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

[dave14305]

Just a warning to anyone trying johns latest development build on the n66u, it broke my internet via ethernet and wifi, had to restore it back to e3 build.

I reverted back to Merlin on my AC68U because I was having issues on reboot with my Entware USB plugged in. Router wouldn't come up with the USB stick plugged in. Probably due to my experiments with Unbound as a DNS server and not the 40E6 build, but since I couldn't get a syslog to troubleshoot I went back to "safe harbor" of Merlin until John decides if he's going to make a formal public release again.

To reiterate, the intention of my original post was to reassure the community that John is still out there and hopefully doing well.

 

[Max-H]

I have a WD My passport external HD and a Cannon printer connected to the AC68U USB ports. No problem at all. So it's not per definition the combination of 40E6 and the AC68U.

 

[Marsi4eg]

john9527
You could've heard about wireless driver incompatibility problem on N66/AC66U models with some Android devices on 8.0 or higher. There is a topic with a lot of info about this: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/a...hen-android-phone-connects-to-its-wifi.48421/

The main article is that official Asus support ignores the problem and answers like "We got wireless driver from Broadcom as is and all we can is to report them" but this more than a year ago.
There are no any official (or based on official like Merlin/HGG, etc.) firmware that doesn't have this bug. Even the very first factory firmware has it.

Later I discovered that flashing Advanced Tomato completely solves the problem with those crashes. Advanced Tomato is pretty cool, but it's not so user-friendly as AsusWRT and I still can't get use to it, despite almost all things I need exist.
Also I was disappointed because of the lack of proper IGMP Snooping (iptv multicast goes to all ports like it was in ancient AsusWRT builds), lack of OpenVPN client policy rules, etc.

RMerlin has ended support for these two models so your fork is the last hope. Is it possible to you to investigate this and maybe try to make a build with wireless driver that is used in latest Advanced Tomato?

 

[oso2276]

RMerlin has ended support for these two models so your fork is the last hope. Is it possible to you to investigate this and maybe try to make a build with wireless driver that is used in latest Advanced Tomato?

That firmware was built almost 2 years ago => 17.11.2017
Did you try the version of John's firmware that has the older driver?
Check first post for more details on both firmware types

Sent from my Moto Z3 Play using Tapatalk

 

[Gar]

Just a warning to anyone trying johns latest development build on the n66u, it broke my internet via ethernet and wifi, had to restore it back to e3 build.

I ended up with DoT disabled to make this build work.

 

[Marsi4eg]

Did you try the version of John's firmware that has the older driver?

Unfortunatly I don't clearly remember what build did I try, was it E or L, but I 100% tried this fork year ago. But as I've said, Asus support also sent me the very first official firmware for AC66U to test (3.0.0.4_366, built on 24th April 2013) and there was also that crash. Description of 'L' builds of john's fork says that the driver from 2014 is used there, but it could be the same. Dunno if I need to re-test it again.

Maybe I should better wait until john9527 says something about this...

 

[Grisu]

Unfortunatly I don't clearly remember what build did I try, was it E or L, but I 100% tried this fork year ago. But as I've said, Asus support also sent me the very first official firmware for AC66U to test (3.0.0.4_366, built on 24th April 2013) and there was also that crash. Description of 'L' builds of john's fork says that the driver from 2014 is used there, but it could be the same. Dunno if I need to re-test it again.

Maybe I should better wait until john9527 says something about this...

with all John's "L" (legacy = old WiFi driver) it should be ok.

 

[Marsi4eg]

I've found downloaded and unpacked 33E7 and 33L7 builds on my PC, dated 19 Aug 2018. That means I've tested both last year with no luck. But I still can't clearly remember, so I'll test 39L3 now

Edit:
I've tried 39L3 (of course with complete nvram erase, after Tomato it's necessary) and it still crashes after some reconnects to Wifi, so it confirms that my previous tests were not lucky

 

[slobodan]

I ended up with DoT disabled to make this build work.

Yup, I had this problem since long ago, because the router seems to need DNS resolving before it is able to properly start Entware and DoT. I solved it this way: flashed OpenWRT to an old RT-N16, which has become my DNS server (running stubby). Both my routers are behind the modem/router from my internet provider.

 

[PringoBo]

john9527
You could've heard about wireless driver incompatibility problem on N66/AC66U models with some Android devices on 8.0 or higher. There is a topic with a lot of info about this: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/a...hen-android-phone-connects-to-its-wifi.48421/

fyi if you disable Hardware Acceleration in john's firmware it fixes the Android crashing

 

[oso2276]

fyi if you disable Hardware Acceleration in john's firmware it fixes the Android crashing

Awesome. Something to remember [emoji106]

Sent from my Moto Z3 Play using Tapatalk

 

[mark76]

fyi if you disable Hardware Acceleration in john's firmware it fixes the Android crashing

Thanks for suggestion. I will try this on my AC66U with 39E3. As I understand this function is called "NAT Acceleration" on the LAN > Switch Control tab. I wonder what it changes and how it impacts the performance of router.

UPDATE: Already found the answers to my questions about "NAT Acceleration" here: https://routerguide.net/nat-acceleration-on-or-off/

 

[d0g]

Sorry for the noob question ...

My 68U is on Merlin 384.13 and I want to try John's fork to see if it improves repeater mode (and maybe even allows me to use repeater over 5g) but when I go into CFE Mini-Web Server and try to flash RT-AC68U_374.43_39E3j9527.trx I get "The file transferred is not a valid firmware image."

I also tried flashing FW_RT_AC68U_30043763626.trx but same error.

Trying through ASUS Firmware Restoration Tool just says "Cannot connect to router."

Is something wrong with my firmware/bootloader? Do I need to downgrade to <380 before flashing John's?

 

[Marsi4eg]

fyi if you disable Hardware Acceleration in john's firmware it fixes the Android crashing

Did you experience exactly the same as I described? I tried a million steps to make it no crash on different firmwares, including disabling hw NAT acceleration, but kernel log is saying the problem is wireless driver crashing, nothing related to hardware NAT acceleration. And the only firmware that still stable and doesn't crash is "Advanced Tomato"

But well, I still didn't try to disable hw acceleration on john's fork (L build), I'm tired of reflashings through restoration utility, making resets etc, just to have 2 minute test and face the same. So please, if you had exactly the same problem and it was really fixed by disabling hw acceleration exactly in john's fork (while it doesn't fix this in official and Merlin's) - just let me know.

 

[dave14305]

New dev build 40E8 posted.

 

[a5m]

Sorry for the noob question ...

My 68U is on Merlin 384.13 and I want to try John's fork to see if it improves repeater mode (and maybe even allows me to use repeater over 5g) but when I go into CFE Mini-Web Server and try to flash RT-AC68U_374.43_39E3j9527.trx I get "The file transferred is not a valid firmware image."

I also tried flashing FW_RT_AC68U_30043763626.trx but same error.

Trying through ASUS Firmware Restoration Tool just says "Cannot connect to router."

Is something wrong with my firmware/bootloader? Do I need to downgrade to <380 before flashing John's?

IIRC you have to put the router in Recovery Mode when using the ASUS Firmware Restoration Tool to flash from Merlin to John's Fork.

Hold the Reset Button while powering on and wait until the Power LED flashes slowly. Give it a minute though before using the Tool otherwise you'll get an error.

 

[acale75]

New dev build 40E8 posted.

Do you have a link to this build?

 

[dave14305]

Do you have a link to this build?

See John's link in this post (same directory, different build):
[Fork] Asuswrt-Merlin 374.43 LTS releases (V39E3)

 

[PringoBo]

Did you experience exactly the same as I described? I tried a million steps to make it no crash on different firmwares, including disabling hw NAT acceleration, but kernel log is saying the problem is wireless driver crashing, nothing related to hardware NAT acceleration. And the only firmware that still stable and doesn't crash is "Advanced Tomato"

But well, I still didn't try to disable hw acceleration on john's fork (L build), I'm tired of reflashings through restoration utility, making resets etc, just to have 2 minute test and face the same. So please, if you had exactly the same problem and it was really fixed by disabling hw acceleration exactly in john's fork (while it doesn't fix this in official and Merlin's) - just let me know.

all i know is we brought in two google phones running Oreo/Pie and the RTN66U was crashing each time they woke up and connected to wifi. tried every setting on the phone (private dns, ipv6) etc. rerouted logs to usb on the router so i would have them after it rebooted and did a bunch of other debug scripting.

swedish android forums said disabling hardware/nat acceleration fixed it for them. I went from constant reboots beginning the *day* we got the phones to completely stable for months now without any performance issues for anything else on the network.

it all has to do with android flooding requests to find google devices and not caring if it chokes the life out of the router hardware. newer android phones wake up, connect to wifi, and scream ANY GOOGLE DEVICES HERE ANY CHROMECASTS OR ANYTHING HELLO and the RT-N66U with NAT/Hardware acceleration on does a kernel panic.

hopefully it works for you; I can vouch it was the fix here and it seems like it worked for others.

EDIT: I am running 3.0.0.4.374.43_39E3j9527 for reference

 

[Wisiwyg]

PS... John's Development folder is showing a V40E8 update...from yesterday.

Hope this indicates John is doing well.