Release ASUS RT-AX86 Series(RT-AX86U/RT-AX86S) Firmware version 3.0.0.4.388.22068

[sambosoul]

When was the update released? Monday right? Is it possible that my AX86U has applied this firmware update automatically without my manual intervention? I am asking because I am in Europe for my Christmas holiday with the family right now and Monday morning GMT time the router went offline and I lost my connection to the smart home devices (lights, air conditions, CCTV..). I was told by a friend that the router is no longer going online (red WAN/internet LED is on) - is it possible that the firmware upgrade deleted my ISP username/PW credentials?

I did a power cycle but the device is still offline.

 

[aex.perez]

Gave up on what? This thread is about Asuswrt 388_22068 firmware release. You run Asuswrt-Merlin on your routers.

Ran this release on the AX86 mesh nodes and had to drop back to 21709 because regardless of which AX86S a device was bound to in this release they wound constantly ignore it and link to which ever AP suited them at the moment, even though the AP they were on had the best signal strength, which caused a loss of connectivity in the process.

Ran Merlín on the router sure but the AiMesh gui not displaying properly had me move to ASUS firmware for the nodes.

Regardless of what combination of firmware from the 388 tree or from who, the journey has been and continues to be, a little too bumpy.

Though admittedly, the most stable, yet far from ideal though, was 388.1 on the AX88 and 21709 on the AX86s with a specific channel set for both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz vs. being set at Auto. At least the devices didn’t bounce around but the 5Ghz radios on the mesh nodes was still unstable.

And it’s in that regard I give up, there will be a similar post in the 388.1 thread as well…

 

[TexasFlood]

When was the update released? Monday right? Is it possible that my AX86U has applied this firmware update automatically without my manual intervention? I am asking because I am in Europe for my Christmas holiday with the family right now and Monday morning GMT time the router went offline and I lost my connection to the smart home devices (lights, air conditions, CCTV..). I was told by a friend that the router is no longer going online (red WAN/internet LED is on) - is it possible that the firmware upgrade deleted my ISP username/PW credentials?

I did a power cycle but the device is still offline.

There's an "Auto Firmware Upgrade" setting under Administration / Firmware Upgrade. Mine is set to off so it won't automatically upgrade. If yours it's set to on then it would. I did upgrade to the latest firmware with no issues so far. My ISP doesn't use credentials so I can't speak from experience about that but it seems unlikely to me that a firmware upgrade would remove those credentials.

 

[sambosoul]

I am fairly confident that the auto firmware upgrade setting is enabled on my device. Something must have gone wrong as I have never had any issue with previous firmware upgrades when it comes to reconnecting back to the internet.

 

[Mdschmid777]

I updated today on an RT-AX86S and have a major issue when running 2 Wireguard Profiles. The device keeps restarting and rebooting. I had to factory reset just to be able to downgrade. When I returned to ASUS RT-AX86 Series(RT-AX86U/RT-AX86S) Firmware version 3.0.0.4.388.21709, it fixed it. Has anyone else had anything similar? Glad to see not everyone was having these issues. After resetting, I tried setting it up with the new firmware and the same rebooting issues happened.

 

[TexasFlood]

I am fairly confident that the auto firmware upgrade setting is enabled on my device. Something must have gone wrong as I have never had any issue with previous firmware upgrades when it comes to reconnecting back to the internet.

I also had mine set to auto and never had any problems. That one update that bricked some AX86U routers scared me. It actually upgraded just fine on my router but I realized that there was a risk which I hadn't recognized before. Since I didn't really see any harm in waiting a few days until I could do it manually, I've had auto update firmware turned off out of an abundance of caution since then.

 

[Mdschmid777]

Rolled back to the previous version (3.0.0.4.388.21709) on the AX86 Mesh nodes, leaving 388.1 on the AX88 - back to stability/predictability. Still, more often that not, getting better WiFi throuput connected over the AX86 Mesh nodes (wired backhaul) vs the AX88 but still much more bandwidth than is needed by any one specific device at any given time. Have the 2.4 and 5Ghz radio on specific channels, setup for 160Mhz, 802.1ax, SmartConnect(default settings) - all of it healthy again. Cameras and Tablets that monitor them have not lost connectivity or moved (even thought bound to a specific AP) to another AP since the downgrade. 5Ghz radio's on the AX86's much more stable, with as strong or stronger signal than the 2.4Ghz radio (based on Android Tablet having 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz with the Wifi Analyzer app). Devices that support both frequencies gravitate and stay on the 5Ghz radio again.

Just after the post I made, things went bonkers again - AX86 dissappearing, devices losing connectivity and moving around, devices dropping connectivity. But with everyone/everything online the quickest way to quasi normalcy was to down grade the mesh nodes. I did notice that while I have the 5Ghz fixed on Channel 36 on the AX88, and it's cleared for Radar (36/160) - at some point it switched to 44/80. A quick restart of the 5Ghz (Channelhog/scMerlin - either) fixed it (on the AX88, don't know if AX86s switched as well), still odd it switched with it fixed (rarely get radar interference, unless Police flying overhead, also rare).

While still not a 100% perfect, it's stable enough for the family not to complain and IoT devices staying online, more importantly I haven't had to touch it since. Thinking I'll stay with this setup for awhile...

Mine was similar to this. I rolled back and it’s fine.

 

[bdub76]

Definitely see the UI sluggishness, so I switched to using the phone app to manage for now. I haven't experience any major issues running in AP mode so far this week. But I do miss the rock solidness of DD-WRT now.

 

[TexasFlood]

Definitely see the UI sluggishness, so I switched to using the phone app to manage for now. I haven't experience any major issues running in AP mode so far this week. But I do miss the rock solidness of DD-WRT now.

Been 2 days 5 hours on the latest firmware. No UI sluggishness yet but still might show up I guess.

 

[TexasFlood]

Now over 4 days on 3.0.0.4.388_22068-gf3adbcd on AX86U with no GUI slowness. Curious how long it took for those who saw a sluggish GUI response to manifest?

 

[DiGz_Au]

I moved back across to stock and went for 22068. Seems good to me, 160mhz stays, no slow ui and it's stable. Will let it go a full week and see. Moving upto gig fiber on Friday so that will be a test for this router.

 

[Tech9]

Are the silly GUI bugs still there?

Release - ASUS RT-AX86 Series(RT-AX86U/RT-AX86S) Firmware version 3.0.0.4.388.21709

Version 3.0.0.4.388.21709 2022/11/24 70.84 MBytes ASUS RT-AX86 Series(RT-AX86U/RT-AX86S) Firmware version 3.0.0.4.388.21709 1. Optimized memory usage and improved system stability. 2. Fixed USB HDD compatibility issue with the Time machine. 3. Added a new web GUI login URL...

www.snbforums.com

If they are, I'm not wasting my time testing it.

 

[foreyk]

I end up downgrade after noticed issue with 2.4gz causing all my IoT (86 devices) lagging and some of them failing to connect. there's a lot improvements but none to justify of the dependable needs of the 2.4 Wi-Fi.

 

[Tech9]

I end up downgrade

What router model? You have posted the same in XT8 release thread. This thread is for AX86 series.

 

[foreyk]

I have both combine mesh. Main is the RT-AX86U.. new here !! posted base on the firmware version which are the same by ASUS. anyway I'm looking to gathering more information as like some of the improvement, but the issue took 3 days that was only got fix by downgraded

 

[Tech9]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Perhaps your main AX86U is causing the issue.

 

[foreyk]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Perhaps your main AX86U is causing the issue.

any setting you may think could cause 2.4 Wi-Fi issue? some of the step I did was to removed the mesh and only have the RT-AX86U stand alone. Result was the same even with specific 2.4 setting like setting Channel, etcetera after analyzed my the signal noise and congested band/channel. May be with the "Future IoT Matter" I may swap those devices and will reduce the units connected via 2.4. unfortunately is not cheap.

 

[SchneiderIS]

I end up downgrade after noticed issue with 2.4gz causing all my IoT (86 devices) lagging and some of them failing to connect. there's a lot improvements but none to justify of the dependable needs of the 2.4 Wi-Fi.

I just did the Merlin upgrade to 388.1 and to me it appears that my IoT issues are settling down. In my configuration I have 61 registered devices in Asus, but then a bunch that run through ZigBee type of hubs so I don't count those.

My HomePods have been very flaky of late, but I thought that was an Apple version 16 issue. Perhaps it was more of a Asus firmware bug given that they were complaining about slow response and internet connectivity.

UPDATE: Just loaded 386.5_2 and will watch it now. Finding that the 388.1 is dropping connection to my iPhone. It may also be the reason that a couple of my home automation devices failed to execute scheduled activities.

 

[Tech9]

any setting you may think could cause 2.4 Wi-Fi issue?

Use this to start:

[Wireless Router] How to improve compatibility of IoT device with ASUS WiFi 6(802.11 ax) router? | Official Support | ASUS Global

If it doesn't help:

2.4GHz:
- Set fixed Control Channel, not Auto
- Set Channel Bandwidth to 20MHz
- Disable TX Bursting
- Disable WMM APSD
- Set Modulation Scheme to 802.11n
- Disable Airtime Fairness
- Disable MU-MIMO
- Disable all Beamforming

If still issues:
- Set Group Key Rotation Interval to 7200 or even 86400
- Disable DNS-over-TLS if enabled, some IoTs don't like it

If still issues:
- Try different firmware release, 386_49599 is good

 

[SwampKracker]

Now over 4 days on 3.0.0.4.388_22068-gf3adbcd on AX86U with no GUI slowness. Curious how long it took for those who saw a sluggish GUI response to manifest?

My best guess is within a couple of days.