Asus/Merlin - Web Gui is intermittent

[BryanB]

Hello Guys,

What are your thoughts about this? The GUI seems to crash a lot I would say or at least too slow to complete loading. Is there a better browser for ASP pages that I need to know?

I tried in both wifi and wired computer.
Tried on:
iPhone Safari - sometime the page don't really load at all!
Desktop Firefox
Desktop Chrome
Desktop IE
Android Chrome

The GUI is looks like this, and I have to refresh a lot.
https://pasteboard.co/GPmKadA.png

 

[Jack Yaz]

Hello Guys,

What are your thoughts about this? The GUI seems to crash a lot I would say or at least too slow to complete loading. Is there a better browser for ASP pages that I need to know?

I tried in both wifi and wired computer.
Tried on:
iPhone Safari - sometime the page don't really load at all!
Desktop Firefox
Desktop Chrome
Desktop IE
Android Chrome

The GUI is looks like this, and I have to refresh a lot.
https://pasteboard.co/GPmKadA.png

Are you using HTTPS? It's known to be faulty (upstream Asus code). If so, use HTTP instead.

 

[BryanB]

Are you using HTTPS? It's known to be faulty (upstream Asus code). If so, use HTTP instead.

Yes https, because I would need it to be accessible from WAN time to time thought. But if httpS is faulty then I'd better go for vpn?

 

[Jack Yaz]

Yes https, because I would need it to be accessible from WAN time to time thought. But if httpS is faulty then I'd better go for vpn?

Yes, set to HTTP, disable WAN access, and setup a VPN server to access the Router WebUI. This is what I'm using on my 87U.

 

[Adamm]

Hello Guys,

What are your thoughts about this? The GUI seems to crash a lot I would say or at least too slow to complete loading. Is there a better browser for ASP pages that I need to know?

I tried in both wifi and wired computer.
Tried on:
iPhone Safari - sometime the page don't really load at all!
Desktop Firefox
Desktop Chrome
Desktop IE
Android Chrome

The GUI is looks like this, and I have to refresh a lot.
https://pasteboard.co/GPmKadA.png

To fix this import the certificate;

https://superuser.com/a/632060/172416

 

[BryanB]

Yes, set to HTTP, disable WAN access, and setup a VPN server to access the Router WebUI. This is what I'm using on my 87U.

Thank you for the quick enlightenment. didn't really know HTTPs is problematic.

To fix this import the certificate;
https://superuser.com/a/632060/172416

I might try this one day. but I think ill go through the quick fix which is switch back to http, and just use vpn if needs to remote the router gui. thank you!!!

 

[st3v3n]

Hi Gents, Far be it from me to cry wolf. Now that others are reporting GUI crashes, I'm sure RMerlin will get to the bottom of it when he has time to nail it down. I've been testing different opvn configs from our provider for a month, but it's never been as bad as it's been the past few days. It usually seems to be something with the openvpn routing window/tab than anything else I've found. I've never had success using HTTPS on the router, and since I only futz with it locally, it's not a huge deal. The GUI will hang/halt or just outright fades to white for no real reason, but saves usually seem to be at it's the worst, when the GUI needs to be up. The traffic never stalls, it's just the GUI having a bad day, spooks, aliens, what have you. I've had to shut down the browser several times after waiting at least 10 minutes, and I had nothing running in memory except for the openvpn client. Usually it's not that long and if I wait a few minutes or close, then fire the browser up, the GUI will snap-to and allow me to log back in. Only once have I had to power the AC3200 off to regain control, so it's worse, not better. Others in different threads relate to this GUI problem, I'm glad it's not just in my head, or on our machine. Going to tough it out a couple more days, unless I have to resort to dropping back to the previous build, prior to -4. Everyone's swatting all sorts of nasty bugs today.

 

[BryanB]

Hi Gents, Far be it from me to cry wolf. Now that others are reporting GUI crashes, I'm sure RMerlin will get to the bottom of it when he has time to nail it down. I've been testing different opvn configs from our provider for a month, but it's never been as bad as it's been the past few days. It usually seems to be something with the openvpn routing window/tab than anything else I've found. I've never had success using HTTPS on the router, and since I only futz with it locally, it's not a huge deal. The GUI will hang/halt or just outright fades to white for no real reason, but saves usually seem to be at it's the worst, when the GUI needs to be up. The traffic never stalls, it's just the GUI having a bad day, spooks, aliens, what have you. I've had to shut down the browser several times after waiting at least 10 minutes, and I had nothing running in memory except for the openvpn client. Usually it's not that long and if I wait a few minutes or close, then fire the browser up, the GUI will snap-to and allow me to log back in. Only once have I had to power the AC3200 off to regain control, so it's worse, not better. Others in different threads relate to this GUI problem, I'm glad it's not just in my head, or on our machine. Going to tough it out a couple more days, unless I have to resort to dropping back to the previous build, prior to -4. Everyone's swatting all sorts of nasty bugs today.

Possibly an Asus Suppor concern since Merlin just use that base and improve things.

 

[heysoundude]

Thank you for the quick enlightenment. didn't really know HTTPs is problematic.


I might try this one day. but I think ill go through the quick fix which is switch back to http, and just use vpn if needs to remote the router gui. thank you!!!

I would assume the cert import is the simplest, with the VPN the most secure; browser won't load GUI if router doesn't recognize cert...or is it the browser not recognizing the router's cert? (I shouldn't read these things with other things happening so I can focus...)

 

[st3v3n]

Bryan and heysound; I hear you. The crashing GUI issue is a new development (no pun intended) compared to the browser cache certificate import issue, which seems like ancient history at this point. If a resolution has to float down from Asus before anything changes, since it is so recent, it's likely we'd be better off waiting for icebergs to land on the beach in Tahiti, to keep our vodka-tonics cool, a joke. I'm fairly sure for my part, the crash/stalls aren't due to certificate import or browser problem, not on the system I work on. Nothing is done automatically in any part of the system if I don't do it manually, and since Scotty didn't beam it in before he left, I've nothing to relate to it. I haven't decided it's worth the time to swap to the earlier build (without the added fixes), to the backup router with the current build, just to test openvpn configs to test the GUI crash issue out. I'm finishing up config testing tomorrow, and won't have time, unless the router passes on, or otherwise proves it's faulty. No GUI issues prior to the newest FW, and I always check Merlin's hashes prior to downloading; all downloads are scanned in realtime before they're deposited on an isolated archive drive, then triple scanned again. I've never heard of anyone getting anything other than a solid Merlin FW build, unless it's from some other site, and not where RMerlin keeps his. I couldn't bring Merlin's regular site up on the night this version it was released, it looked odd, so I bypassed it and went to the first mirror site. The hashes matched, so it shouldn't have mattered, or he wouldn't have put it up. If you spend time reading this forum alone, there's such a volume of valuable information to absorb, it's more rewarding to read and not post. I like to offer casual help when possible, because it's tough to go a long time if no one see one needs help. Many are busy with coding and security chores. As for the browser and certificate problem, that's been mentioned for a good while (not lecturing). It's easy enough not to run anything else in a browser when you're working with the router GUI, or just to use a different or virtual browser for other tasks. Nothing runs on the same browser when I'm working with the router GUI. The cache self-destructs every few seconds when not in the router or working on sites. The browsers are fast enough to shut down and restart, but when the router GUI crashes, that's time-consuming. I use Brave for regular browsing, it's a tough browser that stays current. Browser cache is emptied easily enough if you don't want to go through that. Whether you import your keys and certificates automatically in the config or copy and paste them manually, either way hasn't lessened the frequency of the GUI crashes, if anything, it's becoming more spastic. I've emptied my trick box, and try to be patient, and hope the stall isn't a crash. So far, the connections haven't been lost nor the data or configs corrupted, but like all gripes, it's tiresome. The AC3200 has been a happy router for us, and always fast with the GUI until this cropped up. Nailing down a recently-born GUI stalling problem that was never a problem before, can't be fixed soon enough, and no one who has it wants to deal with it. Today the GUI stalled out twice then crahsed, when changing to a different part/tab in the GUI. No malware, no viruses, and no reason. I'll roll back before I grump again Good luck to us all.