Release Asuswrt-Merlin 386.1 is now available

[mistercoffee1]

RT-AC68U:
- router homepage (index.asp) would randomly lock up/unresponsive after login, have to kill the tab and try again.
- this was during ~1 day uptime dirty upgrade, then ~2 days fact. reset. till now.

I see this also on an RT-AC68U, where the homepage locks up after the first login of the day. All subsequent logins (for that day) seem fine. Then the next morning, same issue.

 

[Wallace_n_Gromit]

There is a problem at least as far as I'm concern with "format jffs partition" in the web GUI whereas the jffs comes up unmounted after the reboot. I have not experience this in the 384 branch, only in 386.

RT-AX88U HW Ver: A1
Made in China

Without explicitly saying it, because I didn't really understand the significance of a mounted vs. unmounted JFFS at initial install, factory settings reset, and reboot, That's what I was suspecting. So then the question remains, is it possible to correct this after the fact? (on my GUI the JFFS has always been unmounted on 386.1). I guess that's why Dropbear won't load and as a result SSH won't work.

And yes, This router when reverted back to 384.19 worked fine. When updated to 386.1, again failed to mount the JFFS.

I've attached a pic of my second working RT-AC68U running 386.1 with the JFFS mounted.

 

[aex.perez]

Thank you. I am aware. I am curious if anyone else is seeing this limitation on the speed test with 68U

With my AX88u, 1Gb symmetric fiber, depending how busy the router is I will see different results. Withdraw from TrendMicro (simply disabling the related features is temporary, it will not compltely disable the impact), and your results will jump, enable they will drop, for me, in my setup, by close to 50%. Running Skynet, monitoring in and out, only my upload results drop (by close to 30%). Depending on the CPU of the router, enabled feature, running scripts and what its doing at the time your results will vary. I aim for a steady state result based on what I have running at the router, regardless of the actual Up/Down results vs. ISP provisioned and look more intently at latency, jitter and packet loss. Any variation, then I dig further. At the end of the day I really care more for the results at the device being close to what the ISP provisioned than I do the router, but maybe that's just me...

 

[bluepoint]

Without explicitly saying it, because I didn't really understand the significance of a mounted vs. unmounted JFFS at initial install, factory settings reset, and reboot, That's what I was suspecting. So then the question remains, is it possible to correct this after the fact? (on my GUI the JFFS has always been unmounted on 386.1). I guess that's why Dropbear won't load and as a result SSH won't work.

And yes, This router when reverted back to 384.19 worked fine. When updated to 386.1, again failed to mount the JFFS.

I believe when you invoke format jffs from the webui then reboot, jffs is unmounted prior to formatting, however, the process doesn't mount the jffs partition back when the system comes back up. There must be a command to mount it after the fact but I don't know. It took me several restarts to mount jffs and the extreme is to re-install the firmware, I did it once when I got desperate. I hope someone can guide us how to mount a partition manually if that's possible.

The thing is, you're not going to notice this jffs unmount phenomenon if you just ugrade on top only happens when formatting the partition.

 

[AntonK]

Does this

I believe when you invoke format jffs from the webui then reboot, jffs is unmounted prior to formatting, however, the process doesn't mount the jffs partition back when the system comes back up. There must be a command to mount it after the fact but I don't know. It took me several restarts to mount jffs and the extreme is to re-install the firmware, I did it once when I got desperate. I hope someone can guide us how to mount a partition manually if that's possible.

The thing is, you're not going to notice this jffs unmount phenomenon if you just ugrade on top only happens when formatting the partition.

Does this 2018 response from @RMerlin to a similar question help?

 

[bluepoint]

I believe when you invoke format jffs from the webui then reboot, jffs is unmounted prior to formatting, however, the process doesn't mount the jffs partition back when the system comes back up. There must be a command to mount it after the fact but I don't know. It took me several restarts to mount jffs and the extreme is to re-install the firmware. I hope someone can guide us how to mount a partition manually if that's possible.

Does this


Does this 2018 response from @RMerlin to a similar question help?

No, it's not the same hardware and firmware branch this one is consistent when jffs is formatted.

 

[Rob Q]

@Rob Q looks like you're well prepared.

Just be prepared to do a full reset if necessary and be sure to note that after the upgrade, the web GUI may not be available for up to 60 minutes or more.

Best Practice Update/Setup Router/AiMesh Node(s) 2021

Apologies for the dumb question but how do I know when a factory reset is required and will that bring it back to the stock firmware or just give a fresh installation of Merlin's firmware? Also, will it affect the USB drive in anyway? That is holding entware and the swapfile.

 

[JonEngland]

I had trouble setting up AIMesh today, after trying everything suggested in this forum I still couldn't find my node(AC68U). After a long thought about my process, I figured the problem may be that the access point I want to change into a node needs to be set as a router again before reset to factory defaults. Any further opinions and thoughts appreciated.

sorry, not seen the other suggestions so not sure what you've tried but I had the same issue when the node was on 386.1 (I first attempted it using ethernet backhaul and then via wifi when sat next to each other). Once I reverted the node back to 384.19 and factory reset it, it was seen immediately (using ethernet backhaul, not tried wifi as they are likely too far apart). I then upgraded node to 386.1 using the router firmware page and been ok since.

 

[ahecht]

I'm using the script from @Xentrk which is great, but that's for DHCP "only", not for the Network Map, it seems?

And because I take it methodically and thoroughly it's taking a lot of time (might squeeze it in one long evening, but too tired now to finish it today)

You can run the following command to back up DHCP, network map, port forwarding, and QOS rules into a script file:

nvram show | grep "custom_clientlist=<\|dhcp_staticlist=<\|dhcp_hostnames=<\|vts_rulelist=<\|qos_rulelist=<" | sed -e 's/^/nvram set /;s/=</="</;s/$/"/' -e '1i#! /bin/sh' -e '$anvram commit' > /opt/tmp/restorelists.sh

Just back up /opt/tmp/restorelists.sh to somewhere safe before doing a reset, and then run it to restore those settings.

 

[ARKASHA]

RMerlin was spot on [as usual] with his response to my original post ... problem was coming from Trend Micro code [closed source].

If you have ever enabled AiProtection and then later disable it - the problem remains - you must go to the "Administration" Tab and then to "Privacy" sub-tab and hit "Withdraw" button on the section denoting AiProtect / QOS etc.

But disabling Trend micro stuff affects Parental control too..?

 

[L&LD]

@Rob Q the answers to your questions are all in the link. Study well, my friend.

Resetting the router to factory defaults allows the installed firmware to use/see its expected defaults without any strange interaction from previous firmware's code bits.

If your network is running as you want, there is a low chance you need to do a full reset on it.

A reset via the GUI or via the WPS method doesn't affect the USB drive.

But a proper/full reset does. Look for the details in the post you quote.

 

[skeal]

sorry, not seen the other suggestions so not sure what you've tried but I had the same issue when the node was on 386.1 and once I reverted the node back to 384.19, factory reset it, it was seen immediately. I then upgraded node to 386.1 using the router firmware page and been ok since.

Thanks I have not tried that yet. Thanks for your suggestion my friend.

 

[jata]

Thanks I have not tried that yet. Thanks for your suggestion my friend.

the other suggestion that worked for me was to connect the node wired to main router (from router LAN port to Node WAN port) then search and add. Once connected remove wired connection and it should switch to wifi.

 

[Treadler]

Apologies for the dumb question but how do I know when a factory reset is required and will that bring it back to the stock firmware or just give a fresh installation of Merlin's firmware? Also, will it affect the USB drive in anyway? That is holding entware and the swapfile.

You will know, because you will have random unexplained problems with your router.
A reset will simply blow away hangovers from previous installs that may be causing you grief.

A reset doesn’t change the firmware version you’re using. A reset, should you think it necessary, is done after you have installed the firmware you want.

Resetting hasn’t affected my USB, but, I seldom reset, & your experience may differ from mine.
Easy enough fixed if something goes wrong. Amtm is your friend!

 

[calzor suzay]

Took the plunge and did the upgrade.
I reset both boxes using WPS method before bringing up then patching, imported nothing, so far so good, fingers crossed.

I'm a little confused as to whether I'm actually using the USB stick I've plugged in as the JFFS partition though...
I left the USB stick in by mistake, had intended to remove it but after the event setting it up I chose "Format JFFS partition at next boot" yes then rebooted.

calz@RT-AC86U:/jffs/scripts# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
ubi:rootfs_ubifs 77.2M 64.3M 12.9M 83% /
devtmpfs 214.9M 0 214.9M 0% /dev
tmpfs 215.0M 376.0K 214.6M 0% /var
tmpfs 215.0M 884.0K 214.1M 0% /tmp/mnt
mtd:bootfs 4.4M 3.3M 1.1M 75% /bootfs
tmpfs 215.0M 884.0K 214.1M 0% /tmp/mnt
mtd:data 8.0M 832.0K 7.2M 10% /data
tmpfs 215.0M 884.0K 214.1M 0% /tmp
/dev/mtdblock9 47.0M 1.8M 45.2M 4% /jffs
/dev/sda1 112.7G 2.1G 104.9G 2% /tmp/mnt/Asus_RT86U
/dev/mtdblock9 47.0M 1.8M 45.2M 4% /www/Advanced_DHCP_Content.asp

The external USB disk status shows as 113Gb with 110.6Gb free.

Under Tools System info it shows

Internal Storage
NVRAM usage 68376 / 131072 bytes
JFFS 1.81 / 47.00 MB

 

[calzor suzay]

Actually reading between the lines JFFS is internal to the router.
Can I access the USB stick via SSH and do I need to move anything to it, I can't remember why it's in there now, I remember plugging it for amtm/diversion etc but lost in the back of my memory

 

[bradbort]

I have ax88u I cannot upgrade to stable 386?? I need to use the recovery tool to upgrade?

What version are you on? There was an issue the Beta 4. I was able to upgrade by going back to the ASUS stock, which loaded, and then loading the latest Merlin version. If you are NOT on beta 4, I believe you should just be able to upgrade as usual.

 

[roboots21]

Took the plunge and did the upgrade.
I reset both boxes using WPS method before bringing up then patching, imported nothing, so far so good, fingers crossed.

So did you reset prior to upgrading the firmware? The proper method to ensure no residuals from previous firmware versions is to reset the router AFTER you flash the updated firmware to ensure the cleanest baseline.

 

[Treadler]

So you reset prior to upgrading the firmware? The proper method to ensure no residuals from previous firmware versions is to reset the router AFTER you flash the updated firmware to ensure the cleanest baseline. Am I misreading this?

After.

 

[calzor suzay]

I reset it before thinking it would clear everything out, oh well it seems ok so far. I guess I'm in the dirty upgrade brigade?

Sorted the USB thing outside, unplugged, replugged it a few times then reran amtm for it to find and format it, I now see.

calz@RT-AC86U:/tmp/home/root# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
ubi:rootfs_ubifs 77.2M 64.3M 12.9M 83% /
devtmpfs 214.9M 0 214.9M 0% /dev
tmpfs 215.0M 372.0K 214.6M 0% /var
tmpfs 215.0M 936.0K 214.1M 0% /tmp/mnt
mtd:bootfs 4.4M 3.3M 1.1M 75% /bootfs
tmpfs 215.0M 936.0K 214.1M 0% /tmp/mnt
mtd:data 8.0M 840.0K 7.2M 10% /data
tmpfs 215.0M 936.0K 214.1M 0% /tmp
/dev/mtdblock9 47.0M 1.8M 45.2M 4% /jffs
/dev/sda1 112.3G 78.7M 106.5G 0% /tmp/mnt/SanDisk_USB
/dev/mtdblock9 47.0M 1.8M 45.2M 4% /www/Advanced_DHCP_Content.asp

So we're good?