Release Asuswrt-Merlin 386.5 is now available

[gattaca]

Hi, I've been successful updating multiple RT-AX86U and RT-AC68U without any issues. Awesome job Eric!!

My MIL's RT-AC1900U (AC68U) caused a bit of headache with 386.5. Her RT-1900U was at 386.3 and I did all my usual jumps: reboot before the update, wait ~10 mins, unmount the USB (running just a few AMTM only), (left it plugged in) and then attempted to update via wireless as I'd forgotten my RJ45 cable. Normally, I never update FW over wireless! I made 3 attempts and each ended in the router sitting on "Please wait, Applying Settings..." for a very long time and then it just disconnected itself. After the 3rd attempt, I returned home for the RJ45. After connecting the RJ45 to Port 1, I was able to flash the unit on the first try with no repeat of the above. On the fails, the GUI put up "Please wait, Applying Settings..." and after a minute or two, it disconnected the wireless. I normally never update these firmware via wireless, but with a 45 min round-trip I thought OK, let's try.

Just reporting the news in case someone else sees this one. Stay safe, stay alive. Peace. Later.

 

[heslo]

Which plug is that?

Any smart plug would work I imagine

 

[XIII]

Any smart plug would work I imagine

I’m not so sure about that, since most smart plugs are pretty dumb when there’s no internet connection.

(not true for those using Bluetooth, but that won’t work for a remote site)

 

[SMS786]

For those who have been following my WAN aggregation troubleshooting on the AX88U, things have seemingly come together thankfully under the latest 386.5. It's been quite the journey, am finally able to achieve >1GB throughput while enabling WAN aggregation on both the router and modem:

 

[visortgw]

I’m not so sure about that, since most smart plugs are pretty dumb when there’s no internet connection.

(not true for those using Bluetooth, but that won’t work for a remote site)

Look for ezOutlet.

 

[Morpheus2020]

Adaptive QoS and FlexQoS on AX86U works perfectly now.
Thank you RMerlin.

 

[Mizzer]

My internet still shows “disconnected” even though I adjusted DNS and ping.

I also flash the latest Asus fw and got the same result.

Is it right to think a nuke > pave > rebuild is in order?

 

[Pabla]

Thanks RMerlin! Happy to report that Time Machine is up and working again

 

[erkme73]

I posted this two pages back and had no replies. I'll rewrite it shorter in hopes it snags someone's attention.

My 68U was on 386_4 and I went for the stable release 386_5. I didn't realize I needed to pull the USB (skynet/diversion) when I initiated the update. There were no errors, and when I checked the screen, it only said to restart router manually.

Both before and after doing so, it was stuck at 192.168.1.1 on the mini-cfe page. It was boot looping about every minute.

After clearing nvram (WPS hold) it will stay on on the mini-cfe w/o rebooting and will let me upload previous images. I've tried everything from the most current, stock asus firmware, and back to 384... All appear to flash (I get the upload successful message), but then it boots back to mini-cfe with the looping every minute. I'm about to throw it in the trash.

I have four other AC68Us around my property and am understandably shell-shocked to attempt the upgrade on any of the others.

 

[L&LD]

I believe you may have manually rebooted the router too soon (the message displayed is simply on a timer, not tied to what the router is actually doing).

I hope someone can give you the steps to get it working again.

On your other RT-AC68Us, remove all USB devices (safely, then physically), reboot the router, then flash the firmware (and be more patient).

Nobody else has reported this problem with 386.5_0 except yourself.

 

[erkme73]

I believe you may have manually rebooted the router too soon (the message displayed is simply on a timer, not tied to what the router is actually doing).

I hope someone can give you the steps to get it working again.

On your other RT-AC68Us, remove all USB devices (safely, then physically), reboot the router, then flash the firmware (and be more patient).

Nobody else has reported this problem with 386.5_0 except yourself.

Ha, that always makes me feel like me If I had a nickel every time I was told, "We've never seen that happen before..."

Thanks for the suggestions. I was going to include those additional steps and background, but didn't want it to get too wordy. Last thing I did was flash stock FW and let it sit overnight. It was still boot looping to the mini-cfe browser 8 hours later. A ping -t command shows it consistently rebooting to the mini gui every minute or so.

I've got a couple more AC68Us on order from eBay and once I get them I'll start updating those first. If they work, I may gain some more confidence to try it on what I'm now using as my primary router.

What's particularly frustrating is that I've never had any difficulty getting from the mini-cfe page to a working firmware (regardless of version). Something broke hard enough for it to no longer accept/run anything at all.

 

[kage]

What does this mean in the Asus RT-AX58U system log: kernel: httpd (4014): drop_caches: 1

 

[ColinTaylor]

What does this mean in the Asus RT-AX58U system log: kernel: httpd (4014): drop_caches: 1

It means you've just logged into the web interface.

 

[jata]

Ha, that always makes me feel like me If I had a nickel every time I was told, "We've never seen that happen before..."

Thanks for the suggestions. I was going to include those additional steps and background, but didn't want it to get too wordy. Last thing I did was flash stock FW and let it sit overnight. It was still boot looping to the mini-cfe browser 8 hours later. A ping -t command shows it consistently rebooting to the mini gui every minute or so.

I've got a couple more AC68Us on order from eBay and once I get them I'll start updating those first. If they work, I may gain some more confidence to try it on what I'm now using as my primary router.

What's particularly frustrating is that I've never had any difficulty getting from the mini-cfe page to a working firmware (regardless of version). Something broke hard enough for it to no longer accept/run anything at all.

I'm not experienced with mini-cfe screen etc but I had an issue with installing firmware and I used the f/w restoration tool to recover. See link below as this really helped me.

Apologies if you have already tried this.

Unable to flash Merlin firmware on AX58U

Hello all, This is my first post on SNB. A month ago I bought an RT-AX58U (I discovered it has V2 labeled on the back ,after reading other threads for my problem). As the title states: I am not able to flash my firmware to Merlin. I searched for answers in other similar threads, but this was...

www.snbforums.com

 

[heslo]

I’m not so sure about that, since most smart plugs are pretty dumb when there’s no internet connection.

(not true for those using Bluetooth, but that won’t work for a remote site)

That's fair, I didn't think about that haha

 

[erkme73]

I may have missed it as I didn't read your original post, but if you haven't yet, do this with 386.3.2 and report back on how it goes- [Wireless Router] How to use Rescue Mode (Firmware Restoration)? | Official Support | ASUS Global

Prior to your post, I had not tried it with 386.3.2. Also the firmware restoration utility I was using was apparently not the latest. After updating it to Asus' most recent offering, it did show progress all the way to 100% when pushing the 3.2 FW. Unfortunately, it then indicated: "Failed to recover the system".

I repeated this with the latest stock FW from Asus. It would get to about 40%, then the progress indicator would go to zero and it would start over (though the bit count would continue to resume). However, after three such resets, it ultimately returned the same failed message.

At this point I'm at a real loss. It seems the 68u simply won't accept a push - whether through the firmware restoration application or the webgui...

 

[erkme73]

Keep trying it with 386.3.2. It can take more than once. Plenty can go wrong. If you can't get it to install in recovery mode, you're probably cooked. I've never had it not work though, you may need to review the instructions more carefully. From the first post, I suggested starting with 386.3.2 because that's what worked for me and due to RMerlin's first post-

I appreciate your help. Well, still no bueno. The pattern is the same regardless of whether I install merlin or stock - it goes through all the motions, but ultimately fails.

On a whim, I just attempted to install the DD-WRT firmware (which I had used eons ago before switching fully to Merlin). Surprisingly, it flashed without hiccup using the restoration utility. From there, I attempted to go back to stock or merlin, and both failed - returning the router back to the DD-WRT welcome page.

So at least I know it still works, albeit not how I want. Hopefully that points to a possible solution?

 

[RMerlin]

I posted this two pages back and had no replies. I'll rewrite it shorter in hopes it snags someone's attention.

My 68U was on 386_4 and I went for the stable release 386_5. I didn't realize I needed to pull the USB (skynet/diversion) when I initiated the update. There were no errors, and when I checked the screen, it only said to restart router manually.

Both before and after doing so, it was stuck at 192.168.1.1 on the mini-cfe page. It was boot looping about every minute.

After clearing nvram (WPS hold) it will stay on on the mini-cfe w/o rebooting and will let me upload previous images. I've tried everything from the most current, stock asus firmware, and back to 384... All appear to flash (I get the upload successful message), but then it boots back to mini-cfe with the looping every minute. I'm about to throw it in the trash.

I have four other AC68Us around my property and am understandably shell-shocked to attempt the upgrade on any of the others.

Use 386.4 when flashing over the CFE mini webui. This is an unfortunate limitation of Asus's new combined firmware image for that model, the new combined image for the RT-AC68U cannot be flashed in recovery mode.

 

[erkme73]

Strange stuff. Good idea on trying DDWRT. Yeah, maybe try other firmware that's available for it.. maybe one will rejigger it into shape for Asuswrt.

Actually, the fact that it would work on anything other than Asus-flavored firmware made me dig a little deeper. This, it turns out, is one of those they-who-shall-not-be-named converts. Apparently something got missed in a step eons ago, and now came back to bite me. I am now on the right path and have installed the not-to-be-named original firmware and I'm good... Thanks for getting me pointed in the right direction!

 

[erkme73]

Use 386.4 when flashing over the CFE mini webui. This is an unfortunate limitation of Asus's new combined firmware image for that model, the new combined image for the RT-AC68U cannot be flashed in recovery mode.

Good to know. Let me get back to that point, and I'll make sure I go from _4 to _5 via the admin panel (or restoration util) w/o a USB installed