I tried factory reset with reset button & failsafe mode first boot. Nothing works. Ican only get in to failsafe mode reliably. Can I re-flash the firmware while running failsafe mode? How do I upload firmware in failsafe mode? Will tftp work? Which variation of firmware to use? factory or sysupgrade?
Try using SCP to send sysupgrade.bin to the device, then execute sysupgrade etc.
Refer to OpenWrt wiki regarding Failsafe mode. Main wiki is down, but you can view an archive here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20240204205529/https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/troubleshooting/failsafe_and_factory_reset#hard_factory_reset
See 'Hard Reset' section.
Otherwise, return to stock firmware using Asus Firmware Restoration utility to check functionality of the device. There should be Asus FAQ describing how to use it.
https://www.asus.com/supportonly/rt-ac56r/helpdesk_download/
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Thank you! That was the solution for me. For those who encounter this issue here is what I did. Instead of scp I used filezilla sftp option. I got failsafe mode to work and started ssh session.
% ssh 192.168.1.1 -l root -p 22
root@(none):~# mount_root
loading kmods from internal overlay
switching to ubifs overlay
root@(none):/tmp# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root 15.8M 15.8M 0 100% /rom
tmpfs 512.0K 0 512.0K 0% /dev
tmpfs 122.3M 32.0K 122.3M 0% /tmp
/dev/ubi0_1 90.3M 180.0K 85.4M 0% /overlay
overlayfs:/overlay 90.3M 180.0K 85.4M 0% /
root@(none):/tmp# exit
Connection to 192.168.1.1 closed.
There was enough space in /tmp to receive the firmware file. Then I used filezilla to connect to the router and uploaded the sysupgrade file to the
/tmp folder. Then logged back in using ssh.
% ssh 192.168.1.1 -l root -p 22
root@(none):/tmp# sysupgrade -n /tmp/openwrt-23.05.2-bcm53xx-generic-asus_rt-ac56u-squashfs.trx
Thu Jan 1 00:17:12 UTC 1970 upgrade: Image metadata not present
Found trx firmware for device
Found a valid TRX version 1
Thu Jan 1 00:17:13 UTC 1970 upgrade: Commencing upgrade. Closing all shell sessions.
root@(none):/tmp# Connection to 192.168.1.1 closed by remote host.
Connection to 192.168.1.1 closed.
Router rebooted. Steady power light and I am in. DHCP works, ssh worked. I changed the password using ssh, then tried the web login checked the logs etc. It seems to be working. Now I will try my SMB server options etc. but I am sure it will work now.
And a Big Thank you for the developers to make failsafe ssh interface available. You once again saved this Old Asus from a trash bin.
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