Asuswrt-Merlin 378.51 is out

[ChikkSpot]

Ok guys, I am clueless regarding the Jffs partition. Is that a partition done directly into the RAM or it's save elsewhere?

Hoping it's not in RAM but physically on the unit's storage space or else a reboot or lost of power would mean all traffic analyser data would be lost.

thanks,

https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/wiki/JFFS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JFFS

 

[RMerlin]

What does it mean when it states nothing?

That happens if you disabled the feature that was incompatible with it, but didn't reboot the router afterward. I don't systematically reboot the router in those scenarios since a reboot is always disruptive for the network, and the router can still work properly without CTF getting immediately re-enabled.

 

[RMerlin]

Hey RMerlin, I found a bug again - the new wireless log page becomes corrupted if you have an apostrophie in your network name. There already was a bug like this, but on some other page, and you have fixed it.

Using an apostrophe in a device name or an SSID is never a good idea. It's invalid in a hostname, and quite a few devices will have problems if it's in the SSID. The RT-AC87U for instance will have stability issues with the 5 GHz band if an apostrophe is used there.

 

[RMerlin]

The Tools->Sysinfo is not showing the wireless clients correctly for the AC3200. The 5GHz clients are actually 2.4GHz clients. The 2.4GHz clients are 5GHz-1 clients. The label 5GHz should be 5GHz-1.

For some odd reason, Asus swapped eth1 and eth2 on the RT-AC3200, where eth2 is the 2.4 GHz interface, but eth1 is the 5 GHz-1 band - this is the opposite of all their other routers. I'm not sure if it's by design or a bug.

 

[DaveMishSr]

I updated my firmware to this version but in Administrator> Firmaware Upgrade i have still Signature Version 1.016 not 1.030. Why ?


And i have temp CPU 81*C. Are you also temp CPU about 80*C ?


And Merlin i have one suggestion. Maybe we can add green icon to VPN about icon WIFI. It icon will be show status tahta VPN server is running or this icon show that some user is connected to VPN server.... I think it is good function. What you think ?

Dude get a laptop cooling fan. I got one out of China on eBay for $4.55. My current temps are:

2.4 GHz: 37°C - 5 GHz:45°C - CPU: 57°C

Before using the fan my temps ran (on average):

2.4 GHz: 48°C - 5 GHz: 58°C - CPU: 78°C

The trick though is proper placement of fan relative to the router. The closer you place the fan to the router lowers the CPU but allows the 5.4GHz band temp to rise. Then as you move the fan away from the router the 5.4GHz band temp will drop, to a point, but the CPU temp rises as soon as that happens. I have found 1/2" space between the fan and router to be ideal for me.

 

[tyvar1]

Thanks for the update!

 

[jobol]

I am curious, is the latest Merlin 378.51 based on this firmware? (3.0.0.4.378.4376)

My concern is that since I am running Merlin, I don't get the latest fixes and updates Asus is providing for my AC-68U.

Thanks.

 

[L&LD]

It's never (initially) based on the latest factory firmware available, but it isn't too far behind either.

What you do get with the RMerlin version is a more stable release than a raw Asus firmware provides.

 

[XIII]

Hm, when I returned home from a weekend trip my AC66U router was still broadcasting the 2.4 (and 5) GHz band, but this time it had lost all wired connections until router reboot...

 

[Marsi4eg]

Using an apostrophe in a device name or an SSID is never a good idea. It's invalid in a hostname, and quite a few devices will have problems if it's in the SSID. The RT-AC87U for instance will have stability issues with the 5 GHz band if an apostrophe is used there.

However, there are two ways: to fix the wireless log page or to prevent users from using an apostrophe in SSID (not good).
Used an apostrophe in my SSID for years and years on different routers but had not any stability problems related on SSID name.

If the newest router causes stability problems with apostrophe when older models don't - maybe we should wait for Asus to fix this for ONE model, but not disable this for older devices.

If some client devices have problems with apostrophe in ssid name - so those are bad devices and they have to be thrown out of window.

 

[Gingernut]

Wouldn't it be better to have the Traffic Analyzer option hidden in AP mode as it doesn't manage wan traffic and has no use?

 

[sbailey4]

I am curious, is the latest Merlin 378.51 based on this firmware? (3.0.0.4.378.4376)

My concern is that since I am running Merlin, I don't get the latest fixes and updates Asus is providing for my AC-68U.

Thanks.

Look at the changelog for both, Merlin is based on 4129 BUT has incorporated the security fixes from the latest. Plus typically he has some fixes that ASUS has not released yet both security and stability. Example the infosvr fix Merlin had before ASUS released anything.

 

[SmallNetGuy]

Look at the changelog for both, Merlin is based on 4129 BUT has incorporated the security fixes from the latest. Plus typically he has some fixes that ASUS has not released yet both security and stability. Example the infosvr fix Merlin had before ASUS released anything.

And that's exactly why we all are here. I trust Merlin so much, for me personally, his builds are "the only official" ones This gentleman needs a medal, or even better huge recognition from Asus. They should put him on a payroll, and a good one while we're at that. He would have a lot more resources available almost instantly, and their ASUS products would be even more popular and widely accepted.

Thank you Merlin, for what's worth (I am nobody so I know it's not much coming from little myself), I've never went back to "official" ASUS firmware and not planning. I am so proud of my fellow Canadian

 

[martinr]

Taken from RMerlin's very first post in this topic:

"The original NAT loopback was re-added, and is now user-selectable (between None, Asus, and Merlin). I recommend using Merlin for MIPS routers. For ARM routers with the Trend Micro engine, I applied a few tweaks to attempt to make my NAT loopback code work with it (so far it's working fine on my own router), but your own results may vary, so experiment with both. I expect Asus's own loopback to be hopefully fixed with their next release."

I'm preparing to update from 376.48_1 to the latest version, making careful records of my settings and reading all the instructions beforehand.

I have an Asus RT-AC68U, which I believe makes it an ARM router. The mention of Trend Micro engines is completely new to me, so I'm guessing (as well as hoping) I don't have one. Reading up on NAT loopback, it doesn't immediately strike me as to why I might want it (or under which circumstances I might want it or need it).

Given all that, once I've installed version 351, what would the recommended setting be for NAT loopback, please?

Many thanks

Martin

 

[raven-au]

I also have this problem after being asked to get a serial boot log of OpenWRT and going back to beta1.
Actually I went to 51_0 afterwards, then back to beta1, factory reset and re-configure and going to the page still takes out the web server.
The jffs partition was enabled all along.
Reformat jffs partition at next boot and reboot also doesn't fix it for me.

So now I have some questions since I've screwed up my jffs2 partition (and probably the asus partition too now).

Which mtd partition is used for the jffs2 partition on the rt-ac87u, presumably one of brcmnand or asus?

If it was possible mtd-erase2 the (whichever one of the above) partition would that allow it to be formatted at reboot if it was requested to do so in the GUI?

 

[johtaja]

Have an RT-N66U and have IPV6 configured using 6rd through AT&T. All works fine until Parental Controls are enabled. When enabled, IPV6 is still assigned to the router, the clients have an address, but none of the clients show up in the IPv6 LAN Devices List in the system log, and nothing gets passed to the internet. I'm guessing the problem is something with the IPTables that is changed when the Parental Controls time adjustments are made, but not sure where to look for the cure.

(RT-N66U, 378.51)

I had same behaviour with 378.50 with URL - and keyword filters, didn't try parental controls. Merlin couldn't reproduce that issue. So I'm not trying this build, hopefully there's gonna be fix for it.

RT-N66U, IPv6 6rd Sonera

 

[RMerlin]

So now I have some questions since I've screwed up my jffs2 partition (and probably the asus partition too now).

Which mtd partition is used for the jffs2 partition on the rt-ac87u, presumably one of brcmnand or asus?

If it was possible mtd-erase2 the (whichever one of the above) partition would that allow it to be formatted at reboot if it was requested to do so in the GUI?

brcmnand is the JFFS2 partition.

Do NOT touch the Asus partition.

 

[sbailey4]

However, there are two ways: to fix the wireless log page or to prevent users from using an apostrophe in SSID (not good).
Used an apostrophe in my SSID for years and years on different routers but had not any stability problems related on SSID name.

If the newest router causes stability problems with apostrophe when older models don't - maybe we should wait for Asus to fix this for ONE model, but not disable this for older devices.

If some client devices have problems with apostrophe in ssid name - so those are bad devices and they have to be thrown out of window.

So why is it so important to have an apostrophe in there? If its known to cause issues with routers, networks and other devices seems the best answer is to not have that in there as mentioned rather than reinventing everything else to accommodate that known issue. Perhaps you should learn how to code so you can fix your ONE device so you can use an apostrophe in your network names. Just sayin.
For your reading pleasure http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909264

 

[raven-au]

brcmnand is the JFFS2 partition.

Do NOT touch the Asus partition.

Yeah, too late, but the device seems ok so far, firmware upgrades etc. and it's still ok. I'll leave it alone now though.

Another couple of questions.
Should using the firmware restoration utility restore the mtd partitions?
If the erase block size (I think that's what it's called) was the same, would an empty jffs2 partition on an RT-AC66U be ok to dd to the 87u partition or would there be endianness problems?

 

[RMerlin]

Yeah, too late, but the device seems ok so far, firmware upgrades etc. and it's still ok. I'll leave it alone now though.

My initial development sample for the RT-AC87U was killed when I tried to mount the asus partition to access its content. There was a problem then, and the partition was actually covering the whole flash. That means my bootloader got trashed, terminally killing that first development board. It was most likely a bug in my code at the time tho, so thankfully looks like the partition table is once again correct.

Another couple of questions.
Should using the firmware restoration utility restore the mtd partitions?
If the erase block size (I think that's what it's called) was the same, would an empty jffs2 partition on an RT-AC66U be ok to dd to the 87u partition or would there be endianness problems?

The firmware restoration tool is only designed to reflash the content of the linux partition (and its subsequent rootfs partition). It does not touch the brcmnand partition.

Copying the partition from the AC66 to AC87 will indeed result in endianness problems, as the partition signature will be inverted. Best you rely on "tar" to archive and trasnfer the content rather than "dd".