connection which cant work with only 1 broken pin.

Except it's not fine on my old Toshiba with Win10. That laptop and my even older Win7 HP laptop are only a 10/100 connection. Additionally, during this process, I noticed I had my modem plugged into a surge protector, which went into my router. At some point during my testing, I removed that patch (i.e., modem direct to router now). I bring this up is because that (unknowingly to me at the time) gimped the connection to 100Mbps. It wasn't really an issue because my internet has always been <100Mbps, but once I removed that little patch cable to the power strip, my modem detected the Gb connection. That said, the new router didn't work with either 100Mbps or the Gb connection.

You never answered if you had a look inside the port.

I thought I had mentioned earlier that everything looks factory fresh, in pristine condition. No visible damage to any ports or pins. If there's anything going on inside the unit (i.e., there was a defect from the factory), then I'll let Asus figure that out and potentially send me a new unit. I'm not going to open it because that can cause issues with warranties (even though US law says it shouldn't).

Yes you can upgrade other router to 20942, think thats as far the most stable mesh-firmware.

Maybe. I'm not going to until I can resolve this matter, though. I need my internet to work, since I work from home. I can't lose my connection. My plan was to upgrade one unit, swap with the existing, check for problems; if none, keep updated version. If problems, plug in old one. I've obviously hit a snag here and, therefore, will not be upgrading my current router until I can resolve. Current router works fine, so I see no need to worry about an update at the moment.

This is not to say you aren't right about there being some undetectable-to-the-eye physical damage/defect from the factory, though. Honestly, that seems to be the most likely cause at this point, what after all the factory reset and rescue recoveries I've done these past few days.

 

[Grisu]

Except it's not fine on my old Toshiba with Win10. That laptop and my even older Win7 HP laptop are only a 10/100 connection.

There is an easy explanation for that!
This laptop maybe not able to change pins.
Correction: if you are using crossover cable instead of straight it probably dont work on very old laptops if its LAN-port is not able to change Rx/Tx.

And remove this surge protector if you want to have reliable tests, every additional device can bring faults!

 

[Quad80]

There is an easy explanation for that!
This laptop maybe not able to change pins. If you connent it with cross-LAN cable it will work too I think, because than it uses the other 4 pins.

And remove this surge protector if you want to have reliable tests, every additional device can bring faults!

Surge protector was one of the first things I removed when I noticed it was plugged in when I first had the problem.

And since I don't have a crossover cable handy, nor any way to make one, I can't really test that directly, unfortunately. We'll see what Asus has to say, I guess.