Setting up new ASUS RT-BE86U. Found worrying items in System Log. Can you reassure me?

[Greg2053]

Hi, having run an ASUS RT-AC88U with Merlin for a few years now, there is no longer support, so I moved onto the RT-BE86U (not having clients which use 6GHz Wi-Fi, it's ideal for me!)
I'm generally very pleased with how it's running! I've now got it running the 11th Jan Merlin release - RT-BE86U_3006_102.3_0.

I'm always seeking to improve security, so as well as changing the DNS, and a good few other settings, I decided to look into the System Log and see if anything caught my attention. A few things did. I hope someone here can ressure me on them. (Hey I'm not familiar with Linux, so there's a lot I don't know there!)

1) I bought the Router on Jan 22nd 2025, delivered and started setting it up on 26th Jan 2025. However in the System Log it starts with Jan 01 at 00:00:46.
OK that could be the router being set up before being dispatched, or th actual original coding of the Firmware, but those same Jan 01 at 00:00:46 items RE-APPEAR inbetween EACH of the re-starts of the router in my first setup, creating a VLAN, and then moving over to the most recent Merlin Firmware. Is that normal???

2) There were a few "Failures to load" of a few items, that didn't look critical, but one item that caught my attention was "Jan 1 00:00:46 kernel: DYING GASP IRQ Initialized and Enabled".
Now to my "Linux Ignorant Mind" that just sounds like a virus! Can anyone - a real "Master-Linux-Nerd" reassure me of my total ignorance? I would be most pleased if you can, since I like the router and don't want to have to return it or whatever...
I do know that IRQs are "calls" on the CPU, so it's obviously an important system item! If it's a genuine system component, then why do they give it a name that sounds like a virus???

I will do a separate post about issues to do with the change of DNS, which seems to have settings in TWO places on the Router, one encrypted, the other NOT - and further settings in each client. My tests seem to indicate that the DNS -Quad9 - is working but is NOT encrypted... I need to do a few screen-shots...

regards and thanks in anticipation for a mighty "Aren't you ever so stupid"! Greg

 

[Jbennett360]

1. Jan 01 is the default date after a reboot etc.
2. Try stock FW

 

[Greg2053]

1. Jan 01 is the default date after a reboot etc.
2. Try stock FW

OK - I get that. Since no router I've ever taken apart (after it's defunct) has had a battery, I suppose that until it's contacted a time server, it can't know the date or time!
All I can say to that is - "Thank goodness not all things claim to be Artificially Intelligent!" - I don't think many actually ARE - just MASSIVE repositories of code.

As to trying the stock FW. I DID do all the basic set up using the stock firmware, but I've been using Merlin now for a good few years. I suppose I don't NEED to, but...
One thing that "Moved me over rather damn quick" was the notice with the recent Merlin Changelog, that if you wanted to use Merlin FW on the two updated Stock FWs from ASUS, then you'd need to connect via SSH and send the command "nvram set DOWNGRADE_CHECK_PASS=1"
I just didn't fancy that. So far, I'm not a "Command Line Person"...

Regards Greg

 

[Jbennett360]

OK - I get that. Since no router I've ever taken apart (after it's defunct) has had a battery, I suppose that until it's contacted a time server, it can't know the date or time!
All I can say to that is - "Thank goodness not all things claim to be Artificially Intelligent!" - I don't think many actually ARE - just MASSIVE repositories of code.

As to trying the stock FW. I DID do all the basic set up using the stock firmware, but I've been using Merlin now for a good few years. I suppose I don't NEED to, but...
One thing that "Moved me over rather damn quick" was the notice with the recent Merlin Changelog, that if you wanted to use Merlin FW on the two updated Stock FWs from ASUS, then you'd need to connect via SSH and send the command "nvram set DOWNGRADE_CHECK_PASS=1"
I just didn't fancy that. So far, I'm not a "Command Line Person"...

Regards Greg

Personally wouldn't have jumped ship to merlin so quick on such a new device.

 

[Greg2053]

Personally wouldn't have jumped ship to merlin so quick on such a new device.

Yes - neither would I - except for the stated necessity of going "Command Line", if I wanted to later.
I can still go back... But yes - I suppose this makes me a pioneer!

apart from these "security concerns" and sorting out the encrypted DNS, this RT-BE86U is working nicely. Temperatures are all about 10°C lower than on my old RT-AC88U. The Internet is noticeably "snappier". That may just be the DNS - since my old Cloudflare preference, sometimes gets slow due to being overused, due to it's popularity?
I like Quad9's location and privacy policy better, and I like that they beat Sony in a Court Case to keep their independence!! Sony had to pay ALL costs for their attempt to bully them!
(plus the string you have to put into Android to get it working is so much ,much more memorable and easy to plug in!)

Anybody with Linux skills, got any ideas about "DYING GASP IRQ"?? I certainly don't want the routers CPU to go and die on me!!!

 

[ColinTaylor]

Anybody with Linux skills, got any ideas about "DYING GASP IRQ"?? I certainly don't want the routers CPU to go and die on me!!!

You really need to post the entire log so that we can see the messages in context. That one is fairly normal, but without seeing the entire log we can't say for sure.

 

[Greg2053]

You really need to post the entire log so that we can see the messages in context. That one is fairly normal, but without seeing the entire log we can't say for sure.

Thanks for your time in reading and replying.
When you say "That one is fairly normal", that's probably enough to reassure me...
Anyway, as requested, I enclose the complete log - as of yesterday.
I took the precaution to replace my Routers IP with XXX's. I also checked for any plain text version of Log On Details... - none there!
All 7157 lines!!
Perhaps someone will be interested to see a log of this new Router, to help in any de-bugging of the most recent Merlin FirmWare?
If you recognize the name "DYING GASP IRQ" then that's probably enough for me.
- - -
Steps
1) Start up and initial setup with Asus Stock FW.

2) Various security minded settings, most of which didn't require a re-boot.

3) I tried, but failed to get my old TP-Link C7 v5 connected and working. (running a recent version of DD-WRT) I actually found that I no longer needed it, since the isolated custom VLAN I set up on an Ethernet Port did EVERYTHING the TP-Link had been doing - and BETTER! I'll probably get that working again soon, so as to use it in another room in my cave - with walls of solid clay over a meter thick, Wi-Fi doesn't get very far!!!
I think my error on Sunday was not "giving my computer a fixed IP in the new DHCP range of the Asus"...... (stupid me! It's a few years since I've had to do that...)

4) Setting up the isolated, custom VLAN on one of the Ethernet Ports DID require a re-boot,

5) as did installing Merlin RT-BE86U_3006_102.3_0

6) Further "tinkering" and exploration, looking for anything else that needed doing... Including THIS Log file!

N.B. Don't feel you've got to read this - but I hope you enjoy, or benefit somehow if you do!

Regards Greg - the Troglodyte

 

[ColinTaylor]

I don't see anything in the log to be concerned about. The "gasp" messages are all normal. I have them on my router as well.

 

[Greg2053]

I don't see anything in the log to be concerned about. The "gasp" messages are all normal. I have them on my router as well.

Ta very muchly!
You're reading speed must be much greater than mine! WoW!

I'll let this be the "Dying Gasp" of this post, and create a new post sometime during the week, looking into the DNS encryption issue, which is totally separate.

 

[raven-au]

Ta very muchly!
You're reading speed must be much greater than mine! WoW!

I'll let this be the "Dying Gasp" of this post, and create a new post sometime during the week, looking into the DNS encryption issue, which is totally separate.

The first point you ask about is very probably because the domestic router manufactures don't want the extra unit cost of a battery and a battery is something that will probably fairly frequently fail.

There is another way to think about the second point, the Linux kernel for the firmware build is made from source code which everyone can inspect and is readily available in the Merlin source code repository.
There are binary only components for things like the wireless chipset drivers etc. but they usually come from the chipset or router board manufacturer so it would not be in their interest to distribute toxic binary code, they would go broke fairly quickly I expect.
The source code for the various packages (including the kernel) and binary only components come to Merlin and Gnuton from ASUS so there is some confidence they are "clean".
There may be other ways to validate the binary components too such such as checksums, cryptographic signature, etc. included by the manufacturer but I don't know myself.