Asus RT-AX88U Stuck on Merlin Firmware 388.1

[Tyrfing]

Hi All,

First of all, many thanks for this great forum, been reading it for years, but never needed to actually ask a question.

I have an ASUS RT-AX88U (not the Pro). Been running fine and continues to do so, but I have been unable to move past Merlin 388.1. I have multiple Garmin Watches and the issue is that none of them are able to connect to the Wireless after 388.1, and yes, I have tried all the firmware builds as they come out in the hope that whatever changed becomes obvious, but alas, no joy.

My main question is: Is it possible to get details on what changed on the Wireless side with 388.2 please?

The other question I have is: Has anyone else seen issues with their Garmin devices connecting to the Wireless? If Yes, what did you do please? If No, would it be possible to get some details on the Configuration you run please? It will probably help me isolate the issue, if it is indeed a configuration problem.


My main focus has been trying to isolate what might have changed with 388.2 so started with the Change Log. In the change log, there is nothing to suggest that the Wireless changed at all between 388.1 and 388.2 details from ASUS Merlin Change Log follows:

388.2 (12-Apr-2023)
- NOTE: This release is currently not available
for the XT12 due to issues with that model's GPL.

- NEW: Added support for the RT-AX88U Pro.
- NEW: Merged with GPL 388_22525.
- NEW: Added Site Survey page under Network Tools tab. This is
the same network scan that is available for pre-HND
models, with Wifi 6E support added.
- UPDATED: dnsmasq to 2.89.
- UPDATED: openvpn to 2.6.2. If your client fails to connect
then your custom settings must contain settings no
longer supported by OpenVPN 2.6. Review the System
Log, then remove unsupported settings that are
reported in your log.
- UPDATED: nettle to 3.8.1.
- UPDATED: inadyn to 2.10.0.
- UPDATED: dropbear to 2022.83.
- UPDATED: miniupnpd to 2.3.3.
- UPDATED: openssl to 1.1.1t.
- UPDATED: curl to 8.0.1.
- CHANGED: moved WiFi Radar to the Network Tools tab.
- CHANGED: Disabled auto logout on System Log and Wireless Log
pages.
- CHANGED: Reduced EDNS packet size from 1280 to 1232 bytes in
dnsmasq, to better work with some upstream servers
not fully supporting EDNS0.
- CHANGED: Allow empty fields on WireGuard Client page if the
client is disabled. This allow users to manually
clear settings when they are no longer using a client.
- FIXED: NTP redirection wouldn't work properly with Guest
Network, removed redirection for these.
- FIXED: Added missing Tools icon on ROG UI (icon contributed
by Cody).
- FIXED: DDNS was being refreshed every time IPv6 bound6() event
occured even if IPv6 DDNS update was disabled.
- FIXED: Wireless Log wouldn't properly show IPv6 address
for clients with multiple addresses.
- FIXED: ICMPv6 pings would be dropped when DoS protection
was enabled (regression in 388.1).

Nothing there suggests any base and / or platform capabilities changing, well at least not to me.

I have been through the settings, many times and can't see anything different between my settings for 388.1 and 388.2 (or later).

Some details on my network, all my clients except for the two Garmin Watches have no problems with any later firmware, everything works fine, Linux, Windows and Android Wireless clients all operate with no config changes on either client or router. The two Garmin Devices however are, according to the router able to connect, receive an IP, are visible on the clients list and noted in the System Log, but on the devices they fail to find the network. I have done all the normal things such as attempting to remove the old connection on the devices and add in a new one, but no joy. I do not run IPv6, and yeah, I know, I am an old guy. I also do not run the 5Ghz Radio, just the 2.4. I do not run anything that is in my opinion cute, I go with secure and stable, all the advanced routing is on an upstream (External Side) firewall, not on the Wireless Access Point. So no extra packages or add ins, just the base firmware. The Garmin devices do also unfortunately keep me stuck on WPA2 .

I also stay on top of firmware updates with the Garmin devices and I have the same issue there, nothing obvious in any of the change logs.

Any suggestion and or assistance here would be appreciated, I am not a fan of running an old firmware.

Many Thanks.

 

[Dedel66]

Maybe you can provide a log of the router? It's particularly interesting to see what happens when the Garmins connect.

As always mentioned: did you perform a factory reset AFTER upgrading? If not try to and start with a minimum configuration to observe your Garmins.

You can backup your "old" setting before....

 

[Jeffrey Young]

Unfortunately it is not likely that you get any in-depth information on any specific wifi changes when a new GPL is merged. All the wifi components are closed source from Asus and Broadcom is natourously protective of there stuff.

 

[Ripshod]

Wireless drivers were updated for 388.6. Whether that has any bearing on this issue I have no idea.
*EDIT* At the same time GPL 388_24353 was merged, which changed the way SSL certificates are handled.

 

[Viktor Jaep]

I do not run anything that is in my opinion cute, I go with secure and stable, all the advanced routing is on an upstream (External Side) firewall, not on the Wireless Access Point.

You say you go with "secure and stable", yet you are like 6 versions behind? There have been a myriad of security updates in each of these successive releases that are important to stay on top of!

I have multiple Garmin Watches and the issue is that none of them are able to connect to the Wireless after 388.1, and yes, I have tried all the firmware builds as they come out in the hope that whatever changed becomes obvious, but alas, no joy.

I have a Garmin watch as well, and I have had the wifi connectivity feature turned off since day 1. Why would you want that on? It sucks your battery dry! I prefer to not have to charge once every few weeks. Why not just pair it to BT, and use it that way? You still get all the notifications, it can still pull content off the internet, etc... I'm not seeing the draw in wanting to even turn wifi on for my watch.

In the end... it's not worth holding back on your router's firmware/security updates simply for the sake of a few watches in my opinion. BT works just fine paired to your smartphone.

 

[chrisallennc]

If it helps, I have a Garmin Epix, my wife has a Forerunner 165 and neither of which have issues connecting to our wifi. We have an RT-AX88u on 3004.388.7 and RT-AX92u wired mesh node on 3004.388.7_1-gnuton0_beta1. I usually update both nodes as the releases drop, including alpha/beta. Running a pretty vanilla wifi config with both bands on and WPA2/WPA3-Personal for authentication.

 

[Tyrfing]

As always mentioned: did you perform a factory reset AFTER upgrading? If not try to and start with a minimum configuration to observe your Garmins.

Hi Dedel66, Yeah mate did that. Not every time, but defiantly with the first two and the current one. Back to Factory defaults on both the router and the devices.

 

[Tyrfing]

Unfortunately it is not likely that you get any in-depth information on any specific wifi changes when a new GPL is merged. All the wifi components are closed source from Asus and Broadcom is natourously protective of there stuff.

Thanks, was worried that was going to be the answer.

 

[Tyrfing]

You say you go with "secure and stable", yet you are like 6 versions behind? There have been a myriad of security updates in each of these successive releases that are important to stay on top of!

I have a Garmin watch as well, and I have had the wifi connectivity feature turned off since day 1. Why would you want that on? It sucks your battery dry! I prefer to not have to charge once every few weeks. Why not just pair it to BT, and use it that way? You still get all the notifications, it can still pull content off the internet, etc... I'm not seeing the draw in wanting to even turn wifi on for my watch.

In the end... it's not worth holding back on your router's firmware/security updates simply for the sake of a few watches in my opinion. BT works just fine paired to your smartphone.

Not exactly a fair observation.

What I want to do is run the current Firmware, yet the "Users" and yeah the family does have input here, do not want to run BT all the time and prefer the wireless. I have been as patient as I can be, and am very aware of the security hole here that is behind the firewall... I also have been struggling to accept that I was / am the only one with this issue and been expecting a subsequent firmware to resolve the issue. But it has not and my patience is up.

 

[Tyrfing]

If it helps, I have a Garmin Epix, my wife has a Forerunner 165 and neither of which have issues connecting to our wifi. We have an RT-AX88u on 3004.388.7 and RT-AX92u wired mesh node on 3004.388.7_1-gnuton0_beta1. I usually update both nodes as the releases drop, including alpha/beta. Running a pretty vanilla wifi config with both bands on and WPA2/WPA3-Personal for authentication.

That helps heaps mate. Those devices are a little older than the devices I have, a Fennix 7 and a Venu 2 so that leaves a config problem. Something in the change with 388.2 just isn't being handled by my config, even when built from scratch after a Factory Reset.

You are also able to get WPA3 going and I have tried to move up from WPA2 several times without joy. Are you able to extract and sanitise your config at all? If not, no problem at all mate, that is a fair bit of work.

I will Factory reset again and start making config changes one at a time. Yay... /sigh. I will post if / when I am able to find what is breaking the wireless session negotiation.


Many thanks all.