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05dyna
DD-WRT Guru
Joined: 25 Jan 2008
Posts: 828
| | Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 0:26 Post subject: ASUS T-Mobile TM-AC1900 hardware failure? | I will try to keep this short as possible. I have the ASUS T-Mobile TM-AC1900 that I converted a few months back to the RT-AC68U and had been using it as my main router. I was running Advanced Tomato for just over 90 days of continuous uptime and no issues. I didn’t do make any change to the configuration and it became unresponsive on or about day 92 so I rebooted it boot and appeared OK.
I didn’t like the fact it crashed so it’s no longer trustworthy. I removed the TM-AC1900 and did an erase nvram and installed the latest Kong build and demoted the TM-AC1900 to an Access Point role only. That way when it fails we only lose the wireless and not the entire connection. It seemed OK but one day later after going to dd-wrt same thing, it locked up and failed to respond. Now that crashed suddenly after a good 92 day run with Tomato and crashed again with dd-wrt I’m thinking some type of hardware failure.
Two days ago I did an erase nvram and it seemed OK again. It even seemed like it had a little faster response time in the web interface. It didn’t crash within the last two days but it now appears to be rebooting based on uptime results. I’m clueless when it comes to understanding the log file but one thing stands out is the following line:
Jan 1 00:00:12 RT-AC68U kern.info kernel: pci 0000:00:10.0: [Firmware Bug]: reg 0x10: invalid BAR (can't size)
What do you guys think? Should I look for something else in syslog or just shoot it and call it a day? Thanks in advance |
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05dyna
DD-WRT Guru
Joined: 25 Jan 2008
Posts: 828
| | Posted: Thu Mar 16, 2017 22:42 Post subject: | Thanks for reply back, I didn’t have the “follow the topic” enabled but it’s on now. It displays as Asus RT-AC68U in the system tab and I used the rt-ac68u_1.0.2.0_us.bin for the CFE. So just to confirm the U makes it an A1 correct because I can’t find A1, B1 or C1 listed anywhere on the router.
In the meantime its been up with 2 days and 9 hours but it did reboot once after about 17 hours if my math is correct. I exchanged my Linksys with the Asus within 15 minutes of each other and the Linksys has been up 3 days and 2 hours while the Asus now has the lower uptime. Both routers are on a USP units so the power isn’t an issue. I have the r30700M build on there now, maybe I try your build and see what happens.
I know when I first got it my intent was to run dd-wrt but when I tried to overclock it to 1000 the router it went into the recovery mode each time I tried to OC it. Then it just seemed like there was something wrong. It was sluggish so I figured I try Advanced Tomato for something different which was great for 92 days but then took a dump.
EDIT: cleared the nvram via telnet and changed build to r29739 and all was good until I overclocked it. It just rebooted and went into recovery mode. cleared the with the WPS button method and the result was the same, back to recovery mode... |
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Malachi
DD-WRT Guru
Joined: 17 Jul 2012
Posts: 7079
Location: Columbus, Ohio
| | Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 1:25 Post subject: | What did you over clock it to? Changes are you will need to erase the nvram using a serial cable.
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05dyna
DD-WRT Guru
Joined: 25 Jan 2008
Posts: 828
| | Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 4:17 Post subject: | @ Malachi I overclocked 1000mhz then it rebooted and went into recovery mode just as it did back in December when I first converted it. I was looking over in one of the other forums and someone said you clear the nvram by powering off and then holding down the wps button for 15 seconds after reapplying the power, I tried that too and overclocked again with the same result. At this point I would have no idea how to use the serial cable to clear the nvram let alone opening the case.
I never used Merlin firmware but a just after my last post I figured why not give it a try and see if the Merlin FW continues with the random reboots or lock-ups. I know this is a dd-wrt forum but kind of running out of options here so have to try something. I put the latest Merlin FW on it from 3-11-2017 so we'll see how that goes. I hope to put it back in service tomorrow as an Access Point only. |
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Malachi
DD-WRT Guru
Joined: 17 Jul 2012
Posts: 7079
Location: Columbus, Ohio
| | Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 8:39 Post subject: | So it's working now?
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05dyna
DD-WRT Guru
Joined: 25 Jan 2008
Posts: 828
| | Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 10:02 Post subject: | | Yes, it does work. The concern is it became unresponsive at the 92 day mark with Advanced Tomato installed and did at least three random reboots after moving to dd-wrt. So I figured I’d configure it as an access point and try the Merlin’s FW to see if it experiences and more unplanned reboots. |
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Malachi
DD-WRT Guru
Joined: 17 Jul 2012
Posts: 7079
Location: Columbus, Ohio
| | Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 10:09 Post subject: | When you said after reboot it would go into recovery, I thought you meant that's all it would do.
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MDA400
DD-WRT User
Joined: 10 Jan 2015
Posts: 233
Location: Minnesota
| | Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 14:43 Post subject: | | 05dyna wrote: | | Thanks for reply back, I didn’t have the “follow the topic” enabled but it’s on now. It displays as Asus RT-AC68U in the system tab and I used the rt-ac68u_1.0.2.0_us.bin for the CFE. So just to confirm the U makes it an A1 correct because I can’t find A1, B1 or C1 listed anywhere on the router. |
Should be the router name (that you set in the setup tab) at the top of system tab and below it the model name of the router (with the revision A1, B1, or C1).
| 05dyna wrote: |
I know when I first got it my intent was to run dd-wrt but when I tried to overclock it to 1000 the router it went into the recovery mode each time I tried to OC it. Then it just seemed like there was something wrong. It was sluggish so I figured I try Advanced Tomato for something different which was great for 92 days but then took a dump.
EDIT: cleared the nvram via telnet and changed build to r29739 and all was good until I overclocked it. It just rebooted and went into recovery mode. cleared the with the WPS button method and the result was the same, back to recovery mode... |
Are you overclocking via administration tab (drop-down list) or commands tab in administration tab?
I've tried once overclocking by drop-down list and it soft-bricked the router so i had to use recovery mode as well. So I do overclocking using the commands tab instead:
nvram set clkfreq=1000,800 (this is for a cfe that allows ram to run at 800mhz. If you aren't sure, set this to 1000,667 instead)
nvram commit
reboot (although i have this saved in startup script to it apply automatically on reboot so i don't use this call)
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05dyna
DD-WRT Guru
Joined: 25 Jan 2008
Posts: 828
| | Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 15:05 Post subject: | Sorry about that. It would enter recovery mode every time when trying to overclock in dd-wrt and a few other times when changing dd-wrt builds. The newly discovered issue is the random reboots after moving back to dd-wrt from Tomato. On the last two random reboots it did make it back to dd-wrt without entering recovery mode.
Meanwhile I have configured as an Access Point running the latest Merlin FW so I’ll see it reboots randomly with Merlin. I never used the Merlin FW before but at this point in time looks like there was never any issues with the router, wireless speeds are what they should be and wireless range is excellent just like with dd-wrt and Tomato previously. |
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05dyna
DD-WRT Guru
Joined: 25 Jan 2008
Posts: 828
| | Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 20:28 Post subject: | | MDA400 wrote: | Are you overclocking via administration tab (drop-down list) or commands tab in administration tab?
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Correct, I OC it from the web admin page. I have nothing to lose, I’ll flash it back to dd-wrt and try it in the startup script as you mention. The Merlin FW is cool and seems to be working OK at the moment but its not what I’m use to.. Thanks for the tip, I will revert back to dd-wrt
EDIT-1: @ MDA400, success with the OC, now running at 1000MHz on dd-wrt r31520M. Now just need to put it back in service as AP and see if crashes again. Thanks for the OC tip
Edit-2: back in service as AP with dd-wrt, now to test the uptime... |
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slidermike
DD-WRT Guru
Joined: 11 Nov 2013
Posts: 1480
Location: USA
| | Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 9:57 Post subject: | Not that it matters to me but out of curiosity why are you focused on OC the router when it is just an AP?
Even at 800Mhz it is more than enough to process the wifi traffic through.
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05dyna
DD-WRT Guru
Joined: 25 Jan 2008
Posts: 828
| | Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 11:54 Post subject: | | slidermike wrote: | Not that it matters to me but out of curiosity why are you focused on OC the router when it is just an AP?
Even at 800Mhz it is more than enough to process the wifi traffic through. |
Its kind of hard to summarize all the events in a single post but I will try and answer your question. Initially when I tried to setup the router back in December 2016 with dd-wrt as the primary router I tried to OC on the web admin page and it crashed. At that point I just tried to run dd-wrt w/o OC and it started with the random reboots. So just to review at that point I ran Advanced Tomato flawlessly as the main router with USB support for 90 + days but then it failed.
Fast forward to a few days ago I then cleared the nvram and reinstalled dd-wrt and we had a few more unplanned reboots. Now that it can't trust it as the main router it has been demoted to an AP until it is stable again because I would like to assign it another role. So OC an Access Point may seem absurd but I just want throw at it whatever I could and see if it will crash or start again with the random reboots. If it looks stable I have another job for it. Does that do it for you? |
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threadstone
DD-WRT Novice
Joined: 22 May 2017
Posts: 1
| | Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 19:39 Post subject: TM AC1900 success | I tried a variety of things, so I may not have this completely correct.
I have a TM AC1900 that was using the latest TMobile patch. I had to force a downgrade to the 1703 version to get telnet access.
Here's what I think worked - I'm sorry I'm not 100% sure of this:
Hold all three buttons (WPS, WiFi and Reset).
Power On
Light starts blinking
Release WPS and Wifi buttons, keep pressing reset. You are now in recovery mode.
Start the ASUS Firmware Restoration app while continuing to hold the reset button.
Upload the firmware for 1703 (this is the downgrade to TMobile version xxx...1703). Keep holding reset!
From there I was able to then follow the telnet instructions to load RT-AC68U 3.0.0.4.376.3626. Once you get this loaded, you progress up the ladder of ASUS upgrades to make sure that the ASUS memory expansion fixes get in before installing DD-WRT, tomato or merlin.
Then, install DD-WRT as per usual.
1703 firmware: http://www.filedropper.com/fwtmac190030043761703
RT68U utilities/firmware: https://www.asus.com/us/Networking/RTAC68U/HelpDesk_Download/
Read this:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=976430
This last link is the most important
https://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=73690012&postcount=3895
There's one more guide I read and I can find it right now (I'm on my work PC right now). It explains the reason why you want to upgrade from the first ASUS firmware install to a later ASUS install before DD-WRT. Something to do with memory addressability or something. |
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05dyna
DD-WRT Guru
Joined: 25 Jan 2008
Posts: 828
| | Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 20:51 Post subject: Re: TM AC1900 success | | threadstone wrote: |
There's one more guide I read and I can find it right now (I'm on my work PC right now). It explains the reason why you want to upgrade from the first ASUS firmware install to a later ASUS install before DD-WRT. Something to do with memory addressability or something. |
Thanks for the reply back and welcome to the forum. As mentioned above Its been a while but I was just under 100 days before crashed. I took it offline and ended up using a serial cable to recover and then went through the entire process again including re-doing the CFE. I D/L a CFE from a difference source to make sure I had the correct one. This time I put dd-wrt and it and didn’t’ OC it. I tested it for a several days and just put replaced it.
However I am interested about Asus file prior to installing dd-wrt so I’ll have to re explore this again since I still have it. Since I already did the CFE (twice) maybe I could revert back the Asus FW you mentioned then reinstall dd-wrt. My unit has the built in recovery so I’m guessing just flash back with that, something else to do. Thanks for your suggestion and if you have the additional info I certainly will take a look
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Linksys EA8500 - DD-WRT v3.0-r39345M {04/02/2019}as OVPN client behind pfsense box
Netgear R7800 - KONG PRO 2019-Q1 / LuCI openwrt-18.06 branch
ISP info: Verizon Fios | Alcatel I-211M-L
XPEnology DS3615xs
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