[Release] Asuswrt-Merlin 380.66 is now available

[pirx73]

Happy to report that RT-AC68U hardware revision E1 does run Merlin's firmware
@RMerlin - you said it has not been tested on E1, so now it is

 

[pirx73]

Last time i asked, Merlin said he was not sure.

 

[Naftali Oziel]

Happy to report that RT-AC68U hardware revision E1 does run Merlin's firmware
@RMerlin - you said it has not been tested on E1, so now it is

What is the difference between C1 and E1 outside of the ASUS LED no longer lighting up and the on/off switch is replaced with a button. Is there differences in CPU/Memory, seems to be the same as B1.

 

[tsunami2311]

What are chances of seeing a function, that lets set "allow" mac address and then show us list clients trying to connect that we can allow or deny?

 

[Handyman]

Quick newb question: Should manually-assigned DHCP addresses be selected from within the DHCP pool or outside of it? Over the years I've heard both ways.

AC68U

Thanks.

 

[Vexira]

Quick newb question: Should manually-assigned DHCP addresses be selected from within the DHCP pool or outside of it? Over the years I've heard both ways.

AC68U

Thanks.

with in, one would assume that you would want them to be accesable on the network.

 

[pirx73]

What is the difference between C1 and E1 outside of the ASUS LED no longer lighting up and the on/off switch is replaced with a button. Is there differences in CPU/Memory, seems to be the same as B1.

To be honest, i have no idea, but CPU is 1000Mhz (BCM4709C0) for E1 while for B1 it is designated BCM4709 (sans C0, older revision?) "800/1000", could be newer radio hardware as well.

Quick newb question: Should manually-assigned DHCP addresses be selected from within the DHCP pool or outside of it? Over the years I've heard both ways.

I think "both ways" are people mixing up two things:
1. Manual DHCP assignment, as ASUS calls it which is DHCP server setting, tying together hardware (MAC) address with specified IP address from DHCP pool, achieving desired effect - the same device always gets the same IP from the DHCP server. It's still DHCP, you configure it on router and you don't have to configure anything else on device besides setting it to obtain an IP address automatically which is default setting for most devices. Using this configuration you can't assign device an IP address outside of DHCP pool, it is not technically possible.
2. Assigning fixed IP address to the device. That address must be outside of DHCP range and should be set on device, nothing to do on DHCP server side.
Just to note about #2 - address could be inside DHCP range as well, normal DHCP server should be able to determine if address is not free and not issue it to any other device but best practice dictates that you give devices fixed IP addresses outside of DHCP range.

In nutshell differences between both ways are where you configure it (router or device) and what kind of IP address is assigned to device - from inside DHCP pool or from outside of the pool, but still within your IP subnet.

 

[TheUntouchable]

@RMerlin: Is it possible to add the function, if you rename a device with the router gui that there will be a dns alias added? I have some network devices which have no or an unreadable device name, so I renamed all. With my last router I was used to reach that devices with the new name over the LAN.

 

[MarCoMLXXV]

Is it possible to add the function, if you rename a device with the router gui that there will be a dns alias added? I have some network devices which have no or an unreadable device name, so I renamed all.

The way I accomplished this is just by assigning static IP's to nearly all of my network devices with self-chosen host names. The host will be reachable by the name you gave it in in the static dhcp lease table (LAN > DHCP Server > Manually Assigned IP around the DHCP list followed by the domain name). Don't forget to enable manual assignment, just above this table.

Under DNS and WINS Server Setting (still on the same page), DNS Server 1 en DNS Server 2 (for LAN) are empty, but 'Advertise router's IP in addition to user-specified DNS' is set to On, so appparently the router gets queried first, before using the WAN DNS settings.

If you now go to hostname <dot> followed by the domain name you gave your network at the top of the same page, under 'Basic Config > (Router's name domain name)' it should be reachable.Works like a charm here.

To backup (and restore if needed) your static dhcp IP table, follow the instructions by
@RMerlin in this post.

 

[TheUntouchable]

Thanks a lot for that hint! Still you have to work on two parts, the renaming on the network list and add an dhcp reservation. Anyway I will use that workaround, perhaps RMerlin will add some automatisation Thanks again Marco

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks a lot for that hint! Still you have to work on two parts, the renaming on the network list and add an dhcp reservation. Anyway I will use that workaround, perhaps RMerlin will add some automatisation Thanks again Marco

The network list is nothing but a description field, which doesn't obey the same restrictions on naming as a hostname. Therefore it cannot be used for DNS purposes - the DHCP reservation page is the proper location to do so.

 

[TheUntouchable]

Okay, thanks for your answer!

 

[Gregory Phillips]

I just had a very strange issue with my RT-AC88U running 380.66_2 in that my router suddenly dropped the WAN connection. I checked my cable modem status, Netgear CM1000, and it was connected to Comcast. When the router reestablished the WAN everything was super slow. I rebooted it, it had only been up 8 hrs since the scheduled reboot, and then just rolled back the firmware to 380.66.

 

[joegreat]

I checked my cable modem status, Netgear CM1000, and it was connected to Comcast.

What cable you used between router and modem? Is it CAT6 (or at least CAT5e) certified?
Such issues are known for cables certified only for 100 MBit (CAT5).

 

[Gregory Phillips]

What cable you used between router and modem? Is it CAT6 (or at least CAT5e) certified?
Such issues are known for cables certified only for 100 MBit (CAT5).

Its a cat6 cable and I've never had this occur before.

 

[joegreat]

Its a cat6 cable and I've never had this occur before.

Then the standard procedure is to follow: factory reset, switch off(!), minimal config and test!

 

[Gregory Phillips]

I consider rolling back to 380.66 sufficient action at this time.

 

[Naftali Oziel]

To be honest, i have no idea, but CPU is 1000Mhz (BCM4709C0) for E1 while for B1 it is designated BCM4709 (sans C0, older revision?) "800/1000", could be newer radio hardware as well.

Thanks, both my AC68U B1 CPU are at 1000Ghz. Glad it is not the slower CPU.

I think "both ways" are people mixing up two things:
1. Manual DHCP assignment, as ASUS calls it which is DHCP server setting, tying together hardware (MAC) address with specified IP address from DHCP pool, achieving desired effect - the same device always gets the same IP from the DHCP server. It's still DHCP, you configure it on router and you don't have to configure anything else on device besides setting it to obtain an IP address automatically which is default setting for most devices. Using this configuration you can't assign device an IP address outside of DHCP pool, it is not technically possible.
2. Assigning fixed IP address to the device. That address must be outside of DHCP range and should be set on device, nothing to do on DHCP server side.
Just to note about #2 - address could be inside DHCP range as well, normal DHCP server should be able to determine if address is not free and not issue it to any other device but best practice dictates that you give devices fixed IP addresses outside of DHCP range.

In nutshell differences between both ways are where you configure it (router or device) and what kind of IP address is assigned to device - from inside DHCP pool or from outside of the pool, but still within your IP subnet.

 

[Naftali Oziel]

I just had a very strange issue with my RT-AC88U running 380.66_2 in that my router suddenly dropped the WAN connection. I checked my cable modem status, Netgear CM1000, and it was connected to Comcast. When the router reestablished the WAN everything was super slow. I rebooted it, it had only been up 8 hrs since the scheduled reboot, and then just rolled back the firmware to 380.66.

Factory reset, hard reset via the push button on the back, appeared to solve for some inconsistency with the wifi.

 

[Gregory Phillips]

I realize that these consumer grade routers will never be ideal but I do regret buying this RT-AC88U. Since that incident I've turned off dual WAN putting it solely on the primary WAN as it should've migrated to the second ISP if the primary went down which it didn't.

I didn't save the log before I flashed and cleared it out so everything currently there is for the 380.66 firmware post flash from yesterday morning.