RT-AX88U log—does this mean it has restarted a few times on its own?

[kolen]

Hi,

I'm experiencing degraded internet connection issue, I find something strange in the log, so I want to figure out what that means first.

See the attached syslog.txt, the thing I want to focused on is the time stamps.

First, as far as I understand that the May 4-5 time stamps are before the NTP synced the time because of the lack of RTC.

What I don't understand is that if my log means that my router has rebooted a few times on its own.

Facts:

Firmware is currently on 3.0.0.4.386_49674, however I have been on 386.7_0 and 386.7_2 in the past few days.

I haven't rebooted the router today. Here's the first and last Jul 30 timestamps within each blocks of contiguous time (... are Jul 30, ...... are May):

line 404 Jul 30 07:07:03
...
line 411 Jul 30 07:07:31
......
line 792 Jul 30 07:58:25
...
line 1047 Jul 30 01:32:03
......
line 1411 Jul 30 01:32:47
...
line 1491 Jul 30 01:58:51
......
line 1853 Jul 30 01:59:34
...
line 1916 Jul 30 02:01:54
......
line 2272 Jul 30 02:02:36
...
line 2439 Jul 30 02:29:56
......
line 2794 Jul 30 02:30:40
...
line 2905 Jul 30 02:38:59
......
line 3260 Jul 30 02:39:42
...

A few questions:

• Are the gaps of May time-stamps means the router has rebooted (on its own)? I guess so because I assume it would only shows as May if it is in the beginning of the boot process and the NTP hasn't kicked in yet?
• If so, what may have caused this problem and how may I proceed in solving/debugging this?
• May be a more fundamental question to ask is if the log is chronological? Seeing line 1021-2023:
  Jul 30 01:31:58 miniupnpd[6546]: shutting down MiniUPnPd
  Jul 30 08:32:00 ahs: ===Terminate ahs daemon===
  Jul 30 01:32:02 kernel: eth5 (Ext switch port: 7) (Logical Port: 15) (phyId: 1e) Link DOWN.
  
  where the time has jumped forward and back.

Notes:

• All the May blocks starts with klogd started, but not all klogd started occurs in May blocks.
• All May blocks ends with ntp: start NTP update, vice versa.

Setup​

• Largely followed this guide to reset: (NOOB) Definition of "minimal and manual configuration" | SmallNetBuilder Forums.
  • Flashed 3.0.0.4.386_49674 firmware, other versions flashed are 386.7_0, 386.7_2. All have experienced intermittent internet connection problems mentioned below.

Minimal setup to debug, settings different from defaults are:

• Go to http://router.asus.com and follow the initial "Quick Internet Setup". Straight forward setup are followed, e.g. 2.4 GHz and 5GHz are not separated.
• Wireless
  • "Wireless Mode" check "Disable 11b"
  • Enable "WiFi Agile Multiband"
  • Authentication Method: WPA2/WPA3-Personal (also tried "WPA2-Personal")
  • Channel bandwidth: 160 MHz
  • Control Channel: 100
  • WPS > "OFF"
• LAN
  • LAN IP
    • "Host Name": REDACTED
    • "RT-AX88U's Domain Name": home
    • "IP Address": REDACTED
  • DHCP Server
    • IP Pool Starting Address: REDACTED
    • Enable Manual Assignment: yes (also tried "no")
      • "Manually Assigned IP around the DHCP list": 32 entries here.
  • Switch Control
    • Bonding/Link aggregation: Enable
• WAN
  • Internet Connection
    • Enable UPnP: No
    • DNS Server:
      • 1.1.1.1
      • 1.0.0.1
• Administration
  • System
    • Service
      • Enable SSH: LAN only
      • SSH Port: REDACTED
      • Allow Password Login: No
      • "Authorized Keys": REDACTED

Symptoms: (this may be a separate issue, but is the real problem I tried to hunt down. I noticed about the apparent reboots so I ask about this first.)

Intermittent high ping and jitter with low Download speed, regardless of wired or WiFi connections.

See figure, SPEEDTEST via web-GUI, all those ping time > 100ms are anomalies. I cross-checked that with the network above mine (there's 2 subnets above me that I can't do anything about that) via WiFi at the same time of these tests, the ping continues to be ~20ms and Downloads >100Mbps. So it is definitely my router. (iperf3 between local computers continues to behave normal, achieving close to 1Gbps.)

Thanks in advance!

 

[eibgrad]

FWIW ...

I rarely rely on examining the syslog file directly on the router for diagnostic purposes. The mixture of prior and current syslog entries, along w/ the time issues, often makes it hard to know what actually happened in what order. Instead, I forward the syslog to a Remote Log Server such as rsyslogd on my Ubuntu desktop, where it's stored on a file. I can then examine it at will, w/ some sense of order. I can also monitor the syslog in real-time from the same file.

When it comes to reboots, I find accurately detecting it is best achieved by having the init-start script email me w/ an appropriate message. Now granted, if I'm already using the above rsyslog server, I could probably assume the restart of BusyBox was in fact a reboot. But in terms of being 100% accurate, I prefer the email approach.

 

[kernol]

I would suggest another factory reset under 386.7_2 ... and leave most of the settings at their factory defaults - changing only those that you KNOW are necessary. You seem to have a number of options "enabled" which others have reported as problematic.

For e.g. - don't bother to tick the "Disable 11b" under 2.4GHz wifi settings; don't enable "WiFi Agile Multiband" etc.

When I first joined the Asus Router club I spent way too much time fiddling about "tweaking" [or so I thought] settings I didn't fully understand ... which just added instability issues. For the most part "factory default" settings are good to go .

WELCOME to these forums - and enjoy Merlinware with amtm and its many useful scripts .

 

[kolen]

Thanks. Next time I'll try leaving those WiFi options as default. But the problem exists even for wired connections so I doubt that was the cause (but may be it indirectly degrading the service as a whole.)

Do you think this problem would shows up only within a few hours of newly flashed firmware?

Well in the beginning I install ASUS merlin immediately and uses as many tools provided by amtm. But since mid-June I experienced the intermittent connection issues, I revert to as simple a setup as possible, especially since I learn that we are supposed to factory reset after each upgrade.

 

[kernol]

Thanks. Next time I'll try leaving those WiFi options as default. But the problem exists even for wired connections so I doubt that was the cause (but may be it indirectly degrading the service as a whole.)

Do you think this problem would shows up only within a few hours of newly flashed firmware?

Well in the beginning I install ASUS merlin immediately and uses as many tools provided by amtm. But since mid-June I experienced the intermittent connection issues, I revert to as simple a setup as possible, especially since I learn that we are supposed to factory reset after each upgrade.

It is only rarely necessary to Factory Reset after upgrading within Merlin versions - but the RT-AX88U 386.7_0 was problematic for several but not all owners. In 386.7_2 firmware the wireless drivers were back-revved [see change log] and that seemed to sort out the problem for most.

I know that Merlinware 386.5_2 was rock steady - so I would suggest you

1. eject any USB inserted in you router; [make sure it umounts successfully by large drop in RAM consumed before]
2. flash version 386.5_2 to your RT-AX88U - wait 5 minutes or so;
3. do WPS button reset process;
4. rebuild MANUALLY without restoring any settings from files!

Follow the rest of the process you are already familiar with [advocated by @L&LD which you know about from your first post].

Stick with that firmware keeping most of the default factory options ... for a few days at least ... if not until the release version of 386.8 comes out ... {do NOT play with the 386.8 Alpha version given your modest level of experience }.
Important to get your router stable and fully functional - then gradually play with advanced settings - keeping backups in between so you can safely revert if things go pear-shaped.

If after the above you still have weird reboots, connection losses etc - may be time to consider contacting your supplier or Asus for replacement.

 

[kolen]

I tried 386.5_2, 386.8_beta2 (in addition to 3.0.0.4.386_49674, 386.7_0, 386.7_2 I tried previously) with an even simpler setup documented below.

The problem still persists — occasionally all internet access will degrade to unusable level, sometimes worse than documented above that SpeedTest cannot be run, and revert back to normal upon reboot.

The settings is really minimal now, so I'm confused what can go wrong here. The only complication here is the DHCP static list which has 32 records, set with the following command:

nvram set dhcp_staticlist=...
nvram commit

Settings​

• Go to http://router.asus.com and follow the initial "Quick Internet Setup". Straight forward setup are followed, e.g. 2.4 GHz and 5GHz are not separated.
• Wireless
  • Channel bandwidth: 160 MHz
  • Control Channel: 100
  • WPS > "OFF"
• LAN
  • LAN IP
    • "Host Name": REDACTED
    • "RT-AX88U's Domain Name": home
    • "IP Address": REDACTED
  • DHCP Server
    • IP Pool Starting Address: REDACTED
    • Enable Manual Assignment: yes (also tried "no")
      • "Manually Assigned IP around the DHCP list": 32 entries here.
  • Switch Control
    • Bonding/Link aggregation: Enable
• WAN
  • Internet Connection
    • Enable UPnP: No
• Administration
  • System
    • Service
      • Enable SSH: LAN only
      • SSH Port: REDACTED
      • Allow Password Login: No
      • "Authorized Keys": REDACTED
    • Local Access Config
      • "Authentication Method": HTTPS

 

[kolen]

Just to report back:

I think I finally found the problem, it is exactly originated from the part that I have no control from. I mentioned that there's another router between the modem to mine, and that one is causing all the troubles.

I eventually found this out by doing a lot of experiments using iperf. e.g. by adding a switch in the WAN port to my router and put another iperf server on the switch. Running ping after ssh into the router also help (which has very high latency) to see the actual problem.

The real problem is that my landlord is illiterate in these things, so all I can do is email them and ask them to restart the router. I think they may have called customer support for hours and eventually something changed that resolved everything.

 

[elorimer]

I rarely rely on examining the syslog file directly on the router for diagnostic purposes. The mixture of prior and current syslog entries, along w/ the time issues, often makes it hard to know what actually happened in what order. Instead, I forward the syslog to a Remote Log Server such as rsyslogd on my Ubuntu desktop, where it's stored on a file. I can then examine it at will, w/ some sense of order. I can also monitor the syslog in real-time from the same file.

Along similar lines, I use scribe/syslog-ng to restamp the log based on processed time. Because scribe loads and starts late, I pour over the starting entries into a file, and first process that file before moving on to following entries. That gives me a continuous log in order. Then UIScribe let's me see the logs on the router itself.

I vaguely thought the log forwarding itself started late and might not forward the first messages; never tested that though.

 

[elorimer]

• LAN
  • LAN IP
    • "Host Name": REDACTED
    • "RT-AX88U's Domain Name": home
    • "IP Address": REDACTED
  • DHCP Server
    • IP Pool Starting Address: REDACTED
    • Enable Manual Assignment: yes (also tried "no")
      • "Manually Assigned IP around the DHCP list": 32 entries here.
  • Switch Control
    • Bonding/Link aggregation: Enable
• WAN
  • Internet Connection
    • Enable UPnP: No
    • DNS Server:
      • 1.1.1.1
      • 1.0.0.1

If you have two private subnets above you, I would also check to see that all the subnets have a unique addressing scheme.