Manage RT-AC88U router without an Internet connection

[AlHolden]

We have a RT-AC88U (and RT-AC68U on AIMesh) connected to the Frontier FIOS service. The AC88U is running 3.0.0.4.386_48263

Whenever I want to administer the router (using 192.168.0.1, or the router.asus.com address which replaces that IP), there's no response or a plain white page - unless the router has a working Internet connection.

Once the WAN is working, the router's admin pages all come up just fine.

This seems like a paradox, as I will never be able to administer the router (to fix a WAN configuration issue) when the router cannot contact the Internet.

Is there a setting I can change, which will allow me to admin the router from the LAN - when the WAN's not there?

[jzchen]

ASUS routers have had the tendency to drop LAN connections in response to loss of WAN/Internet.  Does this also happen to a PC say connected via Ethernet?

There's no way a DNS service is gonna translate router.asus.com to a local IP such as 192.168.0.1.  That could send you to someone else's ASUS router login.  I suspect that the router takes an address then determines whether it can translate it or sends request for the DNS to translate it.

I presume/guess the function of the default gateway is to pass on it's assigned DNS server to say your PC.  I don't need to know the actual address of any DNS server and for many years functioned perfectly fine without knowing any....

[AlHolden]

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ASUS routers have had the tendency to drop LAN connections in response to loss of WAN/Internet.

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To me this seems like a pretty huge paradox.

I picture a use case where a customer takes their brand new Asus router out of the box, plugs it in and turns it on with the intention of using the local admin tools to complete the WAN connection to a dedicated IP - but cannot configure the WAN connection from the LAN - because the router has no WAN connection yet. 🤔

I was not suggesting that a public DNS service would resolve any domain to an IETF Reserved IP, just that the router would do that locally - in the specific case of "router.asus.com" (because that's what's in the address bar while I'm connected to my own router).

When I enter 192.168.0.1 in my browser, it's immediately forwarded to "router.asus.com" - I presume the router is doing that. I was postulating that this little process might be flawed or conflict with some mystery router setting, resulting in the posted issue.

You've given me some additional testing conditions to consider (eg wi-fi vs Ethernet), thanks!
I hope to test & report those findings next time the family can handle an outage.

[marlenestone]

Hey Asus Community,

To manage your RT-AC88U router without an internet connection, you can use the local IP address (192.168.0.1) or the router.asus.com address. However, it's essential to set the router to allow offline access in its administration settings, as the RT-AC88U may default to relying on an internet connection for web interface accessibility. Start by checking if your firmware version (3.0.0.4.386_48263) has an option for local management without internet dependency—updating to the latest firmware, if available, may help. Also, consider optimizing AIMesh settings for your RT-AC88U and RT-AC68U setup, as AIMesh can sometimes complicate access. For those who use All Magis TV Old Version, ensuring a stable network and efficient router setup is crucial, especially when facing connectivity challenges.

Thanks!!

[AlHolden]

Thanks for the reply @marlenestone, I appreciate it!

To your points:

• The updater implies that the current firmware is the latest.
• Can you hint where an option for "local management without internet dependency" might be found in this maze of menus and tabs?
• Also, can you recommend a link to one of your favorite resources for "optimizing AIMesh settings" for these models? My search attempts are returning a lot of videos and blogs - of various ages - which seem to be all over the place.

To summarize:

When I access the router via the IP 192.168.0.1, then

1. The browser loads Main_Login.asp
2. The browser loads jQuery.js
3. The browser loads https_redirect.js
4. There's no 300 response code (so I presume some JavaScript), but the browser then starts loading http://router.asus.com/chdom.json?hostname=192.168.0.1.
5. which returns a bad json error (as the above request only returned the string "chdom()" )
6. The same files (apparently) above are loaded again, but this time from router.asus.com
7. The admin screens load

The above is with a good internet connection. Take the WAN away and the process just stops with a blank page. I cannot administer my router (eg to fix any WAN problems) without a working WAN.

[jzchen]

Next time this happens try:

https://www.router.asus.com:8443

https://www.asusrouter.com:8443

https://192.168.0.1:8443

Seems like you enabled https login and there's a bug:

https://www.asus.com/us/support/faq/1045854/

Also consider these routers are EoL.  Unless purchased recently they are very likely out of warranty.  Probably a good idea to replace with a newer model...