Any reason to upgrade ?

[Nullity]

@martinr, that is my understanding as well.

Though, across the few routers I have used, NAT loopback support can be unreliable or commonly misconfigured.

I guess it is like any choice... convenience and reliability are uncommon bedfellows.

 

[martinr]

@martinr, that is my understanding as well.

Though, across the few routers I have used, NAT loopback support can be unreliable or commonly misconfigured.

I guess it is like any choice... convenience and reliability are uncommon bedfellows.

Many thanks

Martin

 

[canuckle]

Can someone help me out here... if I read this correctly, the Factory Defaults Reset in the GUI does not sufficiently clear the old settings/remnants of the old firmware? I just went through all this, updating, reset to factory, re-enter settings, etc. Do I need to go back and follow the method quoted here??

Thanks for the help.
Mike

I should think that if you are going to the trouble to upgrade, you'd want the latest version ie 378.51. Having graduated to ASUS Merlin from DDWRT some 4 months or so ago, I believe asking which is the most stable version just isn't a question that needs to be asked about this firmware (in contrast to DDWRT, when it would be a perfectly valid question).

And the reason is obvious from this extract from Merlin's page outlining his approach to Asuswrt-Merlin:

"Priorities: Stability > performance > features. Fewer changes to the code means fewer chances that new bugs might be introduced. A router firmware is the core of your home network. It must be rock-stable above all. And performance optimizations can have unexpected side-effect when dealing with things that aren't fully understood."


Yesterday, I upgraded from 376.48 to the latest version, carefully following the instructions to factory restore. In fact, I followed the method outlined in another topic ("378.50 is out") rather than do a factory restore through the GUI, i.e.:


1. Power off

2. Power on holding the WPS button until the power led begins flashing

3. Release the WPS button and let the router boot up

4. Apply the new firmware and do the minimum in the wizard once it boots up

5. Repeat steps 2 and 3

6. Manually reapply settings in the gui . Reboot one final time after new settings in place


And everything went as smooth as silk.

 

[martinr]

Hi Mike

I guess the important thing is: did the method you used work? I really don't know if some models are more demanding than others, but I do know that my initial setting up of my RT-AC68U didn't go smoothly before I even flashed with AsusWRT-Merlin:

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-reset-recovery.21169/

and I discovered there are several loosely interchangeable terms such as factory restore, factory reset, hard reset, recovery ... and they don't necessarily mean the same thing to everyone and I didn't find any formal definitions. Perhaps given the range of models that isn't practicable. With a bit of luck, someone with experience across the ASUS range will clarify things.


For completeness I lifted the method of using the WPS button from Hummer12's post at

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-378-50-is-out.22627/page-30#post-168982

 

[canuckle]

Thanks Martinr, I will give it a day or so and keep an eye on things. Worst case scenario I know how to follow the steps on the method I quoted previously. Just trying to save myself redoing some of the work today, lol.

Hi Mike

I guess the important thing is: did the method you used work? I really don't know if some models are more demanding than others, but I do know that my initial setting up of my RT-AC68U didn't go smoothly before I even flashed with AsusWRT-Merlin:

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-reset-recovery.21169/

and I discovered there are several loosely interchangeable terms such as factory restore, factory reset, hard reset, recovery ... and they don't necessarily mean the same thing to everyone and I didn't find any formal definitions. Perhaps given the range of models that isn't practicable. With a bit of luck, someone with experience across the ASUS range will clarify things.


For completeness I lifted the method of using the WPS button from Hummer12's post at

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/asuswrt-merlin-378-50-is-out.22627/page-30#post-168982

 

[Marc66]

I have no idea what NAT loopback does but do I need to change it from default on my N66U?

thanks

If you don't know what NAT loopback is for, then you probably don't need it and can simply chose the "Disable" option

I personally don't need NAT loopback and that's what I did on my AC66U

You can have a look at this post from RMerlin