GT-AXE11000 monthly disconnects and crashes

[jerzor]

Hi everyone, I've been following threads related to the GT-AXE11000 around here and after the last week I've had, I felt the need to ask for help regarding my unstable system. My setup is this router connected to my modem from Comcast (XB-7), and then I have an RT-AX92U (which itself had a problem some months ago when the hardware faulted and only a reset could get it back online and seemingly solve the problem) added as an AiMesh extension over ethernet (about the first half of the year it was connected over WiFi, and then I connected them with an ethernet cable when the network stability inexplicably degraded). I have kept as up to date with the firmware for both routers as I can, usually being reminded after each crash to check for new updates but sadly only having to wait a month or so for the next crash to occur.

For the past year I've had this (GT-AXE11000) router, I've had regular problems averaging about once a month. Typically the problem is a complete system crash (I check afterwards and see the uptime is reset), disconnecting all clients both wired and wireless, and I suspiciously have this happen most often with Zoom meetings (for posterity, on this forum I see only two mentions of Zoom related to the GT-AX11000). Other times it will just be a disconnect of wireless clients and I have to go over and power down the router with the physical switch because my laptop will claim to be connected to the router over WiFi but I can't even connect to the router's administration panel. This past week I had a wireless client disconnect during a Zoom meeting (the connection stayed unstable for a good chunk of time after the initial hard reboot) and then again sometime around 4:30 AM this morning, just a couple of days after the first problem.

The problem seems random: I have some 45 Zoom meetings every month during different hours of the day and different days of the week, and the crashes/disconnects do not happen at the same time or on the same day (again, they usually occur during a Zoom meeting but not always). I also have watched the network traffic and by no means is Zoom stressing things compared to some of my LAN traffic where I pump data at 1 Gb/s between machines for hours at a time.

Each time I submit feedback but I have yet to have a resolution from Asus. I have called and been promised I would be contacted by support only to never receive a phone call. I see from the forum this well-commented on thread where many ongoing problems related to this router are likewise reported: https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?122758-ROG-Rapture-GT-AXE11000-issues

Does anyone have any suggestions on things to improve the system stability? I have yet again combed through all the router settings and they are basically the defaults, and certainly if something default or a primary feature from Asus is causing these crashes, that shouldn't be shipped in the first place. I'm happy to provide more details about the system setting as needed for diagnosis.

[jerzor]

I am sad and incredibly irritated to report that the problem has returned.

I've had an ongoing back-and-forth with Asus support about a secondary problem where my Google Pixel 6a phone was getting blocked by my RT-AX92U node (somewhat random, I would get home and be unable to connect until well inside my house by the primary router (GT-AXE11000) because the node refused to accept it onto the network. Other times the node would block me during the handoff from the primary router to the node when the node was physically closer). I had one final request from Asus (9/24) to enable debug mode and ever since the problem hasn't repeated itself.

Yesterday afternoon I added a second RT-AX92U to address a dead spot in my house, updated that new node's firmware (all firmware as of testing now is up to date), and then let it work out the network layout from there. I had one moment where the wifi on my phone went off for a little bit and then came back on, no big deal since it was less than 12 hours since I had added the node. But today, just now, I get on my wired laptop to work and noticed it's complaining about being offline. I check my phone at the same time and it's also disconnected (but from wifi). So effectively we're back to the unacceptable situation where my whole network, wired and wireless, goes down at random. I filled out the on-router feedback form, shot off another email to Asus, and we'll see what happens.

[jzchen]

Hopefully a little more time will be the answer to be honest...

I recently purchased a RP-AX56. The first 24 hours or so all sorts of weird things were happening to the network. After about 24 hrs it settled down...

These are all 2.5 G Ethernet backhaul except the AC68U and AX56 which are 1 G Ethernet backhaul...

[TrickMasterPC]

Anyone find a solution? My AXE11000 router crashes and reboots 3 to 5 times per day for no apparent reason. CPU, Memory, Utilization, and Temperature are totally normal. I read online that a failing or temperamental power adapter (transformer) can lead to random crashes. The logs show nothing, they are useless in this case.

[mdabanador]

having observed an issue during auto settings for 5ghz radio. i tried now not to use the dfs channel and set the radio channel to non-dfs static channel I will observe this config if no further restarts or random disconnections

[mdabanador]

Following my configuration for more than 24 hrs, I haven't observed a single disconnection or restart of my radio signal with my AXE11000. There seem to be bugs in the program experience if you enable an automatic channel that includes the DFS channel. What I have done I set my 5GHz to channel 48

[pacman_rc]

I appreciate the collective information being shared here and share in the frustration. I purchased 2 x AXE11000 routers the day they were released and have experienced the same crash behavior the entire duration of ownership. Only a power cycle will restore functionality, so I purchased a device/smart plug that resets my router when the connection goes down. After 2 years of ownership, there have been 197 restarts. It's been a very frustrating ownership experience, especially considering the price premium we paid.

[topher2041]

I am going to throw my hat into the ring on this one. I have had a GT-AX11000 for 3-4 years. First few years not many problems. Since spring this year, I have had problems all the time. I thought it was a firmware issue like everyone else but now I think it is a general software issue or a hardware issue. I have had the same issue as most people. I have a GT-AX11000 with 5 ZenWifi Aimesh nodes. All are hardwired. I have all devices hardwire that I can. I have all kinds of smarthome devices, wired and wifi. Currently under Network map Asus is telling me I have 90 devices. I would say 1/3 wired and 2/3 wifi. then with Zwave and Zigbee, Nest, etc. So a lot going on. 

Started out that I would start getting notifications that Nest, Smartthings and other devices had lost their internet connections, then the wired devices would stop, streaming tv, etc. . The problem was I was usually at work and could not look into it. It would just stop. After a few times I finally was home. The router was still on and did not restart but was not responsive or just really slow. You could reboot it and the same thing. I though firmware. What would work was unplugging it and letting sit for 30 minutes and restart and it would work. Might be for a day or even a week or month but it would come back. Finally I figured factory reset. Worked for awhile them back again. Repeat just like everyone else. This did not fix it but I did finally notice that when this was happening if I looked at the CPU usage the cores woutl be really high. Normally they are at 0-30% spiking higher are points but in that range. Memory was always at 60% and flat lined. When everything would be down the CPU's was up at 70-80%. So something was causing it to be overloaded. 

After the rebooting and factory restarting for 6-8 months thing changed. So in the last 2-3 months it is different. Now it is just wifi that is freaking out. So I will get alerts that wifi devices are offline. Sometimes a few, sometimes all. Yesterday I was getting 2.5gh devices going on and off all evening. Even the wired devices were slow. The CPU was fine. Restart and no change. Then after just saying screw it and I will deal with it tomorrow. It did it for a few more hours and then stopped. No issues the rest of the night and all day today.  No idea what is going on and lost on what to do or try. I do not want to replace 6 devices.

I bought a axe16000 today and will swap that in and see if that makes any difference. Maybe I am overloading the wifi and router. this one has 4 channels so lets see what happens.