Freezing AC68U with Merlin

[fastson]

Greetings SNB.

I have been having issues with my Asus AC68U. I have been running Merlins firmware from more or less the beginning, starting with 380.57 and since yesterday 380.58.

However, I have been experiencing some lockup or freezing of the router. The internet connection just dies, and so does the network. I cant ping the router or anything. The only way to get it back is to do a reboot (via cutting the power).

Sometimes it goes on for days without problems, but today it happened less than 24 hours from when I flashed 380.58 onto the router.

WiFi devices keep the connection alive, but they receive no traffic, also once I disconnect the wifi device and try to reconnect it cant reestablish any connection.

[LOG in my 2nd reply]

 

[fastson]

Here is the log from the latest crash. (AiProtection thing is probably triggered by a torrent client on one of the PCs.). The crash occurred at about 17:05 or so, I just noticed something.. The dates? The dates are wrong, unless it has stopped logging. 23rd is obviously correct, but the time is off with 1 hour. But what says Mar 21 should be Mar 23?

Mar 21 12:24:29 alert mail: AiProtection send mail
Mar 21 12:26:10 alert mail: AiProtection send mail
Mar 21 12:44:51 alert mail: AiProtection send mail
Mar 21 12:46:32 alert mail: AiProtection send mail
Mar 21 12:48:42 alert mail: AiProtection send mail
Mar 21 12:53:38 miniupnpd[970]: upnp_event_process_notify: connect(192.168.1.200:2869): Connection timed out
Mar 21 12:54:53 alert mail: AiProtection send mail
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: klogd started: BusyBox v1.20.2 (2016-03-20 15:52:21 EDT)
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Linux version 2.6.36.4brcmarm (merlin@mint-dev) (gcc version 4.5.3 (Buildroot 2012.02) ) #2 SMP PREEMPT Sun Mar 20 16:06:18 EDT 2016
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: CPU: ARMv7 Processor [413fc090] revision 0 (ARMv7), cr=10c53c7f
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: CPU: VIPT nonaliasing data cache, VIPT nonaliasing instruction cache
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Machine: Northstar Prototype
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Ignoring unrecognised tag 0x00000000
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Memory policy: ECC disabled, Data cache writealloc
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 60416
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Kernel command line: root=/dev/mtdblock2 console=ttyS0,115200 init=/sbin/preinit earlyprintk debug
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Memory: 255504k/255504k available, 6640k reserved, 0K highmem
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Virtual kernel memory layout:
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel:     vector  : 0xffff0000 - 0xffff1000   (   4 kB)
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel:     fixmap  : 0xfff00000 - 0xfffe0000   ( 896 kB)
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel:     DMA     : 0xf7e00000 - 0xffe00000   ( 128 MB)
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel:     vmalloc : 0xd0800000 - 0xf0000000   ( 504 MB)
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel:     lowmem  : 0xc0000000 - 0xd0000000   ( 256 MB)
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel:     modules : 0xbf000000 - 0xc0000000   (  16 MB)
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel:       .init : 0xc0008000 - 0xc003d000   ( 212 kB)
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel:       .text : 0xc003d000 - 0xc03a5000   (3488 kB)
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel:       .data : 0xc03bc000 - 0xc03df0e0   ( 141 kB)
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: * Invalid signature of oopsbuf: FF-FF-FD-BF-FF-FF-FF-FF (len 4294967295)
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: External imprecise Data abort at addr=0x0, fsr=0x1c06 ignored.
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Mount-cache hash table entries: 512
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: CPU1: Booted secondary processor
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Found a AMD NAND flash:
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Total size:  128MB
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Block size:  128KB
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Page Size:   2048B
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: OOB Size:    64B
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Sector size: 512B
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Spare size:  16B
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: ECC level:   8 (8-bit)
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: Device ID: 0x 1 0xf1 0x80 0x1d 0x 1 0xf1
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: bio: create slab <bio-0> at 0
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: PCI: no core
Aug  1 02:00:14 kernel: PCI: no core
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: PCI: Fixing up bus 0
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: PCI: Fixing up bus 0
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: PCI: Fixing up bus 1
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: PCI: Fixing up bus 0
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: PCI: Fixing up bus 2
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.5.2
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: Dquot-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: pflash: found no supported devices
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: bcmsflash: found no supported devices
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: Boot partition size = 524288(0x80000)
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: lookup_nflash_rootfs_offset: offset = 0x200000
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: nflash: squash filesystem with lzma found at block 28
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: Creating 4 MTD partitions on "nflash":
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: 0x000000000000-0x000000080000 : "boot"
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: 0x000000080000-0x000000200000 : "nvram"
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: 0x000000200000-0x000004000000 : "linux"
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: 0x00000039aec0-0x000004000000 : "rootfs"
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: Registering the dns_resolver key type
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: Spare area=64 eccbytes 56, ecc bytes located at:
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel:  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: Available 7 bytes at (off,len):
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: (1,1) (16,2) (32,2) (48,2) (0,0) (0,0) (0,0) (0,0)
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: Options: NO_AUTOINCR,NO_READRDY,BBT_SCAN2NDPAGE,
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: Creating 2 MTD partitions on "brcmnand":
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: 0x000004000000-0x000007ec0000 : "brcmnand"
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: 0x000007ec0000-0x000008000000 : "asus"
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: VFS: Mounted root (squashfs filesystem) readonly on device 31:3.
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: ctf: module license 'Proprietary' taints kernel.
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: et_module_init: passivemode set to 0x0
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: et_module_init: txworkq set to 0x0
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: et_module_init: et_txq_thresh set to 0xce4
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: eth0: Broadcom BCM47XX 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet Controller 6.37.14.126 (r561982)
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: wl_module_init: passivemode set to 0x0
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: wl_module_init: igs set to 0x0
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: wl_module_init: txworkq set to 0x0
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: eth1: Broadcom BCM4360 802.11 Wireless Controller 6.37.14.105 (r485445)
Aug  1 02:00:15 kernel: eth2: Broadcom BCM4360 802.11 Wireless Controller 6.37.14.105 (r485445)
Aug  1 02:00:16 stop_nat_rules: apply the redirect_rules!
Aug  1 02:00:16 WAN Connection: ISP's DHCP did not function properly.
Aug  1 02:00:24 dnsmasq[432]: warning: interface ppp1* does not currently exist
Aug  1 02:00:24 httpd: start httpd
Aug  1 02:00:25 disk monitor: be idle
Aug  1 02:00:25 kernel: gro enabled with interval 2
Aug  1 02:00:27 Samba Server: daemon is started
Aug  1 02:00:28 syslog: module ledtrig-usbdev not found in modules.dep
Aug  1 02:00:28 syslog: module leds-usb not found in modules.dep
Aug  1 02:00:28 kernel: SCSI subsystem initialized
Aug  1 02:00:28 kernel: csw_retry 100
Aug  1 02:00:29 kernel: xhci_hcd 0000:00:0c.0: Failed to enable MSI-X
Aug  1 02:00:29 kernel: xhci_hcd 0000:00:0c.0: failed to allocate MSI entry
Aug  1 02:00:29 kernel: usb usb1: No SuperSpeed endpoint companion for config 1  interface 0 altsetting 0 ep 129: using minimum values
Aug  1 02:00:35 rc_service: udhcpc 621:notify_rc start_firewall
Aug  1 02:00:36 start_nat_rules: apply the nat_rules(/tmp/nat_rules_eth0_eth0)!
Aug  1 02:00:36 wan: finish adding multi routes
Aug  1 02:00:36 rc_service: udhcpc 621:notify_rc stop_upnp
Aug  1 02:00:36 rc_service: waitting "start_firewall" via udhcpc ...
Aug  1 02:00:37 kernel: nf_conntrack_rtsp v0.6.21 loading
Aug  1 02:00:37 kernel: nf_nat_rtsp v0.6.21 loading
Aug  1 02:00:37 rc_service: udhcpc 621:notify_rc start_upnp
Aug  1 02:00:37 rc_service: waitting "stop_upnp" via udhcpc ...
Aug  1 02:00:38 custom script: Running /jffs/scripts/ddns-start (args: 90.231.18.205)
Aug  1 02:00:39 miniupnpd[672]: HTTP listening on port 56092
Aug  1 02:00:39 miniupnpd[672]: Listening for NAT-PMP/PCP traffic on port 5351
Aug  1 02:00:41 WAN Connection: WAN was restored.
Aug  1 02:00:41 fastson: ddns status: nochg
Aug  1 02:00:41 ddns: Completed custom ddns update
Aug  1 02:00:41 ntp: start NTP update
Aug  1 02:00:41 rc_service: udhcpc 621:notify_rc start_vpnserver1
Mar 23 17:14:24 rc_service: ntp 677:notify_rc restart_upnp
Mar 23 17:14:24 rc_service: waitting "start_vpnserver1" via udhcpc ...

So, could this be a hardware issue? What to do?

 

[RMerlin]

You seem to be sending a lot of AiProtection notification emails. Is it possible you have an infected device on your network causing issues? What are these notifications telling you?

 

[fastson]

You seem to be sending a lot of AiProtection notification emails. Is it possible you have an infected device on your network causing issues? What are these notifications telling you?

Hi Merlin

It is all coming from the same PC. The PC I use as a torrent station. It seems to be blocking the traffic from the torrent client, I can post one of the logs.

I have scanned that Pc multiple times with Malwarebytes and Avast and they havent found any infections thus far. So I dont think it is infected.

2016-03-23 17:46:01 F4:6D:04:0D:5D:51 connects to a suspicious server 124.6.181.66 ,the connection has been interrupted.
2016-03-23 17:46:01 F4:6D:04:0D:5D:51 connects to a suspicious server 124.6.181.66 ,the connection has been interrupted.

 

[fastson]

Maybe I should try "downgrading" to the latest ASUS firmware 3.0.0.4.380.1842 and redo all the settings? So I can rule out a hardware issue at least?

What sucks is that I use JFFS for a script (Loopia) so I can update my DNS for use with OpenVPN.

 

[RMerlin]

Try just disabling AiProtection for a few hours to see if it helps.

 

[fastson]

Try just disabling AiProtection for a few hours to see if it helps.

Sure, I will try it. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[agilani]

I've been having the same issues with my rt-ac68p since 380.57 as well. The wifi and wired ports on the router become unresponsive and the only way to recover is power cycle.

The problems go away when I reverted back to 378.56_2

 

[Elrar]

Having the same issue with my new RT-68AC
I bought my router 3 weeks ago
On first install the router started direct an update from asus it self.
Don't know which release this was. I did make al my settings in this Asus firmware.
Then I saw this firmware from Merlin and I installed the version 380.57
After a few day the router just froze out of nothing. Did a reset to Factory default and did redo al my settings.
Router was running perfect for a few days without freezing (4days)
Then the firmware 380.58 was release so I install it on top of 380.57
With this firmware 380.58 the router will directly freeze if I do an upload test.
After this I did another reset and restored my settings from 380.57 with "
User NVRAM Save/Restore Utility (R22)" and select clear install.
The problem was still there.
Did another factory reset and just set al my setting manual.
Still no luck the router was freezing by every upload test.
I even did return my router to the shop to replace it but on the new router the problem was still there.

Now I'm running Merlin fork 374.43_2-17E5j9527 which run fantastic.

My upload and download speed is 500mbs

If you want I can send my backup file which are made in 380.57 which
User NVRAM Save/Restore Utility (R22)

Sorry I don't have any logs any more

 

[fastson]

I've been having the same issues with my rt-ac68p since 380.57 as well. The wifi and wired ports on the router become unresponsive and the only way to recover is power cycle.

The problems go away when I reverted back to 378.56_2

Thanks for the suggestion, I will try that next if my current test doesn't work out (disabled AiProtection + did a factory reset yesterday).

 

[mystical]

I am experiencing a lockup problem at 3 different sites, all running 380.58 on AC-68Us. During lockup, wired ethernet traffic continues to flow through the 68U but there is no ping response from the 68U cpu. All ASUS are set to reboot one per week, but lockup has occurred to two different routers less than 48 hours after a reboot. The three routers are interconnected via OpenVPN sessions and I have enabled the Traffic Analyzer - Statistic feature, but no other extra services are in use.

These routers are shared by 10+ people and the OpenVPN features are essential to my remote monitoring and maintenance of the system, so I have installed a web powerstrip with an autoping feature to address the problem by automatically power cycle the ASUS when it stops responding to pings.

Although I have found a work-around, I would be pleased to experiment or add monitoring features to my systems which could help diagnose this problem.

 

[gpb500]

Thanks for the suggestion, I will try that next if my current test doesn't work out (disabled AiProtection + did a factory reset yesterday).

You're doing better than I am, was getting ready to move from 56_2 to 60 alpha and attempted a factory reset via the interface and my 68U bricked. It's now on its way back from Asus RMA facility (looks like they're sending a replacement). Probably a fluke, but never expected that.