[Release] Asuswrt-Merlin 384.7 is now available

[Marin]

replace pool.ntp.org with 129.250.35.250 or 216.239.35.0 or 216.239.35.4 or 158.69.226.90 or 149.56.121.16 and reboot.

P.S I'm also using v384.5

None of these worked for me. Rebooted each time. Can’t figure out why it won’t sync. Maybe it may have something to do with the fact that my AC87U is in a bridge mode (using Merlin 384.7).

Anyone has any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this?

Thank you!


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[58chev]

None of these worked for me. Rebooted each time. Can’t figure out why it won’t sync. Maybe it may have something to do with the fact that my AC87U is in a bridge mode (using Merlin 384.7).

Anyone has any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this?

Thank you!

I was having an issue with getting time and changed server to 1.ca.pool.ntp.org and it appears to be working and I'm not seeing OUTBOUND being blocked.

 

[blueshark]

pool.ntp.org problem, time is not correct

 

[Marin]

I was having an issue with getting time and changed server to 1.ca.pool.ntp.org and it appears to be working and I'm not seeing OUTBOUND being blocked.

I think I have tried that before but will give it another shot.

Thanks much!


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[Marin]

Nope that didn’t work either[emoji107].


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[jjeiber]

just noticed a small problem with RT-AC86U_384.7_0 if using vpn and strict tunnel it thinks the tunnel is down after 24-36 hrs and shuts those clients off

 

[M@rco]

just noticed a small problem with RT-AC86U_384.7_0 if using vpn and strict tunnel it thinks the tunnel is down after 24-36 hrs and shuts those clients off

Any relevant info from syslog that could lead to the cause? It's running without issues here, so far.

 

[jjeiber]

Nope not a thing in the sys log that's the odd part if i don't use the block routed clients if tunnel goes down it works fine

 

[RMerlin]

That actually surprises me, seeing several people reporting issues with their USB3 thumb drives on the forum.

Every single USB drive I ever tried to plug to any of my routers has worked fine so far. Actually, the last time I had USB issues was when I tested the WRT1900AC, which would fail to recognize both a USB stick and a USB drive (and since Linksys provides no system log, troubleshooting was impossible.)

A lot of people with issues are people who failed to disable the option that reduces USB protocol to 2.0. Others are using esoteric partition schemes, or unsupported filesystems. So ultimately, the amount of people having genuine issues is very low. The USB Mass Storage protocol is something very generic in nature, a USB disk would have to be seriously broken for the driver to fail mounting the USB device.

 

[Joeys]

None of these worked for me. Rebooted each time. Can’t figure out why it won’t sync. Maybe it may have something to do with the fact that my AC87U is in a bridge mode (using Merlin 384.7).

Anyone has any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this?

I had a pair of AC87U in Media Bridge setup. I can confirm that DNS works flawlessly on Wireless Router Mode (Default), but DNS doesn't work for the one in Media Bridge Mode connected via 5G. Revert the Media Bridge firmware back to 384.5 resolved my DNS problem.

This setup combo works for me:
- Wireless Router Mode - 384.7
- Media Bridge Mode over 5G - 384.5

 

[M@rco]

Every single USB drive I ever tried to plug to any of my routers has worked fine so far. Actually, the last time I had USB issues was when I tested the WRT1900AC, which would fail to recognize both a USB stick and a USB drive (and since Linksys provides no system log, troubleshooting was impossible.)

A lot of people with issues are people who failed to disable the option that reduces USB protocol to 2.0. Others are using esoteric partition schemes, or unsupported filesystems. So ultimately, the amount of people having genuine issues is very low. The USB Mass Storage protocol is something very generic in nature, a USB disk would have to be seriously broken for the driver to fail mounting the USB device.

Thanks for your explanation. The USB drives (in my case) indeed fail when using USB 3.0 protocol. When reading your reply, do I understand you correctly that we shouldn't even be using USB 3.0 protocol at all? If I knew that before, I wouldn't have tried for so long, to be honest. It's set to USB 3.0 by default, so USB 3 drives are prone to fail, hence the several reports of 'failing' drives. Maybe this something well known among the Merlin 'veterans' but I wasn't aware not to use USB 3.0 mode. And I wouldn't have spend up to nearly 30 euros a piece on USB 3.0 drives either, hoping to find one that did work in USB 3.0 mode. Nevertheless, it's good to know.

 

[XIII]

Double negations are hard, but I read exactly the opposite of Marco...

A lot of people with issues are people who failed to disable the option that reduces USB protocol to 2.0.

Fail to disable reducing to 2.0 = keeping it on 2.0?

@RMerlin Can you clarify what you meant?

 

[Marin]

I read this as:

“Fail to disable reducing the USB protocol to 2.0” = allowing reduction to the 2.0 protocol =not disabling this may cause issues.


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[RMerlin]

Double negations are hard, but I read exactly the opposite of Marco...


Fail to disable reducing to 2.0 = keeping it on 2.0?

@RMerlin Can you clarify what you meant?

It's hard because Asus keeps renaming the setting AND moving it around... Initially it was called "Reduce USB interference" or something like that. Enabling the setting would disable USB 3.0, and cause compatibility issues.

Now, they call it "USB Mode", and it should be left on 3.0.

 

[westmc]

It's hard because Asus keeps renaming the setting AND moving it around... Initially it was called "Reduce USB interference" or something like that. Enabling the setting would disable USB 3.0, and cause compatibility issues.

Now, they call it "USB Mode", and it should be left on 3.0.

Where is this new "USB Mode" I've searched through every screen but I can't find it (RT-AC68P).

 

[visortgw]

Where is this new "USB Mode" I've searched through every screen but I can't find it (RT-AC68P).

System tab of Administration page.

 

[Keenan]

System tab of Administration page.

I have seen it before but looking just now there is no USB setting on my System tab.

 

[westmc]

System tab of Administration page.

Running RT-AC68P with 384.7 and it isn't there. I have a "USB Setting" section but the only option is "Enable HDD Hibernation"

 

[Asad Ali]

It's now moved to Network Map Page, click on the circular USB button and on the right side you'll see "External USB disk status" page the last option is USB Mode.

 

[M@rco]

It's hard because Asus keeps renaming the setting AND moving it around... Initially it was called "Reduce USB interference" or something like that. Enabling the setting would disable USB 3.0, and cause compatibility issues.

Now, they call it "USB Mode", and it should be left on 3.0.

If that's the case, I can only say, I am (and I believe others as well) experiencing the opposite. I've seen lots of users report USB drives failing in USB 3.0 mode yet being able to mount it when switching to USB 2.0 mode.

I've tried (at least) the following USB drives over the past months in USB 3.0 mode and they will all fail to mount:

Kingston DataTraveler 64Gb USB 3.0 (DTSE9G2/64GB
Kingston DataTraveler 16GB USB 3.0 (DTSE9G2/16GB)
Sandisk Ultra Flair 64GB USB 3.0 (SDCZ73-064G-G46)
Sandisk Extreme GO 64GB USB 3.0
Philips Circle 64GB USB 3.0 (FM64FD145B/10)

These drives will however work in USB 2.0 mode (but consequently with lower transfer speeds).

All of these USB drives:

• were purchased new and specifically to be used on my RT-AC68U
• were partitioned on the router. Existing default partition was removed using fdisk, a new partition (type 83, Linux) was created, covering the maximum size (fdisk default for first and list block).
  
• were formatted on the router using mke2fs -t ext4 -L <name> /dev/sdaX and with mke2fs -t ext2 -L <name> /dev/sdaX. So no 'esoteric partition schemes' used whatsoever.
• were partitioned and formatted with Minitool Partition Wizard on Windows, by deleting the existing partition and creating one, full sized partition where both ext2 and ext4 have been tried.
  
• had extended filesystem checks using e2fsck when partitioned and formatted on the router.
• had full surface checks using the Verify Disk option in Minitool Partition Manager.
  
• fail in USB 3.0 mode and are only recognized in the USB 2.0 port or in the USB 3.0 port with USB 2.0 mode set.
• will mount without issues on my laptop using Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Debian 9
• will be recognized without issues by using Minitool Partition Wizard, on a Windows 10 laptop

Several drives were additionally partitioned and formatted using Ubuntu's Disk Utility, but I can't recall which ones. Not that it matters, but for the sake of completeness. Also, 2 or 3 of these USB drives (again, I can't exactly recall which ones) mount without issues on my previous router, a Netgear R6300v2.

Occasionally they will mount on my RT-AC68U in USB 3.0 mode, either with the preloaded partition coming straight out of their package and on some, rare occasions even with an ext2/ext4 partition, but they will almost certainly fail to mount at the next reboot, so basically unreliable to be used with Entware and other scripts.

In addition to that: I've had several occasions when having another USB drive plugged into the USB2.0 port and when I inserted one of the drives mentioned previously into the USB3.0 port, the USB2.0 LED on the front of my router starting blinking (instead of the USB 3.0 LED) during mounting (on the rare occasions it would actually work). But most of the time, the router just doesn't see the drive inserted into the USB 3.0 port (until I disable 3.0 mode, after that, they'll all just work but at the cost of a lower speed)

So either I'm doing something wrong or there's something else going on.