Asuswrt-Merlin update from 378.56_2 > 380.62_1 = major random reboots

[madfusker]

Hi,

RT-AC87U

Asuswrt-Merlin update from 378.56_2 > 380.62_1 is causing major random reboots (daily). I've had rock solid performance on any version 378.56_2 and prior. This is really my first experience with any Asuswrt-Merlin firmware instability so I am a bit puzzled. I see there have been a few updates in the last week so I will give that a shot to see if it fixes it.

-MH

 

[madfusker]

Well, maybe. https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca appears to be down?

Anyone know of an official mirror?

 

[L&LD]

After flashing a new firmware and particularly if you're experiencing random/ghost glitches, a reset to factory defaults followed by a minimal and manual configuration of the router to secure it and connect to your ISP is highly recommended. Otherwise, you may just be chasing your tail with no 'real' solution to be found ever.

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/no...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac66u-slow-wan-to-lan.12973/page-3#post-269410

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/faq-nvram-and-factory-default-reset.22822/


You already noted that there are much newer firmware available now, upgrade to the latest 380.63_2 and follow the links given.

 

[Clark Griswald]

Well, maybe. https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca appears to be down?

Anyone know of an official mirror?

The link is working.

 

[madfusker]

The link is working.

Are you sure? I can get to the tower page and browse it fine, but nothing happens when I click the link to Asuswrt-Merlin. Page timeout/not responding.

http://www.lostrealm.ca/tower/

 

[madfusker]

No wai! Link is hard blocked for PIA VPN by the host. Never expected that! Had to shut that down on the router to access the firmware site.

 

[RMerlin]

No wai! Link is hard blocked for VPN now! Never expected that! Had to shut that down on the router to access the firmware site. Now only two things I cannot access on VPN, Netflix and AsusMerlin firmware. Sigh.

http://www.lostrealm.ca/ is my personal website. It's currently behind Cloudflare because I'm testing their service, so it could be blocked from some IPs.

https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/ is the website you want. That website is open to anyone.

 

[madfusker]

Personal website is open, but your second link host has now hard blocked PIA VPN. I've been able to access it for 2 years over PIA VPN, and last did so successfully on 11/5 when I installed 378.56_2. Something changed since 11/5 with the host. Not a big deal now that I know, and I can get around it by going directly to the Sourceforge site. It's something specific to PIA itself as other VPNs work.

I've got 380.63_2 installed and going to give that a try. Many thanks for the work on this firmware effort and I sent you a PP cheers to your inbox.

-MH

 

[cybrnook]

I can confirm same behavior on pia VPN on my phone, second link never resolves. First link is fine.

I assume for whatever reason, PIA's DNS is not resolving your site.

 

[RMerlin]

I can confirm same behavior on pia VPN on my phone, second link never resolves. First link is fine.

I assume for whatever reason, PIA's DNS is not resolving your site.

I don't see how it could succeed in resolving one but not the other - they're within the same zone, therefore the same nameservers. You will have to use nslookup/dig to confirm whether the issue you are experiencing is related to resolving, or accessing (two very different issues).

Beside switching DNS, there has been zero change to asuswrt.lostrealm.ca.

 

[cybrnook]

I will see if I can help give you more info later (dinner this evening here in the states with the family )

But the symptom was, off VPN your https link resolves fine. On VPN, refresh same page, nothing.........., off VPN page loads fine again, back on VPN page does not load. It tries to resolve for a good amount of time then just times out with a DNS error. Similar to when we black list a domain with our ad blockers.

I know PIA out of the gate pushes their own private DNS server while on their tunnel.

"We use our own private DNS servers for your DNS queries while on the VPN. After connecting we set your operating system's DNS servers to 209.222.18.222 and 209.222.18.218. When using a DNS Leak testing site you should expect to see your DNS requests originate from the IP of the VPN gateway you are connected to. "

 

[john9527]

I assume for whatever reason, PIA's DNS is not resolving your site.

More likely is that the hosting site decided to blacklist one of PIAs servers. I have another forum site that I visit that regularly does that. Just restart the vpnclient to get a new server from PIA, or if that doesn't work, try a different PIA region.

 

[cybrnook]

More likely is that the hosting site decided to blacklist one of PIAs servers. I have another forum site that I visit that regularly does that. Just restart the vpnclient to get a new server from PIA, or if that doesn't work, try a different PIA region.

Tried us midwest, us west, and ca toronto. All no bueno :-(

 

[RMerlin]

More likely is that the hosting site decided to blacklist one of PIAs servers. I have another forum site that I visit that regularly does that. Just restart the vpnclient to get a new server from PIA, or if that doesn't work, try a different PIA region.

Would be surprising, this is a shared hosting, that would imply they implemented some kind of blacklist without notifying their customers. Could be an upstream provider/routing issue however.

It can't be a DNS resolution issue since once you resolved the IP once, it should be cached locally and not require another remote lookup.

Tunnel providers will always be a potential cause of problem. A lot of people doing nefarious things will use those providers (or Tor) to hide their actions, which will lead to blacklissting. People using VPN providers will have to be ready to live with this.

 

[RMerlin]

Tested with both of their nameservers:

> asuswrt.lostrealm.ca
Server:  resolver1.privateinternetaccess.com
Address:  209.222.18.222

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    asuswrt.lostrealm.ca
Address:  72.55.186.51

> server 209.222.18.218
Default Server:  resolver2.privateinternetaccess.com
Address:  209.222.18.218

> asuswrt.lostrealm.ca
Server:  resolver2.privateinternetaccess.com
Address:  209.222.18.218

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    asuswrt.lostrealm.ca
Address:  72.55.186.51

 

[cybrnook]

I'm not sure what to tell you Eric. Just letting you know that op and Clark were not there only ones.

I'm testing again now, and still the same off VPN, no issues. On VPN, regardless of server it doesn't work.

 

[john9527]

I'll confirm as well....DNS resolves fine. Through PIA, can't ping the site and traceroute dies at the first hop. Direct works fine....asuswrt.lostrealm.ca returns pings as s031.panelboxmanager.com

Wonder if PIA blacklisted your provider?

 

[RMerlin]

I'll confirm as well....DNS resolves fine. Through PIA, can't ping the site and traceroute dies at the first hop. Direct works fine....asuswrt.lostrealm.ca returns pings as s031.panelboxmanager.com

Wonder if PIA blacklisted your provider?

If the traceroute drops early, then it's something between PIA and their upstream provider.

In any case - it's not on my end, but on theirs.

 

[cybrnook]

Never doubted it was you, just making aware was all.