My router stopped working...please help! (ASUS RT-N56U)

JohnJSal

JohnJSal

Active Member
I recently bought the ASUS RT-N56U router and had internet service set up in a new house. Router setup was easy and it worked right away. It's been working fine for about a week, but as of last night (suddenly and with no network changes on my end) I can no longer access the internet.

Everything looks as if I am still connected. All the lights on the modem and router are fine, my wireless connection icon in the system tray shows that I am connected (it says "Connected" and it shows "Internet access" under the network name), but when I try to go to a website, it takes a while and finally comes back with an error. I tried several power cycles of the modem and router, and that didn't work either.

I've tried a couple of different computers on the network, as well as different browsers, and none of them worked. I'm pretty sure it's none of that because when I plugged the modem directly into a computer (no router involved) it worked again.

So I assume it's a router issue, but I have no idea what the problem is or what to try. I don't want to start messing with too much because, like I said, it's been working fine and only suddenly stopped working last night. Earlier today it worked again (for no reason) for a bit, but now it's not working again.

I love computers, but I really hate networking stuff like this. It all seems so messy and confusing, so I definitely need some help with it.

Please let me know what I should try to get my router working again.

Thanks!
John
 
Can you ping the router or an external address such as 8.8.8.8? Do you even see the router obtain an external address on the WAN/Internet interface?

You could try factory resetting the router or do a MAC clone from the working PC to the router.
 
beers said:
Can you ping the router or an external address such as 8.8.8.8? Do you even see the router obtain an external address on the WAN/Internet interface?

You could try factory resetting the router or do a MAC clone from the working PC to the router.
Click to expand...

Other than resetting to factory default, I have no clue how to do that other stuff. This is why I hate all this network stuff, so confusing!

How can I try the ping or see the other thing? I know the IP address to go to to access my router settings. Is it something from there?

Edit: From the router settings page, there was a place where it said "Network Tools," and from there "Network Analysis" and "Send ICMP ECHO_REQUEST packets to network host." Under that it said "Method - Ping" and a "Target" and "Count" setting. It was set for www.google.com and 5 times, so I clicked the "Diagnose" button and it returned this:

--- www.google.com ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0% packet loss

Is this anything? Or do I need to try to ping the router itself somehow? I don't see where to do that.

Edit 2: Ok, I figured out how to ping the router. Just type ping <IP address> in the command prompt, duh!

But I got back the same results. All pings were successful and it said 0% loss. This seems consistent with what I said originally -- everything shows that I am still connected to the router with an internet signal, but the internet just doesn't work.
 
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If the Internet doesn't work then you could be infected. Did you check to make sure proxy server wasn't enabled?
 
johnb35 said:
If the Internet doesn't work then you could be infected. Did you check to make sure proxy server wasn't enabled?
Click to expand...

Well, as of this moment, it is working again (but it wasn't working earlier this morning). I fully expect it to stop working again later.

Where do I check for the proxy server setting? I don't see that anywhere.

Also, as far as the infection goes, the internet doesn't work on any of the devices connected to the network, not just one. So does that mean the router itself has an infection?

Edit: I should add that while it's working at the moment, the speed is very slow. A test showed the download speed around .3 Mbps and the test was taking forever to finish so I just closed the tab.
 
Connect straight to the modem and see if you get Internet the next time it quits when connected to router. Router firmware up to date?
 
johnb35 said:
Connect straight to the modem and see if you get Internet the next time it quits when connected to router. Router firmware up to date?
Click to expand...

I tried that yesterday and I do get internet when plugged straight into the modem.

The firmware says it is up-to-date within the browser interface (there is an update button and it checks and says it's updated), but I went to the ASUS website and there seems to be a newer version (at least, it's a higher numbered version!), so the next time it stops working (which I anticipate will be soon), I'll try that and see if it helps.
 
Did you change any settings in the router at all? I would reset it back to defaults and see if the issue still happens and if it does, rma it.
 
JohnJSal said:
I'm not sure what you mean. When I go to that address and click on "Modem," it says it's online and everything looks good. Not sure what to look at specifically.
Click to expand...

Anything that says dBm you can paste into here.
 
johnb35 said:
Did you change any settings in the router at all? I would reset it back to defaults and see if the issue still happens and if it does, rma it.
Click to expand...

No, everything is default. I'm going to try a different cat5 cable just for kicks. If that doesn't work, I will reset it to default, which I bet will work but maybe only for a week again.
 
beers said:
Anything that says dBm you can paste into here.
Click to expand...

Rx power is - 43.5dBm
Rx SNR is 10.9dB
Cable resistance is 2.50hm
Cable attenuation is 6.0dB

Not sure if any of that is relevant.

Also, this is for the modem, right? I'm pretty sure the router is the problem, because plugging directly into the modem works.
 
Well, factory reset didn't work either. I've already requested a replacement, but it is so frustrating to not have it work while I wait for the new router. And if the new router (same model) does this, I guess I'll just move on to a different kind.

But I've searched for this issue online and it seems other people have had it as well -- everything shows you are connected to the internet, but no actual internet. I feel like there is some setting I need to change that will fix this, but I just don't understand all this network stuff. So far nothing suggested has worked.

And now I am trying to reconnect and set up the router again (after a factory reset) and I can't even connect to it at all. It shows in my list of wireless networks (with a strong signal too) but I can't connect to it for some reason.
 
You may find you need a cable attenuation adaptor. I did.

Make sure your modem (cable) is set to wireless off and bridge mode, ie just send the signal to the router.

I am happy to TeamView with you and guide you through each stage (you'd have complete) control.
 
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I'm not sure if this matters, but I noticed that when I go to Ookla speedtest, my location is way off. I thought maybe this was a problem with satellite internet, but I tried a different router last night and when I did a speed test it had my location right, so I'm wondering if my Asus router is causing the location issue and if that has anything to do with the problem.

But like I said, I am *always* connected to the network, it's just that the internet doesn't work.
 
This is a setting issue on the router. As I said, owning a very similar router, I can assure you if you wish to trust an anonymous internet guy (well known here) to TeamView (you'd always be able to see and control), I am happy to do so, but going through random observations is not going to get you/us anywhere.
 
JohnJSal said:
I'm not sure what TeamView is or how it works. I haven't used anything like that before.
Click to expand...
Basically like Skype but only shows your desktop and allows the other person to control your desktop. You always have the option to discontinue their control.
 
Well, I should be getting a new router today, and if that one does the same thing, then maybe I'll give it a try. I get the feeling that it may be more of a setting issue than a physical problem with the router, but hopefully the replacement will just work.
 
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