What to replace an ASUS-RT-AC86U with - this unit is losing internet randomly requiring power cycle

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › What to replace an ASUS-RT-AC86U with - this unit is losing internet randomly requiring power cycle

lchiu7

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#306845 26-Aug-2023 22:01

I am using the above router which normally is fine. My WiFi requirements are modest, mainly supporting phones and tablets. All streaming services are done with wired connections.

But lately it's been misbehaving with its losing its internet connection or its WiFi. This requires a power cycle to fix which is proving annoying especially when I am not home and the wife complains!

Anyway for peace of mind thinking of replacing it with something similar and this looks okay

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NETAS4653/ASUS-RT-AX53U-AX1800-Dual-Band-AX-WiFi-6-Extendabl

Any thoughts/experiences of this device or other recommendations? Thanks

Apsattv

2390 posts

Uber Geek

#3120696 27-Aug-2023 04:28

First thing I would do is check if the firmware is up todate. Does it also lose devices that are running via ethernet ? idicating your whole connection is going down or only the wifi devices?

If only wifi goes down that could indicate an interfearing signal. Maybe a neighbour has fired up some new gear on the same channel or near?

I would reccomend you download Wifiman its a very good tool to use to check your wifi signals

Also check the history log in your router as it may indicate a reason for the wifi drop

sqishy

470 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3120714 27-Aug-2023 09:02

The one you have looks pretty good. I'd do a few things:

-check that the aerials are not lose - but if issues on wired then something else

-do the firmware upgrade, restart etc as other recommendation

-check an establish is the issue router to device or router to ONT - maybe look in logs

-in logs you may see a log of some other issue etc

-if it always comes right after a restart then only lasts a few days or hours its a sign of a firmware bug or hardware issue

lchiu7

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3120724 27-Aug-2023 09:46

THanks. I probably did not make it clear enough. I have the Asus and a Google WiFi devices connected to the Asus. Sometimes I cannot access any WiFi on the Asus but the Google WiFi is still working. My devices try to connect to the two WiFi bands on the Asus (2.4 and 5) and won't connect but will connect to the Google WiFi. A power cycle of the Asus fixes that. Then other times the whole house has no Internet - easily seen since my streaming devices fail and they are hard wires into the router. Again a power cycle fixes that too.

Will check firmware and look at the logs.

[UPDATE]

I just looked at the logs and see lots of these errors

Device (retry in 60s)
Aug 27 10:42:41 kernel: bcm_mcast_mld_add:833 mc_fdb->rep_list ffffffc01388fba8 next ffffffc017086460 prev ffffffc017086460 rep_entry->list ffffffc017086460 next ffffffc01388fba8 prev ffffffc01388fba8
Aug 27 10:42:43 dnsmasq-dhcp[1755]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
Aug 27 10:43:43 dnsmasq-dhcp[1755]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)

That seems like DHCP is failing since if I go to the router and look for DHCP clients there are none which is very unusual since all my device, both wired an WiFi use DHCP to get their IP addresses.

Anyway I have updated the firmware and will see what happens

k1w1k1d

1530 posts

Uber Geek

#3120790 27-Aug-2023 12:01

Our 8-year-old ASUS router started dropping internet occasionally. Dropouts got more frequent over a few months till it got to several times a day. Wi-Fi was still working, just no connection to internet. Cycling power got internet back. Router had the latest firmware.

My guess something was heating up and failing.

Contacted MyRepublic and they sent me an ASUS RT-AX3000 to replace it. No more dropouts and Wi-Fi speeds increased.

I then bought an ASUS RP-AX56 and set up a nest system to get full house coverage. Works very well.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79314 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#3120838 27-Aug-2023 13:28

How would is the router?

First, the log entry about no space left to me indicates something is up - perhaps dnsmasq is poorly configured and using storage that is not needed for too long, or perhaps internal storage is failing, which seems to happen with some routers depending on the memory type they use.

If dnsmasq configuration is the problem, is there an option to not use the router as the main DNS? Some routers have a setting called "Forward known DNS", which if available and if you check that setting, the clients will use the DNS you specify (either ISP or third-party like Cloudflare, Google, etc) instead of relying on the router caching all the requests from all devices.

[Edit] It seems ASUS has a "Forward domain queries to upstream DNS" - check that box and see how it goes.

lchiu7

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3120851 27-Aug-2023 15:14

freitasm:

How would is the router?

First, the log entry about no space left to me indicates something is up - perhaps dnsmasq is poorly configured and using storage that is not needed for too long, or perhaps internal storage is failing, which seems to happen with some routers depending on the memory type they use.

If dnsmasq configuration is the problem, is there an option to not use the router as the main DNS? Some routers have a setting called "Forward known DNS", which if available and if you check that setting, the clients will use the DNS you specify (either ISP or third-party like Cloudflare, Google, etc) instead of relying on the router caching all the requests from all devices.

[Edit] It seems ASUS has a "Forward domain queries to upstream DNS" - check that box and see how it goes.

I had it set to automatic but since I am using a custom DNS server for streaming reasons, I really should put in their DNS addresses.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79314 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#3120857 27-Aug-2023 15:41

It is a different setting.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

marpada

476 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3120860 27-Aug-2023 15:52

You can try enabling telnet/ssh on the LAN network and use Linux command like tools like df and du to troubleshoot the space issue. There might be like a huge log file using too much space.

For instance in my router, /var/ is a link to /tmp/var, which is mounted in memory (tmps), so it makes sense that rebooting fixes the issue. In my case it's only at 3% even after being up for 135 days.

admin@RT-AC58U:/tmp/home/root# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root 24.8M 24.8M 0 100% /
devtmpfs 59.4M 0 59.4M 0% /dev
tmpfs 59.4M 2.0M 57.4M 3% /tmp
/dev/ubi0_5 18.5M 372.0K 18.1M 2% /jffs

Listing the size of files in /tmp

admin@RT-AC58U:/tmp/home/root# du -sh /tmp/*
620.0K /tmp/ahs.log
1.0M /tmp/ahs.log.1
4.0K /tmp/ahsjson.json
4.0K /tmp/asd.log

...

...

The biggest file is /tmp/ahs.log.1, so you can use the tail command to browse the end of the file and see if it rings any bell.

HIH

lchiu7

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3120956 27-Aug-2023 20:45

freitasm: It is a different setting.

Then I guess I don't have it.

lchiu7

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3120957 27-Aug-2023 20:50

marpada:

You can try enabling telnet/ssh on the LAN network and use Linux command like tools like df and du to troubleshoot the space issue. There might be like a huge log file using too much space.

The biggest file is /tmp/ahs.log.1, so you can use the tail command to browse the end of the file and see if it rings any bell.

HIH

Thanks. There is a ssh option and so I can turn it on an use putty to check

michaelmurfy

meow
13267 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3121019 27-Aug-2023 23:12

That seems like a bug more than anything. Perhaps a buggy version of the Asus firmware.

You could extend its life by installing Asuswrt-Merlin - https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
Referral Links: Quic Broadband (use R122101E7CV7Q for free setup)

Are you happy with what you get from Geekzone? Please consider supporting us by subscribing.
Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

lchiu7

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3121351 28-Aug-2023 18:57

michaelmurfy:

That seems like a bug more than anything. Perhaps a buggy version of the Asus firmware.

You could extend its life by installing Asuswrt-Merlin - https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/

I think custom firmware might be a bridge too far for me. I think I'd rather just buy a new a router.

Apsattv

2390 posts

Uber Geek

#3121462 29-Aug-2023 06:53

A factory reset might clear out any temp stuff and free up some file space

Scoobing

44 posts

Geek

#3121949 30-Aug-2023 16:09

lchiu7:

michaelmurfy:

That seems like a bug more than anything. Perhaps a buggy version of the Asus firmware.

You could extend its life by installing Asuswrt-Merlin - https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/

I think custom firmware might be a bridge too far for me. I think I'd rather just buy a new a router.

I thought that too but then I installed it and the install process wasn't any different then a manual stock firmware update. I think it even kept all my network settings intact.

I've enjoyed the additional functionality, and it helped with some stability issues I was having. Makes it much easier to monitor RAM usage and CPU load right from the main dashboard.

lchiu7

6479 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3122348 31-Aug-2023 18:50

So far with the firmware upgrade, the router has been stable (knock on wood) and so I hope this has fixed the problem