Scheduled reboot drops Internet connection

[MadPup]

I have an AX88U router and two AC68U mesh nodes all running their latest merlin. I have the system scheduled to reboot once a week but 50% of the time the reboot fails to reconnect to the Internet. When this happens I need to reboot the mesh from the web interface... which always works. Seems like a bug somewhere?

 

[ApexRon]

I have an AX88U router and two AC68U mesh nodes all running their latest merlin. I have the system scheduled to reboot once a week but 50% of the time the reboot fails to reconnect to the Internet. When this happens I need to reboot the mesh from the web interface... which always works. Seems like a bug somewhere?

To clarify, even the AX88U doesn’t have internet access after a reboot?

Have you tried to stagger the reboot schedule? I personally would reboot the AX88U at least 5 minutes after the AC68U.

 

[Tech9]

Seems like a bug somewhere?

Most likely. The only way to find out where the issue is coming from is to compare the behavior of official Asuswrt and Asuswrt-Merlin on your RT-AX88U. If it's the same - you have to wait for Asuswrt base update, then Asuswrt-Merlin on updated base. The old RT-AC68U routers are EoL and no fixes are expected. Most folks recommend running official Asuswrt on nodes. Not clear what your firmware choice is. Seem like your temporary fix is to disable the scheduled reboot. It's a band-aid solution to underlying issue anyway.

 

[MadPup]

To clarify, even the AX88U doesn’t have internet access after a reboot?

Have you tried to stagger the reboot schedule? I personally would reboot the AX88U at least 5 minutes after the AC68U.

It's an AiMesh setup. It is my understanding that "Enable Reboot Scheduler" option reboots the main router and all nodes.

 

[Viktor Jaep]

I have the system scheduled to reboot once a week but 50% of the time the reboot fails to reconnect to the Internet.

Just a quick question? Why are you rebooting? Is there something so catastrophically wrong with your router that it needs a fresh reset like that? I don't reboot unless I am loading a new firmware update, typically.

 

[MadPup]

Just a quick question? Why are you rebooting? Is there something so catastrophically wrong with your router that it needs a fresh reset like that? I don't reboot unless I am loading a new firmware update, typically.

Maybe about once a month I need to reboot due to network instability issues. I thought that rebooting maybe once a week would keep things healthy, especially when I'm out of town for extended periods. Instead I lost access to my home network when the scheduled reboot happened.

 

[Tech9]

Maybe about once a month I need to reboot due to network instability issues.

You may want to investigate the root cause of network stability issues. If this setup has issues on official Asuswrt firmware and in vanilla configuration - plan replacement with something more reliable. Out of town plus intermittent issues hurts your family members' user experience.

 

[rung]

You could try changing the setting of "DHCP query frequency" in the WAN section. I had a similar issue a while back but newer firmware versions eventually fixed it. If that doesn't work (and it didn't for me), you can try forcing a recycle the WAN connection at startup with the following commands put into an executable script called from services-start:

#!/bin/sh
logger -t 'restart_wan' 'Restarting WAN...'
killall -USR1 udhcpc
sleep 10
service restart_wan
logger -t 'restart_wan' '... WAN restarted'

 

[jcmos]

I have an AX88U router and two AC68U mesh nodes all running their latest merlin. I have the system scheduled to reboot once a week but 50% of the time the reboot fails to reconnect to the Internet. When this happens I need to reboot the mesh from the web interface... which always works. Seems like a bug somewhere?

I have the same exact issue. It is nothing to do with the mesh network. I think it is more likely to be the Merlin firmware.
I had a AX88U and after losing connection to the NBN because of works, when restored, never was able to re-connect back to the ISP.
The solution was to switch the WAN to OFF then apply, then switch it back to ON, and that eventualy that would work.
Why I said there may be a problem with the Merlin firmware? because it is the firmware I used for the AX88U and now I'm using for the BE88U, and I am having the exact same problem.
I am worried if I go on holidays for a month, while running my camera system to check on intruders, I wont be able to do that if the connection drops because I know unless I manually set the WAN to OFF and ON again, it is not going to re-establish the connection to the ISP.
It is a pain in the butt!!!. The thing is I dont want another router from another brand, because ASUS routers are great and the user interface probably one of the best ones.
Solution B for me is to purchase a Huawey USB dongle so I can put a SIM card in it, use it as a backup failover. $80 for the dongle and $200 for the SIM card plan from Kogan will do the trick if internet drops.
As I setup a VPN, I would be able to login into the router from another country or location, through the USB mobile data plan, and then be able to change the WAN to OFF and ON and restart the router.

 

[Tech9]

Why I said there may be a problem with the Merlin firmware? because it is the firmware I used for the AX88U and now I'm using for the BE88U, and I am having the exact same problem.

This will most likely happen with factory firmware as well. We have discussed the issue many times and it's often related to incompatibility between ISP provided equipment and ASUS routers.

I would be able to login into the router from another country or location, through the USB mobile data plan

Make sure this company allows incoming connections. Most mobile operators don't. Your VPN idea may not work as expected. Mobile plans are not exactly equal to common residential ISP service.

 

[jcmos]

This will most likely happen with factory firmware as well. We have discussed the issue many times and it's often related to incompatibility between ISP provided equipment and ASUS routers.



Make sure this company allows incoming connections. Most mobile operators don't. Your VPN idea may not work as expected. Mobile plans are not exactly equal to common residential ISP service.

I get that but as you know if you can outbound also can inbound. That is controlled by the router (modem) anyway.
To put it another way, i have my phone here, i am receiving sms, internet packets, anything. I can use my phone as a gateway as personal hotspot.
I dont see why i wont be able to receive data with the same SIM card, independently of the device i am using, in this case a router.
My mobile provider's SIM cards, anyway, can be used as an internet backup on a 4G/5G router, or via dongle if router supports it and provided the router is unlocked and supports 4G/LTE connectivity. It allows personal hotspot/tetheting on the plan which means data can be shared with other devices via router.
Cheers.

 

[jcmos]

This will most likely happen with factory firmware as well. We have discussed the issue many times and it's often related to incompatibility between ISP provided equipment and ASUS routers.



Make sure this company allows incoming connections. Most mobile operators don't. Your VPN idea may not work as expected. Mobile plans are not exactly equal to common residential ISP service.

The thing with the VPN is that right now is working for me. If the main internet connection fail, will switch over to the failover mode, so i dont see why VPN will stop working while you have an internet connection, whatever that be

 

[Tech9]

I get that but as you know if you can outbound also can inbound.

No.

i dont see why VPN will stop working while you have an internet connection

Most mobile operators block incoming connections with exception to specific ports. Your VPN server won't stop working, but you may not be able to access it from WAN. If it's working with whatever you currently use - you got lucky. Internet access only is not enough. If the server is behind NAT or CG-NAT you also won't be able to access it, at least not easily. And Dual-WAN feature on ASUS routers is notoriously unreliable, may not fail back and may drain your mobile data plan. For high reliability remote sites ASUS home routers are not the best choice. I had one killed by ASUS themselves with bad ASD update.

 

[jcmos]

No.



Most mobile operators block incoming connections with exception to specific ports. Your VPN server won't stop working, but you may not be able to access it from WAN. If it's working with whatever you currently use - you got lucky. Internet access only is not enough. If the server is behind NAT or CG-NAT you also won't be able to access it, at least not easily. And Dual-WAN feature on ASUS routers is notoriously unreliable, may not fail back and may drain your mobile data plan. For high reliability remote sites ASUS home routers are not the best choice. I had one killed by ASUS themselves with bad ASD update.

I just turned off the NTD, and switched over to the SIM, then accesed the router from outside via VPN, no problems at all.

 

[Tech9]

Good, you've got lucky.

 

[rung]

The solution was to switch the WAN to OFF then apply, then switch it back to ON, and that eventualy that would work.

This is exactly what the above script does except you can do that automatically at boot.

 

[jcmos]

Good, you've got lucky.

I dont think is luck, it is technical common sense. Cheers

 

[Tech9]

dont think is luck, it is technical common sense.

Okay... Networking is not plumbing. Careful when giving advice and you don't know details.

 

[Henkan]

I think your network problems depends on your mix of AX and AC routers. I have tried that and I had similar problems. I bought two AX58 as nodes instead and haven't had any problems since.