RT-AC68U large downloads fail with "Network Error"

[rt60i]

Hello friends:

I have a RT-AC68U (an uplifted RT-AC1900..) which might be failing. It works totally fine except for some specific strange errors. I find that certain large downloads will fail, with the error "Network error" in browsers such as chrome and firefox. Using wget under linux will eventually finish the downloads, but with multiple restarts. It's possible that it might be causing some increased lag in certain online games as well. Any ideas on how to troubleshoot this?

Things I have tried:

• Multiple clients fail to download the files (2xWired windows 10 machines, 1 Wifi rasberry pi)
• Removing all other clients and hardware from the network, and disabling Wifi.. the error is reproducible with just ISP->ASUS->1 wired client
• Multiple firmwares: I am currently using the latest John fork of Merlin, but have also tried stock ASUS, latest Merlin, latest ddwrt with the same result. All with minimal configuration.
• Various DNS providers, including ISP, Cloudflare, Google.. with and without DoT/DNSSEC/etc
• Downclocking failed on ddwrt but I could try it again.. stopping NAT accelleration doesn't help.. disabling router firewall doesn't help.. I've tried fiddling with many other settings with no change, but I would be glad to get some directed advice..
• This failure happens on both wifi clients and wired clients, suggesting something upstream of the physical lan ports.
• A backup router (gl Inet mango running openwrt) substiuted for the RT-AC68U downloads fine, suggesting something downstream of my ISP. The mango router uses 100base-T ports, so my next thought is to start swapping cables..?

Here are some test files that fail for me:
https://us.download.nvidia.com/Wind...-win10-win11-64bit-international-dch-whql.exe
https://download.dymo.com/dymo/Software/DYMO Connect 1.4.2/DCDSetup1.4.2.82.exe

Any thoughts on this or what I can do to troubleshoot? Maybe the router is just dying?

Thanks for your help

 

[wouterv]

If you mean this is a TM-AC1900 with firmware that was not intended for the model, please read this topic:

SNBForums Policy on ASUS TM-AC1900 Conversion Discussion

Further discussion of methods to get around ASUS' lockdown of TM-AC1900 firmware to prevent conversion to RT-AC68U will not be allowed. The main discussion thread has been deleted. Conversations related to defeating the lockdown have been deleted. New threads or Conversations opened on the...

www.snbforums.com

 

[SoCalReviews]

Uplifted might mean a 1.4Ghz SoC vs. the older 1.0Ghz SoC. Mine still sort of worked ok (not great) but this model can fail when it reaches the five to seven year mark. Either way it could be prime time for a new Asus wireless router. The top choices users have been suggesting are the RT-AX68U and the RT-AX86U (a favorite in this forum).

 

[rt60i]

@Wout: I would never condone a discussion about how to get alternate firmware on a AC1900 against forum rules, sorry if the comment spooked you.

@SoCal: It's about 5 years in with pretty heavy use, so I think it might just be dying, and I've already ordered a AX86U. Still, I'd like to track down what went wrong, so if anyone has any thoughts, let me know.

 

[SoCalReviews]

@rt60i, It is puzzling what went on with the AC68Us after they aged. Mine were running 24/7 and in that 5-7 year range too. They worked but the Wifi became noticeably unreliable. It was worse with 5Ghz but 2.4Ghz suffered as well. The good news is that you will appreciate the huge jump in performance and reliability with your new AX86U.

After it arrives if you want you can start a post in the Asus AX section of this forum and get the best settings recommendations from the other forum users or just read what has already best posted regarding new AX86U router settings. You can start by using the default setup. Most users also choose to turn Smart Connect off and use separate SSIDs and set Wifi security to WPA2 instead of WPA2/3. Note that these new Asus routers now default with a LAN IP range starting with 192.168.50.1 instead of 192.168.1.1 but of course you can easily change that if you choose.

 

[wouterv]

@Wout: I would never condone a discussion about how to get alternate firmware on a AC1900 against forum rules, sorry if the comment spooked you.

@SoCal: It's about 5 years in with pretty heavy use, so I think it might just be dying, and I've already ordered a AX86U. Still, I'd like to track down what went wrong, so if anyone has any thoughts, let me know.

Excuse me for making the wrong assumption, but you better be clear about what you did to the router instead of making people guess.
A large download makes the router more active over longer time, it will for sure cause more heat for the CPU and other components.
If uplifting means you increased the clock speed, that will cause more heat to the chips.
Heat is the cause for aging of electronics, the components will either get permanently damaged or randomly fail. I suppose that your router suffers overheating of certain components.

 

[Tech9]

I don't know what uplifted AC68U is. I would also assume it's converted T-Mobile router.

 

[rt60i]

Back with updates:

Now running a brand new out of the box RT-AX86U. Downloads still fail on those two files above.

Again, pretty much everything else is working fine. These test files fail on stock asus firmware, and latest merlin, with minimal config.

Any thoughts? I'm thinking my ISP's modem doesn't like talking to gigabit ports, since all worked fine on the 100base-t gl-Inet router.

 

[rt60i]

Just happened:

I now got the failure on the gl Inet router! Perhaps I was lucky before in getting a successful download. So this now seems firmly an ISP issue, as it persists across multiple routers. Although I suspect for whatever reason the gl Inet was more reliable than the two asus routers.

To give an example of how strange this error is, I reliably experience failures on the two files above on the asus routers, but am able to download this (much larger) file without interruption or error:
https://mirror.pit.teraswitch.com/linuxmint-iso/stable/20.2/linuxmint-20.2-xfce-64bit.iso

I will likely start a new thread elsewhere as it's no longer soley an asus issue, but if anyone who has been following this has any ideas on how to track this down, please let me know.

 

[follower]

Just happened:

I now got the failure on the gl Inet router! Perhaps I was lucky before in getting a successful download. So this now seems firmly an ISP issue, as it persists across multiple routers. Although I suspect for whatever reason the gl Inet was more reliable than the two asus routers.

To give an example of how strange this error is, I reliably experience failures on the two files above on the asus routers, but am able to download this (much larger) file without interruption or error:
https://mirror.pit.teraswitch.com/linuxmint-iso/stable/20.2/linuxmint-20.2-xfce-64bit.iso

I will likely start a new thread elsewhere as it's no longer soley an asus issue, but if anyone who has been following this has any ideas on how to track this down, please let me know.

Call your ISP.

 

[wouterv]

I can download the two files of the first post without issues, using a RT-AC68U with the latest stock firmware and a W10 computer with Firefox.
Because the first two files are executables, these might get blocked by your ISP as potential dangerous.