Asuswrt-Merlin 3.0.0.4.374.33 Beta 6 available

[jsmiddleton4]

Lower and Upper channels.

I am back to having WPA2 log in failing on 5ghz channels.....

Works fine on 2.4 and if no security at all for 5 ghz.

No issues with 374.32......

 

[RMerlin]

So I really should be testing that the beta 6 minidlna, even though it throws memory faults continues.

Ok, easy enough. From what I recalled last time, it bailed out on the 2007 folder (I have them organized by year). I will go back to the built in version and let it finish - then check with a client later today.

I will let you know this evening.

Thanks again.

I could modify the logged entry so it reports the actual size it's trying to allocate if it could help.

 

[RMerlin]

Then these:
[2013/10/02 06:42:15] sql.c:41: error: SQL ERROR 7 [out of memory]

As for this one, it seems to imply that either your database is way too big, or it's being stored in RAM.

If you are sure that the database is indeed stored on disk, then I think your collection is simply to big to handle with a simple router with only about 220 MB of RAM.

 

[SebZab]

I have got the same SQL error. Minidlna is scanning all my thousands of photos and make thumbnails in folder artcache. Big size of this folder is probably a source of problem.

 

[RMerlin]

I have got the same SQL error. Minidlna is scanning all my thousands of photos and make thumbnails in folder artcache. Big size of this folder is probably a source of problem.

Can you confirm that the art_cache folder is indeed on the hard disk and not in RAM?

Does it still complete its scanning and properly service DLNA clients afterward?

 

[JGrana]

Can you confirm that the art_cache folder is indeed on the hard disk and not in RAM?

Does it still complete its scanning and properly service DLNA clients afterward?

Well, I ssh'ed into the AC66U at lunch time from work. Did the killall minidlna (it killed the version you posted last week that I installed in /opt/bin). Then started what I think is the correct minidlna:

# /usr/sbin/minidlna -f /etc/minidlna.conf -R

It ran for a while, then produced the malloc and sql out of memory errors.
But, it looks like it stopped scanning. The art_cache folder is on the same USB filesystem as the minidlna db directory. I can watch it create all the Music art work, then it starts to create Photo thumbnails. It got to a point (about 1/2 way) then stopped creating anymore thumbnails. On a good run, it creates 3 directories - Music, Photo and Video. It scanned Music fine, created the Photos dir, then some sub-directories. Then stopped in the area that the sql errors were reporting. It never created the Video dir (it normally does).

Now, the WebUI still has minidlna as not enabled. I did this all through ssh. And, being at work, I don't know if minidlna will at least serve up Music and some of the Photos. "ps" shows it running and the minidlna.log file stopped logging at the malloc failures.

I will re-run the entire test tomorrow morning by enabling through the WebUI and doing a reboot.

 

[RMerlin]

Well, I ssh'ed into the AC66U at lunch time from work. Did the killall minidlna (it killed the version you posted last week that I installed in /opt/bin). Then started what I think is the correct minidlna:

# /usr/sbin/minidlna -f /etc/minidlna.conf -R

It ran for a while, then produced the malloc and sql out of memory errors.
But, it looks like it stopped scanning.

Check with strace to confirm if it really stopped.

 

[SebZab]

Can you confirm that the art_cache folder is indeed on the hard disk and not in RAM?

Does it still complete its scanning and properly service DLNA clients afterward?

art_cache folder is in microSD card (8GB).
DLNA doesn't work properly - i can't see all directories. Aslo each movie has got the same duration time: 1:06

 

[JGrana]

Check with strace to confirm if it really stopped.

Ok, repeated test by first renaming /opt/bin/minidlna to foo (no way to start up!).
Enabled Media Server through WebUI. Rebooted router.

minidlna did the malloc/sql out of memory at my 2007 Photos folder. Waited 30 mins. No activity in minidlna.log. Accessed media through TV and was able to see Photos (and Music) up through the 2007 folder. No Video (I have roughly 100 videos). So, scanner appears to have stopped after a number of OOM errors.

Ran strace on both PID's of minidlna. It reports:
admin@RT-AC66U:/tmp/mnt/Entware/minidlna# strace -p 627
Process 627 attached
getppid() = 621
poll([{fd=7, events=POLLIN}], 1, 2000) = 0 (Timeout)

for the first process and:

admin@RT-AC66U:/tmp/mnt/Entware/minidlna# strace -p 628
Process 628 attached
poll([{fd=9, events=POLLIN}], 1, 1000) = 0 (Timeout)


For the second minidlna process.

In both cases, the poll(Timeout) repeats.

Not sure my large number of files is over the top for the router. If I revert back to the "non Asus thumbnail" version of 1.1.0, everything gets scanned and works fine.

So, I believe Asus has a memory management issue with their version of minidlna.

Hmm, just purchased an AC68U. Ouch, if it has this version of minidlna.... oh oh!

Merlin, many thanks. Tell Asus they have a bug...

 

[RMerlin]

Not sure at this point if it's really a bug or just the router lacking the power to handle such large collections. I can't investigate since I can't reproduce it, even by throwing my whole music and video collection at it (which spawns many gigs).

Don't really feel like wasting too much time on this considering this is just about thumbnails, so for now I'll simply disable that code. I'm more concerned about routing and networking than about NAS functionality - something a router is barely able to achieve decently in the first place.

 

[RussellInCincinnati]

Have clients who are happily using the RT-AC66Us with Merlin firmware as pretty low-performance Samba NASes. But we're all aware of having paid almost nothing for the capability. And we would not vote to have RMerlin's work to making an ever-better WiFi router be hindered, by trying to track down why zillions of thumbnails can't in a few isolated installations be generated flawlessly...as part of some multimedia server feature that in a "mission-critical situation" would be odd to entrust to a tiny-CPU WiFi router anyway. If we cared more about NAS performance, we'd break down and spend a whole 'nother $100 dollars and get a low end dedicated NAS anyway.

 

[RMerlin]

Exactly.

I'm going to do some last stability tests over the next few days on the final builds before making a final release.

The 374.33 changelog is much longer than I anticipated. Looks like a lot of changes happened during the last month

 

[Kobold]

RMerlin

I know that there is newer GPL code out, but the plan for 374.33 is just to finalize testing of what's already in it

What new GPL code are you talking about? I haven't detected any new GPL code on the asus website yet
PS:
More than that, the asus product support pages (RT-N66U, RT-AC66U, RT-AC68U) now only show FAQs. All downloads are gone.
PS2:
Asus may win the first prize for the web design. The download pages are still there but they've been put into the stealth mode

 

[rsnhakan]

I do have an iPhone 5S and with this version it's not working well on Wi-Fi.

The signal strength is really bad. I did a factory reset.

What's the problem?

 

[bluepoint]

2 iPhone 5s, 2 iPhone 5, 1 iPhone 5c, 1 iPad 3, 1 iPad mini all works great on both 2.4/5GHz bands here. What router are you talking about?

RT-N66U

 

[bluepoint]

RMerlin

What new GPL code are you talking about? I haven't detected any new GPL code on the asus website yet

I think Merlin's .33 firmware is based from .720 instead of .726 GPL. He mentioned that the only difference between the two are minor changes to the quick setup. If that is the case, it's not worth for him to recompile to the newer GPL.

 

[JGrana]

Not sure at this point if it's really a bug or just the router lacking the power to handle such large collections. I can't investigate since I can't reproduce it, even by throwing my whole music and video collection at it (which spawns many gigs).

Don't really feel like wasting too much time on this considering this is just about thumbnails, so for now I'll simply disable that code. I'm more concerned about routing and networking than about NAS functionality - something a router is barely able to achieve decently in the first place.

Agreed. I just disabled the Media Server on the WebUI. Restored the minidlna 1.1.0 you posted last week and rebooted.

Works fine.

Thanks

 

[rsnhakan]

2 iPhone 5s, 2 iPhone 5, 1 iPhone 5c, 1 iPad 3, 1 iPad mini all works great on both 2.4/5GHz bands here. What router are you talking about?

RT-N66U

Same router as yours. When I do install Version 3.0.0.4.276, it works perfect.

So there's something wrong with the new firmware I guess?

It's working well on close distance, but when I go upstairs, the Wi-Fi signal is not as strong as it was before.

I did a factory reset before and after the upgrade.

 

[octopus]

Same router as yours. When I do install Version 3.0.0.4.276, it works perfect.

So there's something wrong with the new firmware I guess?

It's working well on close distance, but when I go upstairs, the Wi-Fi signal is not as strong as it was before.

I did a factory reset before and after the upgrade.

Have you deleted ALL wifi device profiles and reconect again ?

 

[RMerlin]

RMerlin

What new GPL code are you talking about? I haven't detected any new GPL code on the asus website yet
PS:
More than that, the asus product support pages (RT-N66U, RT-AC66U, RT-AC68U) now only show FAQs. All downloads are gone.
PS2:
Asus may win the first prize for the web design. The download pages are still there but they've been put into the stealth mode

374_205 was released last week for the RT-AC56U. The code is newer than 374_728 from AC66U.