[DSL-AC68U] AsusWrt Merlin builds for DSL routers

kernol · Dec 12, 2019

GNUton said:
Could anybody still on the stable firmware have a look a this? https://github.com/gnuton/asuswrt-merlin.ng/issues/27

I had zero problems with Port forward under your 384.12 stable release - and don't have any under the latest 384.14beta releases either.
I have 12 port forwards configured and working without a glitch.

.

SteevieWeevie · Dec 12, 2019

GNUton said:
Could anybody still on the stable firmware have a look a this? https://github.com/gnuton/asuswrt-merlin.ng/issues/27

By stable firmware I assume you mean the latest non-BETA GNUton release?

If so, I have just tried this and don’t appear to have any problems adding a port forwarding rule. I added it, it appeared in the list and remains present after refreshing the browser. There is no save button, the rule sets after pressing “OK” in the add rule dialog box.

Zendilar · Dec 12, 2019

GNUton said:
Could anybody still on the stable firmware have a look a this? https://github.com/gnuton/asuswrt-merlin.ng/issues/27

It has been a wile from 384.12 but as I can recall this happen to two of my DSL-AC68Us after a dirty flashing from the original firmware, a reset to factory defaults solve the problem for both of the devices, and seance then it never happen again on any other update.
I don't think is common because I didn't experience the problem with my other two DSL-AC68Us.

walgarch · Dec 16, 2019

Thanks for the new stable firmware release gnuton!

https://github.com/gnuton/asuswrt-merlin.ng/releases/tag/384.14_0-gnuton1

384.14_beta3-gnuton0_alpha1 worked flawlessly for me, so expecting the same here

insp1re2600 · Dec 17, 2019

could we have link aggregation ala other asus routers in the LAN options please? thanks

DaVoodoo · Dec 17, 2019

Can this new stable version be dirty flashed from the previous stable version?

GNUton · Dec 17, 2019

DaVoodoo said:
Can this new stable version be dirty flashed from the previous stable version?

There are a lot of changes between the two releases but it should work. If you see something that doesn't behave correctly then reset to factory.

LuRcH · Dec 17, 2019

Done a dirty upgrade from the 384.12 stable to the 384.14 stable, it appears to work but have the warning "Your router is running low on free NVRAM, which might affect its stability. Review long parameter lists (like DHCP reservations), or consider doing a factory default reset and reconfiguring."

kernol · Dec 17, 2019

DaVoodoo said:
Can this new stable version be dirty flashed from the previous stable version?

There has been a lot of changes between 384.12 and 384.14 - and the biggest problem with our DSL routers is the limited nvram capacity.
So - after every successful firmware flash I run this command in SSH terminal ...

Code:

for line in `nvram show | grep =$ `; do var=${line%*=}; nvram unset $var; done; nvram commit

That frees up all the blank unused lines in nvram and reduces the used space a lot.

I always save my settings and backup the jffs folder - eject the USB - remove it from router - disable jffs scripts on the Administration tab ... restart the router without USB plugged in ... and only then do dirty flash to latest firmware. That ensures you have ample RAM for the flash process.

Reboot after dirty flash [still without USB plugged in] - wait 10 minutes - re-enable jffs scripts in the Admin tab - then pull the power cord on the router - wait for a minute - plug the USB into the router and power the router on.

So far I have been able to dirty flash all of Gnutons stable releases without a problem - so pretty sure you will be fine.
Do remember to run the above code after you are happy that everything is configured correctly and working.

DaVoodoo · Dec 18, 2019

kernol said:
There has been a lot of changes between 384.12 and 384.14 - and the biggest problem with our DSL routers is the limited nvram capacity.
So - after every successful firmware flash I run this command in SSH terminal ...

Code:

for line in `nvram show | grep =$ `; do var=${line%*=}; nvram unset $var; done; nvram commit

That frees up all the blank unused lines in nvram and reduces the used space a lot.

I always save my settings and backup the jffs folder - eject the USB - remove it from router - disable jffs scripts on the Administration tab ... restart the router without USB plugged in ... and only then do dirty flash to latest firmware. That ensures you have ample RAM for the flash process.

Reboot after dirty flash [still without USB plugged in] - wait 10 minutes - re-enable jffs scripts in the Admin tab - then pull the power cord on the router - wait for a minute - plug the USB into the router and power the router on.

So far I have been able to dirty flash all of Gnutons stable releases without a problem - so pretty sure you will be fine.
Do remember to run the above code after you are happy that everything is configured correctly and working.

Wow, thanks a million for the detailed instructions. Much appreciated.

Thanks for the other replies too.

kernol · Dec 18, 2019

High Praise to @GNUton for once again for producing a rock steady stable release of 384.14 with all the great improvements and bug fixes from @RMerlin

.

Magesh U · Dec 19, 2019

Hi Guys, I just joined the forum today. I recently got a ASUS DSL ac68U router. Later i found out that its not compatible with my ISP provider, so i am using ASUS as a secondary router connected using dual WAN. But i am seeing Wifi drops in 2.4 GHz. So, i want to give a try to Merlin. But want to confirm the following (please bear with me if iam sounding noob)
1. is it possible to return the orginal ASUS firmware after flashing Merlin?
2. Is Dual Wan option is working in this build.
3. Is anyone facing any wifi drops in 2.4 GHz

Thanks for your time . Cheers!!!

SteevieWeevie · Dec 20, 2019

Magesh U said:
Hi Guys, I just joined the forum today. I recently got a ASUS DSL ac68U router. Later i found out that its not compatible with my ISP provider, so i am using ASUS as a secondary router connected using dual WAN. But i am seeing Wifi drops in 2.4 GHz. So, i want to give a try to Merlin. But want to confirm the following (please bear with me if iam sounding noob)
1. is it possible to return the orginal ASUS firmware after flashing Merlin?
2. Is Dual Wan option is working in this build.
3. Is anyone facing any wifi drops in 2.4 GHz

Thanks for your time . Cheers!!!

Hi, welcome to the forum. Are you sure it is not compatible with your ISP? This is something that is often fixed, or compatibility is refined, with firmware updates to the inbuilt DSL modem. When I first got my AC68U last year and was using VDSL it did not work properly until I updated the firmware to the latest version. I now have G.fast and use the DSL-AC68U as router only. In the dual WAN setup I have the 68U set primary WAN mode as ethernet PPPoE.

1. It is possible to return to ASUS firmware after flashing Merlin as they are both based on the same firmware. I have no flashed back myself since starting using GNuton's firmware but I believe if you look further back in this thread there are others who have. They did this to get aiMesh functions that have now been rolled into Merlin. You can dirty flash back I believe as well.

2. Yes, dual WAN works under this build.

3. I speak only for myself but I have not noticed any 2.4G drop outs with this router ever. I've not noticed anyone posting in this thread reporting this either. I do not believe it's a quirk of firmware and if you are experiencing these drop outs it might be your hardware has a problem.

SteevieWeevie · Dec 20, 2019

To those who noticed a warning about NVRAM.

I note that in the Merlin changelog under FIXED the following is included:

Webui wouldn't notify when running dangerously low on free nvram (feature was lost at some point in the past)

Is it possible that there has been no issue with NVRAM usage and that this message would previously have been displayed with your configurations but was not displaying due to the feature being off or otherwise inactive?

It feels a bit too coincidental that this is featured in the changes as a fix for some users to suddenly have low NVRAM issues.

RMerlin · Dec 20, 2019

SteevieWeevie said:
Is it possible that there has been no issue with NVRAM usage and that this message would previously have been displayed with your configurations but was not displaying due to the feature being off or otherwise inactive?

It feels a bit too coincidental that this is featured in the changes as a fix for some users to suddenly have low NVRAM issues.

The issue was that there was no more checks for available nvram. Therefore quite a few users were out of free nvram, and didn't know about it, until suddenly they noticed they were no longer able to add new DHCP reservations (due to lack of nvram space - you can see plenty of these if you search older forum posts from the past months).

The fix was to reimplement the check and notification code.

SteevieWeevie · Dec 20, 2019

RMerlin said:
The issue was that there was no more checks for available nvram. Therefore quite a few users were out of free nvram, and didn't know about it, until suddenly they noticed they were no longer able to add new DHCP reservations (due to lack of nvram space - you can see plenty of these if you search older forum posts from the past months).

The fix was to reimplement the check and notification code.

I am a very novice and basic user so aside from flashing GNUton’s version of your firmware, I do not have any scripts or other code running. I think due to this I would be unlikely to run into any NVRAM issues myself. It just seemed a bit suspect that you fixed this check and suddenly those using the firmware started getting notifications.

Apologies if I have misunderstood and it is an unrelated occurrence.

RMerlin · Dec 20, 2019

SteevieWeevie said:
I think due to this I would be unlikely to run into any NVRAM issues myself. It just seemed a bit suspect that you fixed this check and suddenly those using the firmware started getting notifications.

Scripts are unrelated to nvram usage. Nvram is used for storing router settings. People who use VPN, have a lot of client devices, or have a long list of DHCP static reservations for instance may end up running out of nvram. There is only 64 KB available, so it's easy to fill. A single, typical DHCP reservation will put that into nvram. In the dhcp_staticlist variable:

Code:

<80:86:11:22:33:44>192.168.1.100>192.168.1.1

And the dhcp_hostnames variable:

Code:

<80:86:11:22:33:44>DeviceName

So for one single static reservation, with a name of "DeviceName" and a potential user-defined DNS server, you will be using 73 bytes out of 65535. Store 20 of these, and you take up about 1.4 KB out of 64KB. That's on top of course of everything else configured on your router: wireless settings, QoS rules, list of clients, etc...

You can see everything stored in nvram by running this command, through SSH:

Code:

nvram show | sort

This command will even sort them by alphabetical order. As you can see, there's a LOT of settings there, including many low-level settings used by the router itself, and not configurable by the user.

Magesh U · Dec 21, 2019

SteevieWeevie said:
Hi, welcome to the forum. Are you sure it is not compatible with your ISP? This is something that is often fixed, or compatibility is refined, with firmware updates to the inbuilt DSL modem. When I first got my AC68U last year and was using VDSL it did not work properly until I updated the firmware to the latest version. I now have G.fast and use the DSL-AC68U as router only. In the dual WAN setup I have the 68U set primary WAN mode as ethernet PPPoE.

1. It is possible to return to ASUS firmware after flashing Merlin as they are both based on the same firmware. I have no flashed back myself since starting using GNuton's firmware but I believe if you look further back in this thread there are others who have. They did this to get aiMesh functions that have now been rolled into Merlin. You can dirty flash back I believe as well.

2. Yes, dual WAN works under this build.

3. I speak only for myself but I have not noticed any 2.4G drop outs with this router ever. I've not noticed anyone posting in this thread reporting this either. I do not believe it's a quirk of firmware and if you are experiencing these drop outs it might be your hardware has a problem.

Yes my ISP provider says only his chinese modem will be compatiable (its a local isp provider..

) Thanks i will give a try to this build and take the forum help if any issue i get..

One quick question, my router is in the ground floor , will my 2.4 GHz signal will be reachable in the second floor? i am getting drop only in that location. Or i am expecting too much from the router ?

rs232 · Dec 21, 2019

Wow I'm really impressed to find this thread/release

Quick question, is this just a way to have RMerlin router functionality installed on this device or does it also perform the xDSL connectivity part?

Great work regardless!

SteevieWeevie · Dec 21, 2019

rs232 said:
Wow I'm really impressed to find this thread/release

Quick question, is this just a way to have RMerlin router functionality installed on this device or does it also perform the xDSL connectivity part?

Great work regardless!

It's a way to have RMerlin based firmware AND keep the DSL component of the router functioning. It's ace.

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