RT-AX88U Hardware Revision A1 vs A1.1

[sanke1]

Based on what evidence to support that claim? My A1 hardly gets warm at all but unfortnunately, the telnet and the SSH commands do no work


RT-AX88U login: admin
Password:
admin@RT-AX88U:/tmp/home/root# cat /proc/dmu/temperature
cat: can't open '/proc/dmu/temperature': No such file or directory
admin@RT-AX88U:/tmp/home/root#

You have to install Merlin's firmware and report temperatures.

 

[Arct1c0n]

You have to install Merlin's firmware and report temperatures.

There actually is a way to do it via console via SSH or telnet but doesn't seem to work on AX88U

 

[sanke1]

There actually is a way to do it via console via SSH or telnet but doesn't seem to work on AX88U

Yes. It would be awesome to retrieve temperature values through some ssh commands.

 

[Arct1c0n]

Someone should really crack open their A1.1 and give us a definitive answer of any hardware changes

 

[Marin]

Yes. It would be awesome to retrieve temperature values through some ssh commands.

First try to get the ifnames of wl0 (2.4 GHz) and wl1 (5GHz) for your router:

nvram get wl0_ifname

nvram get wl1_ifname

for my AX88U they are: eth6 and eth7

Then for each use:

wl -i eth6 phy_tempsense

and

wl -i eth7 phy_tempsense

Divide the numbers you get for each by 2 and then add 20 to it.

Example: 53 /2 + 20 = 46.5 C

 

[sanke1]

Thanks @Marin
This is the way to get RT-AX88U CPU temperature
You can use putty and straight skip to the command below or you can also use Windows 10's Powershell as well from build 1809 onwards.
Run powershell and type this

ssh admin@192.168.1.1

The basic format is ssh user@IP_ADDRESS_OF_YOUR_ROUTER
Then type yes to confirm and enter your router password.
....and you're in
Paste this command into ssh

cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp

Divide it by 1000 to get the ARM CPU temperature in more readable format

Here's three of my routers without any external cooling:
A1 : 70420 = 72° C (Ambient temp 24° C in AC office)
A1.1 : 58220 = 61° C (Ambient temp 30° C at home)
A1.1 : 58200 = 62° C (Ambient temp 30° C at home)

Now with laptop cooling pair of fans placed underneath the routers
A1 : 54421 = 57° C (Ambient temp 24° C in AC office)
A1.1 : 49400 = 51° C (Ambient temp 30° C at home)
A1.1 : 48400 = 52° C (Ambient temp 30° C at home)

Now for Wireless Radio temperatures
A1 : 55° C for 2.4 and 59° C for 5 Ghz (Ambient temp 24° C in AC office)
A1.1 : 48° C for 2.4 and 55° C for 5 Ghz (Ambient temp 30° C at home)
A1.1 : 48° C for 2.4 and 54° C for 5 Ghz (Ambient temp 30° C at home)

Wireless Radio temperatures with laptop cooling fans placed underneath the routers
A1 : 38° C for 2.4 and 40° C for 5 Ghz (Ambient temp 24° C in AC office)
A1.1 : 40° C for 2.4 and 43° C for 5 Ghz (Ambient temp 30° C at home)
A1.1 : 39° C for 2.4 and 42° C for 5 Ghz (Ambient temp 30° C at home)

Used these ones which are very cheap for roughly $5
https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B00J7OI1ZG/

 

[pilot04]

My replacement unit from Amazon arrived and there is at least once difference I noticed right away from my A1 made in China unit. The temps are lower at ~60° C for the A1.1 revision. My new unit is made in Vietnam and assembled in latter part of December 2019. Will be sending back my A1 unit after baking in the A1.1.

 

[Arct1c0n]

I REALLY wanna know what they physically changed to enable lower temps.

 

[L&LD]

Quality hardware and workmanship?

 

[bigsinky1966]

Chinese A1.1 here. Temps 61c at idle

 

[RMerlin]

Asus disables CPU idle support on older revisions. No idea why, I assume it was a design flaw they found at the time, or maybe an errata in older revisions of the CPU.

 

[FTC]

Asus disables CPU idle support on older revisions. No idea why, I assume it was a design flaw they found at the time, or maybe an errata in older revisions of the CPU.

Correct. I have an A1 AX88 and had to re-enable CPU idle by means of the command 'pwr config --cpuwait on' and my router temps go down immediately to around 50C (from around 58C). Note that I am doing this since about last june, when ASUS decided to disable idle CPU support for those routers. I have made several tests and found no increased unstability or decreased performance for my environment, just a cooler running router.

 

[sanke1]

Correct. I have an A1 AX88 and had to re-enable CPU idle by means of the command 'pwr config --cpuwait on' and my router temps go down immediately to around 50C (from around 58C). Note that I am doing this since about last june, when ASUS decided to disable idle CPU support for those routers. I have made several tests and found no increased unstability or decreased performance for my environment, just a cooler running router.

Mighty thanks for this. Dropped 8 degrees immediately on my A1 which is now performing at same level as my other A1.1s
Does this survive reboots?

 

[FTC]

Mighty thanks for this. Dropped 8 degrees immediately on my A1 which is now performing at same level as my other A1.1s
Does this survive reboots?

No it does not survive reboots. I have it coded in my post-mount script right before entware is started.

 

[RMerlin]

Be careful with that guys. I'm sure Asus had a good reason to disable that (and no, I don't know what it was).

#if defined(RTAX88U) || defined(RTAX92U)
        if(nvram_match("HwVer", "1.0")) {
                system("pwr config --cpuwait off");
        }
#endif

 

[sanke1]

Be careful with that guys. I'm sure Asus had a good reason to disable that (and no, I don't know what it was).

#if defined(RTAX88U) || defined(RTAX92U)
        if(nvram_match("HwVer", "1.0")) {
                system("pwr config --cpuwait off");
        }
#endif

Can you ask them via email? Mine is stable since the time I ran the command and without fan the temps dropped from 80 C to 68 C. Ambient temp is 30 C without any ac cooling.

 

[Arct1c0n]

Asus disables CPU idle support on older revisions. No idea why, I assume it was a design flaw they found at the time, or maybe an errata in older revisions of the CPU.

And what proof do you have to back this up?

 

[thiggins]

@Arct1c0n Be respectful of others or you will be banned.

 

[meeder]

There can be a lot of reasons to disable cpuwait. If there is a hardware bug in de CPU which prohibits the CPU from exiting the wait cycle the unit can hang needing a reboot.
I wouldn't enable it through an automatic script but if enabling it manually doesn't seem to do harm you can do it at your own risk. After a reboot cpuwait is disabled again.

Verstuurd vanaf mijn LYA-L09 met Tapatalk

 

[eclp]

Can the hardware revision also be read on the external packaging or only on the device itself?