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RT-AC86U how do you manually assign IP addresses in 386.10?

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Woody

Occasional Visitor
I am sure that I am being a complete Muppet, in my panic - but I have come unstuck after an upgrade to 386.10.

All my manual IP (DHCP) assignments are disappeared - and I need some manual assignements for IOT clients (which have no UID to be able to configure local fixed addresses).

Even my Home Assistant server got a new (wrong) IP, so as you can imagine, everything is royally screwed up...

Now, in 386.10, when I select the client name/MAC address in the drop down, when I then edit a new IP address into the IP address box and hit apply, it says "please wait while applying settings", and then I am back to square 1 (illustrated - where I changed the IP address to 192.168.0.170):


1687270083396.png


What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!
 
What model router do you have? This sort of problem often occurred on the RT-AC68U with that firmware version because it ran out of nvram space. That's why RMerlin made changes in 386.11 to address this (removing some of the VPN clients to free up space).

EDIT: Just spotted in your title that you said you have an RT-AC86U. So it's probably not this problem.

Go to Tools - System Information and check that your JFFS partition isn't full.

I suggest to update to 386.11 in any case.

 
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What am I doing wrong?
Are you remembering, after inputting the data, to click the little "Add" (plus inside a circle) icon FIRST before hitting the Apply button?
1687270083396.png


Edit to add: Like already indicated, you may want to update to 386.11 as well.
Also look in to various methods of saving the static/reserved IP addresses as well. Methods like YazDHCP and others can be used to restore reserved IP addresses after a router reset.
 
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What model router do you have? This sort of problem often occurred on the RT-AC68U with that firmware version because it ran out of nvram space. That's why RMerlin made changes in 386.11 to address this (removing some of the VPN clients to free up space).

EDIT: Just spotted in your title that you said you have an RT-AC86U. So it's probably not this problem.

Go to Tools - System Information and check that your JFFS partition isn't full.

I suggest to update to 386.11 in any case.

Thanks mate - really appreciate this!

My JFFS says "unmounted" - I guess that that is not good?

1687278097892.png


You made a good point about the cleanup tool, but as I read it, this is not required for the 86U.

So here's me hitting the add button and then editing the IP address:
1687278361981.png


So far, so good - but as soon as I hit the Apply button, wham, instant logout and I have to log back into the UI again - whereupon, the IP address has just reverted. EXCEPT when I just did it again - while typing this reply - because I wanted another screenshot, and what do you know.. it worked. You are MAGIC!

To also answer your question, I didn't go to .11, because reading through, some folk were reporting issues (on an 86U) and as this was a dirty upgrade from a few versions back, I didn't want to tempt fate!

PS. Thanks also for the pointer to the YazDHCP tool - I'll give that a go.

In the meantime, what's with the unmounted JFFS - should I worry, do a factory reset or whatever?
 
In the meantime, what's with the unmounted JFFS - should I worry, do a factory reset or whatever?
You won't have any success until you can get JFFS to mount. It's essential for the normal operation of the router. It's also where those reservations are stored on your model.

Try rebooting the router and see if it fixes itself. If it doesn't look in the system log for any relevant error messages.

Failing that I would suggest you backup your current settings and JFFS partition*** (Administration - Restore/Save/Upload Setting), if you have anything worth saving. Then do a Factory Default Restore via the GUI with the "Initialize..." box ticked. Then after the reboot perform only the mandatory setup procedure and check whether JFFS is now mounted. If it is then restore from your previous backup (if required).

*** If your JFFS partition isn't mounted your router will only be partially configured. So it's probably not a good idea to try and backup and restore it anyway. Just do the factory reset.
 
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You won't have any success until you can get JFFS to mount. It's essential for the normal operation of the router. It's also where those reservations are stored on your model.

Try rebooting the router and see if it fixes itself. If it doesn't look in the system log for any relevant error messages.

Failing that I would suggest you backup your current settings and JFFS partition*** (Administration - Restore/Save/Upload Setting), if you have anything worth saving. Then do a Factory Default Restore via the GUI with the "Initialize..." box ticked. Then after the reboot perform only the mandatory setup procedure and check whether JFFS is now mounted. If it is then restore from your previous backup (if required).

*** If your JFFS partition isn't mounted your router will only be partially configured. So it's probably not a good idea to try and backup and restore it anyway. Just do the factory reset.

@ColinTaylor you are my hero! Who would have thought that an update would get so sweaty...

Re-booting did nothing, so the next step was a default factory restore from the GUI as you suggested. Problem was, there appeared to be a disconnect between what the browser said was happening and what the router actually did - it was like some Javascript in the browser was doing it's own thing - drawing it's current reset status - or logging me out, when the router was doing no such thing.

Finally got the router back up and factory reset, but then of course, I couldn't connect to it - on account of the (reset IP settings) - so for anyone else struggling with this: https://www.netsetman.com/ is your friend - particularly if you are doing per device IP re-configs to point to pi-hole (yes, you can do it by hand, but Windows...).

So it all came up and JFS was back!


1687289482093.png


Amazingly, restoring from a backup (that I took only yesterday - Phew!) my static IP's were also restored AND I was connected to the internet (don't know what was happening, but typing my ISP login and password via the initial setup (post reset) was having none of it - but I had made a backup that specifically included the password, and all was good).

Finally, the one reason why I updated, was that I have a number (I am going to get a bit weirdy beardy now - sorry) of Sonoff devices flashed with Tasmota. From time to time (it is unpredictable) the devices would randomly drop off the network, and the only way to recover, was to re-flash them, which was a pain. Then, one day, by sheer chance, I discovered that there was nothing wrong with the devices - no need to re-flash. The problem was actually with the 2.4GHz 86U WiFi, in that it presented, but how ever many times the device provided the correct SSID/Password, the 86U would refuse a connection. So at that point, I tested that could connect the device to alternate routers/SSID's, so there was nothing generically wrong with the device/config, just that the 86U wasn't allowing a connection - I guess, on renewal of lease, as devices already connected over 2.4Ghz remained fine.

The *fix* was therefore to power cycle the 86U (pulling out the power cable was the only action that actually worked) and all the devices that couldn't connect, immediately connected again. Obviously, I did a lot of swearing when I realised that I had been doing a lot of re-flashing/reconfig of devices for nothing - and tell this story here, only because the forum is peppered with folk talking about their 86U 2.4Ghz failing and being RMA'd etc. Maybe these things just needed the power pulled out all along? Anyhow, I am interested to see if this update makes a different to this issue?

Thanks again!
 

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