RT-AC86U - Settings vanish after reboot (DHCP, WOL, PORT TR, PORT FW) JFFS?

[avi.svd]

Hi all,

I spent two days on this forum looking for answer but with no result.

Topic: RT-AC86U bought from aliexpress that has a problem with saving settings. I observed that problem occurs when i input and save settings like: DHCP, port FW or TR, WOL.
After saving them and recconecting client has proper ip etc. but only till moment of restarting router. After that settings are gone.

I've been looking for anwser why and found that after restart jffs partition is umnounted. I've tried resets formating etc but each time i restart it is unmounted. Log says that it is read-only and kernel can't save files on it.
I found how manualy mount this partition and after that it is rw i can delete/copy/move files in or out... unfortunatly only to moment i restart router. After that it is again unmounted and settings are also gone.

Problem exists on merlin and asus firmware.
Clearing NVRAM does not solve problem.

What should i do next?

 

[L&LD]

After flashing to RMerlin firmware, did you do a full reset to factory defaults? Followed by a minimal and manual configuration to secure the router and connect to your ISP (please see the link in my signature below for the M&M Config for further details).

Then, did you go to Administration, System and 'Format JFFS partition at next boot', hit apply at the bottom of the page, and reboot the router 3 times in the next 15 minutes (waiting at least 5 to 10 minutes between each reboot)?

After the above is completed, did you go to Administration, System and 'Enable JFFS custom scripts and configs', hit apply at the bottom of the page, and then reboot the router and wait at least 10 minutes for it to settle before configuring anything further?

 

[avi.svd]

After flashing to RMerlin firmware, did you do a full reset to factory defaults? Followed by a minimal and manual configuration to secure the router and connect to your ISP (please see the link in my signature below for the M&M Config for further details).

Many times. I will look for link provided.

Then, did you go to Administration, System and 'Format JFFS partition at next boot', hit apply at the bottom of the page, and reboot the router 3 times in the next 15 minutes (waiting at least 5 to 10 minutes between each reboot)?

I could say yes. But i will try again.

After the above is completed, did you go to Administration, System and 'Enable JFFS custom scripts and configs', hit apply at the bottom of the page, and then reboot the router and wait at least 10 minutes for it to settle before configuring anything further?

I will try and let you know but i belive that problem lays deeper.

 

[Grisu]

then you could perform his nuclear reset (exactly step by step) from link, last way to get it sorted.

 

[avi.svd]

then you could perform his nuclear reset (exactly step by step) from link, last way to get it sorted.

Maybe i should start with this reset for clean start?

 

[Grisu]

probably best you could do.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Try the "nuclear reset" a couple of times. If no success after re entering all settings manually and particularly if your router was manufactured in 2018 it may be time to either return it or do an RMA with ASUS.

Your issues are similar to those I had that forced me to RMA my AC86.

 

[avi.svd]

So i will have to send it back to china. I am now at jffs formating 1/3 reboot. But i think that it will not solve the problem. Did you encountered same problems with saving settings? [CaptianSTX]

4/3 resets and jffs is still unmounted.
Sorry. Settings also are lost after reboot

 

[avi.svd]

Sorry, still no positive result. For some reason anything that is saved in "table" is not saved pernamently.

 

[avi.svd]

I've tried to push settings via ssh but still no progres. This parameteres are stored in NVRAM so it must be problem with acces and write long string.

dhcp_staticlist="autofw_rulelist=<Tor>6881>TCP>6881>TCP<Tor1>6881>UDP>6881>UDP<Trans1>9091>TCP>9091>TCP<Trans2>9091>UDP>9091>UDP<VPN1>1723>TCP>1723>TCP<VPN2>47>TCP>47>TCP<Nas>443>TCP>443>TCP<wan1>8081>TCP>8081>TCP<wan2>8081>UDP>8081>UDP<VPN>1194>UDP>1194>UDP<VPN TUN>1195>TCP>1195>TCP<Kodi>8189>TCP>8189>TCP<RD>3389>TCP>3389>TCP<RD2>3389>UDP>3389>UDP"

Something like that is a problem.

On WINSCP I've tried to copy a file to nvram (couple of diferent places). All locations were read only!

Also tried:

admin@RT-AC86U-ED40:/tmp/home/root# dmesg | grep -i jffs
jffs2: version 2.2. (NAND) (SUMMARY) © 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
>>>>> For primary mtd partition rootfs, cferam/vmlinux.lz mounted as JFFS2, vmlinux fs mounted as UBIFS <<<<<
Secondary mtd partition rootfs_update detected as JFFS2 for cferam/vmlinux source and UBIFS for vmlinux filesystem
jffs2: jffs2_scan_eraseblock(): Magic bitmask 0x1985 not found at 0x00040000: 0x4255 instead
jffs2: jffs2_scan_eraseblock(): Magic bitmask 0x1985 not found at 0x00040004: 0x0001 instead
jffs2: jffs2_scan_eraseblock(): Magic bitmask 0x1985 not found at 0x00040018: 0xe174 instead
jffs2: jffs2_scan_eraseblock(): Magic bitmask 0x1985 not found at 0x0004003c: 0x8003 instead
jffs2: Cowardly refusing to erase blocks on filesystem with no valid JFFS2 nodes
jffs2: empty_blocks 1, bad_blocks 1, c->nr_blocks 384

Problem seems to be simillar to : https://www.snbforums.com/threads/w...-but-its-in-read-only-need-jffs-expert.56035/

 

[CaptainSTX]

Did you encountered same problems with saving settings? [CaptianSTX]

Yes the original unit I purchased in 2018 which was manufactured in 2018 had this issue and nothing I did including nuclear resets, putting the router in recovery mode, loading various firmware versions either Merlin or ASUS original would fix the problem.