TM-AC1900 won't install

[nusrat]

Bought brand new from CraigsList -- box never opened. Intentionally did NOT connect upstream/WAN cable. At first, just wanted to measure Wi-Fi signal strength / range. Powered-up, confirmed Wi-Fi lights are lit. But an Android app for measuring Wi-Fi, AND Android built-in "Available Networks" screen, AND Windows "View Available Wireless Networks" function, ALL show no SSID being broadcast.

I thought maybe a config problem, so I connected unit to Windows ethernet port with cable, and tried to browse to 192.168.1.1 -- nothing. Tried bouncing power, Reset-button, etc.

Except for the fact that the lights are lit, this thing is a parrot of the "Norwegian Blue" variety, "pining for the fjords".

Any ideas? Seems statistically unlikely that a NIB unit would light-up normally, yet be network-useless.
Does the shipped firmware maybe insist on having a WAN connection to "phone home" for latest firmware? I've avoided connecting WAN until I can login and see if maybe I've happily landed a unit which hasn't yet been AImesh-crippled.

 

[Hunterx]

try 192.168.29.1.

 

[thiggins]

Could be the seller bricked it trying to convert it,

 

[Grisu]

first power off and on again while pressing WPS button and 20s longer, then release it.
Set LAN-IP 192.168.1.10 on PC and connect with ethernet to any LAN-port of modem.
Use asus discovery tool: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/RT-AC68U/Discovery_v1480.zip
Then you could try to load firmware again with mini-web, press reset button while powering on and wait till slow blinking and upload firmware, wait long to finish (10 min and more).
If all doesnt help return as defective.

 

[RMerlin]

After plugging a computer over Ethernet, check what's the default gateway using "ipconfig /all" in a command prompt. Then, use that default gateway in a web browser.

 

[nusrat]

@Grisu , @Hunterx, @RMerlin ... thanks to all for responding. This unit has never been hacked / modded, let alone bricked -- as I said, it was new, as in "sealed". As it turns out, problem went away when I used the WPS-button reset-method, which I read about on the dd-wrt forum after my OP and before I saw your responses. (For some reason, I never got any emails regarding any responses after @Hunterx 's.)

So, now on to the more interesting stuff. I'm aware of the recent prohibition in this forum on discussing "conversion" to a non-telco model. Shouldn't be a problem, because I don't want to hack / mod / root this unit if I can avoid it -- as I said in the OP, I was hoping to interrogate the fw level to see if this one is old enough to pre-date the T****** / A*** cat-and-mouse games.

Some naive questions:
#1: Am I correct in thinking that there is, in older TM-AC1900 units, an earlier level of stock fw in which AiMesh is functional as-is, in conjunction with a non-telco unit like AC68U or AC1900P?
#2: If "yes", is my unit old enough? The fw is 3.0.0.4.376_3181-g247286a .
#3: If using AiMesh is the only "special" thing I want to do with this TM unit, and if mine already has that capability, then why might I want to change the fw? ATTENTION TIM: NOTE THAT I'M NOT ASKING *HOW* TO DO ANYTHING YOU'VE FORBIDDEN!

 

[Grisu]

you cant get AiMesh legal! thats the problem, only way to use not allowed conversion to RT, but no discussion here as you said. Its only more work with newer firmware than with older to get Telnet/SSH as first step, result will be the same.

 

[ColinTaylor]

#1: Am I correct in thinking that there is, in older TM-AC1900 units, an earlier level of stock fw in which AiMesh is functional as-is, in conjunction with a non-telco unit like AC68U or AC1900P?.

No. IIRC some of the initial beta AiMesh firmwares worked on the TM's but they are no longer available for download.

#2: If "yes", is my unit old enough? The fw is 3.0.0.4.376_3181-g247286a .

See answer #1. That firmware is way too old. AiMesh functionality was not present in the firmware at that time.

 

[nusrat]

you cant get AiMesh legal!

I'll try to re-phrase what I think @Grisu is saying. For 'legal', read 'legitimate', "conforming to intended use", "without modding", etc. -- AFAIK, no one on this forum is claiming to be a specialist in IP-law, DMCA, etc.

only way to use not allowed conversion to RT

@Grisu is saying, "The stock TM-AC1900 has never been AiMesh-capable. The only way to do that is by doing T5DWUTTA (The Thing That The Tim Doesn't Want Us To Talk About)."
As I don't currently have another stock-AiMesh-capable unit yet, I was already planning to defer pursuit of T5DWUTTA to another time, in other places.

Its only more work with newer firmware than with older to get Telnet/SSH as first step

This is the part that's least clear to me, but I think it means, "Getting Telnet/SSH to work with the stock fw is the first step to any replacement of the stock fw, and it merely happens to be a little easier with the older stock fw than with the newer ones."

 

[nusrat]

...beta AiMesh firmwares worked on the TM's but they are no longer available

Thanks for clearing that up. As for the third question I asked: other than T5DWUTTA, what greatly significant benefits would I gain by using any particular fws which don't come from Asus or TM?

 

[Grisu]

yes your interpretations are quite correct, have a look in whatsyourrouter forum for more informations
AsusWRT got Aimesh, Merlin has some additional features and bug fixes and possibility to run your own scripts, Johns fork uses older very stable firmware with updates and older wireless drivers not that limiting in power, DDWRT dont know.
They are ALL much better than asus's TM-firmware (few adaptions for TM ISP product), features missing and very very old without any security updates!