Release ASUS RT-AC68U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.386.51665

[Intrepid]

I can confirm that if you turn off AI Protection, memory utilization drops to 41%. When AI Protection is On, it's about 67%. This appears to be normal behavior. I have not observed a memory leak as the percentage has not changed very much over the last week.

 

[ieatsoop]

I've replaced my AC68W and wanted to update the firmware to the latest one prior to putting it away as a backup router. Has anyone tried updating FW while the router is offline? I already downloaded the latest FW so it would be a manual update. I believe the only thing it would not be able to do is fetch the new asd file, but there may be other things so was hoping to get some input before I give this a shot. I've disabled both radios and the DHCP server so it doesn't interfere with my running router. Is there any reason this would not work?

 

[Tech9]

You don't need to update the firmware on a router not in use. When you need it - it will work well to get you going and a newer (perhaps better) firmware may be available for it. You can update it offline if you want to, but I have some reservations about 386_51665. I never found the cause, but my own AC66U B1 model (the same hardware and firmware) locked up in about 10 days uptime and because it's in another country I had to ask someone to reboot it manually. On 386_49703 the same router did 150 days uptime and was only rebooted for the update to 386_51255 and again to 386_51665.

 

[Intrepid]

I've replaced my AC68W and wanted to update the firmware to the latest one prior to putting it away as a backup router. Has anyone tried updating FW while the router is offline? I already downloaded the latest FW so it would be a manual update. I believe the only thing it would not be able to do is fetch the new asd file, but there may be other things so was hoping to get some input before I give this a shot. I've disabled both radios and the DHCP server so it doesn't interfere with my running router. Is there any reason this would not work?

I really don't understand. Update the router to the latest firmware (over the air on manually), unplug it and put it in a drawer. If and when you ever need it, plug it in and update to the latest firmware at that time. BTW, I haven't had any issues with the latest firmware 3.0.0.4.386.51665 with either of my RT-AC68U routers.

 

[bennor]

Has anyone tried updating FW while the router is offline?

Do it all the time with my spare RT-AC68U. I don't connect it to the internet, just connect a PC to it and flash the already downloaded firmware file to it. Then put it away in a closet. The next time its connected to the internet it will auto update the ASD file(s) or other content. No issues and it's not a big deal.

 

[ieatsoop]

You don't need to update the firmware on a router not in use. When you need it - it will work well to get you going and a newer (perhaps better) firmware may be available for it. You can update it offline if you want to, but I have some reservations about 386_51665. I never found the cause, but my own AC66U B1 model (the same hardware and firmware) locked up in about 10 days uptime and because it's in another country I had to ask someone to reboot it manually. On 386_49703 the same router did 150 days uptime and was only rebooted for the update to 386_51255 and again to 386_51665.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep this in mind. I haven't any issues with this router until the ASUS problems last week. I thought it was hardware related cause it's pretty old. So I replaced it with a newer router that I already bought but didn't have the time to set up. The new one did the same thing, locking up every 10 minutes or so.

 

[ieatsoop]

Do it all the time with my spare RT-AC68U. I don't connect it to the internet, just connect a PC to it and flash the already downloaded firmware file to it. The next time its connected to the internet it will auto update the ASD file(s) or other content. No issues and it's not a big deal.

Perfect! This is exactly what I was hoping for. This router was a workhorse and I want to keep it as a spare in case the one running goes south. Thanks a lot for confirming there are no issues with doing this.

 

[Tech9]

I haven't any issues with this router until the ASUS problems last week.

I know it's perhaps unrelated to this firmware release, but what symptoms did you see? I already replaced one AC68U and now there is an issue with 2x RT-AC1900P. One was recovered by hard reset, but the other refuses to work as AiMesh node and even AP Mode. Works for some time and goes offline. I don't know what exactly issue we are fighting with and there is nothing in logs. We've spend like 2h over the phone with the owner and all attempts to restore the system are so far unsuccessful. He knows how to reset and configure the routers and nothing works so far even re-flash in recovery mode. It's like one of the routers got permanently damaged by something.

 

[ieatsoop]

but what symptoms did you see?

Before I found out about the bad security file that Asus pushed out, I thought it was a hardware issue. I was seeing "No space left on device" in the logs even though it was showing 2% usage on that filesystem, IIRC. It was locking up every 10-15 minutes. So I didn't troubleshoot further and decided to swap it out with an AX89X that I had on standby but was too lazy to set up. It also started doing the same thing so I checked online and found that most everyone was having the same issues. The eventual fix for the AX89X was beta FW that was released to another user. Some time after that, folks started posting about deleting the /jffs/asd/* files, which supposedly also fixed the lock up issues, but I never tried it. The symptoms you describe seems to related to the asd files unless it's something else. Not sure what you've tried but have you tried deleting the files in /jssf/asd/* and restarting the routers? Although my recollection is that if you restart now, you'll get a good copy of the security file/s. Sorry, I didn't do a whole lot of troubleshooting on the AC68 since I had a running router.

 

[Tech9]

Not sure what you've tried

In 2x RT-AC1900P case - everything possible. The two still don't work well together. After reboot they work for like 2h and then the node or AP just goes offline. The same thing was happening to replaced RT-AC68U - 2x APs and they work for some time and go offline. When this happens you can ping the APs, but no access to their own GUI and no Internet to still connected clients.

 

[ieatsoop]

When this happens you can ping the APs, but no access to their own GUI and no Internet to still connected clients.

This was what was happening to the AC68 except for much shorter intervals. Pings didn't stop but internet would drop and the GUI became unresponsive. After a reboot, does RAM in the GUI max out after a period of time, usually right up to the router locking up? I recall that while monitoring the GUI, I was running top and see the cpu usage climb with asd as the process using the most cpu. In your case, it might be a different process. Eventually the GUI would hang but if I recall, CLI was still responding and I was able to keep top running. This might give you an idea what's causing the problem.

 

[Tech9]

After a reboot, does RAM in the GUI max out after a period of time, usually right up to the router locking up?

I'm telling the owner now to monitor. How we get out of this loop? Reset, re-flash, firmware downgrade? SSH is too advanced for the owner.

 

[ieatsoop]

SSH is too advanced for the owner.

I'm far from an expert on Asus routers as mine have been set it and forget it. But the GUI has limitations when you're troubleshooting. If you think he can handle instructions on using putty or terminal and setting SSH up, it might be your best bet to figure out what's going on. If not, I think the options are limited. Must be frustrating as it sounds like it's been going on for a bit.

 

[Tech9]

The surprising part is some routers don't fully recover even after hard reset.

 

[ieatsoop]

The surprising part is some routers don't fully recover even after hard reset.

Could it be a corrupt ROM? I'm assuming that's where the factory settings are kept but that's just a wild guess since the RAM is volatile.

 

[ieatsoop]

Do it all the time with my spare RT-AC68U.

This worked like a charm. Thanks again.

 

[Tech9]

Could it be a corrupt ROM?

No idea. The 2x RT-AC1900P are being replaced with 2x RT-AX86S tomorrow.

 

[ieatsoop]

No idea. The 2x RT-AC1900P are being replaced with 2x RT-AX86S tomorrow.

I was going to suggest that earlier but it seemed you had a good handle on what needed to be done. I think this is a good alternative since you've already sunk so much time into trying to fix it. Good luck, keep us posted if this finally works out for the owner.

 

[wouterv]

After the upgrade to 3.0.0.4.386.51665 my RT-AC68U Router and RT-AC1900U Media Bridge are up almost 12 days now without interruptions.
A couple of days before the upgrade the RT-AC68U Router running 3.0.0.4.386.51255 for about 2 months did still function as router but the GUI was not responsive, a reboot fixed that.

The RT-AC1900U "support only" site now also shows 3.0.0.4.386.51665 as available download.

 

[banger]

May 23 02:59:33 kernel: asd/176: potentially unexpected fatal signal 11.
May 23 02:59:33 kernel: Pid: 176, comm:                  asd
May 23 02:59:33 kernel: CPU: 0    Tainted: P             (2.6.36.4brcmarm #1)
May 23 02:59:33 kernel: PC is at 0x404f65b0
May 23 02:59:33 kernel: LR is at 0x404f71b4
May 23 02:59:33 kernel: pc : [<404f65b0>]    lr : [<404f71b4>]    psr: 20000010
May 23 02:59:33 kernel: sp : becee448  ip : 40503994  fp : ffffffff
May 23 02:59:33 kernel: r10: 404fa648  r9 : 404fb3bc  r8 : 00016900
May 23 02:59:33 kernel: r7 : 00016958  r6 : becee46c  r5 : 405038c8  r4 : 000187a8
May 23 02:59:33 kernel: r3 : 0002b7c8  r2 : 00000010  r1 : 00000400  r0 : 00000000
May 23 02:59:33 kernel: Flags: nzCv  IRQs on  FIQs on  Mode USER_32  ISA ARM  Segment user
May 23 02:59:33 kernel: Control: 10c53c7d  Table: 9efe804a  DAC: 00000015

After this RAM is now back to 100mb free.