RT-AX88U mount problem USB3.0 after reboot

[EdoAsus]

Hi everyone,

I have a RT-AX88U bought new in december 2020, working with 386.1_2 Merlin, and I have a SSD drive also bought new on january 2021 (ADATA SC685-250GB, USB3.2) attached to the rear USB port (USB 3.0 mode), after reboot (scheduled every sunday) the SSD drive is not mounted so I have to manually unplug/replug the drive on the USB port to make him work again.
I checked the drive (surface scan) and no errors on it (format ext4), so I decided to change the USB port using the front port instead (the one covered by a door) and the issue is not occurring, also after scheduled reboot the drive is correctly mounted, the questions are: is there a difference between the front and the rear USB port (both are 3.0)? is the rear USB port more sensitive from interference in USB 3.0 mode?
I dont think the rear USB port is fisically damaged i cheked that also, tested in USB 2.0 works fine also after reboot, so seems that the rear port is not working properly in USB 3.0 mode after a reboot, so is this a software or hardware problem? I have ofcourse 2 years warranty but i'm not sure it's a hardware problem, is there anything else i have to check?

 

[EdoAsus]

Seems I have the same problem also on the front USB poort, I guess the USB driver with USB mode 3.0 needs a fix, it's not reliable, Asus has to do something. Am I the only one who has this problem??

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Hi everyone,

I have a RT-AX88U bought new in december 2020, working with 386.1_2 Merlin, and I have a SSD drive also bought new on january 2021 (ADATA SC685-250GB, USB3.2) attached to the rear USB port (USB 3.0 mode), after reboot (scheduled every sunday) the SSD drive is not mounted so I have to manually unplug/replug the drive on the USB port to make him work again.
I checked the drive (surface scan) and no errors on it (format ext4), so I decided to change the USB port using the front port instead (the one covered by a door) and the issue is not occurring, also after scheduled reboot the drive is correctly mounted, the questions are: is there a difference between the front and the rear USB port (both are 3.0)? is the rear USB port more sensitive from interference in USB 3.0 mode?
I dont think the rear USB port is fisically damaged i cheked that also, tested in USB 2.0 works fine also after reboot, so seems that the rear port is not working properly in USB 3.0 mode after a reboot, so is this a software or hardware problem? I have ofcourse 2 years warranty but i'm not sure it's a hardware problem, is there anything else i have to check?

The USB drive is keyed to a specific port, so none of your scripts will work on another port without wiping the drive.
It has to stay in the same USB slot, it is not interchangeable.

 

[Jeffrey Young]

I was having a similar issue using a cheap SSD drive on a AC86U. Would not mount on a reboot, but was able to mount fine after manually.

After some trial and error, I figured it is because the SSD does not power up to a ready state fast enough on router boot. I installed a powered USB hub between the router and the SSD drive. All is good now, the router boots fine and mounts the SSD drive.

I guess some SSDs are quicker to come to ready state than others.

 

[archiel]

I swapped from using thumbdrives to a WD Green 120 GB SSD (plus a UGREEN case) a little over a year ago. Connected to the back port as USB 3, no problems with it whether on startup, reboots or otherwise.

 

[EdoAsus]

I was having a similar issue using a cheap SSD drive on a AC86U. Would not mount on a reboot, but was able to mount fine after manually.

After some trial and error, I figured it is because the SSD does not power up to a ready state fast enough on router boot. I installed a powered USB hub between the router and the SSD drive. All is good now, the router boots fine and mounts the SSD drive.

I guess some SSDs are quicker to come to ready state than others.

Thanks! this makes sense, I did a search about the post-mount script but i don't have a clue how to add a line or make a script to check the USB mount on startup, I wish i can avoid to buy another USB drive or hub, but mostly this problem occurs in USB 3.0 mode so i guess the ready state is not fast enough for the drive in this mode.

 

[Jeffrey Young]

The post-mount script is not where you would check to see if the drive got mounted. That script gets called after a successful mount occurred.

At one time, I did have a USB key that up and unmount for unknown reasons. Never did figure it out, I just replaced it assuming a hardware issue with the key. Until I did replace, I wrote the script below and called it every hour via a cron job (set up the cron job via services-start script).

#!/bin/sh

MNTLOG="/jffs/checkmount.log"
TAG="Check-Mount.sh"
MAILFILE="/tmp/Mail_Body.txt"

if [ $# -eq 0 ]
then
    printf "\\n$(date) - No Mount Point Specified\\n" >> $MNTLOG
    exit
fi

if ! mount | grep $1 > /dev/null 2>&1   
then
    printf "\\n$(date) - Could not detect mount point for $1\\n" | tee $MAILFILE >> $MNTLOG
    
    if ! [  -d $1 ]
    then
        printf "$(date) - Could not find directory $1, creating\\n" | tee -a  $MAILFILE >> $MNTLOG
        mkdir $1 2>&1 | tee -a $MAILFILE >> $MNTLOG
        chmod 777 $1 2>&1 | tee -a $MAILFILE >> $MNTLOG
    fi
    
    if mount /dev/sda1 $1 2>&1
    then
        sleep 5
        service restart_nasapps
        printf "$(date) - ALERT - Had to Remount $1 ok\\n" | tee -a  $MAILFILE >> $MNTLOG
        logger -t "$TAG" " - ALERT - Had to Mount $1 had to be remounted"
    else
        printf "$(date) - FAILED TO REMOUNT $1\\n" | tee -a  $MAILFILE >> $MNTLOG
        logger -t "$TAG" "Failed to remount $1"
    fi

    /jffs/scripts/smail.sh $MAILFILE "ARERT: Mounted USB Key Alert"
else
    # printf "\\n$(date) - Checked $1 - Everything is OK\n" >> $MNTLOG
    logger -t $TAG "Checked mount point $1 - Everything seems OK"
fi

The smail.sh is another script I use to email me when an event happens.

There is one thing you could try. Have no idea if it would work or not, but make a pre-mount script in /jffs/scripts and put the following in it;

#!/bin/sh

sleep 5

And make it executable. This would add a 5 second delay before a mount was attempted (I think). Perhaps that is enough time to let the SSD power up to a state that it can be seen.

 

[EdoAsus]

There is one thing you could try. Have no idea if it would work or not, but make a pre-mount script in /jffs/scripts and put the following in it;

#!/bin/sh

sleep 5

And make it executable. This would add a 5 second delay before a mount was attempted (I think). Perhaps that is enough time to let the SSD power up to a state that it can be seen.

Thanks for the advice! I will give a try with this one and see what happens.

 

[EdoAsus]

So this is what i did specifically on the /jffs/scripts:

1. nano pre-mount (create the script)

#!/bin/sh
sleep 5

2. exit the script file

3. chmod 755 pre-mount (make it executable)

First scheduled reboot was successful! drive mounted (USB 3.0 mode), now i want see in the long term if it keeps working.
So you helped me a lot!

 

[Jeffrey Young]

Glad it worked out. I wish I had thought of this before I added the USB Hub. I still may, just to get rid of the hub. You probably don't need the full 5 seconds, but what the heck - what is 5 seconds once a week or at boot time.

 

[Smokindog]

I'd still recommend a self powered device, either via the powered hub idea or a powered enclosure.

You can get a USB 3.0/3.1 2.5" enclosure with a power brick for $20-$30. Why ask the $300 router to serve power which has traditionally been a common issue (cheap power bricks that can do nasty things when they fail) in SOHO routers to begin with.

Just my 2 cents so it's worth what you paid

 

[BrimoXD99]

So this is what i did specifically on the /jffs/scripts:

1. nano pre-mount (create the script)

#!/bin/sh
sleep 5

2. exit the script file

3. chmod 755 pre-mount (make it executable)

First scheduled reboot was successful! drive mounted (USB 3.0 mode), now i want see in the long term if it keeps working.
So you helped me a lot!

I found this thread while looking for answers from people who might have the same issue mounting a USB SSD as I do.
Some time ago I have started this thread: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/s...d-on-rt-ax88u-pro-after-routers-reboot.91000/
and I did not found software-script solution yet.

I made pre-mount script described above by you but unfortunately it doesn't work for me with Asus RT-AX88U Pro.

Any idea why it worked for you 3 years ago and not for me? What Asus model does it work for you? Does it still works for you with the latest Merlin-Asus version? Maybe it used to work for you only until some particular Merlin-Asus update?