Asus RT-87ACU starts hanging of times per day after firmware update

[ANDRUS]

After upgrading Asus RT-87ACU firmware to latest,

3.0.0.4.382_52545-ga0245cc version

router stops several times per day: network and wifi connection are lost. They are restored only after switching power off.

How to make router work without interruption again?

Andrus.

[SilentObserver]

I had the same issue where my RT-AC87U router would lose connection and reboot several times a day.  Asus firmware is the cause for this and since they have listed this router as end of life, they wouldn’t do anything about it.  I upgraded the firmware with Asuswrt-Merlin 384 version and the router has been working fine for 5+ days with no reboots.  Try this as it may work for you.  

[ANDRUS]

Tried factory reset and reboot commands by they are ignored by new firmware: Asus log shows  only

May 17 22:56:41 rc_service: httpds 265:notify_rc stop_app
May 17 22:56:42 rc_service: httpds 265:notify_rc resetdefault_erase

Now downgraded firmware to previous, 9.0.0.4.382_52503-gf8d6575 beta version. Will this work OK ? Which is last firmware version which works? Or using Asuswrt-Merlin 384 best option? Or should DD-WRT used? DD-WRT has only beta versions for RT-87ACU.

[SilentObserver · Accepted solution]

If the downgraded firmware works fine and has no issues, keep it.  If you run into issues you can try the Merlin firmware.  I am using Merlin firmware 384.13_202106 which has been stable for me.  

When researching my issue, I ran across a lot of threads that mentioned heat issue with this router so I wanted to know the temperature of CPU, 5GHz, and 2.4 GHz.  Asus firmware has stopped reporting temperatures on their firmware which was the problem.  This Merlin firmware reports temperature for all these three which I like along with the fact that it is stable and has not had a reboot for the last 6 days.  Basis of my experience, Asus firmware 3.0.0.4.382_52545 was the problem for my router.  You can try out different firmwares to see what works.  

[ANDRUS]

Reboots continued with preivoius firmware version also. I installed Merlin from RT-AC87U_384.13_10.trx

It shows high temperatures:

Legend: 2.4 GHz - 5 GHz - CPU
Current Temperatures: 46 °C - 52 °C - 81 °C

Are those temperatures OK ? 

Room temperature is 21 °C   

Bandwidth monitor shows almost zero bandwith. There are few devices connected with minimal internet usage and LAN is not used.

Tools / Sytem information shows very small load:

CPU ModelCPU FrequencyCPU Load Average (1, 5, 15 mins)

ARMv7 Processor rev 0 (v7l)   (Cores: 2)

1000 MHz

0.16, 0.23, 0.22

TotalFreeBuffersCache

Memory

249.68 MB

91.04 MB

2.84 MB

47.39 MB

I tried to set security email in router config to info@mydomain.xx

Got error that domain is not supported. To use my own domain e-mail address? Can gmail or other supported domain set to forward all emails to my own domain e-mail address?