what is the rule of thumb for factory resets?

[eastavin]

With all the choice we have here between asus-merlin and asus-merlin beta and asus stock what is the rule of thumb as to when its advisable to do a factory reset? I seem to have flipped back and forth a fair amount without much thought on this. I recently did one for no really great reason and a few issues vanished so I thought why not ask?

Many thanks.

 

[appleseed]

rule of thumb = https://www.snbforums.com/threads/faq-nvram-and-factory-default-reset.22822/

 

[thelonelycoder]

If the version jump is 3 or more a factory default reset is recommended.
A reset is mandatory when switching from Asus stock to Asuswrt-Merlin or vice versa.
In any case, if your router behaves odd, a factory default reset is the first thing I would do.
A reset is always followed by a wholly manual configuration. Uploading a saved settings backup defeats the purpose of resetting.

 

[RMerlin]

Unfortunately, the only correct answer to this is: it depends.

My general advice:

- Factory default reset when going from Merlin to stock Asus
- Factory default when going to a much older build (2-3 revisions older in general)
- Factory default when going from Asus to Merlin AND there is a large version jump (for instance, going from a one year old Asus to the latest version of my firmware)

Otherwise, try it, and be prepared to do a factory default reset IF you notice anything unusual. Personally, I try to implement nvram upgrade code (Asus does too) when an nvram format has changed in a new version, but that will obviously not work when downgrading. And there are cases where there's some low-level wireless change that, while things might still work fine with your older settings, they won't run as optimally as they would after you do a factory default reset to fully apply those new values.

I do factory default resets maybe once a year on average on my own routers, and that's usually if I do encounter something unusual.

The only sure rule there is: try it, and if something is odd, do a factory default reset.