RT-AC87U Firmware version 3.0.0.4.378.9529

[mag905]

I upgraded to this FW for a day and then went back to 9460. This FW was slower and seemed flaky on 5G. Big difference when I went back regarding stability and reception throughout the house.

I'll wait for 380.xxxx to upgradeext.

 

[VANT]

wifi drivers for 5G is same for this both fw, so 5G should work same.

 

[arrow201]

Unfortunately, I have the same issue with 3.0.0.4.378_9529 firmware as I experienced beginning with 3.0.0.4.378_9460. This problem wasn’t present in Firmware Release 3.0.0.4.378_9383 or earlier. I’ve observed this problem on both of my Windows 10 home computers (one wired & one wireless 5GHz connections).

The problem that I observed is after updating my router to either the 9460 or 9529 firmware and powering on my two Western Digital 1TB MyBookLive NAS drives (connected to LAN ports 2 & 3 of the router); when I launch Windows 10 File Explorer and click on Network; each computer initially shows the two Western Digital NAS Drives under the Storage Category, then both start vanishing and reappearing a few times and then disappear completely, never to return ...

I have the same problem, but in my case it's with a Samsung F8000 series
smart tv. The TV will lose connection (5 Ghz) after some time, my other
devices stay connected. I get the same "vanishing and reappearing a few
times and then disappear completely, never to return". I'm sticking with
9383 as all devices work perfectly. I may try a number of release versions
later to see if fixed.

 

[romanz]

Hi,
I upgraded my RT-AC87U to 3.0.0.4.378_9529 and really regret it. Whatever I do I get logged out (the timeout is set to 30 minutes). I.e. it's impossible to upload previous version of the firmware, I get logged out and nothing happens.

Any clue what to do? I loooked at the ASUS Firmware Restoration version 2.0.0.0, but they say:
"NOTE: This is not a firmware upgrade utility and cannot be used on a working ASUS Wireless Router. Normal firmware upgrades must be done through the web interface.".

A real "trump up" of the router...

 

[Maastricht]

Try the beta one 9...380....

 

[RMerlin]

You can still use the firmware recovery tool, just need to boot the router into recovery mode first, by pressing the reset button while turning it on.

 

[Athanasios]

Isnt recovery mode the best way to install firmware?its like using Odin on android phones.

 

[romanz]

The "funny" thing is that my RT-AC87U goes into recovery mode but the Firmware Restoration tool claims it's *not* in recovery mode and thus does not work for me.
(I followed instructions to power off, press the reset-button few seconds and power on ==> the left blue LED is slowly blinking, the rightmost blue LED is almost stable).

Anyhow I accidentally got factory settings with reset password and by some miracle I manged to install 9460 and it has exactly the same logout behavior, i.e. I must have had some older release.

 

[romanz]

Getting wiser. I can run the router gui from Linux/Fedora and from a Android-tablet without any problems with frequent logouts! So I upgraded again to 9529.

I wonder if it has something to do with Windows 10? I have same logout problems with firefox, chrome och MSIE/Edge.

So at least Fedora or tablet is a fully working bypass in case I need change some setting on my router.

 

[romanz]

Another way to avoid the logouts is to use https instead of http. Apparently there is a problem with session tracking in http-mode.

 

[Buck115]

I have the same problem, but in my case it's with a Samsung F8000 series
smart tv. The TV will lose connection (5 Ghz) after some time, my other
devices stay connected. I get the same "vanishing and reappearing a few
times and then disappear completely, never to return". I'm sticking with
9383 as all devices work perfectly. I may try a number of release versions
later to see if fixed.

arrow201; I flashed the ASUS 380_2695 beta firmware today to see if it had the same issue I’ve observed with my two Western Digital 1TB MyBookLive NAS Drives; which I started experiencing with the 378_9460 and 378_9529 official releases, but unfortunately it has the same problem.

However, rather than fall back to Merlin’s 380_58 firmware, which works perfectly, this time I decided to experiment with router settings that I normally leave at their default settings. The first thing that I tried was I turned “Enable UPnP” Off; which is under Advanced Settings, WAN, Basic Config, Internet Connection. This appears to have immediately fixed the problem and with 380_2695 my computers are seeing my NAS Drives as Storage devices and everything appears to be stable; no more intermittent and then complete disappearances!!!!!

If you decide to try any of the ASUS firmware releases after 378_9383 and still experience the issue with your Samsung Smart TV, you might try turning off UPnP like I did and see if it fixes the problem. So far I haven’t had any problems with any other devices with UPnP turned off, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen with other folk’s devices.

Update: Interestingly, when I booted up my PC this morning (the one on a wireless connection), I launched Windows 10 File Explorer, clicked on Network, and my two Western Digital NAS Drives under the Storage Category were vanishing and reappearing. Last night while investigating a 2.4GHz band anomaly I’d rebooted the router, so my first thought was that turning off UPnP hadn’t survived the reboot. So, I accessed the router and turned on UPnP, but before I turned it off again I launched Windows 10 File Explorer and both of my NAS Drives were stable, no disappearing act and have remained stable with UPnP enabled. So, now I don’t know what is real and what is Memorex! One other observation, with UPnP turned off, my router never appears in Windows 10 File Explorer, but with UPnP turned on it does appear, although it does an appearing/disappearing act.

 

[arrow201]

arrow201; I flashed the ASUS 380_2695 beta firmware today to see if it had the same issue I’ve observed with my two Western Digital 1TB MyBookLive NAS Drives; which I started experiencing with the 378_9460 and 378_9529 official releases, but unfortunately it has the same problem.

However, rather than fall back to Merlin’s 380_58 firmware, which works perfectly, this time I decided to experiment with router settings that I normally leave at their default settings. The first thing that I tried was I turned “Enable UPnP” Off; which is under Advanced Settings, WAN, Basic Config, Internet Connection. This appears to have immediately fixed the problem and with 380_2695 my computers are seeing my NAS Drives as Storage devices and everything appears to be stable; no more intermittent and then complete disappearances!!!!! ...

Buck, thank you very much for posting your findings. The next firmware I try, i'll keep
this in mind and play with enable/disable of the UPnP setting. Thanks !

 

[Buck115]

arrow201; you're welcome, good luck!!!

Since re-enabling UPnP my NAS Drives have hung in there, go figure!!!! I'm tempted to retry 9529 and see if turning off or turning off/on UPnP stabilizes things. If I do, I'll report back with the results.

 

[icemankent]

I, too, had to revert back to an earlier firmware.
In my case, it is 9313.

For me, 9529 caused very flaky 5G performance.
It would randomly drop out of existence, and then come back a minute or so later.

I have also read feedback from others regarding an "Android Battery Drain" issue.
I dismissed this (previously) - as I had been on 9313 and experienced no such thing.
Unfortunately, on 9529 - bingo - my Android LG G4 had a very steady battery drain - even when not in use - to the point that it would be dead after 10 hours of almost no use. My other phones (Samsung GS3 and GS4's also had this same issue).
Please note that my Android phones are using the 2.4 Ghz band 802.11n.

But, the nail in the coffin was that 9529 caused performance of the router to gradually decrease over time - to the point where browsing the internet, using netflix, etc, etc would become so painfully slow and unresponsive, that the only way to fix it was a reboot.
Enough was enough.

This behavior never happened on 9313 - (which I re-installed 2 days ago).
I am happy to say that the above 3 issues do (not) exist on 9313, and I'll stick with it, as it is working well for me.

One of these days, I hope Asus surprises its customers with that "magic" firmware that works well on all fronts.
I am not holding my breath, however....

PS - I will say one thing, however - as a reminder to anyone that installs a different firmware. Always, ALWAYS reset the config and set it up from scratch. This router likes to "hang on" to bits and pieces of configs that WILL screw with you in a corrupt fashion. Resetting it will clear it all, and you will not have any weird unexplainable behavior/issues after you set it all up again.