[Fork] Asuswrt-Merlin 374.43 LTS releases (Archive)

[john9527]

is there a way to support the PPPoE hardware acceleration with your current/future firmware build on asus RT-AC68U router?

PPPoE acceleration is already supported. You may want to try the development builds I posted earlier as they contain some kernel changes in the PPP support.

 

[badboyme]

PPPoE acceleration is already supported. You may want to try the development builds I posted earlier as they contain some kernel changes in the PPP support.

Ok John9527!
Can you write me if your last firmware (V29E2) include this PPPoE Hardware acceleration feature?
Do you know if merlin firmware supports the same PPPoE HW Acceleration feature?
I'll test your last build as soon as I can and I'll report to you.

PS 1: What is the Wireless driver version present in your last release (V29E2)?
PS 2: Is it the same wireless driver version of last Merlin Firmware?
PS 3: What is the difference between 374.43_29D4j9527 and 374.43_29E2j9527 ??

Thank you again, John9527!

 

[thelonelycoder]

I have two beasts of routers according to @UpgradeMatrix.txt:
N16, N66, AC666
They are, but in a different sense.

 

[jojo_whit3]

If I only use my router in AP mode (meaning it's not affected by KRACK), are there any advantages of using the 'E' build over the legacy 'L' build? Like is there additional logic in the KRACK fixes to mitigate exploits against un-patched clients connecting to the network?

 

[conquer22]

Dear @john9527,
Thank you so much for your firmware. I have noticed some strange thing happen from your recent firmware(including V29D4). I wanted to make sure everything went well so I'd done factory default upon flashed.
1. default landing network map page I noticed vertical lines on both of the Internet status: and Security level: ... not sure if it's like paragraph line or what
2. Traffic Manager - QoS Page. when I tried to swtich tab, it prompt "fields can not be blank"... took sometime for me to figure out I didn't insert the upload and download speed.... two things happened
2.1 when switch was default off and insert the upload and download speed >>>click save<<...... the router was updating like few seconds 20%-40%-60%-80%-100%. may be 10 seconds
2.2 but if when switch was default off and insert the upload and download speed >>I back switch QOS ON<<<...... the router was updating like it's rebooting the router from 1%-2%-3%-4%-100%
both of 2.1 or 2.2 outcome just didn't display the QOS switch to ON but that I had to browse other page and get back to Traffic Manager page again.
quick question what number to use DSL/ATM Overhead Value? and how to test? I am on 50Mbps fiber line bridged-mode modem and have the ac68u linked as router as PPPoE dial up connection.
Thank you again.

 

[john9527]

1. default landing network map page I noticed vertical lines on both of the Internet status: and Security level: ... not sure if it's like paragraph line or what

Can't recreate any problem on IE11, Firefox and Chrome. Try clearing your browser cache.

2. Traffic Manager - QoS Page. when I tried to swtich tab, it prompt "fields can not be blank"... took sometime for me to figure out I didn't insert the upload and download speed.... two things happened

Again, can't recreate. You'll only get the can't be zero message message if you hit save or change the Qos state without filling in the values.

2.1 when switch was default off and insert the upload and download speed >>>click save<<...... the router was updating like few seconds. may be 10 seconds

Correct...if QoS is off, it's just an nvram update. It's also short if you change values with Qos already on, in that case it's an nvram update and QoS restart.

2.2 but if when switch was default off and insert the upload and download speed >>I back switch QOS ON<<<...... the router was updating like it's rebooting the router from 0%-100%

Correct, if you change the QoS state (off to on or on to off) it requires a router reboot to verify/set the correct CTF state.
If you Suspend/Save, it will just turn off QoS without a reboot, but it also won't restart CTF.

both of 2.1 or 2.2 outcome just didn't display the QOS switch to ON but that I had to browse other page and get back to Traffic Manager page again.

Save doesn't change the QoS state. Hitting the On/Off slider will cause an immediate state change and router reboot. Always results in correct status for me.

quick question what number to use DSL/ATM Overhead Value? and how to test? I am on 50Mbps fiber line bridged-mode modem and have the ac68u linked as router as PPPoE dial up connection.

Depends on your ISP and how you are connected (is it the router or modem doing the PPPoE auth). In any event, from what I have read, it's not a big hitter....only a couple of percent potential improvement so you may not even be able to reliably measure a change.

 

[john9527]

Can you write me if your last firmware (V29E2) include this PPPoE Hardware acceleration feature?

Yes, but all of the CTF functions are a 'dance' between the CTF code and parts of the kernel. V29E2 doesn't have all of the latest kernel updates.

Do you know if merlin firmware supports the same PPPoE HW Acceleration feature?

Yes....the 29D4 synces the kernel portion of CTF with the latest Merlin

PS 1: What is the Wireless driver version present in your last release (V29E2)?

It's identified by the build date of Nov 29

PS 2: Is it the same wireless driver version of last Merlin Firmware?

Same as the 382 alpha builds....it's later than the 380 builds which doesn't include the KRACK fix for the AC68.

PS 3: What is the difference between 374.43_29D4j9527 and 374.43_29E2j9527 ??

Kernel updates including netfilter, conntrack, ctf and iptables for both MIPS and ARM.

 

[john9527]

If I only use my router in AP mode (meaning it's not affected by KRACK), are there any advantages of using the 'E' build over the legacy 'L' build? Like is there additional logic in the KRACK fixes to mitigate exploits against un-patched clients connecting to the network?

Nothing in the KRACK updates 'helps' with unpatched clients that I know of.
If you are running in AP mode, probably no significant difference between 'L' and 'E' versions. Although at some point, I expect that the 'L' version won't be able to get all the updates that the 'E' version does.

 

[maurer]

only QCA (Atheros) based routers could mitigate security issues of unpatched clients
https://git.lede-project.org/?p=source.git;a=commit;h=c5f97c9372da3229350184fb263c97d9ea8944c5

 

[john9527]

only QCA (Atheros) based routers could mitigate security issues of unpatched clients
https://git.lede-project.org/?p=source.git;a=commit;h=c5f97c9372da3229350184fb263c97d9ea8944c5

Not without potential drawbacks.....

Unfortunately this can cause interoperability issues and reduced
robustness of key negotiation, so disable the workaround by default, and
add an option to allow the user to enable it if he deems necessary.

 

[kannanni]

Hi there,

I’m having an issue with a Samsung smart tv wirelessly connected to my ac68u running latest fork from this thread. Above warning keeps popping up randomly on the syslog:
Dec 25 17:08:08 miniupnpd[1274]: HTTP Connection from 192.168.x.xxx closed unexpectedly
Dec 25 17:12:38 miniupnpd[1274]: HTTP Connection from 192.168.x.xxx closed unexpectedly. Looks like the tv or a tv app possibly YouTube is using giraffic udp upnp to connect to google in Cali.
If I turn off upnp from the router the error goes away. Everything still works fine with upnp off so I’m wondering if I should just leave upnp off and get done with this?

Tv and it’s apps is operating ok and I did factory reset tv and router, but can’t get rid of the message.
How do I hide this from syslog? I’m tired of messing around..

Cheers,
Kannanni

 

[Markmaster]

I am here again with my problems. I am on Firmware:374.43_2-29L2j9527 now. I try to reset the router to the factory defaults, try the clean Wi-Fi settings (BTW, with a utility I used backup all except Wi-Fi preferences, so I am sure about them), and that I have to mention: the first time after reset and setup all was ok. In front of router network copy speed was 35-40 MB/sec to my home NAS, and if I move around the house is falling into 25-20 MB/sec. This is ok for me. But now, after two days, I try to move some new files on the router and speed is 7-9 MB/sec, no matter if I am in front of the router or I am on my working place. Here are my 5GHz settings. Can you please help me with them, maybe, to gain what exactly going on in my network with speed?

 

[jojo_whit3]

Nothing in the KRACK updates 'helps' with unpatched clients that I know of.
If you are running in AP mode, probably no significant difference between 'L' and 'E' versions. Although at some point, I expect that the 'L' version won't be able to get all the updates that the 'E' version does.

only QCA (Atheros) based routers could mitigate security issues of unpatched clients
https://git.lede-project.org/?p=source.git;a=commit;h=c5f97c9372da3229350184fb263c97d9ea8944c5

Not without potential drawbacks.....

Yeah, it's still a bummer that Broadcom won't expose a similar work around option (drawback of proprietary SW I guess). I have several older client devices that function perfectly fine, but will never see SW update because they're 3-4 years old. Plus I live in an apartment complex, so without any workaround, it's an ideal environment for someone to do something malicious.

Thanks for the response

 

[Chiny91]

Having shifted my computer to its winter position I found myself needing a stronger wireless signal. I exhumed an old RT-N16, flashed it with 374.43_2-29L2j9527 and with zero problems, have a decent connection again. I was expecting at least some gremlins, having flashed over easyTomato.

I guess I'll have to read through some of this monstrously long thread to see what's what, like whether Krack is fixed and so on. For now, thanks very much for this LTS, which keeps my old router useful despite sliding into obsolescence.

 

[Syntax Err0r]

Hey all, new to this particular fork, but willing to give it a try. Recently, WiFi on my N66U has been...less than perfect, and I am having trouble really tracking it down. Currently running Merlin 380.69. Has a 32GB mSD card installed, but I have literally never used it (never wrapped my head around Ent/Optware)

So the general process is:

• Use the NVRAM save app, save config
• NVRAM reset
  flash the latest for my router (29E2 (or L2?) at present)
• restore NVRAM afterwards

I might miss the ability to name some of the devices in the GUI, but that's not a big deal; I've had to track stuff via MAC address before.

Also, maybe of note, I have noticed some people are talking about the bootloader/CFE of their devices, would that maybe affect wireless performance? Mine is 1.0.1.4, and I don't know how or when I should look for an upgrade?

Thanks for all the hard work!

 

[badboyme]

PPPoE acceleration is already supported. You may want to try the development builds I posted earlier as they contain some kernel changes in the PPP support.

Hello John9527!
I tried your 374.43_29D4j9527 Firmware, but nothing change about wan speed.
The RT-AC68U always reaches max 800Mbps WAN Speed.
At this point I think that the speed limitation is caused by PPPoE of RT-AC68U.
I would to know if the new RT-AC86U has the same limitation on wan speed or it can reaches 940Mbps with PPPoE enabled.
Is there anybody that can test this thing on RT-AC86U?

Thank you all in advance.
Regards,
Filippo.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Also, maybe of note, I have noticed some people are talking about the bootloader/CFE of their devices, would that maybe affect wireless performance? Mine is 1.0.1.4, and I don't know how or when I should look for an upgrade?

Don't mess with the CFE it's not a user-upgradable component. It won't solve your problem and you'll risk bricking your router.

 

[st3v3n]

John, a thank you for all the work and time you've devoted to this fork, to make these older routers function above and beyond. Good luck, best wishes for a good 2018.

 

[Waylo]

Don't mess with the CFE it's not a user-upgradable component. It won't solve your problem and you'll risk bricking your router.

I disagree with this. Changing CFE is important in specific situations. Not all of course.

Specifically, in the T-Mobile branded AC68U (AC-1900), it is required to change to an Asus CFE to convert it to a full-fledged AC68U. And to allow the T-Mobile firmware to flash older firmwares and Merlin/John builds.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I disagree with this. Changing CFE is important in specific situations. Not all of course.

My answer was given in response to his specific problem: "Recently, WiFi on my N66U has been...less than perfect, and I am having trouble really tracking it down."