RT-N66U manual reboot required after FW update

[wyldstallyn]

Hi guys, been a lurker here for the past couple years and using Asuswrt-Merlin on my routers, as well as some friends and family who I provide tech support for.

I've noticed as of firmware 380.66 or .67 (sorry can't remember which one exactly) the RT-N66U now requires a manual reboot after the update, but my AC68U will reboot on its own just as it always has in earlier fw updates. AC68U is setup as main router in the basement server room and the N66 setup in AP mode on the second floor in my office (whole house is wired for cat6).

Anyways, the problem is the people I support, all but one are still using a N66U router (the one off has the AC1900P and his auto reboots). I usually remote desktop into a computer at their place and update to stable fw while they are sleeping or away (after guinea pigging my own N66U) because I can't always make house calls. I know I could just get them to turn it off and back on, but it was great when they didn't have to be bothered.

Sorry for the long story - just wondering what was the reason for this change as of the last fw or so? Any chance it can go back to auto rebooting after update?


thanks

 

[RMerlin]

Sorry for the long story - just wondering what was the reason for this change as of the last fw or so? Any chance it can go back to auto rebooting after update?

It's a matter of luck, it's not a deliberate choice. Asus routers have only one single partition, so when you flash a firmware, you are overwriting the firmware that is currently running. Sometimes on a reboot, the router will try to access a block that is no longer available as it was overwritten, causing the router to crash, and preventing it from completing its reboot.

 

[Veky]

Same here for most of the latest releases. Additional annoyance is that the power button on my N66U broke, you can press it all you like, it doesn't do anything. It's been used perhaps 10 times. Quality engineering at it's best.

Have you considered getting one of those WiFi controlled outlets for this router?

 

[wyldstallyn]

Sometimes on a reboot, the router will try to access a block that is no longer available as it was overwritten, causing the router to crash, and preventing it from completing its reboot.

Thanks for the reply and your fine work for these routers. I should clairify, the N66u doesn't crash, after the fw finishes uploading, there is a message onscreen that specifically says to manually reboot in order to complete the update, so seems like it's now part of the process. It's happened on 5 different N66 routers that I've updated for the past couple fw releases. I'd say it's more than just a coincidence.

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for the reply and your fine work for these routers. I should clairify, the N66u doesn't crash, after the fw finishes uploading, there is a message onscreen that specifically says to manually reboot in order to complete the update, so seems like it's now part of the process. It's happened on 5 different N66 routers that I've updated for the past couple fw releases. I'd say it's more than just a coincidence.

It's because the router has crashed. That message automatically appears if the router doesn't start responding after a certain amount of time (i.e. if progress reaches 100% and the router still isn't answering back).

 

[jfree23]

Same here also - I only have one N66, but last 2 FW updates the router has not fully returned after flashing. Problem for me is that router is 700 miles away, and only easy access is.....via the router! WiFi controlled plug is nice idea, but if router runs the WiFi and is not responding, can't turn it off. And if you could turn it off, how to turn it on again remotely with router off? Only works if N66 is not your main AP I guess.

I did the update last week remotely using WAN GUI, got the popup message to reboot manually, and now the router is no longer responding. I sent someone in to power cycle router, but that did not work, or they did not understand or do it right. Will try again next week.

Make it very hard to troubleshoot as there is no way to tell remotely if the router is just stuck, broken, cable modem is not in a good state, cable connection is down, cable company blocked DNS after too many requests, etc.

Merlin, like others have said, thanks so much for your great work on this!!

 

[Ryansr]

I just did the upgrade to 380.68_4 on my N66U from a previous version 378.56_2. I read this thread and after upgrading, immediately went to manually reset the RT-N66U.

It went quite well considering that I haven't upgraded in years! Nowadays though, I use the RT-N66U behind my DSL-AC52U as it just works better for me as a router than the DSL-AC52U ever can because I don't mind the non-AC speed as it's pretty fast enough for my 20Mbps DSL line with my wife's 3 devices and my 4 devices. Thanks again, Merlin!

 

[jfree23]

Ryansr, glad it went well for you. Did you get the popup warning to update manually after the update was finished (or the 3 minute timer expired)? I can't remember if my AC66 gives that same message, but a) the AC66 is my home router, so I am updating it via a local LAN connection, b) refreshing the browser (Chrome) always bring me back to the login GUI. I did the updates to the N66 via WAN, so the connection may be a little different, and there are way more components in the path from my local PC out through the AC66, through the internet, to the N66 with WAN GUI enabled. Also running OpenVPN on the N66, wonder if that contributes to this update issue. Too late now to disable it.

 

[Ryansr]

Ryansr, glad it went well for you. Did you get the popup warning to update manually after the update was finished (or the 3 minute timer expired)? I can't remember if my AC66 gives that same message, but a) the AC66 is my home router, so I am updating it via a local LAN connection, b) refreshing the browser (Chrome) always bring me back to the login GUI. I did the updates to the N66 via WAN, so the connection may be a little different, and there are way more components in the path from my local PC out through the AC66, through the internet, to the N66 with WAN GUI enabled. Also running OpenVPN on the N66, wonder if that contributes to this update issue. Too late now to disable it.

I never got that message to reset the router but after installation I just pressed the reset button and then did manual setup of the network. I also did the upgrade using WAN.

 

[jfree23]

Update - I was able to regain WAN connection with my remote N66U! Instead of just rebooting the router, this time the person I sent in powered off router and cable modem, waited 1 hour, powered both on at once, and connection to remote WAN GUI was restored! So I have to guess that reflashing and/or rebooting the router disturbs something in upstream path, maybe cable modem is not giving it an IP address or providing DNS after it comes back up, or cable system is blocking access after "too many retries", or something. I still suspect there are a number of WAN disconnect or drop scenarios that the router can't or won't handle. I have seen this on my local AC66.

Unfortunately, as I had to rediscover, N66 only has 8 MB flash space, later/higher models have 32MB, and Merlin code does not copy syslog to flash for the 8MB routers. So there is no way to tell what the router was doing while it was "offline". Might try to set it up to write the log to a USB stick so I can troubleshoot if this happens again.

 

[RMerlin]

Unfortunately, as I had to rediscover, N66 only has 8 MB flash space, later/higher models have 32MB,

All RT-N66U have 32 MB. The initial firmware was much larger than 8 MB, so there's no way it could have ever run it.

 

[jfree23]

Sorry, my error, it has 8 MB jffs flash space, not total flash space. My AC66 has 32MB jffs. I interpreted your earlier message to say that 32MB jffs routers copy syslog, 8MB jffs do not. Maybe I got that wrong?

In any case, my N66 does not not have any copies of any syslogs in jffs.

Thanks

 

[RMerlin]

Sorry, my error, it has 8 MB jffs flash space, not total flash space. My AC66 has 32MB jffs. I interpreted your earlier message to say that 32MB jffs routers copy syslog, 8MB jffs do not. Maybe I got that wrong?

In any case, my N66 does not not have any copies of any syslogs in jffs.

Thanks

The JFFS partition for the RT-N66U will be the size of the unused flash out of 32 MB. So a 22 MB firmware will leave around 8 MB of flash space left for the JFFS partition.

Newer models have 128 MB of flash, so they typically allocate 32 or 64 MB for the firmware (depending on the model), and either a fixed 32 MB or whatever's left for the JFFS partition.

 

[NancyF]

Hi guys, been a lurker here for the past couple years and using Asuswrt-Merlin on my routers, as well as some friends and family who I provide tech support for.

I've noticed as of firmware 380.66 or .67 (sorry can't remember which one exactly) the RT-N66U now requires a manual reboot after the update, but my AC68U will reboot on its own just as it always has in earlier fw updates. AC68U is setup as main router in the basement server room and the N66 setup in AP mode on the second floor in my office (whole house is wired for cat6).

Anyways, the problem is the people I support, all but one are still using a N66U router (the one off has the AC1900P and his auto reboots). I usually remote desktop into a computer at their place and update to stable fw while they are sleeping or away (after guinea pigging my own N66U) because I can't always make house calls. I know I could just get them to turn it off and back on, but it was great when they didn't have to be bothered.

Sorry for the long story - just wondering what was the reason for this change as of the last fw or so? Any chance it can go back to auto rebooting after update?


thanks

I am a new member to this forum and am very inexperienced with dealing with most any computer/router issues. That is how I found my way here. I hope all of you won't get disgusted with my questions.

I have had for several years a Asus RT-AC66U router. It is at least 5 years old and probably older. I have never upgraded/updated it as far as I know.

Early this morning my router stopped working and nothing I did worked. Searching online for help I came across an article that helped me reset the network information and it is now working.

Then still searching for why this happened I found this forum. My question after finding this is, did this router update on its own and if so, will it continue to do this and if so will I always have to go in and enter this information?

I live in a small town that does not have a computer shop so the nearest place for help is 60 miles away. But, since it is a router issue, I can't just haul my Mac in for help.

Thanks for any light you might be able to shed on this.

Nancy F

 

[RMerlin]

id this router update on its own

Asuswrt-Merlin does not supported automated updates.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I have had for several years a Asus RT-AC66U router. It is at least 5 years old and probably older. I have never upgraded/updated it as far as I know.

This thread (and its sub-forum) is about RMerlin's third party firmware for Asus routers, called Asuswrt-Merlin. Unless you had previously and deliberately installed it, it sounds like you were/are still using the router's original firmware supplied by Asus (called Asuswrt).

 

[Larceny]

It's because the router has crashed. That message automatically appears if the router doesn't start responding after a certain amount of time (i.e. if progress reaches 100% and the router still isn't answering back).

Today I updated my RT-N66U firmware from 380.68_4 to 380.70 and I also got the `please reboot the router manually` popup message after updating.

You say "It's a matter of luck, it's not a deliberate choice", but do I need to worry that something went wrong in the end? I guess that the firmware did update successfully after the manual reboot, right? Thanks.

 

[ColinTaylor]

but do I need to worry that something went wrong in the end?

No.

 

[Larceny]

No.

Thank you! I got a little bit worried, because this is the first time that I got surprised with this popup/message.