[SOLVED] RT-AC68U C1 - facing strange issues

[Kamil Mirza]

greetings everyone

i have recently upgraded my wireless router to ASUS RT-AC68U rev C1, purchased 2 days ago
previously i was using TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND v1.8 for 6 or 7 years with dd-wrt
i am certainly new to ASUSWRT and ASUSWRT-Merlin - so here me out

to get things started, upgraded to latest official firmware (3.0.0.4.384.20308) available
without a second breath, i flashed the latest ASUSWRT-Merlin (384.4) for its features
configured LAN and WiFi settings and attached the WAN port - from here the fun starts
WAN port showed 1 Gbps (which is correct) - after few seconds WAN went down and came back and forth with 100 Mbps
this continued for 2-3 minutes with no Internet - then lost connectivity with the router
after few minutes it was up with WAN port showing 100 Mbps, uptime was less then a minute
rebooted the router - which takes 2 minutes, is this acceptable time for a router?
anyways WAN port showed 1 Gbps and few seconds later goes down to 100 Mbps - so i moved along
today it showed 1 Gbps totally absurd
same behavior happens to my LAN 1 port - which is directly connected to my upstairs router (TP-LINK, on its LAN port, not WAN port)

so let us move to our second issue - came back home and saw there is no 5GHz network on my phone, checked the router settings portal and everything seems alright - resolved it by restarting 5GHz network via ASUS Router app

after time to time, Internet goes down along with router connectivity, routers lights shows activity but no ping whatsoever - few minutes later it comes back with normal uptime - no reboots

i am starting to doubt my purchase (around $150 in my country)
it is clear that there is something wrong with my device
can you guys help me out? what would be the problem?
any help would be appreciated!

 

[Treadler]

Maybe try a different network (Ethernet) cable?

 

[ColinTaylor]

After checking your cables as suggested, try powering off the router and the modem for 15 minutes. Turn on the modem, wait a couple of minutes and then turn on the router.

If there's no improvement the next logical step would be to flash it with the current stock Asus firmware. Follow that with a factory reset and manual reconfigure. If the problem persists get a replacement/refund for the router.

 

[OzarkEdge]

greetings everyone

i have recently upgraded my wireless router to ASUS RT-AC68U rev C1, purchased 2 days ago
previously i was using TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND v1.8 for 6 or 7 years with dd-wrt
i am certainly new to ASUSWRT and ASUSWRT-Merlin - so here me out

to get things started, upgraded to latest official firmware (3.0.0.4.384.20308) available
without a second breath, i flashed the latest ASUSWRT-Merlin (384.4) for its features
configured LAN and WiFi settings and attached the WAN port - from here the fun starts
WAN port showed 1 Gbps (which is correct) - after few seconds WAN went down and came back and forth with 100 Mbps
this continued for 2-3 minutes with no Internet - then lost connectivity with the router
after few minutes it was up with WAN port showing 100 Mbps, uptime was less then a minute
rebooted the router - which takes 2 minutes, is this acceptable time for a router?
anyways WAN port showed 1 Gbps and few seconds later goes down to 100 Mbps - so i moved along
today it showed 1 Gbps totally absurd
same behavior happens to my LAN 1 port - which is directly connected to my upstairs router (TP-LINK, on its LAN port, not WAN port)

so let us move to our second issue - came back home and saw there is no 5GHz network on my phone, checked the router settings portal and everything seems alright - resolved it by restarting 5GHz network via ASUS Router app

after time to time, Internet goes down along with router connectivity, routers lights shows activity but no ping whatsoever - few minutes later it comes back with normal uptime - no reboots

i am starting to doubt my purchase (around $150 in my country)
it is clear that there is something wrong with my device
can you guys help me out? what would be the problem?
any help would be appreciated!

Are you aware of this https://www.snbforums.com/threads/faq-nvram-and-factory-default-reset.22822/

Be sure to factory default reset after updating the firmware.

OE

 

[Deleted member 28123]

without a second breath, i flashed the latest ASUSWRT-Merlin (384.4) for its features
configured LAN and WiFi settings and attached the WAN port - from here the fun starts

From your listed steps, it seems you forgot to reset the router to defaults after flashing Merlin's firmware which is a requirement.

As @ColinTaylor recommended - Reset the router, reconfigure, monitor and report back.

Edited: Just noticed Colin's response.

 

[Kamil Mirza]

Maybe try a different network (Ethernet) cable?

After checking your cables as suggested, try powering off the router and the modem for 15 minutes. Turn on the modem, wait a couple of minutes and then turn on the router.
If there's no improvement the next logical step would be to flash it with the current stock Asus firmware. Follow that with a factory reset and manual reconfigure. If the problem persists get a replacement/refund for the router.

changed the cable and WAN port is fixed
next is LAN port, will change it in the weekend

Are you aware of this https://www.snbforums.com/threads/faq-nvram-and-factory-default-reset.22822/
Be sure to factory default reset after updating the firmware.

From your listed steps, it seems you forgot to reset the router to defaults after flashing Merlin's firmware which is a requirement.
As @ColinTaylor recommended - Reset the router, reconfigure, monitor and report back.
Edited: Just noticed Colin's response.

yes i did reset to factory default settings after flashing merlin
forgot to mention it in the OP
will try resetting it again

 

[Kamil Mirza]

but 5GHz WiFi disappeared again today
have to restart 5GHz from the app
why is it happening?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Look for clues in the router's syslog.

 

[Netbug]

but 5GHz WiFi disappeared again today
have to restart 5GHz from the app
why is it happening?

if that the case replace the other ethernet cable you mentioned as well, i had some rite headaches because of dodgy ethernet cables, get one of those cheap cable testers, the ones on ebay/amazon, had mine few years and has saved me massive headaches with ethernet cables, i redid all my cabling last week when i had new router delivered.

flash asus stock firmware, monitor it and see if it happening with stock, if it is then i think it could be the wireless chip or other hardware issue with router and would get a refund/replacement. I had rt-ac68u running merlin 380 betas and the current 384 betas and did not have this issue with rt-ac68u nor with my new rt-ac86u.

 

[Kamil Mirza]

if that the case replace the other ethernet cable you mentioned as well, i had some rite headaches because of dodgy ethernet cables, get one of those cheap cable testers, the ones on ebay/amazon, had mine few years and has saved me massive headaches with ethernet cables, i redid all my cabling last week when i had new router delivered.

yes i'm using my own built cables, using cable tester its Cat 5e

flash asus stock firmware, monitor it and see if it happening with stock, if it is then i think it could be the wireless chip or other hardware issue with router and would get a refund/replacement. I had rt-ac68u running merlin 380 betas and the current 384 betas and did not have this issue with rt-ac68u nor with my new rt-ac86u.

yup i'm thinking going stock and test out
but first will try factory reset again

 

[Kamil Mirza]

well i have done factory reset with Initialize option and changed my LAN1 ethernet cable
all the issues have been resolved
i think i may have did factory reset before going merlin and not after
been testing for 2 days, 5GHz is working great and no issues with LAN ports
i think i'm starting to love this community, unlike others, very friendly and supportive
thanks a lot guys!

have some off-topic questions:

• i want to try entware and read its not safe to have it?
• any useful entware packages i should have?
• is there any method to allow multiple login access for settings portal? its very cumbersome to logout the previous connected device before logging on the next
• or to have Idle Auto Logout for web portal just like SSH have found the discussion
• any method to add DHCP static IPs via SSH, have around 25 static IPs
• can't find mkfs.ext4 in /usr/sbin/ or anywhere
• can i use bwmon on merlin? rmerlin said it can be used - can anyone guide me how?

 

[Kamil Mirza]

bump!!!

can i use bwmon on merlin? rmerlin said it can be used - can anyone guide me how?