Release Asuswrt-Merlin 386.1 is now available

[bukso]

Hello all,
RMerlin, thank you for your excellent work!

I have a question about VPN speeds and I wonder if anyone else here had similar experience.
I did not find similar issue when searching the forum.

I am using RT-AC86U router with ExpessVPN subscription. While running firmware 384.18 and 384.19,
I am getting download speeds through OpenVPN client around 220 - 240 Mbps.

But when I update firmware to 386.1 and with same ExpressVPN config, I suddenly get only around
130 - 140 Mbps download speeds. Everything looks normal, everything works great, but I have this
VPN speed drop which I cannot explain.
If I disconnect the router from VPN, I get 250 Mbps, which is my maximum speed from ISP.

Just for reference, when on 386.1 and connected to VPN, the CPU cores are not maxed out while
I measure internet speed and CPU temperature is around 86°C and I don't think that CPU throttling is the
cause for VPN speed drop.
Also wiping the router and reapplying saved settings did not change the measured VPN speed.
Speedtest results remain 130 - 140 Mbps no matter if I test from wired or wireless client, Windows or iOS,
computer or mobile device.
If I go back to 384.19 firmware, I immediately get the 220 - 240 Mbps VPN speedtest results.

OpenVPN advanced parameters I use are copied from ExpressVPN website and are meant for Merlin firmware:
fast-io
remote-random
pull
tls-client
verify-x509-name Server name-prefix
ns-cert-type server
route-method exe
route-delay 2
tun-mtu 1500
fragment 1300
mssfix 1200
keysize 256
sndbuf 524288
rcvbuf 524288

Could this be caused by OpenVPN 2.5.0 used in firmware 386.1 in combination with ExpressVPN?
Can anyone suggest what else could I try to get to my usual VPN speeds on 386.1 firmware?

Thank you.

 

[Wrkdbf_Guy]

Successfully updated from 384.17 to 386.1 on my aging, but dependable RT-AC68U. Everything working well and as expected.

I considered doing a dirty update and "see what happens". But decided to do it right and did a full factory default reset and manual reconfiguration. GUI came back up fairly quickly - 10 minutes or so. Had to finagle my ASUS Mesh node (another RT-AC68U) to get it to be "findable", but got it eventually.

Thanks RMerlin for your wonderful software and to L&LD for all your recommendations, etc.

Bill

 

[spend2much]

Thanks to @RMerlin
NOOB Reporting in…. RT-AX88U
First off I have no idea what I am doing as far as SSH or setting up rules. I wanted to set rules for wifi cameras in my house, that are needed to watch my pet with special needs. While looking around on how to setup vpn, rules and other things, I found this Merlin and wanted to install this for more options. Not sure if any of this Merlin has anything to do with 3D printing, but I have Merlin on my 3D printers and know how to change the code, knowing how great that works for me I just had to do this to my router .

Long story short, installed stable 384.19 and had nothing but trouble with the wifi dropping out here and there on some devices, I did everything other than changing my SSID (too many devices to deal with) Fast forward to 386.1… I installed this version and whatever settings I have that were not working in the old version are working fine now, the few devices that would not stay online have been fine, and life is good.

Just wanted to give a newbie input on my situation, say THANKS, and I’m looking forward to making some new friends on here when I try to set up my smart switch with a VLAN and setup some rules.

 

[RMerlin]

Got some problems upgrading my RT-AX86U to 386.1_0 (from 384.18_0) but after many factory reset all is ok now.

That's not possible, because 386.1 is the first version to support the RT-AX86U. So you definitely do not have an RT-AX86U...

But when I update firmware to 386.1 and with same ExpressVPN config, I suddenly get only around
130 - 140 Mbps download speeds. Everything looks normal, everything works great, but I have this
VPN speed drop which I cannot explain.

Check your MTU on the WAN page.

 

[Robaye]

RT-AC68W dirty upgrade from 384.19. So far, so good.
Forgot to eject USB drive. Took about 3 hours to get access to GUI. Fairly basic setup.

 

[ckong]

I just did a dirty upgrade of my RT-AC3100 from 384.19_0 to 386.1_0. Firmware upgrade took about 3 minutes as expected. Afterwards, both wired and wireless internet seemed ok. Web interface unresponsive, and as noted by Merlin and so many others, to just wait for the database upgrade. I logged in via SSH executed the "uptime" command every now and then. Here are some outputs:

admin@RT-AC3100-D0D8:/tmp/home/root# uptime
07:50:18 up 3 min, load average: 2.16, 1.65, 0.71
admin@RT-AC3100-D0D8:/tmp/home/root# uptime
08:45:20 up 58 min, load average: 1.95, 1.86, 1.80
admin@RT-AC3100-D0D8:/# uptime
09:36:54 up 1:50, load average: 1.75, 1.68, 1.68
admin@RT-AC3100-D0D8:/# uptime
09:41:12 up 1:54, load average: 0.04, 0.74, 1.29

Patience paid off. After 1 hour 54 minutes, the load average showed 4%. Web GUI login was fine after that. I must say the slight improvements in the new interface look great.

Thank you RMerlin!

 

[L&LD]

@skeal, this one is for you.

Save Settings From Router

Release - Asuswrt-Merlin 386.1 is now available

How long did you wait for the web interface? Listed as a known issue and others in the thread have said it might take anywhere up to 90 minutes to come online. I waited some minutes, probably not enough. I didn't read the known issue. I could reload the old settings to see if the messages...

www.snbforums.com

 

[bukso]

Check your MTU on the WAN page.

The MTU size on WAN page is 1492, which is correct setting for my ISP. I tried to change it to 1500 or 1470, but that had no effect on the reduced 130 - 140 Mbps VPN speed.
I also tried to change the 'mssfix 1200' setting on VPN Client page, but no effect on VPN speed. As soon as I downgraded again the firmware to 384.19, the VPN speeds jumped back to usual 230 Mbps.

 

[shabbs]

So, had a fun morning doing the @L&LD Nuclear Reset Process and going back manually to reset and reconfigure everything on my whole AiMesh system. Took a while but I did notice something very interesting. The options that were on my AX88U Router are quite different from before the reset (based on all the webpage grabs I did to document all the old settings) and I have a feeling this is due to me restoring an old RT-AC3100 config file on it for some reason a while back. All hail the nuclear reset.

Why did I nuclear reset? Was seeing some very weird behaviour with my 2.4GHz and Guest WIFI networks that I could not nail down and saw some odd references in the logs, so pulled the trigger.

So far so good.

 

[QMax]

Been running 386.1 (via dirty upgrade) on my AC86U for 6 days now. All seems well except Wifi Site Survey only showing my SSID, the Traffic Classification pie chart not showing up and "Initialinzing the settings of OpenVPN server now, please wait a few minutes to let the server to setup completed before VPN clients establish the connection" for OpenVPN server1 being displayed:
View attachment 30400
I also experienced this issue on 384.19 where I performed a full wipe to see if that made a difference to no avail.

More or less in the same situation as you about VPN server, see my detailed post #711 in this thread (Wifi Site Survey works fine and Traffic Analyzer is disabled here).

As reported in post 711, exported client1.ovpn file, correctly edited with the remote domain, doesn't let me connect and a spinning wheel and the same message appear about VPN server is initializing... but doesn't stop until next reboot.
As reported, using client1.ovpn generated by 384.19 works fine and there's not the spinning wheel.
Are you able to connect to your VPN server using a new client1.ovpn generated by this new firmware?

Thanks

 

[NeoXx]

Unable to update my AX88U from 384.19 to 386.1. It seems to complete the update normally and gives a message asking to reboot manually. After the reboot the router is basically dead, LED's are on and white except the WAN led which is red. However no WiFi is being emitted and the router does not have a default gateway if connected to a PC via ethernet cable. Strangely as well, the LED lights are completely constant, and not sparkling like usual. Reverting back to 384.19 works.

Any advice or should I try factory resetting the router before trying to update?

 

[L&LD]

Are you removing all USB attached devices 'Safely' before you flash the firmware?

Try testing from different PC's, different browsers.

Are you sure you've downloaded the proper firmware? Did you check the MD5 hash with a utility like Hashtab?

Try redownloading it again from a different server.

If all the above are in order and it is still failing to update, reset it using the WPS method for your router from the link below.

[Wireless] ASUS router Hard Factory Reset | Official Support | ASUS Global


And after it has been successfully flashed, proceed to reset and then configure it as suggested below.

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

 

[sleeps1007]

After upgrading now I can't log into my router. After putting in my login it just loads a white page

 

[L&LD]

See first post.

 

[jomcty]

More or less in the same situation as you about VPN server, see my detailed post #711 in this thread (Wifi Site Survey works fine and Traffic Analyzer is disabled here).

As reported in post 711, exported client1.ovpn file, correctly edited with the remote domain, doesn't let me connect and a spinning wheel and the same message appear about VPN server is initializing... but doesn't stop until next reboot.
As reported, using client1.ovpn generated by 384.19 works fine and there's not the spinning wheel.
Are you able to connect to your VPN server using a new client1.ovpn generated by this new firmware?

Thanks

@QMax I have not tried a new new client1.ovpn as my previous configs -- UDP & TCP -- from 384.19 work.

 

[heslo]

After upgrading now I can't log into my router. After putting in my login it just loads a white page

Normal dude, give it time, it will come up. Up to a few hours sometimes; it's doing stuff in the background. Router should still function normally other than that

 

[wyse]

That's not possible, because 386.1 is the first version to support the RT-AX86U. So you definitely do not have an RT-AX86U...

sorry you’re right I was a little confused, this is a RT-AX56U
So may I restore a 384.18_cfg backup on 386.1_0 ??

Thanks for help

 

[ATLga]

Can someone explain log levels a bit.
I THINK Default Message Log Level is what the router logs system wide, overall.
I THINK Log Only Messages More Urgent Than is what is actually displayed.

I've been playing with the settings and now I can't even remember what the defaults were on the screen. Was it Info & Debug or Notice & Debug

Hahahahaha

 

[ATLga]

sorry you’re right I was a little confused, this is a RT-AX56U
So may I restore a 384.18_cfg backup on 386.1_0 ??

Thanks for help

I wouldn't

 

[Tim Storey]

Minor problem. After RT-AC68U Factory reset and upgrade to 386.1, the site survey doesn't work the same as 384.19.

Previously one could click on a field in the wireless name column and information would pop up about manufacture and/or MAC on some networks. Tried 3 different browsers with popup blocker on, off or allowed. This will probably not be missed by anyone.