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RT-AX88u and Sky Fiber

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Harvey84

Occasional Visitor
Hello,

I'm hoping to get some advice on setting up my router. I am a total novice and until a week ago had know idea how complex setting up reliable WiFi setup can be.

I chose the router as I understand that I can use Merlin firmware and it has good performance with ExpressVPN.

My latest concern with my setup (due to be delivered in a few days) is that Today I have realised that I may also need a modem such as vigor 130.

I have the following:
Sky fiber broadband (utilises DHCP)
NTE5C MK2 + VDSL MK4 master socket
Asus RT-AX88U - I plan to use Merlin firmware

A couple of questions / concerns I have
Will my system work without a modem?
are there any settings that I need to implement to make the system work?

If it makes a difference in based in the UK

Thanks, any advice would be much appreciated.

Regards
Rick
 
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Thanks, very much really appreciate the help.

Would it be possible to clarify if the WPS reset should be done before or after the Merlin flash? Sorry of that's a stupid question but as I said I'm pretty new to this.

Thanks
Rick
 
You're welcome.

Simply do it in the order shown. :)
 
Your system won't work without a modem. I'm presuming you mean FTTC/VDSL as you mention the vigor 130.

There was a DSL-AC88U model that had a built in modem, but you really are better off ignoring that and going with separates. Does the Sky router have any kind of modem only mode? (not too familiar with them)
 
Your system won't work without a modem. I'm presuming you mean FTTC/VDSL as you mention the vigor 130.

There was a DSL-AC88U model that had a built in modem, but you really are better off ignoring that and going with separates. Does the Sky router have any kind of modem only mode? (not too familiar with them)
Hi,

Thanks for the reply. To be honest I have no clue and that's what I'm trying to figure out. The vigor 130 was mentioned on a sky forum.

However my master socket has a VDSL built in, so unsure if I need a separate modem??

Any help would be much appreciated.

 
That just means that you don't need to use a separate filter to separate phone and internet connections. You'll still need something (like the vigor 130) to act as a modem.

You can probably get openreach modems a lot cheaper on eBay. The main reason people buy the vigor 130 is because it lets you view line stats and do a bit more tweaking than the openreach boxes.
 
That just means that you don't need to use a separate filter to separate phone and internet connections. You'll still need something (like the vigor 130) to act as a modem.

You can probably get openreach modems a lot cheaper on eBay. The main reason people buy the vigor 130 is because it lets you view line stats and do a bit more tweaking than the openreach boxes.
Thanks very much for the advice, modem on order
 
Hello,


Following on from my initial questions (and thanks again for the previous help) I'm now hoping to get some advice, on my modem.


I am trying to set up my new network, and part of this is the Vigor 130.


After initially setting up the modem as a bridge successfully using the web interface, I later realised when setting up my router I had used the wrong IP username and password. After finding the correct info with wireshark I tried to log into the modem web interface again to update the user name and password.


However now cannot connect with the modem as I did before. I have tried to factory reset the modem however this did not work. Any advise on what may be the issue and how I can resolve it would be greatly appreciated.


I have searched the Draytek site but have not found anything that I think would help.


I would like to add that I am not an IT professional, and fairly new to this, however can follow instructions.


Thanks
 
You need to connect your PC directly to the Vigor, i.e. don't go via a router. (It's not clear whether that's what you're doing)
 
Hi,

Thanks for the reply I successfully connected via the Ethernet initially to set the modem in bridge mode, when I tried to reconnect to change the username and password the second time I couldn't get the modem web interface to connect to my laptop. I tried different cables and looked into the IP address, but had no success.
 
Did you change the Vigor's IP address? I believe the default is 192.168.2.1.

I think in bridge mode the Vigor won't be a DHCP server so you'll have to set a static IP address within the same subnet on your laptop's network interface (e.g. 192.168.2.10).
 
Did you change the Vigor's IP address? I believe the default is 192.168.2.1.

I think in bridge mode the Vigor won't be a DHCP server so you'll have to set a static IP address within the same subnet on your laptop's network interface (e.g. 192.168.2.10).
Hi Colin,

No I didn't change the IP address, but did wonder if I needed too after reading some info on Draytek site. Will try again using a different IP. Thanks
 
Did you change the Vigor's IP address? I believe the default is 192.168.2.1.

I think in bridge mode the Vigor won't be a DHCP server so you'll have to set a static IP address within the same subnet on your laptop's network interface (e.g. 192.168.2.10).
Hi Colin, the static IP solved the issue. Thanks for taking the time to offer advice, much appreciated.
 
Hello,

My latest issue is that the RT-AX88U won't flash with Merlin, I have received this the attached error message. I also double checked I'm downloading the right Merlin file from sourceforge.

If I understand the setup I need the Merlin firmware as the router doesn't support MER without it and won't work with sky.

I have the modem configured as a bridge and it works with my original sky router, but I can't get the Asus RT-AX88U to connect or flash with Merlin.

1. Does the RT-AX88u need to be connected to the internet to flash with Merlin? If so I may be a bit stuck.

2. On the router I also have the notification that my internet status is "invalid account or password, please modify." I have tried various "standard" sky options such as abcdefgh@skydsl
1234567890abcdef

And also used wireshark to get the specific details for my VDSL, none have worked and not sure if it's a separate issue or linked to the lack of Merlin firmware and MER

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

thanks
 

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Try the following to get RMerlin firmware flashed to the router. Make sure to do another full reset to factory defaults afterward too.

  • Unplug all USB devices, Ethernet, and AC power cables from the RT-AX88U. Let it sit there fully unplugged with the power button 'On' for two minutes or more.
  • Use the link below to do the appropriate WPS Button reset method for your router.
  • Flash the RMerlin firmware now after you have verified once again the model number and the correct version (386.1_2 release final).
  • Use a hash comparator like HashTab to verify the MD5 hash (d32d84715d014dca48a689e353f60da338d94a4e9f8f951ba1e59386538f4db4 RT-AX88U_386.1_2_cferom_ubi.w).

After successfully flashing to the firmware you want to use, do another full reset once more (WPS Button method, at a minimum). HTH.
 
Try the following to get RMerlin firmware flashed to the router. Make sure to do another full reset to factory defaults afterward too.

  • Unplug all USB devices, Ethernet, and AC power cables from the RT-AX88U. Let it sit there fully unplugged with the power button 'On' for two minutes or more.
  • Use the link below to do the appropriate WPS Button reset method for your router.
  • Flash the RMerlin firmware now after you have verified once again the model number and the correct version (386.1_2 release final).
  • Use a hash comparator like HashTab to verify the MD5 hash (d32d84715d014dca48a689e353f60da338d94a4e9f8f951ba1e59386538f4db4 RT-AX88U_386.1_2_cferom_ubi.w).

After successfully flashing to the firmware you want to use, do another full reset once more (WPS Button method, at a minimum). HTH.
Hi, thanks very much for the advice, I will try. Can I just ask about verify the MD5 hash, is it the example you have suggested in the brackets or do I need to find it somewhere? I've never heard of this before and a little unsure.

Thanks again
Rick
 
The 'hash' I have included for the RT-AX88U is for that specific model and firmware '.w' file. You can click on the (386.1_2 release final) link to see it in context too.

Use HashTab to verify those MD5 values match.
 

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