RT-AX58U_386.5_2 Asuswrt-Merlin firmware bricked my RT-AX3000

[William Higgs]

Hello all. So, I have for a long time used Asuswrt-Merlin firmware for my Asus routers. I have two of them: an RT-AX3000 and a RT-AC68U. Recently, however, I tried installing the latest version of the firmware (filename in subject) on my RT-AX3000 router (yes, the filename indicates a different router model, but the Asuswrt-Merlin download page for the RT-AX3000 indicates to "Use the RT-AX58U firmware.txt", so that is why), but when I did, I first noticed something was off when my router displayed a message indicating that the upgrade was successful, but to manually restart the router to complete the upgrade, when in the past, the router was able to automatically restart as part of the upgrade process, but did as the displayed message asked and unplugged the router and plugged it back in. After I did, it never came back online. I had to perform an emergency firmware restoration back to stock firmware to get it back up and running. I wanted to post and see if anyone else encountered this issue when trying to install the latest firmware to a RT-AX3000. I was able to update the firmware for my RT-AC68 with no issue, so I am thinking it may have just been some one-off fluke, but it takes substantial effort for me to go fetch this router and perform an emergency firmware restoration, so I would at least like to get some input before I try installing the newest version of the firmware on my RT-AX3000. Thanks.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Hello all. So, I have for a long time used Asuswrt-Merlin firmware for my Asus routers. I have two of them: an RT-AX3000 and a RT-AC68U. Recently, however, I tried installing the latest version of the firmware (filename in subject) on my RT-AX3000 router (yes, the filename indicates a different router model, but the Asuswrt-Merlin download page for the RT-AX3000 indicates to "Use the RT-AX58U firmware.txt", so that is why), but when I did, I first noticed something was off when my router displayed a message indicating that the upgrade was successful, but to manually restart the router to complete the upgrade, when in the past, the router was able to automatically restart as part of the upgrade process, but did as the displayed message asked and unplugged the router and plugged it back in. After I did, it never came back online. I had to perform an emergency firmware restoration back to stock firmware to get it back up and running. I wanted to post and see if anyone else encountered this issue when trying to install the latest firmware to a RT-AX3000. I was able to update the firmware for my RT-AC68 with no issue, so I am thinking it may have just been some one-off fluke, but it takes substantial effort for me to go fetch this router and perform an emergency firmware restoration, so I would at least like to get some input before I try installing the newest version of the firmware on my RT-AX3000. Thanks.

AX58 and AX3000 are the same and take the same firmware. (Version 1) (V2 not supported)

Flash RMerlin then AFTER the flash, do a GUI "factory default reset" (it reboots) and load your settings from scratch.

Make sure to also tick the box (RMerlin Firmware) to reset JFFS partition and use (APPLY button, bottom of page.) (Admin > System tab)

Microsoft OneDrive

onedrive.live.com

 

[uildvek]

I've experienced something similar (but not exactly the same) when upgrading. It's happened while upgrading to a few different versions. Whenever I get the manual restart prompt, I would find that the router failed to upgrade after restarting manually and stayed on the same old version. A second upgrade attempt has always worked though.