ASUS – DSL-AC88U / DSL-AC3100 Firmwares (beta's) etc. Looks like a new Beta Release for the DSL-AC88U is available, this version has Telnet enabled and improved 2.4GHz wifi (I believe). DSL-AC88U_v9.10.06_build581_debug.w.zip https://www.asuswebstorage.com/navigate/s/604D61534F2541D1B3CE1CC031A697E4Y UK Sentinel In a completely...

[UK Sentinel]

pavlf wrote:

My 5ghz is at 71, 2ghz at 57 and cpu at 52. I’ve no issues. Up for 44 days, 49% RAM in use. It did rise to 56% a few weeks ago, but I had a problem with transmission, had to disable and reenable which dropped the RAM usage back to 47%. I’m not asking much of it at the moment, but it seems to be working fine.

Thanks for the temp stats, good to know what other DSL-AC88U are running at, I tend not to worry about chipset temperatures until they go above 75 – 80, especially the MedaiTek brands.

 

In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).

You need to login in order to vote

[Yoz]

Asus support came back this morning with basic checks to do, default the config etc…
All of which I had already done before contacting them

I have however found out what is causing high temperature on my WiFi radios
Watching any streamed service on YouView.

My Infinity is synched at 80/20 so this is not a bandwidth issue.

If I try to watch BT Sport HD, the TV picture pixelates and the WiFi temps start ramping up, CPU goes to about 68C with about 3% CPU load.
If I watch BT Sport SD the picture is OK, but again the temperatures start ramping up, not as much watching HD, but still enough to kill WiFi.
When 2.4G gets to 72C, devices fall off WiFi and can’t connect.

IGMP Snooping is disabled on both radios

If I turn Youview onto a Freeview channel, the temperatures start coming down again and 2.4G devices reconnect.

I use the PlusNet YouView profile when setting up the WAN as the BT Infinity YouView ones don’t work.

In fact the whole router starts to struggle, trying to post this response with BT Sport HD channel on, timed out, changed to Freeview channel and could post this

Anyone any ideas ?

You need to login in order to vote

[Browni]

UK Sentinel wrote:

Thanks for the temp stats, good to know what other DSL-AC88U are running at, I tend not to worry about chipset temperatures until they go above 75 – 80, especially the MedaiTek brands.

My 2.4GHz which ain’t doing much is at 63C. the 5GHz is 78C but that’s been running Now TV for about 6 hours. The CPU is 58C.

That’s on build 566.

You need to login in order to vote

[UK Sentinel]

I too have heard back from ASUS and they say, DSL-AC88u Hardware Version A1 only hardware version to be released – no others have yet been released (maybe they are looking at changes) ;-)

They also say 96 °C is within acceptable range for this chipset, alas I have to disagree with them on that as I have seen many Broadcom (and others) chipset specs over the years that say temps from 0-80 (+5) °C is what’s is expected

96 °C will cause the chipset to burn out more quickly, or the components around that chipset. either way, you need to get the DSL-AC88U running cooler maybe running an USB fan to keep the air moving etc.

Maybe if you are a keen DiY and you do not care about ASUS warrently, remove router lid, take heatsink off and thermal paste in an old USB GPU fan  – no idea of space needed inside DSL-AC88U, but will keep you busy ;-)

 

In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).

Liked by:

You need to login in order to vote

[Yoz]

Hi Sentinel

Don’t you think it’s weird though that Youview is hurting WiFi and can’t even cope with streaming HD.
Temp on top of my NAS without Youview streaming channel being on is
2.4G  66C
5G      73C

I might put my white modem and N66U back on and blow this router up, but wanting to see ASUS fix ALL the bugs, hahahaha.

Cheers for the responses

You need to login in order to vote

[UK Sentinel]

No problem, Youview streaming via wifi should not cause issues, but given they way Youview streams and the encapsulation – maybe this is not helping with the firmware version you are currently running (ASUS firmware issue)

As @Browni hinted, on his DSl-AC88U, he has a lower temp using firmware 566, (he knows what he is talking about) so maybe try that version, if no issues with excessive heat while streaming Youview, then Another ASUS problem to add to my list ;-)

What’s you current firmware version ?

Edit: is Youview 4K, just a thought?

In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).

You need to login in order to vote

[Yoz]

Sorry just to clarify as I didn’t make it clear in my previous comments

I’m not streaming via WiFi, but via the LAN, my Youview is connected via an unmanaged switch using Cat6 to port 1 on the router.
It’s not a 4K box, just 1080P/HD

FW 591

You need to login in order to vote

[UK Sentinel]

Yoz wrote:

Sorry just to clarify as I didn’t make it clear in my previous comments I’m not streaming via WiFi, but via the LAN, my Youview is connected via an unmanaged switch using Cat6 to port 1 on the router. It’s not a 4K box, just 1080P/HD FW 591

That is very strange then why you are hitting 96 C – if pos, try the firmware 566 ?

In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).

You need to login in order to vote

[Grisu]

take a cheap small external 5V USB-fan and mount it on the back of the router blowing air out (to get less dust inside).

search for something quiet, maybe this could be a good one (didnt search long or read reviews): https://www.amazon.co.uk/ELUTENG-USB-120mm-Geh%C3%A4usel%C3%BCfter-Metallgrillschutz/dp/B06XCTHQG3?th=1

or: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooling-Radiator-Dissipate-Temperature-RT-AC68U/dp/B0721SYYTF

It will go down 20°C and more which has often been seen for similar models.

This will save your internal components from fast aging and stop overheating issues.

Wifi and CPU may have same heatsink or Wifi is badly positioned.

Most Asus routers have Wifi chips below 60°C and CPU <70°C, some like RT-AC68U even seen upto 80 but only for CPU.

And all these temps are already very high compared to other manufacturers using same chips.

Because there is no internal fan everything inside will go much to hot and even if wifi and cpu may run that hot without demage all other components aging very fast especially caps.

You need to login in order to vote

[jetspeed]

Does anyone know if IPv6 ICMP messages are filtered by 88U or allowed to pass (as recommended)?

You need to login in order to vote

[UK Sentinel]

jetspeed wrote:

Does anyone know if IPv6 ICMP messages are filtered by 88U or allowed to pass (as recommended)?

I will ask for clarity from ASUS ;-)

In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).

You need to login in order to vote

[ducky22]

Yoz wrote:

When 2.4G gets to 72C, devices fall off WiFi and can’t connect. IGMP Snooping is disabled on both radios If I turn Youview onto a Freeview channel, the temperatures start coming down again and 2.4G devices reconnect.

Recently “upgraded” from a dsl-ac68u to a dsl-ac88u. Unfortunately, I’ve had lots of issues with wifi and configuration options being missing.

On wifi, I have observed exactly the same behaviour as you albeit almost no devices using 2.4ghz and none that would use lots of bandwidth (couple of alexas, air purifier, a few others IoT things). When devices can’t connect, they see a password incorrect error (when testing on iPhone anyway). Changing a wireless setting to force the wireless stack to restart allows devices to connect.

fw591

Unrelated, in the DHCP config on my ac68u, you can set a custom gateway to be given out. This option and many others is missing in the ac88u despite the manual claiming they should be there. Anyone aware of anything about this?

You need to login in order to vote

[UK Sentinel]

The DSL-AC88U was released a couple of years ago and has had a few technical issues (firmware)along the way, the DSl side of this router works well, and ASUS plan to release in August/Sept the next firmware which we all hope will  addresses many of the issue you currently describe.

Alas the DSL-AC88U will never be a feature rich as the DSL-AC68U as areas such as Adaptive QoS /AiMesh will not be added to the DSL-AC88U as well as the option missing in your post

I would put the DSL-AC88U back in the box and wait until the next firmware release.

 

In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).

You need to login in order to vote

[krvi]

Just a rant/update; ~6 months later.
I am still trying to use the DSL-AC88U-B as I used my DSL-N55U; as a small low-power “downloadstation/NAS” with transmission-daemon and nzbget to a small external harddrive.
It works, but only for a few hours to a week at most. At that point the DSL-AC88U-B gets stuck, no internet, does not accept new WiFi; I do not remember if it responds to ping at all, or if L2 switching works… most times the router restarts on its own, but a few times it stays unresponsive until I power cycle it.
I tried a “control-test”; not rooting it, for 5+ days and it did not get stuck so I concluded that something in my root process causes it. But I have not been able to isolate it. Also I am still uncertain about the “control-test” because sometimes, 2-3 times, it has run for 5-8 days while being rooted. I have never seen abnormal temps; ~50c / 70c / <50c, at least these are the temps when it is responding.
It got stuck in a slightly different way tonight, in a way I have only caught once before. I lost internet connection, router web interface said connection was still up, devices noir router could ping any internet IP. The router still responded to local requests and I was still conected via SSH, so I htop and saw this:

See attached screenshot.

Core 1 was at 100%, but I saw no command/process using any significant CPU time. However, all of those wl phy_tempsense commands look odd. After a couple of seconds, 2 minutes at most, core 2 was at 100% and it crashed; stopped responding and I had to physically power cycle it. That was when I took the screenshot.
Apart from the most recent firmware I have tried with 503 firmware too, but the results are the same.
I paid close to 500 EUR for this product, as well as days worth of tinkering to get it to work and it still does not live up to half of what it is supposed to. My patience is not an infinite resource and I am looking forward to ditching this for another brand that actually works AND supports VDSL2 bonding for less than half the price of the DSL-AC88U-B. Unfortunately I have not found a way to get root on that one yet, but soon I will not need it at all.
The DSL-AC88U is a mistake. The fact that Asus has not acknowledged the IPv6 issues for ½ a year is telling enough.

Attachments:

1. 

   Capture.png
   

You need to login in order to vote

[UK Sentinel]

We all enjoy a good rant, I know ASUS are working on IPV6 as part of there next release, but in reality, they have so much to do and test, we can only hope ;-)

In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom (J.G.Ballard).

You need to login in order to vote

[Author]

Posts