Release Asuswrt-Merlin 386.12 is now available for AC models

[langesgnu]

Do you have diversion with pixelserv installed?

no, as that did lead to a quite low performance in the past. now I am mainly running skynet, unbound and flexqos as well as some of the other smaller scripts (vnstat, yazfi, etc.).

 

[TnF]

Disable FlexQoS and change Diversion from "Standard" to the "Lite" version. Both of those are known to have issues with recent firmware.

I am trying to find where there are reported issues on those but i cannot find them. They used to work perfectly fine but i did update them when i updated to 386.12_2 so it's possible they might be causing problems.

 

[Wanabo]

Upgraded router and node to 386.12_4. So far no issues.

 

[nomore4u]

Have you considered interference from USB3.0 data signal? It can considerably hinder the quality of wireless in 2.4Ghz range.

I have the same Wi-Fi problems from time to time. Is this the SSH command to change the USB Mode for the AiMesh node to USB2.0? Any other changes required?

nvram set usb_usb3=0
nvram commit
reboot

 

[vaboro]

now I am mainly running skynet, unbound and flexqos as well as some of the other smaller scripts (vnstat, yazfi, etc.)

I personally had problems with diversion with its pixelserv-tls server and dsd process. I removed diversion with pixelserv-tls and switched to AdGuardHome to resolve the conflict.
Folks on this forum also say that flexqos may cause trouble.
I would recommend removing one addon at a time until crashes stop.

 

[vaboro]

Is this the SSH command to change the USB Mode for the AiMesh node to USB2.0?

What's your router model?

 

[Tomo]

I personally had problems with diversion with its pixelserv-tls server and dsd process. I removed diversion with pixelserv-tls and switched to AdGuardHome to resolve the conflict.
Folks on this forum also say that flexqos may cause trouble.
I would recommend removing one addon at a time until crashes stop.

agree, i'm really happy with AdGuardHome and Cake-Qos.

 

[Woody]

I'll provide an observation here, that might be relevant or I could be confused (situation normal for me):

I started watching, because like others, I was experiencing a problem which I had presumed was a 5Ghz and/or 2.4Ghz failure - in that, at a certain point (roughly a week after a reboot) devices newly booted and/or not currently connected to WiFi (like my mobile - on returning home) could no longer connect to WiFi. So it was as if the wifi had failed (this forum is littered with folk who think their wifi - particularly 2.4Ghz - has failed).

For some, they report that a (temporary) fix is to turn off (disable/re-enable) 2.4Ghz and they are back up and running, but for me, that didn't work. I discovered, that when I "lost" wifi connectivity, even a reboot wouldn't recover it BUT, pulling out the power and re-inserting fixed the WiFi issue 100% of the time.

At this point, it is important to state two things:

1. This is an RT-AC86U running vanilla - no scripts, add-ons, USB drives. This thing is as it was when it came out of the box.

2. No, I haven't done a full factory reset etc, etc, because I have this router as the DHCP server for fixed leases for about 40 IOT devices - and recreating this would be a nightmare - as any config backup/restore could carry the problem over, thus negating the exercise. (Anyhow, Merlin says that a factory reset is no longer necessary for this build train).

With that as a background, you can imagine how excited I was when 386.12_X started coming down the track.

All was working well with 386.12_2, when I had a crash, which Merlin diagnosed to be running of memory: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/a...now-available-for-ac-models.86647/post-876139

Two things were weird about this:

1. The running out of memory - this thing is vanilla, remember.

2. Others started to report weirdness/poorer Wifi with 386.12_x builds .

I myself had also started to notice, what I thought was poorer wifi in 386.12_x builds - but perception is insufficient without data - right? So I did this:

I saw in another thread, someone promulgating the thesis that installing the Asus firmware, was equivalent to a factory reset for Merlin. I can't see why, but it gave me something concrete to test - with all devices, phones, location of testing being identical.

Two conclusions:

1. In two different indoor (in my house) locations - relatively close to the router and also some distance (through walls/floors) away, Asus 3.0.0.4.386_51915 gave a -3db to -4db better signal on both/either 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. I have no idea why, all conditions were the same - except I just changed the firmware - these are simply my measured results.

2. On 386.12_4, used memory rose from 280Mb to 406Mb over two days. Over 4 days (I am still running Asus 3.0.0.4.386_51915 as a comparative test) Asus 3.0.0.4.386_51915 started at 296Mb and today is at 431Mb.

So for me, Wifi propagation is a bit better on the stock Asus, but the memory use isn't - presuming that it keeps on increasing and things start going screwy when this thing gets out of memory again (but that is a future presumption, and not an observable test at this stage of course).

So why, I wondered, is memory use rising in in both firmware's and could that rise (presuming it keeps going) be a contributor to issues (see above) that other folk are reporting?

So I did a top on 3.0.0.4.386_51915 this morning, and look at this:


1147 1 admin S 112m 26.9 0 0.0 httpds -s -i br0 -p 8443

VSZ of 112m has increased from 110m in the time it has taken me to write this. So I wonder, if as well as an asd issue, do we have another leak that is contributing?

 

[heysoundude]

I would recommend removing one addon at a time until crashes stop.

This Is The Way

 

[banger]

3 days uptime, no problems, quiet log, that will do me on 12_4. Nodes have been more stable too.

 

[nomore4u]

What's your router model?

RT-AC68U

 

[sdmf74]

Nobody? I guess I'll just keep the previous version w/ crashing open VPN since I don't use it & wait for the next version then

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Nobody? I guess I'll just keep the previous version w/ crashing open VPN since I don't use it & wait for the next version then

OK... Sure. Why not?

 

[RMerlin]

Nobody? I guess I'll just keep the previous version w/ crashing open VPN since I don't use it & wait for the next version then

Why would you want to wait? The router will constantly notify you that there is a newer version available. There is no reason at all to stay on 386.12_2.

 

[sdmf74]

OK... Sure. Why not?

You must have missed my previous question on the prior page that went unanswered

 

[sdmf74]

Why would you want to wait? The router will constantly notify you that there is a newer version available. There is no reason at all to stay on 386.12_2.

I was just asking cause I literally just flashed 3826.12_2 on main & mesh routers and reentered all my settings & factory reset then noticed a new version like a day latr.
Didn't know if the open VPN issue would affect me since I don't use it?
I always update but didn't know if this one issue would warrant another immediate flash.

Also having let's encrypt tell me to change my domain name which I've never had to do through several flashes. I Searched the forums on how to renew certificate w/out changing the name w/ No luck

 

[visortgw]

I was just asking cause I literally just flashed 3826.12_2 on main & mesh routers and reentered all my settings & factory reset then noticed a new version like a day latr.
Didn't know if the open VPN issue would affect me since I don't use it?
I always update but didn't know if this one issue would warrant another immediate flash.

Also having let's encrypt tell me to change my domain name which I've never had to do through several flashes. I Searched the forums on how to renew certificate w/out changing the name w/ No luck

Just flash update. No need to reconfigure.

 

[banger]

Nov 29 03:43:23 kernel: nt_monitor/191: potentially unexpected fatal signal 6.
Nov 29 03:43:23 kernel: Pid: 191, comm: nt_monitor
Nov 29 03:43:23 kernel: CPU: 1 Tainted: P (2.6.36.4brcmarm #1)
Nov 29 03:43:23 kernel: PC is at 0x406c7890
Nov 29 03:43:23 kernel: LR is at 0x400a0ee4
Nov 29 03:43:23 kernel: pc : [<406c7890>] lr : [<400a0ee4>] psr: 60000010
Nov 29 03:43:23 kernel: sp : be96ad50 ip : 400aade8 fp : 00000000
Nov 29 03:43:23 kernel: r10: be96adf8 r9 : 0000907c r8 : 000086b0
Nov 29 03:43:23 kernel: r7 : 000000a2 r6 : be96ade4 r5 : be96ad98 r4 : be96ad98
Nov 29 03:43:23 kernel: r3 : 00000000 r2 : 00000258 r1 : be96ad98 r0 : fffffdfc
Nov 29 03:43:23 kernel: Flags: nZCv IRQs on FIQs on Mode USER_32 ISA ARM Segment user
Nov 29 03:43:23 kernel: Control: 10c53c7d Table: 9da4804a DAC: 00000015

Just noticed this in log from early this morning. 4 times repeated in quick succession. What is nt_monitor?

 

[sdmf74]

Just flash update. No need to reconfigure.

No need to reconfigure, does not compute. Im not leaving everytrhing at stock settings and I thought that saving & restoring settings was frowned upon when flashing a newer version?

 

[visortgw]

No need to reconfigure, does not compute. Im not leaving everytrhing at stock settings and I thought that saving & restoring settings was frowned upon when flashing a newer version?

You do not need to save and restore settings either. Just flash the newer firmware — all your previous settings will be in tact after the device reboots.