RT-AC86U Keeps losing connection, looked at log and can't understand why.

[mdover]

Hello. Hoping to get some guidance. I have my RT AC86U logging into Bell through a Home Hub 3000 and it has worked flawlessly for a long time. Recently, it disconnect perhaps daily and I'm starting to think it might be every 24 hours based on my limited understanding of the attached log.

I also run merlin and have my Asus router pinging 9.9.9.9 every 30 seconds and rebooting when that fails. When the router has been going 'down' it can still ping 9.9.9.9 so it never reboots and I can even log into it from my cell phone over the cellular network - so it is online - however the main page shows disconnected and no devices can reach the internet through it.

I'm finding this very strange and hard to trouble shoot. The snbforum won't allow me to paste the log, but I've posted the portion where I think this occurred from a couple days ago on the Pastebin link, and I would appreciate some guidance to address as this is getting beyond my capabilities. I've also attached that portion as a text file here.

Here's the pastebin link

Thank you for any assistance and advice. I'm really new to this so I may not understand everything, but I google and search, and try not to ask dumb questions without searching for an answer first. The messages that seem suspicious to me are something about a removal request and no knowledge of it, as they appear in the two latest connection losses.

 

[Tech9]

My general advice to you is to replace this router with AX86S or better. It has a long history of hardware issues, it has unresolved software bugs, it won't be getting 388 code firmware. Asus AC-class routers stuck with perhaps few security updates coming, if lucky. No more firmware development.

 

[L&LD]

Wait to see if anyone can provide you with good information on the file you've uploaded.

If no one has anything useful, I would at least attempt the following before giving up on the router (and do it more than once to be sure that the hardware is the issue first). If you have another power supply to use/test, do that also (the stock power supply is known to fail and be underpowered for these models).

I still have customers with this model successfully in use.

Fully Reset Router and Network (aka Nuclear Reset).

Fully Reset / Best Practice Setup / More

 

[mdover]

Wait to see if anyone can provide you with good information on the file you've uploaded.

If no one has anything useful, I would at least attempt the following before giving up on the router (and do it more than once to be sure that the hardware is the issue first). If you have another power supply to use/test, do that also (the stock power supply is known to fail and be underpowered for these models).

I still have customers with this model successfully in use.

Fully Reset Router and Network (aka Nuclear Reset).

Fully Reset / Best Practice Setup / More

Thanks. Hopefully someone can help. I'll also add additional info as I get more crashes and maybe I can see a pattern in the logs. And failing that, I'll go nuclear as you suggest. I also have an Aimesh node with the same router so I'll reverse them but switch the power supplies as you suggest. Bit of a pain but hopefully that can work. Just not sure what is happening, I haven't changed any settings in awhile. I use the openvpn server occasionally so that will be a pain to redo and redistribute the ovpn files (one's on a firestick which was a challenge for me to get in place to begin with).

Anyways - thanks for the tips. Hopefully I can avoid the full reset but we'll see. They are maybe 9 months old so it would be a shame to need to replace one already.

 

[Tech9]

I use the openvpn server occasionally so that will be a pain to redo and redistribute the ovpn files

No need to do that. Export and import the original certificates. The logs you uploaded don't say anything. Power supply is unlikely. You have two routers with two power supplies - exchange them and test again, if you want. No need to ping an IP every 30 seconds, unless your ISP line is extremely unreliable. No need to reboot the router on failed ping either. Rebooting the router won't fix unreliable ISP line. If you do a reset, don't use saved configuration files.

 

[mdover]

Thank you tech9. I’ll be traveling a little but I guess I’ll do a reset sometime next week and hopefully that’ll help.

I doubt the ISP is the issue. My ASUS logs in via pppoe through my ISPs modem/router and that has stayed online throughout. It has a Wi-Fi network on it that I don’t use, but I did log into it at the last disconnect and I saw it was still up.

 

[mdover]

Hello all. I’m still dealing with shutdowns I can’t explain. It happened again today exactly 24 hours after rebooting last night. I guess it’s no coincidence that the 5th line in the log references 86400 seconds which is 24 hours exactly.

Anyone know what this first line in the log means? My ASUS is getting its WAN feed from a LAN port on my ISP router and the address 184.146.143.194 is the public IP of my ISPs router so that must have something to do with my issue. I need to use the DSL router as it provides the Wi-Fi for our TV service which also comes from our ISP (bell fibe / fiber). Both log in via pppoe.

These are the entries from the moment it crashed. I also have Chkwan running and it’s still getting a ping. I can also log into the router from my phone over cellular - so part of the router remains online but effectively it’s a crash as it blocks all traffic at home.

I had to insert as a picture as the forum won’t let me paste the text.

Thank you!

 

[ColinTaylor]

The lldpd messages are normal when the WAN interface is restarted.

 

[mdover]

The lldpd messages are normal when the WAN interface is restarted.

Any idea why my Asus connection is dropping?

Maybe a script that reboots my Asus at 3am daily or something like that would deal with my issue.

 

[Donga120]

Any idea why my Asus connection is dropping?

Maybe a script that reboots my Asus at 3am daily or something like that would deal with my issue.

I had a real weird glitch with my AC86U, in that one device did not like ethernet and resulted in internet drop outs once or twice a day for 5-10 minutes.

Try unplug all ethernet cables from the router, and test over 48 hours period.

 

[mdover]

I had a real weird glitch with my AC86U, in that one device did not like ethernet and resulted in internet drop outs once or twice a day for 5-10 minutes.

Try unplug all ethernet cables from the router, and test over 48 hours period.

OK. I’ll try that next time I’m away for a weekend. It connects to my NAS and desktop, so it would be inconvenient to unplug for two days when I’m home.

Most (but not all) of the crashes seem to occur at or after 24 hours of runtime so I’ve set the router to reboot in the middle of the night daily. I can’t see that inconveniencing anyone in the house and maybe it’ll address most of the problem. It won’t fix the root cause, but might address the issue.

 

[Kal1975]

Another thing you might try is changing ChkWAN options. I think it has several options in addition to the ping. There are also a few other options to stop/restart WAN instead of rebooting.

 

[mdover]

Another thing you might try is changing ChkWAN options. I think it has several options in addition to the ping. There are also a few other options to stop/restart WAN instead of rebooting.

Thanks. I’d like to explore both options. I can probably use search to figure out the ChkWAN on my own, what do you mean my stop/restart WAN.

 

[Kal1975]

Completely rebooting the router will, of course, stop and start/reconnect to the WAN. ChkWAN has an option to just stop and then restart the WAN. There is a corresponding command you can use through CLI/console to stop and restart the WAN connection. It's similar to you manually stopping and starting the WAN through the GUI.

I was having an issue where my WAN was disconnecting, for whatever reason. At one point I found that manually stopping and restarting the WAN through the GUI brought my WAN connection back up. I then found ChkWAN and now when ChkWAN sees the WAN connection down, it just starts it back up. Recovers quickly enough that I never notice when this happens.