My ASUS RT-N12E router works OK for the most part, but occasionally it drops in speed, and once it lost connection altogether. In both cases this was solved by rebooting it. So I decided to check if there was a firmware upgrade, and there was.

I downloaded the latest firmware file from ASUS. It was in zip format. I was wondering if I needed to unzip it. However, the instructions said "Specify the path of and name of the downloaded file in the [New Firmware File]". Nothing about unzipping, so I figured I should use the zip file. I have other hardware that uses zip files for upgrading, so why not ASUS? Nope! Upgrade failed!

Now the instructions say "In case the upgrade process fails, RT-N12E enters the emergency mode automatically. The LED signals at the front of RT-N12E will indicate such situation." It doesn't say how the led signals indicate that. I don't see anything remarkable so I think maybe the firmware was smart enough to recognize that the upgrade file was in the wrong format without going into emergence mode. But apparently not, since I no longer have any Internet connection.

OK, I guess it's time for the restoration utility. I check the manual. Unplug the router. Check! Hold the restore button and re-plug. Hm? There is no "restore" button. Maybe they mean the reset button? So I hold the reset button and plug in the router. Hold until the power LED flashes slowly. I wait and I wait. The power LED does not flash. Sigh. I try again. Still no flashing. Well, perhaps it's in rescue mode anyway? Let's try the restoration utility.

I start the utility. I browse to the (unzipped) firmware file. I click Upload. "Invalid IP address". What the heck does that mean? Oh, I probably need to connect my PC to my router with a cable. The instructions do not say that. Maybe they think it's so obvious that they don't need to mention it?

So I dig out my really long TP cable and connect up my PC to the router. I enable local networking instead of wireless. I still don't get any internet connection, but I figure I'll try the restoration utility. Success! The utility tells me to wait until the system (i e the router) has rebooted. So I wait. It doesn't say how I'll know when the reboot is done, so I'm thinking the utility will tell me. No such luck. It just keeps saying wait until the system has rebooted. So finally I tire of waiting and I check if I have internet connectivity. Yep.

I disable local networking and enable wifi. Finally back to normal. Unplug TP cable and wind it up.

All this because ASUS are totally crap at writing proper instructions. Thank God that I'm not totally computer illiterate.

FWIW: Some time ago I had problems to update the firmware for one of my routers (D-Link DIR-615) because this router disconnected and crashed permanently.
After some failed attempts to install the latest official D-Link firmware I installed DD-WRT.
Now the router runs stable for many month! 

Asus is known to have genius (or near that) hardware engineers and crap (for lack of a better word) software engineers.

I have a new PC with a Z87 Deluxe motherboard (really nice). But it comes with a very poorly programmed AI suite. Some programs it installs for PC start-up created random problems when (re-)starting the PC. Also, and for me at first it made the webcam useless until a fix was found on the internet.
Mind you, uninstalling that AI suite still leaves the bad parts on your PC that keep being loaded. Only by scanning the internet you'll find the additional uninstaller to remove the final parts.

My brother bought a new Asus laptop a few years ago with a BluRay drive. Nice piece of hardware. But it lacked BluRay player software. Somewhere someone admitted Asus left it out for cost reasons. But no mention of that when buying. Imagine the computer illiterate having bought such a machine. They'll have no idea how to get their BR disk to play unless told by others to buy more.

Quoting eommen:

Quote:
Asus is known to have genius (or near that) hardware engineers and crap (for lack of a better word) software engineers.

I have a new PC with a Z87 Deluxe motherboard (really nice). But it comes with a very poorly programmed AI suite.

This is so true about ASUS....

I have a Z87 Deluxe also along with other hardware and their software is and docs are always lagging in quality