Auto Firmware Upgrade made official - a new Note in Asus FAQ

[Tech9]

I’ve heard some motherboards do smoke test on AMD CPUs.

 

[eightiescalling]

Bad quality control auto upgrades are real issue with remote devices and people working from home.

Working from home or not is irrelevant - it's the QA that's the problem.

I agree with the point on unmanaged vs managed that @sfx2000 mentioned though I have a slightly cynical view given support model variations and implied costs. If an ISP borks the modem it provides, that's a call direct to customer services which means a cost/overhead to recover. In some countries (the UK is one), continued downtime as a result can result in regulator forced refunds (OK, so they're not exactly earth shattering but...).

If Asus borks the router, they know they have a nice buffer of SNB, Reddit, etc. long before people start trying direct contact. Worst case someone buys a new non-Asus router. Not great for their reputation but they made the sale on the previous one already.

It might take a few months for their reputation to be properly tarnished and longer to recover but that will be the point QA improves and not before.

 

[Tech9]

Working from home or not is irrelevant - it's the QA that's the problem.

Agree, but makes a big difference for the user if it's interrupted Netflix entertainment show or Zoom work meeting. Now the users are more sensitive to service interruptions. One of the bad ASD upgrade affected places I was dealing with had 4x locked rare model Qualcomm routers. No service for 3 days before the owner called me to ask if I know something. Devices with 64MB RAM locking under 10min after reboot, no chance of self-recovery.

 

[eightiescalling]

This is where the question moves to what is domestic user (vs business vs enterprise). For a long long time, ISPs and router providers have been able to pretend they offer higher service levels than they really do.

Consumer gear (and ISPs) are still what I'd term domestic orientated. As more people work remotely they think they can rely on that given the jump in cost to business gear (not even enterprise level).

The routers we discuss on this forum are a great example of that. Asus may market Pro but we know it's not - it might have more features but without the quality and support model it's still basically domestic.

 

[Tech9]

All manufacturers market Pro now with different meaning. Like all marketed Mesh for repeaters. Consumer market tolerates false advertising.

 

[eightiescalling]

Not sure I'd go with tolerates but yes, manufacturers can get away with more and buyers have less ability to hold manufacturers to account.

 

[Justinh]

For the rest of the clueless world of users it is good. And ultimately good for us by trying to prevent security issues with the clueless crowd.

I think that is easily handled by setting auto-update on my default. That way the 'clueless crowd' will have it on and be happy. But I want to control what update I get and when I get it. I want to manage the process and know that it is has been upgraded. I'm sure ASUS does not know when a service disruption is okay for my environment.

 

[Tech9]

manufacturers can get away with more

TP-Link plays successfully on both markets - mostly cheap Archer for home and much better Omada for business.

 

[bbunge]

I think that is easily handled by setting auto-update on my default. That way the 'clueless crowd' will have it on and be happy. But I want to control what update I get and when I get it. I want to manage the process and know that it is has been upgraded. I'm sure ASUS does not know when a service disruption is okay for my environment.

You do have a choice. Use Merlin...

 

[Tech9]

Use Merlin...

Funny coincidence, New Posts view:

Obviously some users are interested in Auto Firmware Upgrade even on Asuswrt-Merlin.

 

[sfx2000]

All manufacturers market Pro now with different meaning. Like all marketed Mesh for repeaters. Consumer market tolerates false advertising.

I wouldn't go there to be honest - Asus marketing ain't going to go for that either...

 

[sfx2000]

I think some folks are missing a point about forced updates and unmanaged devices...

In managed devices - the code is signed, as is the bootloader - since this needs certificates to validate the source and the code signatures, this is fairly safe.

I know - I do this all the time on my product, as we have a chain of trust that goes well beyond just checking an MD5/SHA hash...

AsusWRT is not at this level... if it was, there would be no AsusWRT-RMerlin, so third party scripting, etc...

Simply put -- If Asus can force push an update to your router - so can anyone else - think about that one.

 

[tgl]

In this community it's seen as a problem. In general - not a bad thing, but quality control must be improved.

Yeah, that. I'd be okay with auto-update if there weren't such a high probability of the updated version being actively worse. If ASUS want to do this, they must get their QC act together. "We'll replace any routers we brick" is not the answer; people who have been through that once or twice will stop buying ASUS.

 

[Tech9]

Simply put -- If Asus can force push an update to your router - so can anyone else - think about that one.

It will most likely happen this way as it already happened before:

Asus software updates were used to spread malware, security group says

The malware was disguised as a “critical” software update.

www.theverge.com

Just tell me GL.iNet GL-MT2500A won't auto update, please. Promise? I'm carrying this thing about 6300km away this summer.

 

[sfx2000]

Just tell me GL.iNet GL-MT2500A won't auto update, please. Promise? I'm carrying this thing about 6300km away this summer.

I don't think there is a concern there...

Let's keep the thread focused on AsusWRT

 

[Tech9]

I don't think there is a concern there...

Thank you.

Let's keep the thread focused on AsusWRT

Agree, but auto upgrade is a concern not only with Asus home routers. I mean quality control.

 

[RMerlin]

If Asus can force push an update to your router - so can anyone else -

Automated updates are RSA-signed. So no, not anyone else can.

 

[ATLga]

Is @Tech9 in timeout, haven’t seen him at all today.

 

[thiggins]

@L&LD I thought you were ignoring @Tech9 posts. Regardless, your comments were unwarranted and I've deleted them. One more and you'll get a timeout.

 

[ATLga]

In this community it's seen as a problem. In general - not a bad thing, but quality control must be improved. For negative effect examples of early auto upgrade implementation see Google Nest and Amazon eero feedback. Or recent ASD update on Asus routers. I personally believe it will become mandatory industry wide for all manufacturers.

The point of this thread is to clear the doubts and save further questions if Asus routers can auto upgrade with Auto Firmware Upgrade set to OFF. We had examples of this happening in the past, now we have confirmation from Asus this is a real possibility. This actually started in 2020 with RT-AC86U found auto upgrading even before Auto Firmware Upgrade option was made available in settings.



Yes. The number of supported models is limited though.

Or recent ASD update on Asus routers.

Regarding auto firmware updates, Merlin does not do this as stated in the other thread. Is ASD update another thing that @RMerlin does not do auto as well?