RT-AX56U suddenly rebooting constantly

[tRiFFiD]

I've got an AX56U that was running the latest stable Merlin (3004_3.88.6). It's been running absolutely fine without skipping a beat. Suddenly I wake up this morning and every 5 to 10 minutes, the router is rebooting itself.
The system log doesn't reveal anything unusual, I've been right through it but it doesn't seem to log anything right before it crashes.

I upgraded the firmware to the newest beta (3004_3.88.6_1) just to see if it would make any difference, even though the only real change in this fw is a newer version of dnsmasq.

Attached is the system log, does anyone know what is going on? I'd rather not have to factory reset it, but if I have to then I will.

 

[dave14305]

Is it stable if you remove the USB and reboot?

 

[tRiFFiD]

Is it stable if you remove the USB and reboot?

You just triggered my memory, I had this happen once before and it was due to a faulty USB drive. About a year ago I replaced it with a USB SD adapter + card.
It must have known I was talking about it, because the reboots have stopped. If they start again, the first thing I'll do is pull the USB adapter and check how it goes.
Thanks for the quick response

 

[tRiFFiD]

Is it stable if you remove the USB and reboot?

It started rebooting again, so I've unplugged the USB adapter with SD card. It's still rebooting. Do you have any other ideas?

 

[DJones]

You just triggered my memory, I had this happen once before and it was due to a faulty USB drive. About a year ago I replaced it with a USB SD adapter + card.
It must have known I was talking about it, because the reboots have stopped. If they start again, the first thing I'll do is pull the USB adapter and check how it goes.
Thanks for the quick response

Amtm also recently did some changes to the disk check function you might need to remove and re add the script.

 

[DJones]

It started rebooting again, so I've unplugged the USB adapter with SD card. It's still rebooting. Do you have any other ideas?

Factory reset or use asus’s recovery firmware tool.

[Wireless Router] How to use Rescue Mode (Firmware Restoration)? | Official Support | ASUS Canada

Ensure if you use Merlin firmware you are using the correct firmware, and if you update Merlin’s firmware in the future remove the usb before the update so no corruption happens.

And if the usb is a dud replace it or move to an external ssd. Never use the built in disk check tool made by Asus on the router use the disk check script in amtm.

 

[tRiFFiD]

Amtm also recently did some changes to the disk check function you might need to remove and re add the script.

The issue isn't related to the SD card. I've done the below and it's still rebooting, so I'm going to return it to Amazon. I didn't buy it all that long ago, they sold it as a clearance item as soon as Asus took it off their supported list.

- Removed USB/SD card
- Flashed back to original Asus firmware
- Disconnected it from everything except power and left it alone, after 1 hour connected to it with my phone via WiFi and checked the uptime, it was only 7 minutes

So it must be a hardware related issue. I pulled my old RT-AC87U out and blew the dust off it, that doesn't even boot for some reason. I couldn't get it into recovery mode either, so I'm now using some ancient piece of ISP provided junk from about 5 years ago that will need to get me by until I can get something to replace it.

 

[DJones]

Sounds hardware related. Maybe a faulty power adapter even.

If theirs any uptime I’d check the routers temperature. Might need to literally blow out the dust or attach a fan.

 

[L&LD]

If you're flashing back and forth between stock Asus and RMerlin firmware (and vice versa) without doing a full reset after flashing the firmware you want to test, you're just chasing your tail.

Remove all USB devices, remove all LAN cables, and remove the WAN cable.

Flash the firmware you want to use (yes, over WiFi).

After confirming you truly flashed to the firmware you want to use, perform a full reset to factory defaults.

Perform a minimal and manual configuration (M&M Install).

Do not import any saved backup config file.

Do not insert any USB devices (particularly any that were used for amtm/scripts that you haven't first formatted to NTFS on a PC).

Now, test until you're satisfied the router is stable.

If it isn't stable now, it is more than likely a hardware issue.

To really rule out any other possibility:

Nuclear Reset https://www.snbforums.com/threads/major-issues-w-rt-ac86u.56342/page-4#post-495710

 

[thelonelycoder]

Amtm also recently did some changes to the disk check function you might need to remove and re add the script.

That’s all done with the update of amtm. I don’t ever leave users hanging to do manual tasks that I can script.