Most stable build currently for RT-AC86U?

[TechLobo]

As per the title.

I've been looking through the forums a fair amount today to see what version to upgrade to as there a lot of comments indicating various issues that people have been experiencing following upgrade (and I do appreciate the struggles that RMerlin has been dealing with!).

My router is currently on 384.13, and I'm looking for a reliable post 384.15 build as I want to have a look at the Add-on GUI pages.

I'm not worried about being on the absolute latest (security concerns aside), so which build do people think is the most stable?

Advice please.

Many thanks.

 

[Smokey613]

I am running 384.19 without issues but I run only minimal scripts. I guess if you are concerned about stability then maybe 384.18 would work for you.

 

[DAVID LONG]

384.19 is stable for me, with Skynet and Diversion the only scripts running and AI Protection turned off.

 

[JT Strickland]

Mine is stable as well, although I had a couple of initial hiccups due to a change by asus, but smooth sailing now.
Might as well get the greatest and latest, and be ready to jump the next hurdle now instead of a bunch of them later.

 

[Centrifuge]

384.18 has been totally stable for me.

 

[TechLobo]

Thanks for the recommendations guys - based on the above I think that I will go with 384.18 initially and see how well it runs.

 

[L&LD]

The 384.19_0 release is the most stable. It also prepares you for the upcoming 386.xx releases too.

 

[JohnD5000]

384.19 has been the most stable for me. Note: I highly recommend a clean install (i.e. not from saved files but everything typed in after a factory refresh. I was having some issues but they all went away after I spent the time doing this (take screen shots of everything before you start of your current setup).

 

[gattaca]

^^^^ BLUF: ASUS router owners need to know that ASUS's hard factory reset procedure differs by model.

++ Perform the CORRECT HARD FACTORY RESET for your router per ASUS's web pages -> https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1039074

You can follow the 384.19 saga in the other thread. And yes, the only reason I'm still working on getting to a stable 384.19 is b/c to move forward with 386.xx, those JFFS changes are going to have to happen at some point. Right now I'm 5 days up on 384.19 + AC86U with some of the J* scripts running - since using the correct factory reset.

@L&LD I'm suggesting kindly that you add ASUS's official hard factory reset router page link to your most excellent guides. I'm not suggesting you incorporate all the steps but simply state follow ASUS's factory reset guide per router model -> https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1039074

Why? Because your guides represent years of experience with ASUS routers and are highly referenced as "authoritative sources" for recovering ASUS routers by the large, supportive Merlin community.

I did not know ASUS's hard factory reset guide differed for the AC86U (and a few others) until about a week ago.
Many router owners will not bother reading more than what is contained in your guide. I am guilty as charged. Stay safe, stay alive. Peace.

 

[jsbeddow]

^^^^ BLUF: ASUS router owners need to know that ASUS's hard factory reset procedure differs by model.

++ Perform the CORRECT HARD FACTORY RESET for your router per ASUS's web pages -> https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1039074

You can follow the 384.19 saga in the other thread. And yes, the only reason I'm still working on getting to a stable 384.19 is b/c to move forward with 386.xx, those JFFS changes are going to have to happen at some point. Right now I'm 5 days up on 384.19 + AC86U with some of the J* scripts running - since using the correct factory reset.

@L&LD I'm suggesting kindly that you add ASUS's official hard factory reset router page link to your most excellent guides. I'm not suggesting you incorporate all the steps but simply state follow ASUS' factory reset guide per router model -> https://www.asus.com/us/support/FAQ/1039074

Why? Because your guides represent years of experience with ASUS routers and are highly referenced as "authoritative sources" for recovering ASUS routers by the large, supportive Merlin community.

I did not know ASUS's hard factory reset guide differed for the AC86U (and a few others) until about a week ago.
Many router owners will not bother reading more than what is contained in your guide. I am guilty as charged. Stay safe, stay alive. Peace.

While there are some subtle differences between method 1 and 2 (which cover the majority of the most popular router models), I am still a bit sceptical that there is a difference between holding in the WPS button just long enough for the power light to go out (86U and other HND models) or start blinking (many older models), and holding it in significantly longer (on the order of 10, 20, or 30 seconds) before releasing and powering off/on. Really? Either way "seems" to do the same thing (results in the initial setup screens), but can anyone else corroborate seeing a difference post-setup (stability?) after trying one way vs. the other. Hard to believe that Asus would have built in something so very temperamental into the reset procedure.

 

[bbunge]

While there are some subtle differences between method 1 and 2 (which cover the majority of the most popular router models), I am still a bit sceptical that there is a difference between holding in the WPS button just long enough for the power light to go out (86U and other HND models) or start blinking (many older models), and holding it in significantly longer (on the order of 10, 20, or 30 seconds) before releasing and powering off/on. Really? Either way "seems" to do the same thing (results in the initial setup screens), but can anyone else corroborate seeing a difference post-setup (stability?) after trying one way vs. the other. Hard to believe that Asus would have built in something so very temperamental into the reset procedure.

Yes, there is a difference. AC86U press WPS button till the power light to go off then power cycle the router. Verified it does work. No other "nuclear" process needed!

 

[L&LD]

@bbunge I don't think there is a difference. If the router setup wizard starts up, the router was reset. If it doesn't, it wasn't. But the point of the guides is not to give the nitty gritty specifics, but rather an overview of what has worked for others (I have no claim to these methods, except to state they have worked for me too).

In your case, I believe there were other factors involved too. That is why the Nuclear Setup Guide states to not only reflash the same firmware multiple times but to also reset the router in multiple ways (and as many times as needed) too. Seems you just happened to have hit that magic number for your specific router when you happened to have followed the 'official' procedure.

 

[gattaca]

The people who really know why ASUS designated 2 different hard factory reset procedures are the ASUS engineers who designed those boards and the firmware / microcode booting/running them. I'm going to land in the camp that ASUS would not have posted multiple different procedures for specific routers if it were not important to complete the hard reset correctly. (Just page down that link for many others). If you do the procedure wrong, that does not mean that the unit wont boot but it does mean whatever the difference is did not happen and well.. your final end results may not be correct either. We have a 50:50 chance of being correct and I know from writing countless pages of documentation over many years, getting the procedure correct is important... and I'd bet someone in ASUS's Engineering had to sign off on that procedure being correct.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

WPS reset and yes they do vary by model. Reset with indented button in back of the router. Reset by using the web user interface all do the same thing in the end. This so called Nuclear reset does nothing more and in my opinion is nothing more the hogwash. Enough said.

 

[thecheapseats]

This so called Nuclear reset does nothing more and in my opinion is nothing more the hogwash. Enough said.

yep - hogwash... but some 'believe' it to be useful... if I had to do that verbose reset method on any piece of network hardware - it would instantly become dumpster-meat and I'd toss it in the trash and move on...

 

[L&LD]

The misunderstanding is continuing I see. But at least not from my end. What isn't clear about using the WPS method that is needed to make the router reboot? Anyone else following that guide hasn't needed to question it. And if they did, I'm sure they were pointed to the proper method as needed.

The guides I have put together are obviously not for your superior minds, but for those that need more basic, step by step instructions. Or for those that have followed the official instructions but are still left with an unusable/unstable router. It is also helpful to rule out any assumptions of how a reset should be done and is therefore useful to determine if a router is simply misconfigured or has a more serious hardware fault.

There is nothing to believe here, or not. These are just other methods (that have worked for others, when all else has failed) to get the router back to a good/known state.

Sorry to hear that my contributions (not creating the guides from scratch but collecting the relevant info into one place) here are hogwash and such for this group above. But I know that the people it is directed toward are grateful for the little bit I can contribute to this forum.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

You are a asset to the forum.