Asuswrt-Merlin 378.50 is out

[EdoAsus]

That little bit of additional information is very important, as it marks a big difference between "bricked" (which means the bootloader is toast, and unable to even start booting) and "crashing" (which is your situation).

In your case, your router does begin its boot process since it goes far enough to start initializing the USB interface. That means that your bootloader is fine, the issue is either a corrupted firmware, or a corrupted nvram.

Usually, you should be able to use either recovery mode (by booting with the reset button pressed) or factory default resets (by booting with the WPS button pressed). However it's possible that the RT-AC68U might suffer from the same issue as the RT-AC56U, where corrupted nvram can prevent the router buttons from working at boot time.

In such a case, the router is always recoverable through the use of a TTL to Serial cable. No need to go thermonuclear with JTAG (which is far, far more complicated to do than recovery using a Serial to TTL cable).

You mention the USB led turning on - try booting your router with NOTHING plugged to it: no USB disk, no LAN, no WAN cable. See if it completes its boot sequence. If it does, now try pressing the reset button for 5 secs, until the power led flashes, then release it. That will do a factory default reset.

Thanks for explanation, at least it's not bricked, I guess it's more a corrupted nvram because the update process went fine, I had 100% flashing progress and the router rebooted it's self the first time, then I went in the webgui I could check that version was 378.50 in top of the screen.
All happened after I click on the factory default to reset it.
The problem now is that the router won't start in recovery mode, I try either reset and wps button, all unplugged, no way.
I don't have the "TTL to serial cable" so I guess I need to go for a service to Asus, it's still on warranty.
I already updated successfully this router 4 times now I'm just a bit afraid to upgrade the firmware in the future because this situation never happened before, also due to this nvram issue.

 

[ankhazam]

As a follow-up on recent discussion about hosting and mirrors, here are the traffic stats for Asuswrt-Merlin's download site, for the last 30 days (which includes two major releases, 376.49 and 378.50):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VzRXfqIPRmSjTBpvQQgEFzFCyqmLbk8smNY081JPN2c/edit?usp=sharing

Maybe you could try Dropbox which after some tranfers disables download option but allows people to copy the 'undownloadable' FW into their Dropboxes and then they can easily get it. I tried copying the firmware into my mediafire and downloading it from there but still the transfer was crappy.

Could you please also comment on my former post:

Hi Merlin,
thanks for the firmware, it's my first time on your release and already feels great.

There is however a security issue present in the AC87U_378.50 firmware. I've reported it to ASUS already few months ago but still they did not resolve it. Could you please look into it?

The unwanted WPS at 5GHz bug description:

To reproduce the bug:
1) make sure WPS is disabled in the web panel
2) reboot router
3) after reboot web panel states that WPS is off. On the contrary third party network analyzers (e.g. Wifi analyzer for Android or even pure Windows 8.1) show and confirm that 5GHz has still WPS operational.

 

[Dan91]

Torrent is an horrible way of distributing something as security-sensitive as a router firmware IMHO. Way too easy for people to end up with fake/modded versions through some random torrent they got "somewhere" (and the vast majority of users have no idea what SHA256 is, so they wouldn't have the know-how to validate their torrented version).

Having the official downloads available from one single, specific location, makes things safer IMHO.

I know Softpedia has started carrying my firmwares a few months ago. I don't really like the idea, but I won't stop them from doing so. That's one way people could go as an alternative download source, however I would make sure to validate any download's SHA256 signature first. I have no idea where Softpedia downloads it in the first place, and no way to guarantee that the file is not modified in any way, which is why I don't officially point users as them as a valid download site.

When i said torrent i meant a torrent that had been created by you and was downloaded from your download page on your website (the page where you link to media fire). (You could use magnet links so you would not need to actually host a torrent file)
I did not mean letting people upload them to a public tracker or something like that

 

[leoo2001]

RT-AC56U 2.4 Ghz with factory frimware 3.0.0.4.376.3754

I just have bought a new RT-AC56U and flashed Asuswrt-Merlin 378.50 beta2-DPI just right out of the box. Unfortunately 2.4 Ghz was dropping connection every 30-40 min. Have update to Asuswrt-Merlin 378.50ta-dpi , but still same issue. If I’m understand correctly they both are using AC68U wifi drivers. Only for the sake of trying I flashed ASUS factory firmware 3.0.0.4.376.3754 and guess what: 24h without a single drop. Wi-Fi coverage is noticeable less, but to be honest I don’t care as only my wife laptop uses this frequency and I only get bitching when connection drops . But surely missing the Merlin customizations, can anyone recommend Merlin firmware with original AC56U Asus drivers.

 

[octopus]

I just have bought a new RT-AC56U and flashed Asuswrt-Merlin 378.50 beta2-DPI just right out of the box. Unfortunately 2.4 Ghz was dropping connection every 30-40 min. Have update to Asuswrt-Merlin 378.50ta-dpi , but still same issue. If I’m understand correctly they both are using AC68U wifi drivers. Only for the sake of trying I flashed ASUS factory firmware 3.0.0.4.376.3754 and guess what: 24h without a single drop. Wi-Fi coverage is noticeable less, but to be honest I don’t care as only my wife laptop uses this frequency and I only get bitching when connection droops . But surely missing the Merlin customizations, can anyone recommend Merlin firmware with original AC56U Asus drivers.

Update your bitchy wifes wifi driver and do a "forget" and reconnect again and se if that helps.
http://www.intel.com/support/wireless/wtech/proset-ws/sb/CS-034041.htm

 

[leoo2001]

Well, I feel a little bit embarrassed to not even think of that solution. But sometimes the simple solutions are the best. Will try that first. Thank you

 

[octopus]

Well, I feel a little bit embarrassed to not even think of that solution. But sometimes the simple solutions are the best. Will try that first. Thank you

We have all been there

 

[daffy]

Due to some of these changes Asus did ..., a factory default reset is required, followed by a manual reconfiguration of your settings.

This is not required if you were already running the 378.50 betas.

Many thanks for another wonderful release!

Is there an intended discrepancy between the instructions here and the ones found in README-merlin.txt inside the AC68U distribution file?

Installation
------------
Simply flash it like any regular update.  You should not need to 
reset to factory defaults (see note below for exceptions).
You can revert back to an original Asus firmware at any time just
by flashing a firmware downloaded from Asus's website.

NOTE: resetting to factory default after flashing is 
strongly recommended for the following cases:

- Updating from a firmware version that is more than 3 releases older
- Switching from a Tomato/DD-WRT/OpenWRT firmware

 

[pmosher441]

So far the latest Merlin version seems to be working well on my RT-AC68U, handling wired and wireless clients with no issues that I can see. There is no AP in this network.

However, I've noticed one anomaly regarding the Network Map: the numbers of wired and wireless clients is often incorrect (see attached JPG). I never noticed this effect on the previous Merlin FW. The wireless count (showing 7) is also wrong, as there are only 6 clients at this time. Note that the total (9) is correct, just not divided correctly.

Any thoughts? It's not clear to me whether this is just a cosmetic issue or whether it points to some issue or problem.

 

[SeCrEt_BoY]

I have the problems with iPhone:

Feb 10 20:13:09 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d
Feb 10 20:13:09 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d iPhone
Feb 10 20:16:46 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d
Feb 10 20:16:46 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d iPhone
Feb 10 20:19:21 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d
Feb 10 20:19:21 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d iPhone
Feb 10 20:24:12 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d
Feb 10 20:24:12 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d iPhone
Feb 10 20:27:21 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d
Feb 10 20:27:21 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d iPhone
Feb 10 20:29:54 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d
Feb 10 20:29:54 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d iPhone
Feb 10 20:32:28 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d
Feb 10 20:32:28 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d iPhone
Feb 10 20:35:58 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d
Feb 10 20:35:58 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d iPhone
Feb 10 20:38:32 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d
Feb 10 20:38:32 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d iPhone
Feb 10 20:42:10 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d
Feb 10 20:42:10 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d iPhone
Feb 10 20:44:55 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d
Feb 10 20:44:55 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d iPhone
Feb 10 20:47:38 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPREQUEST(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d
Feb 10 20:47:38 dnsmasq-dhcp[3388]: DHCPACK(br0) 192.168.1.245 28:e1:4c:a1:34:1d iPhone

 

[joegreat]

I have the problems with iPhone:

Hi,

Not a problem, just turn off DHCP logging - and be happy!

With kind reagrds
Joe

 

[alby258]

I've installed 378.50_ta after 378.50beta2. On Bandwitch monitor of Adaptive QoS per app analysis doesn't work properly even after some days. It shows only "general" traffic. On beta2 it worked perfectly. Anyone with this problem?

I've an AC68U and I did a factory reset before betas.

 

[SeCrEt_BoY]

In Wifi - Professional Tab: Is it recommend to set Enable IGMP snooping? Is it reduce wifi?

 

[marcusb]

When i said torrent i meant a torrent that had been created by you and was downloaded from your download page on your website (the page where you link to media fire). (You could use magnet links so you would not need to actually host a torrent file)
I did not mean letting people upload them to a public tracker or something like that

We all have torrenting built in to our routers, seems like this would be a possibility.

 

[NGRhodes]

I've installed 378.50_ta after 378.50beta2. On Bandwitch monitor of Adaptive QoS per app analysis doesn't work properly even after some days. It shows only "general" traffic. On beta2 it worked perfectly. Anyone with this problem?

I've an AC68U and I did a factory reset before betas.

Not sure if its related or not but for both Beta2 and this release about 99% of my traffic is categorised as general on my AC56U, not just that but the machine priorities that can be set make no difference either.

 

[RMerlin]

@RMerlin

What about my problem, loosing IPv6 when enabling URL filter, worked fine with 376.48_3.

Is that a bug or a feature of new IPv6 code? My router is RT-N66U, using Tunnel 6rd

EDIT: if I just enable URL filter with empty filter list it works, but when I add anything to list, IPv6 dies.

No idea, I haven't had time to look into it yet.

 

[RMerlin]

I've noticed the following appearing in my system log following the flash to 378.50 to my RT-N66U:

---
Feb 9 22:24:22 dnsmasq[566]: using nameserver x.x.x.x#53 for domain local
---

I'd post the entire relevant set of log entries, but the security system triggers and prevents it.

The x's are of course my providers DNS servers and the x.shawcable.net domain is assigned by its DHCP. I don't attempt to use the shawcable.net domain for any purpose. I don't have any devices joined to the .local domain.

The default setting for forwarding local queries is disabled by default and remains unchanged. The router is set to forced local browsemaster and the WINS server is not enabled.

The DHCP server has four reserved addresses that are below the starting DHCP pool address of x.x.x.10.

Is the forwarding of local domain queries to my providers DNS servers expected behavior? Do I need to create a custom script to prevent this behavior?

tia!

Already answered in another post. "domain local" does not mean "all domains that are local". It means "the domain called 'local'", i.e. computer.local. something.local, etc... Not sure why Asus did this, I suspect it might be related to one of the development features that's currently disabled.

 

[RMerlin]

Could you please also comment on my former post:

I haven't had time to look into the issue, that's why I didn't answer.

I got a list of 6-7 bookmarked posts I need to look into. I simply did not have the time.

 

[RMerlin]

When i said torrent i meant a torrent that had been created by you and was downloaded from your download page on your website (the page where you link to media fire). (You could use magnet links so you would not need to actually host a torrent file)
I did not mean letting people upload them to a public tracker or something like that

People get their torrent files from anywhere, especially from some well-known suspicious sites. If people hear that torrents are now an official distribution method, they will jump at the first random torrent they find on TPB and expect it to be safe and clean.

 

[RMerlin]

I just have bought a new RT-AC56U and flashed Asuswrt-Merlin 378.50 beta2-DPI just right out of the box. Unfortunately 2.4 Ghz was dropping connection every 30-40 min. Have update to Asuswrt-Merlin 378.50ta-dpi , but still same issue. If I’m understand correctly they both are using AC68U wifi drivers. Only for the sake of trying I flashed ASUS factory firmware 3.0.0.4.376.3754 and guess what: 24h without a single drop. Wi-Fi coverage is noticeable less, but to be honest I don’t care as only my wife laptop uses this frequency and I only get bitching when connection drops . But surely missing the Merlin customizations, can anyone recommend Merlin firmware with original AC56U Asus drivers.

Don't use the experimental version.