ASUS Firmware Restoration 4+

My 2012 Mac mini running El Capitan can’t upload the version 7378 firmware to my AC3100 router. It uploads very slowly, then aborts saying it lost the connection between 18-24% complete. The result is an unrecoverable router. Tried it many times over two days with two lengthy calls to two different people at ASUS tech support. They both said send the router to them, and they will see what they can do. So, this software was totally unusable to me. Appreciate that they are trying to write an app for the Mac though — the manual says if you have a Mac you can’t perform the recovery procedure because they only had a Windows version when it was written.

One of the steps actually says to "release [Reset] button until power LED blink SLOWLY"

With no instruction on what to do AFTER the LED "blink slowly" but it didn't matter because the LED never blinks slowly. It turns pink.

The instructions for System Preferences Network settings are pre-Ventura, so that too may be confusing to people with less networking experience.

I had to reset to factory and downgrade firmware via web interface to get my equipment back up.

Skip this software suggestion.

I was able to get my RT-AX86U out of recovery mode by uploading a new firmware version. Just make sure you follow their instructions exactly and don't make a typo when manually setting your Mac's network details.