ASUS RT-AC68U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.374.306

[speedingcheetah]

AC56U owners need a similar version too - .291 just does not cut it.

With all my due respect to ASUS, what was the point of releasing OpenVPN client support in .291 if it does not work? That's a major feature!

.291 for the AC56U is un-usable...

the router still reports it has the latest firmware
3.0.0.4.374_158-g36ce605

I think they must have screwed up posting that fw to the website...as the router itself does not even see the .291 version as new when u run check for update....

 

[speedingcheetah]

I think most issues are:
1. 2.4G strength problem( some ppl said N66u had better coverage at 2.4G than AC68U). I notice I have this problem too, I have no coverage(2.4 and 5G) when I am working in my car garage, but I did have coverage when I was using N56u.
2. VPN setup problem.
3. some routers freeze when torrenting.
4. 20/40 bandwidth can not be setup under 2.4G

.291 for my AC56U ....torrenting = instant router crash.

 

[sijuthomas98]

Updated to .306 and upgraded mem clock speed to 666 with the new utility. As always with this router, I have no issues with .306 firmware, or previous versions. Performance, range, and reliability are the best I have ever experienced in a router.

I only use port forwarding (with HW acceleration enabled), QoS, 2.4ghz and 5ghz wireless and one LAN cable port.

I suspect the AC68U issues reported by some people are related to setup issues or perhaps due to a feature which I do not have a need to use. Maybe VPN, IPv6, USB or AIcloud bloatware for example.

Enabling Qos disables HW acceleration.

 

[sijuthomas98]

Positives now, the 20Mhz 2.4 on AC68 U gives phenomenal throughput across a couple of walls.almost no signal loss at all. I get almost 87mbps internet speed connectivity ( at a max link of 216mbps)on clients while connected to 2.4G on 20mhz, compared to 98mbps connected to 5Ghz (max link at 1.3Gbps)on a 100mbps internet plan.
The 5G on 157 channel is mostly connecting to my AC68 bridge at a rate of 1.3Gbps. Ac 66u used to fall back to 866 soon after startup. Only glitches were occasional dropouts where the bridge rebooted but it's happened twice since I own the router. And link dropping for a short while to something like 384kbps which was something I did not see with AC66 U , but then it is a mature firmware I use on that, Merlin's latest .34.
I am quite happy with the purchase and would love to see what Asus and Merlin will turn this router into in a year from now.

 

[ronan_zj]

I am quite happy with the purchase and would love to see what Asus and Merlin will turn this router into in a year from now.

they will turn this router into a beast.

 

[RMerlin]

.291 for the AC56U is un-usable...

the router still reports it has the latest firmware
3.0.0.4.374_158-g36ce605

I think they must have screwed up posting that fw to the website...as the router itself does not even see the .291 version as new when u run check for update....

The automatic update doesn't check the website, it checks on another server where Asus separately posts updates. That's why it's not always in-sync with what's on the website.

 

[speedingcheetah]

The automatic update doesn't check the website, it checks on another server where Asus separately posts updates. That's why it's not always in-sync with what's on the website.

welll...they never posted the 158 build to the website...u can only get it though the router

 

[tl2k2]

welll...they never posted the 158 build to the website...u can only get it though the router

because the first official built is 205.

 

[RMerlin]

welll...they never posted the 158 build to the website...u can only get it though the router

Exactly. They uploaded it to the update site, and updated the manifest to push out 158 for 134 owners through online update. It was never published to the support website.

That's what I'm saying: online update checker has nothing to do with the download available on the support website.

EDIT: for the curious, here's what's currently available in that manifest:

admin@RT-AC68U:/tmp# more /tmp/temp.txt 
RT-AC68U#FW3004100#EXT0-g0f3bacc#URL#UT4208
RT-AC66U#FW3004374#EXT726-g10636ee#URL#UT4208
RT-AC56U#FW3004374#EXT158-g36ce605#URL#UT4208
RT-AC52U#FW3004100#EXT0-g0f3bacc#URL#UT4208
RT-N66U#FW3004374#EXT979-gbc8961e#URL#UT4208
RT-N65U#FW3004372#EXT1363-g8a09f11#URL#UT4208
RT-N56U#FW3004374#EXT979-gbc8961e#URL#UT4208
RT-N53#FW3004374#EXT311-g6d4f56e#URL#UT4208
RT-N18U#FW3004100#EXT168-g50fb114#URL#UT4208
RT-N16#FW3004374#EXT979-gbc8961e#URL#UT4208
RT-N15U#FW3004374#EXT168-g50fb114#URL#UT4208
RT-N14U#FW3004372#EXT1391-g5cf733d#URL#UT4208
RT-N10PV2#FW3004100#EXT168-g50fb114#URL#UT4208
DSL-N55U#FW3004374#EXT159-gc73ef88#URL#UT4208
DSL-N55U-B#FW3004374#EXT159-gc73ef88#URL#UT4208
WL-330NUL#FW3-0-0-30#EXT0-46e615099#URL#UT1-0-3-2
DSL-N66U#FW1050#EXT#URL#UT4208
DSL-N55U-C1#FW1049#EXT#URL#UT4208

 

[speedingcheetah]

Exactly. They uploaded it to the update site, and updated the manifest to push out 158 for 134 owners through online update. It was never published to the support website.

That's what I'm saying: online update checker has nothing to do with the download available on the support website.

So nothing to do with....than whats the difference...other than one causes severe issues and the other doesn't...I guess your not mean to update from the web site.

I doesn't make sense to me that they would release to the website first. All the other routers I have dealt with(netgear,cisco etc)...the auto update in the firmware always see the latest version (with the sometimes exception of a large version jump). The first place most people check is the router firmware.

What's the point if having a update option in the firmware if it doesn't pull the latest update.

 

[Asusnet]

So nothing to do with....than whats the difference...other than one causes severe issues and the other doesn't...I guess your not mean to update from the web site.

I doesn't make sense to me that they would release to the website first. All the other routers I have dealt with(netgear,cisco etc)...the auto update in the firmware always see the latest version (with the sometimes exception of a large version jump). The first place most people check is the router firmware.

What's the point if having a update option in the firmware if it doesn't pull the latest update.

You can try the RT-AC56U version of 3.0.0.4.374.306 here and see if it helps with your torrent issue.

https://www.asuswebstorage.com/navigate/s/138A86EC1857461FBCC77ED93D3896604

I was able to successfully torrent 8-10GB earlier this week with .291 on Download master program.

 

[speedingcheetah]

You can try the RT-AC56U version of 3.0.0.4.374.306 here and see if it helps with your torrent issue.

https://www.asuswebstorage.com/navigate/s/138A86EC1857461FBCC77ED93D3896604

I was able to successfully torrent 8-10GB earlier this week with .291 on Download master program.

How did u get this? There is not posted on the website or through the router update...

And I am using Utorrent...not the Download master trough the router....hate that software..

 

[speedingcheetah]

You can try the RT-AC56U version of 3.0.0.4.374.306 here and see if it helps with your torrent issue.

https://www.asuswebstorage.com/navigate/s/138A86EC1857461FBCC77ED93D3896604

I was able to successfully torrent 8-10GB earlier this week with .291 on Download master program.

I just flashed this...and its WORSE!

It resulted in no internet connection and no wifi.

PPPOE is broken or something...I get these errors:

Dec 31 18:03:29 pppd[522]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Dec 31 18:03:29 pppd[522]: PPP session is 1967 (0x7af)
Dec 31 18:03:29 pppd[522]: Connected to 88:e0:f3:c8:7f:17 via interface eth0
Dec 31 18:03:29 pppd[522]: Using interface ppp0
Dec 31 18:03:29 pppd[522]: Connect: ppp0 <--> eth0
Dec 31 18:03:31 pppd[522]: MS-CHAP authentication failed:
Dec 31 18:03:31 pppd[522]: CHAP authentication failed
Dec 31 18:03:37 pppd[522]: Connection terminated.
Dec 31 18:03:38 pppd[522]: Sent PADT
Dec 31 18:03:38 pppd[522]: Modem hangup


Flashed back to 158...and everything is fine

 

[Kris404]

The web interface along with DHCP/Telnet died on me just now (less than 24 hours of runtime). I do not use the USB port, QoS or Port-forwarding.

All I was doing was transferring large files over the Wired network (PC to Synology NAS)

Had to do a hard reboot. This is untenable, may have to go back to DD-WRT.

Nov  2 00:02:52 miniupnpd[624]: unsupported NAT-PMP version : 2
Nov  2 00:54:07 kernel: br0: received packet on eth2 with own address as source address
Nov  2 01:02:52 miniupnpd[624]: unsupported NAT-PMP version : 2
Nov  2 01:02:52 miniupnpd[624]: unsupported NAT-PMP version : 2
Nov  2 03:02:52 miniupnpd[624]: Expired NAT-PMP mapping port 5353 UDP removed
Nov  2 03:02:52 miniupnpd[624]: Expired NAT-PMP mapping port 4500 UDP removed
Nov  2 03:07:27 miniupnpd[624]: unsupported NAT-PMP version : 2
Nov  2 03:07:27 miniupnpd[624]: unsupported NAT-PMP version : 2
Nov  2 03:07:38 miniupnpd[624]: unsupported NAT-PMP version : 2
Nov  2 03:07:38 miniupnpd[624]: unsupported NAT-PMP version : 2
Jan  1 05:30:09 syslogd started: BusyBox v1.17.4
Jan  1 05:30:09 kernel: klogd started: BusyBox v1.17.4 (2013-10-29 09:22:01 CST)
Jan  1 05:30:09 kernel: Linux version 2.6.36.4brcmarm (defjovi@localhost.localdomain) (gcc version 4.5.3 (Buildroot 2012.02) ) #10 SMP PREEMPT Tue Oct 29 09:23:26 CST 2013
Jan  1 05:30:09 kernel: CPU: ARMv7 Processor [413fc090] revision 0 (ARMv7), cr=10c53c7f
Jan  1 05:30:09 kernel: CPU: VIPT nonaliasing data cache, VIPT nonaliasing instruction cache
Jan  1 05:30:09 kernel: Machine: Northstar Prototype
Jan  1 05:30:09 kernel: Ignoring unrecognised tag 0x00000000

 

[RMerlin]

I just flashed this...and its WORSE!

It resulted in no internet connection and no wifi.

PPPOE is broken or something...I get these errors:

Dec 31 18:03:29 pppd[522]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Dec 31 18:03:29 pppd[522]: PPP session is 1967 (0x7af)
Dec 31 18:03:29 pppd[522]: Connected to 88:e0:f3:c8:7f:17 via interface eth0
Dec 31 18:03:29 pppd[522]: Using interface ppp0
Dec 31 18:03:29 pppd[522]: Connect: ppp0 <--> eth0
Dec 31 18:03:31 pppd[522]: MS-CHAP authentication failed:
Dec 31 18:03:31 pppd[522]: CHAP authentication failed
Dec 31 18:03:37 pppd[522]: Connection terminated.
Dec 31 18:03:38 pppd[522]: Sent PADT
Dec 31 18:03:38 pppd[522]: Modem hangup


Flashed back to 158...and everything is fine

I've seen some ISPs using PPPoE reject login attempts for a few minutes as the previous session hasn't expired, and they don't allow double concurrent sessions. That might be your problem - the time needed to flash the router to 306 wasn't long enough for the old session to expire. By the time you reflashed 158, it had finally expired.

After flashing 306 try unplugging the modem from your router for 5-10 mins, then plug it back. See if authentication works properly then.

 

[RMerlin]

How did u get this? There is not posted on the website or through the router update...

Fairly easy: Asusnet is an actual Asus employee

Their website had some weird issues today, where you might or might not see available updates depending on whether you go straight through the Support page, or go first through the Product page, which leads to a different support section.

 

[RMerlin]

So nothing to do with....than whats the difference...other than one causes severe issues and the other doesn't...I guess your not mean to update from the web site.

I doesn't make sense to me that they would release to the website first. All the other routers I have dealt with(netgear,cisco etc)...the auto update in the firmware always see the latest version (with the sometimes exception of a large version jump). The first place most people check is the router firmware.

What's the point if having a update option in the firmware if it doesn't pull the latest update.

The common practice is to provide manual updates, wait to ensure it doesn't have any major regression, and THEN you provide it for automated update. Cause otherwise, pushing out an untested automated update will automatically wreck thousands of devices.

 

[luka_w]

the common practice for Asus, should be support in daily basis this forum which is in a top places in google search engine and listening to the voice (user experience) of people about Asus products ...
this forum is like huge department responsible for testing products and it doesn't cost anything

 

[speedingcheetah]

I've seen some ISPs using PPPoE reject login attempts for a few minutes as the previous session hasn't expired, and they don't allow double concurrent sessions. That might be your problem - the time needed to flash the router to 306 wasn't long enough for the old session to expire. By the time you reflashed 158, it had finally expired.

After flashing 306 try unplugging the modem from your router for 5-10 mins, then plug it back. See if authentication works properly then.

If that were the case...then flashing other firmware versions and fast re-boot etc would have also triggered such a thing. It has never down such a thing all this time with all my flashing and rebooting and testing.

Anyway...it did wait several minutes...even tried resetting isp modem....nothing...

 

[speedingcheetah]

Fairly easy: Asusnet is an actual Asus employee

Their website had some weird issues today, where you might or might not see available updates depending on whether you go straight through the Support page, or go first through the Product page, which leads to a different support section.

You claim he works for Asus....wheres the proof of that....that user is a fairly new account. Anyone can claim that and create a user name as such.