Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 2:18 Post subject: Help unbricking Asus AC87U
So I was trying to install one of the beta builds for DD-WRT and for whatever reason it didn't work. I'll deal with that separately but for now I can't actually load anything on to the device.
The instructions I followed were:
1. Turn off the device
2. Plug your computer into one of the LAN ethernet ports
3. Hold down the reset button
4. Turn on the router
5. The power light should be blinking
6. Run Asus's firmware restoration tool and select the DD-WRT image to install
Well that worked fine for the install but the install didn't work.
Now I can't get the router to go into rescue mode at all.
I've tried:
1. The exact same procedure (many times)
2. A 30/30/30 reset (several times)
3. Different LAN ports and the WaN port
I have a statically assigned IP address on 192.168.1.0/24 (I've tried .10, .12 and .2). The only light that ever comes on is the power light (and the LAN light). It never blinks. The firmware tool can never find it.
Also, I can never ping it (on 192.168.1.1, the only address it's ever had).
I've read through note 6 of peacock and none of that has actually helped.
According to the status page this thing doesn't actually have a JTAG/serial port, not that that matters because I can't seem to figure out how to open the case anyway. There are two screws on the bottom but opening them and sliding a card down any crevasses i can find doesn't hit any clips as far as I can tell.
So I can't telnet to it and clear the RAM.
Any info I've found about this seems to indicate it's unlikely to be truly bricked. The rescue mode/bootloader is independent of firmware so should just work but I'm damned if I know how and am open to any ideas at this point.
Sadly it's been too long to do a straight return so my next step is to RMA it and hope for better luck next time.
I'd really like to get it working though.
To clarify: it's never had working DD-WRT. It had the stock Asus firmware and first flash of DD-WRT failed.
Have you tried pressing the wps button while powering on and holding wps for a couple of seconds, and then quickly pressing the reset button and holding it until power starts to blink? It's how I managed to flash it. I flashed it with from the browser with the mini-gui or whatever it's called.
