AB-Solution - The Ad Blocking Solution

[thelonelycoder]

I still cannot run the script as per earlier. Got these messasges (amongst others) in the syslog:

kernel: EXT2-fs (sda1): previous I/O error to superblock detected

kernel: EXT2-fs (sda1): error: ext2_free_branches: Read failure, inode=7725, block=36855

Do you have a linux box to plug the device in?

 

[FalconB]

Do you have a linux box to plug the device in?

I have windows 10 machines, a Ubuntu-machine, and a USB-drive with "Tails" on it (Linux-based, I think)...

 

[thelonelycoder]

I have windows 10 machines, a Ubuntu-machine, and a USB-drive with "Tails" on it (Linux-based, I think)...

Then plug the device into the Ubuntu box, copy everything from the device if possible and save it outside of the device.
Reformat to ext2, using the same label as before for the partition.
Then unplug and plug it into the router, without any data on it.
See if the router reports still errors. If not, put the files back on the device in Ubuntu.
Then things should be back to normal.

 

[FalconB]

Then plug the device into the Ubuntu box, copy everything from the device if possible and save it outside of the device.
Reformat to ext2, using the same label as before for the partition.
Then unplug and plug it into the router, without any data on it.
See if the router reports still errors. If not, put the files back on the device in Ubuntu.
Then things should be back to normal.

Will try that. Thanks again for your help. I'll get back with how things work out...

 

[FalconB]

Will try that. Thanks again for your help. I'll get back with how things work out...

S U C C E S S !!!​

So here's what I did (for others that might end up in the same situation):

1. Unmounted the usb-drive from the router through the GUI and then removed it from the router.
2. Inserted usb-drive into my Ubuntu-machine and copied the files from usb-drive to the Ubuntu-HDD. There were some errors while copying the content of the USB-drive related to the ab-solution script and directory.
3. Formated the usb-drive on the Ubuntu-machine (not using quick-format) and then unmounted and removed it from the Ubuntu-machine.
4. Inserted the newly formatted (and empty) usb-drive in the router and ran the "Health Scanner" in the router GUI looking for errors in the GUI and in the syslog. No errors were found!
5. Unmounted and removed the usb-drive from the router again and inserted it into the Ubuntu-machine.
6. Copied all the files from the Ubuntu-machine back to the usb-drive. Unmounted and removed the usb-drive, then plugged it into the router.
7. Redownloaded ab-solution using the command on the ab-solution web page. Installed succesfully!
8. Started ab-solution and updated everything possible: ab-solution, block-file, pixel-server and entware. No errors reported.
9. After that I noticed that the owner and group of the files I copied back on the usb-drive were set to "1000", so I ran "chown -R XXXX *" (where XXXX is my username) and "chown -R :root *" from the usb-drive root, "/tmp/mnt/USB" . No errors, and now all files on the usb-drive were set with correct owner and group.
10. With tears of joy, I wrote this post!

Thank you so much for your help @thelonelycoder even though this was more of a Linux-related issue than an ab-solution issue. This was a good leasson in how to troubleshoot and correct errors in Linux.
​

PS
Sorry for taking up a page or two in the forum with my issue which wasn't entirely related to ab-solution...

 

[thelonelycoder]

S U C C E S S !!!​

So here's what I did (for others that might end up in the same situation):

1. Unmounted the usb-drive from the router through the GUI and then removed it from the router.
2. Inserted usb-drive into my Ubuntu-machine and copied the files from usb-drive to the Ubuntu-HDD. There were some errors while copying the content of the USB-drive related to the ab-solution script and directory.
3. Formated the usb-drive on the Ubuntu-machine (not using quick-format) and then unmounted and removed it from the Ubuntu-machine.
4. Inserted the newly formatted (and empty) usb-drive in the router and ran the "Health Scanner" in the router GUI looking for errors in the GUI and in the syslog. No errors were found!
5. Unmounted and removed the usb-drive from the router again and inserted it into the Ubuntu-machine.
6. Copied all the files from the Ubuntu-machine back to the usb-drive. Unmounted and removed the usb-drive, then plugged it into the router.
7. Redownloaded ab-solution using the command on the ab-solution web page. Installed succesfully!
8. Started ab-solution and updated everything possible: ab-solution, block-file, pixel-server and entware. No errors reported.
9. After that I noticed that the owner and group of the files I copied back on the usb-drive were set to "1000", so I ran "chown -R XXXX *" (where XXXX is my username) and "chown -R :root *" from the usb-drive root, "/tmp/mnt/USB" . No errors, and now all files on the usb-drive were set with correct owner and group.
10. With tears of joy, I wrote this post!

Thank you so much for your help @thelonelycoder even though this was more of a Linux-related issue than an ab-solution issue. This was a good leasson in how to troubleshoot and correct errors in Linux.
​

PS
Sorry for taking up a page or two in the forum with my issue which wasn't entirely related to ab-solution...

On my CentOS boxes I can tick a box to not become the owner of the files when formatting the device.
Never have problems that way.
Happy ad-blocking then!

 

[FalconB]

On my CentOS boxes I can tick a box to not become the owner of the files when formatting the device.
Never have problems that way.
Happy ad-blocking then!

I might have missed that one, but it sorted it self out anyways.

The adblock-counter goes tick, tick, tick... It truly is a joy to ad-block

 

[wyliec2]

I am trying to install A-B Solution. When I try to install it tells me I don't have an ext2|ext3|ext4 device available. I formatted the flash drive as ext2 using MiniTool Partition Wizard. The USB drive is visible on the router but shows as UNMOUNTED. I'm not sure how mount the USB device?? I'm new to SSH...any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[thelonelycoder]

I am trying to install A-B Solution. When I try to install it tells me I don't have an ext2|ext3|ext4 device available. I formatted the flash drive as ext2 using MiniTool Partition Wizard. The USB drive is visible on the router but shows as UNMOUNTED. I'm not sure how mount the USB device?? I'm new to SSH...any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

If it shows unmounted, unplug the device, wait some time and plug it back in.
Never remove a device without unmounting it first, unless the router is powered off.

 

[wyliec2]

The USB drive formatted Ext2 on my desktop did not want to mount after removing and reinserting on the router. I found commands to format it on the router and then rebooted the router and all was good. I'm noticing a lot of blank space on the pages now!!!

 

[Chiny91]

The mails are sent over a secure line on SSL, with what protocol do your other clients connect?
You could try to enable TLS on the server and then use port 465 in AB.

Thanks for reply. A bit of poking about revealed grumbling re library compatibility but real life intervened and I have postponed resolution until a wet Sunday. I have swapped to an external email provider, which works as expected.

 

[thelonelycoder]

The USB drive formatted Ext2 on my desktop did not want to mount after removing and reinserting on the router. I found commands to format it on the router and then rebooted the router and all was good. I'm noticing a lot of blank space on the pages now!!!

A whole lot for nothing in return, huh?
Glad it works.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Thanks for reply. A bit of poking about revealed grumbling re library compatibility but real life intervened and I have postponed resolution until a wet Sunday. I have swapped to an external email provider, which works as expected.

I never bothered to enable secure mail for my local Linux servers. But they were the first recipients of my elaborate mail attachment hack for these routers.

I remember when I was close to getting it to work after a long trial and error coding session.
My godson came visiting, and we talked for hours about this and that and the code I'm working on, while I was on the edge to get that d*mn code working.
In the end I told him he had to leave early, I HAVE to go finish that NOW.
Godson left, and I sent my first succesful mail with attachment, hours later.
I did send a testmail to him, proving I was right I could make it to work.

 

[MarioCaires]

I have installed the latest firmware 380.67 and noticed that pixelserv wasn't running so when I tried to open Ab-Solution GUI through putty, it got stuck for several minutes in "checking installation state":

 Welcome
 This is AB-Solution 3.8 [3.8.1]

 looking for an installation
 found AB-Solution on /tmp/mnt/SandiskUltraFit
 checking installation state

I tried to run the script installation again, however the same issue during installation. So I deleted the "ab-solution" and "entware" folders and re-run the installation and this time I could access the script GUI.
When I run the installation of the pixelserv script this time it got stuck in:

 writing the pixelserv-tls startup script
 restarting pixelserv-tls to apply changes
 Shutting down pixelserv-tls...              done.
 Starting pixelserv-tls (AB-Solution)...              done.
 checking if 192.168.1.10 responds
 192.168.1.10 responded, continuing

The pixelserv is running on the shown ip however there is no indication of installation successful in the GUI:

 i   AB-Solution     [/tmp/mnt/SandiskUltraFit]
 cu  check for updates

 a   ad-blocking     [on]
 l   logging         [on]
 rs  router stats    [off]

 cb  custom block IP [off] (0.0.0.0)
 ps  install pixelserv-tls

 b   blocking file   [Medium] [Sun @ 2:00]
 u   update blocking file
 el  edit white or black list

 f   follow the logfile
 ac  update ads counter

 e   exit AB-Solution                 sm  sub menu

What can I do now?

EDIT: I am getting this in the router log:

Jul 16 20:31:43 pixelserv[16229]: exit on SIGTERM
Jul 16 20:31:44 pixelserv[19615]: pixelserv-tls version: v35.HZ12.Kj compiled: May 30 2017 22:33:13 options: 192.168.1.10
Jul 16 20:31:44 pixelserv[19615]: Listening on :192.168.1.10:80
Jul 16 20:31:44 ac87: Started pixelserv-tls (AB-Solution) from /tmp/mnt/SandiskUltraFit/adblocking/addon/pixelserv-tls.add.
Jul 16 20:31:44 pixelserv[19615]: Listening on :192.168.1.10:443
Jul 16 20:31:49 ac87: AB-Solution created 192.168.1.10 for pixelserv during install.

 

[thelonelycoder]

I have installed the latest firmware 380.67 and noticed that pixelserv wasn't running so when I tried to open Ab-Solution GUI through putty, it got stuck for several minutes in "checking installation state":

 Welcome
 This is AB-Solution 3.8 [3.8.1]

 looking for an installation
 found AB-Solution on /tmp/mnt/SandiskUltraFit
 checking installation state

I tried to run the script installation again, however the same issue during installation. So I deleted the "ab-solution" and "entware" folders and re-run the installation and this time I could access the script GUI.
When I run the installation of the pixelserv script this time it got stuck in:

 writing the pixelserv-tls startup script
 restarting pixelserv-tls to apply changes
 Shutting down pixelserv-tls...              done.
 Starting pixelserv-tls (AB-Solution)...              done.
 checking if 192.168.1.10 responds
 192.168.1.10 responded, continuing

The pixelserv is running on the shown ip however there is no indication of installation successful in the GUI:

 i   AB-Solution     [/tmp/mnt/SandiskUltraFit]
 cu  check for updates

 a   ad-blocking     [on]
 l   logging         [on]
 rs  router stats    [off]

 cb  custom block IP [off] (0.0.0.0)
 ps  install pixelserv-tls

 b   blocking file   [Medium] [Sun @ 2:00]
 u   update blocking file
 el  edit white or black list

 f   follow the logfile
 ac  update ads counter

 e   exit AB-Solution                 sm  sub menu

What can I do now?

EDIT: I am getting this in the router log:

Jul 16 20:31:43 pixelserv[16229]: exit on SIGTERM
Jul 16 20:31:44 pixelserv[19615]: pixelserv-tls version: v35.HZ12.Kj compiled: May 30 2017 22:33:13 options: 192.168.1.10
Jul 16 20:31:44 pixelserv[19615]: Listening on :192.168.1.10:80
Jul 16 20:31:44 ac87: Started pixelserv-tls (AB-Solution) from /tmp/mnt/SandiskUltraFit/adblocking/addon/pixelserv-tls.add.
Jul 16 20:31:44 pixelserv[19615]: Listening on :192.168.1.10:443
Jul 16 20:31:49 ac87: AB-Solution created 192.168.1.10 for pixelserv during install.

Which version of 380.67?

Also, post output of these two commands:

netstat -tuln | grep :443

and

netstat -tuln | grep :80

 

[thelonelycoder]

@MarioCaires, I just installed 380.67.0 on two routers and see no problem with ps.

 

[thelonelycoder]

With the overwhelming majority approving the AB-Solution update notification I went ahead and started coding.
Thanks for trusting me not to do the wrong thing.

This is going to be a very nice and good looking notification!
Soon to arrive from a router near you.

 

[MarioCaires]

@MarioCaires, I just installed 380.67.0 on two routers and see no problem with ps.

I've done a router factory reset and it is working now!
No idea what happened...

 

[Makaveli]

I ran into a similar issue after I upgraded to .67 but I don't think the issue is with AB Solution.

After the upgrade and router reboot it seems ab and ps were not running at all. Once I went to putty and I started AB solution it fixed some issues with some paths then was up and running again with PS. However from the GUI in the firmware the healtscanner was showing issues with the thumb drive. I've unmounted the drive now and running a quick scan on it. Then will put it back in the router and check it again.

I think for the next firmware update I may just shutdown AB and unmount the thumb drive before I start it. This should avoid the issue.

 

[thelonelycoder]

I ran into a similar issue after I upgraded to .67 but I don't think the issue is with AB Solution.

After the upgrade and router reboot it seems ab and ps were not running at all. Once I went to putty and I started AB solution it fixed some issues with some paths then was up and running again with PS. However from the GUI in the firmware the healtscanner was showing issues with the thumb drive. I've unmounted the drive now and running a quick scan on it. Then will put it back in the router and check it again.

I think for the next firmware update I may just shutdown AB and unmount the thumb drive before I start it. This should avoid the issue.

If it said it fixed some paths, then the device name changed. I bet your device has no label and is called either sda or sdb.