Asuswrt-Merlin 3.0.0.4.374.38 is out

[RMerlin]

How do I know if I have an SDK5 build? I have an RT-N66U which is virgin in that I have never upgraded from the original stock firmware (3.0.0.4.270) from when I bought the router about 6 months ago. Can I use your new release?

All the Asus firmwares on the RT-N66U that are older than 3.0.0.4.300 are SDK5.

 

[cmillar6]

Works beautifully on the AC66u, can't spot a single bug. Great work Merlin. Still testing the new driver.

 

[RMerlin]

while i'm waiting for a response, can everybody that's already installed the new firmware report on what kind of latency they are getting and the router model they are using?

thank you

Hm. I wonder if Asus might have toggled the passive mode state on these builds, which can increase throughput at the expense of latency

How are you testing latency, more specifically?

 

[RMerlin]

Hi RMerlin,

I just flashed an RT-AC68U with 3.0.0.4.374.38 and almost immediately noticed a problem with the Reboot functionality on my router with this firmware version.

Basically any setting change that invokes a reset, will leave the router in an unresponsive state. This includes a regular Reboot through the Web GUI or recessed Reset button on the back of the router.

The only way to recover is to power off and on the router.

(I performed a factory reset several times and flashed the .38 FW again as well, with the same result.)

This doesn't occur with any previous Merlin builds or original Asus Firmware for this router.

Thanks for your support and time.

Do you have any particular setting that were changed (IGMP proxy, for instance)?

Is hardware acceleration enabled or disabled? (check the Tools-> Sysinfo page to see that information)

I experienced that issue a couple of times myself with 374.37 (that was another reason why that build was pulled), but haven't re-experienced it since 374.38. I wonder if it could be something specific triggering it.

 

[sinshiva]

sorry merlin, looks like it's on my end. i just connected a laptop directly to my modem and the problem was still occurring. since i've had centurylink, i've not had latency like this, but it appears to all be coincidental.

sorry everyone if i may have caused you to wait on flashing this firmware. time to give CL a call.

[edit/] going to go back to the EM build.

 

[bluepoint]

Thanks for the detailed results. How does it compare with previous firmwares?

I'm wondering if this new driver (with or without EM enabled) improved wifi enough to obsolete the SDK5 builds.

The EM version is definitely an improvement over the previous Sept. SDK6 driver that's for sure. I am not the right person to say it's enough to obsolete SDK5 builds though since I have not used SDK5 for awhile and SDK6 is just fine around my small house. When I have time I'll test the range of this driver and let you know but my estimation, EM is very close to SDK5.

 

[cx-ray]

Do you have any particular setting that were changed (IGMP proxy, for instance)?

Is hardware acceleration enabled or disabled? (check the Tools-> Sysinfo page to see that information)

I experienced that issue a couple of times myself with 374.37 (that was another reason why that build was pulled), but haven't re-experienced it since 374.38. I wonder if it could be something specific triggering it.

It happens immediately after I complete the initial Quick Internet Setup pages. All other settings at that point are still at default (Hardware acceleration On).

The only difference from a complete factory default is the 666MHz DDR. I used the Asus utility for that about a month ago.

 

[vdemarco]

Works beautifully on the AC66u, can't spot a single bug. Great work Merlin. Still testing the new driver.

Me to so far. But it has only been about 4 hours.

 

[jsmiddleton4]

If I have any security enabled for the 5ghz channel none of my 5ghz devices will connect including an iPhone 5 with latest IOS.

Open system and all clients connect to 5ghz quickly and fast.

We deleted all profiles and built from scratch.

 

[bluepoint]

iPhone 5 and other apple products connects fine here with WPA2-AES encryption.

 

[elpibe10]

A quick question for those with RT-AC68U ...

Does the 5GHz LED on the router still blink in a cyclical manner with this firmware even with no traffic going through on that band ?

I noticed this 'issue' with .35 and .37 but not on Asus firmware. It's also specific to the RT-AC68U as I didn't encounter it on the RT-AC56U and RT-N66U.

Thanks in advance

 

[cmillar6]

A quick question for those with RT-AC68U ...

Does the 5GHz LED on the router still blink in a cyclical manner with this firmware even with no traffic going through on that band ?

I noticed this 'issue' with .35 and .37 but not on Asus firmware. It's also specific to the RT-AC68U as I didn't encounter it on the RT-AC56U and RT-N66U.

Thanks in advance

I've noticed this on my Ac66u as well, 5GHz LED blinks in a regular pattern despite no traffic going through.

 

[sinshiva]

i deleted some of my posts here because i didn't want to pollute this thread with unrelated problems. wish i could test the firmware more, but i've currently got a phone glued to my head while i wait for centurylink 'advanced tech support'

also, i want to add that besides my issues with CL, i had no issues to speak of upgrading from 37 sdk6 to this firmware, without a factory reset. i had briefly tested 2.4ghz wifi and both openvpn servers and everything was working great, besides centurylink dsl itself. i was getting 2/4 bars on my phone where my e2000 router barely gave my phone 1/4 bars. i didn't have time to get better specifics because i had immediately noticed my centurylink dsl was acting up.

rather, i noticed a problem unrelated to wifi that turned out to be centurylink. can't wait to get an ac56 now so i can run this as my dedicated AP

cheers to both merlin and asus

 

[jsmiddleton4]

Don't know what to tell you. Way back to 270.26, cleared nvram, reset all passwords, ssid's, etc., to same as I had with .38 and clients that would only connect without any security, they all connect quickly and at 300mbs with WPA2.

With .38 they all connected on 2.4ghz channel perfectly.

I'm using 40mhz channel to get maximum speed. RT-N66U.

Edit: So glad someone took the time to post the how to for saving and restoring static DHCP addresses.

Bumped back up to 372.30_2 and all clients connect with WPA2, 5ghz and 40mhz. Connect at 300mbs.

I'll be stopping at 372.30_2.

 

[mtrains]

Do you have any particular setting that were changed (IGMP proxy, for instance)?

Is hardware acceleration enabled or disabled? (check the Tools-> Sysinfo page to see that information)

I experienced that issue a couple of times myself with 374.37 (that was another reason why that build was pulled), but haven't re-experienced it since 374.38. I wonder if it could be something specific triggering it.

I ran into the same issue when I flashed to 374.38 on my AC68R. Changing any of the wireless settings which caused the wireless to restart also left the router in a strange state. I had to power cycle the router to get it back to normal working state. I don't have any unusual settings on the router. Beyond the normal wireless setup items such as SSID, channel etc. everything else is default. Hardware acceleration is on and I have media server turned on with a 3TB drive on USB3.

In all I had to power cycle the router three times to get all my settings done. But now that all the settings are done the router has been stable for the past few hours.

 

[RMerlin]

It happens immediately after I complete the initial Quick Internet Setup pages. All other settings at that point are still at default (Hardware acceleration On).

The only difference from a complete factory default is the 666MHz DDR. I used the Asus utility for that about a month ago.

I got it to happen once here on my AC68U, so either the issue still isn't fully fixed, or it came back. Last time I troubleshooted this, it was caused by the emf kernel module that wasn't the correct version (it's yet another one of Broadcom's damn binary-only modules...). I'm currently forcing the copy of a precompiled version since Asus's source was missing the link objects, I might need to try with the modules extracted from the recent 573 beta.

 

[RMerlin]

A quick question for those with RT-AC68U ...

Does the 5GHz LED on the router still blink in a cyclical manner with this firmware even with no traffic going through on that band ?

I noticed this 'issue' with .35 and .37 but not on Asus firmware. It's also specific to the RT-AC68U as I didn't encounter it on the RT-AC56U and RT-N66U.

Thanks in advance

No idea, I never paid any attention to it, so I wouldn't know how it was reacting before.

In any case, LED control is done by the closed-source code, so if there was any change in its behaviour, it was done in the driver module, and is beyond my control.

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for those who reported their feedback on the N66U driver. Please keep bringing it, especially if you are able to compare your wifi performance with the old SDK5 driver. Also interested in hearing if others do see better performance out of the EM build vs the regular build.

 

[SnajperskY]

"Firmware upgrade unsuccessfully. It may result from incorrect image...". Anyone having the same issue while trying to upgrade ac68u from 37_2? I have tried downloading the image with different browsers and unpacking with different tools. Still stuck with the error.

 

[SnajperskY]

37_0 image is recognized correctly.