Beta Asus RT-AX89X_9.0.0.4_388_31185 Beta

[papaphilya]

Does the beta work for ax11000?

 

[dbs]

Here the most recent one: 32094
asd and nt_center memory leak should be fixed in this one.

https://tinyurl.com/2p83cmem

Has anyone contacted ASUS support about this? Does anyone know the root cause of this? People are saying it's still happening with older firmware versions, so if this isn't due to a recent firmware update, then what the heck is going on?

This just started happening today, seemingly for everyone, and rebooting it doesn't fix it, so how could this be? Is it something date related? It doesn't make any sense how this could just start happening today for everyone...

 

[shamusmcfly]

It makes sense if a time bomb was coded into the firmware. In fact that’s the only thing that makes sense. What doesn’t make sense, is why. Disgruntled employee slipped a bit of malicious code in a few versions back, and nobody noticed maybe. Who knows.

 

[kljiefw]

Thanks. I enabled ssh and ran this command after connecting to my router. It seems to have stopped the memory leak.

How would I view the contents of the jffs directory? What is the path to that directory?

Edit: I found out how to get to that directory and view the log file. Is it safe to delete this log file? If not, is there a way for me to clear those entries to free up some memory? Also, if I need to reboot my router, I assume that I will need to run this command again. Is this correct?

You don't need to clear the folder - the log file created by asd gets rotated when it reaches a size of a 100KB, so at most you will have 200KBs of data.

I mentioned the log file as a way of checking if you still have the issue - while it's ongoing, you will see very heavy (for a router log file, at least) writing to it - to the level where it gets rotated due to being full pretty much every second, which, incidentally, is not very healthy for the on-board flash storage.
The issue stems from the memory leak, not from this log file.

As for why now -
asd is reading an invalid value from /jffs/asd/chknvram20230516.
Noting the date on the file, this file was just updated - and based on the asd log file, contains invalid data not expected by the asd process ("YYYYYYYY[chknvram_action] Invalid string").

 

[ieatsoop]

Big thanks to @arigon for this beta. I just setup the AX89X today but it's been sitting in the box since 2 Christmases ago. I was replacing an AC68W because it was doing something very similar and I thought it was just on its last legs. After setup, the AX89X kept disconnecting and becoming unresponsive. I thought I was SOL, but this seems to have tamed it. Did notice that the Dual WAN tab is messed up after this FW update. ASUS needs to address that in the next update.

 

[Tatster]

So glad I’m stumbled on this thread. Came home to discover same issue and been struggling all night to rectify.
Is there a solution yet for the RT-AX92U model? If I try to flash with the AX89X beta is that going to kill me? Flashing firmware from a USB is probably as technical as I can get. Trying to putty into the thing is beyond my comfort zone. Thanks for any help.

 

[kljiefw]

So glad I’m stumbled on this thread. Came home to discover same issue and been struggling all night to rectify.
Is there a solution yet for the RT-AX92U model? If I try to flash with the AX89X beta is that going to kill me? Flashing firmware from a USB is probably as technical as I can get. Trying to putty into the thing is beyond my comfort zone. Thanks for any help.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/asus-rt-ax89x_9-0-0-4_388_31185-beta.82276/post-841862 should work for the AX92U as well.

 

[Mistro]

So does anyone think the router will "phone home" again tonight and pull in a bad asd file again on this beta image too?

 

[L&LD]

Is this what was causing this?

Malware turns home routers into proxies for Chinese state-sponsored hackers

Following in the footsteps of VPNFilter, new firmware obscures hackers’ endpoints.

arstechnica.com

 

[mrbrown]

The beta firmware shared here RT-AX89U_9.0.0.4_388_32094 fixed my AX89X. Thanks guys. Lifesaver.

Let's hope the router does not dial home and download that offending asd file at /jffs/asd/chknvram20230516 again.

 

[Jbennett360]

Is this what was causing this?

Malware turns home routers into proxies for Chinese state-sponsored hackers

Following in the footsteps of VPNFilter, new firmware obscures hackers’ endpoints.

arstechnica.com

TP-Link only. I think

 

[Tatster]

Update for RT-AX92U. Updating to the most recent regular firmware version 3.0.0.4.388.22525 worked for me. Seems stable now. I was on one of the .386.xxx versions before.
Massive thanks to the warriors on the forums . Hope everyone gets their situations sorted soon.

 

[L&LD]

TP-Link only. I think

From that link.

The well-written C++ code, however, took pains to implement its functionality in a “firmware-agnostic” manner, meaning it would be trivial to modify it to run on other router models.

 

[Jbennett360]

From that link.

We know what the issue was now. A dodgy update to asd.

 

[Jbennett360]

Update for RT-AX92U. Updating to the most recent regular firmware version 3.0.0.4.388.22525 worked for me. Seems stable now. I was on one of the .386.xxx versions before.
Massive thanks to the warriors on the forums . Hope everyone gets their situations sorted soon.

Bit of a reminder for you to keep your device up to date then

Glad you got it sorted!

 

[JurGrady]

Here the most recent one: 32094
asd and nt_center memory leak should be fixed in this one.

https://tinyurl.com/2p83cmem

Hmmm, for some reason I cannot download that file. I hit the download button, select the location to store it and then ... nothing.

 

[ScottMFG]

Bit of a reminder for you to keep your device up to date then

Glad you got it sorted!

Thankyou as well, having very similar problems, network went down May 17 (router was set to auto update, what could go wrong right?) and was constantly dropping the wifi network. None of the CPU or memory problems though.

ASUS Router RT-AX86U
AIMesh Nodes RP-AX56


Constantly loosing mesh nodes, regardless if they were ethernet back haul or wifi. Had devices like printers asking for passwords to the network, even went outside and walked around the building wondering if someone in a car was messing with my shops network.

You guys save my bacon (had co-workers staring at me with dangerous glares all day). Updating to the previous firmware did it (knock on wood).

For reference, the ASUS tech support line is:

1-812-282-2787 (Canada/US).

I left a support case with them as others have suggested. Probably a good idea to flood their tech support with the exact same info so they know they got to fix this ASAP.

 

[CBme]

For those of you having the memory leak issue and not wanting to try that unofficial beta software, or if you have a different router, some folks are reporting having success with just deleting the file "chknvram20230516" which then updates to "chknvram2023518" and then they aren't experiencing the leak. Tonio007 details the process in Asus forum:

Re: RT-AX89X going out of memory every 10 minutes (asd process?)

You need to have telnet or ssh enabled. I used ssh. So if not enabled, between 2 crashes of the router, enable SSH (in Administration / System). Choose LAN only, choose a port, let's say 2215, and choose yes to "Allow Password Login". CONNECT --- MacOS or linux: connect by doing this in a...

rog-forum.asus.com

Tonio007
Level 1
In response to MrSusa
Options

5 hours ago
You need to have telnet or ssh enabled. I used ssh.
So if not enabled, between 2 crashes of the router, enable SSH (in Administration / System). Choose LAN only, choose a port, let's say 2215, and choose yes to "Allow Password Login".

CONNECT
---
MacOS or linux:
connect by doing this in a terminal:
ssh admin@<your router IP> -p 2215
and type the admin account password when invited.

Windows
Download and use PuTTY sofware to connect to your router, specifying the IP and port, user (admin) and password.

DELETE THE FILE
---
Once connected, from the prompt: simply do:
rm /jffs/asd/chknvram20230516
and then type
exit
to close

Then, you can use the router's UI to reboot it. Or using the switch.

 

[arigon]

Count me in as another victim of the random memory leak climbing to 100% and crashing every 10 min.

Beta firmware resolved the issue for me, but not before I wiped my router and restored the settings trying to resolve it.

Thanks @arigon for the beta link. Where did you get it from? I used to run merlin firmware when i had my 88U, but had to revert back to stock when i got the ax89x. The beta has some nice little additions, so I'm just wondering how i can get access to the betas as they are released?

I got it from one of the developers. They don't want to share it publicly. They will only publish the final release as soon as it is ready.
I'm not yet on the beta (I had no time yet) but I'm affected by the issue this morning (CEST) as well. so thanks for the tip on how to delete this file. I'm gonna give it a try.

 

[arigon]

DELETE THE FILE
---
Once connected, from the prompt: simply do:
rm /jffs/asd/chknvram20230516
and then type
exit
to close

Then, you can use the router's UI to reboot it. Or using the switch.

Thanks. This worked for me.