Any reason to upgrade ?

[TomT]

Router is 68u
Running RMerlins 3.0.0.4.376.45_0

Should I be looking to upgrade / update the firmware?

I have the occasional issue with port forward changes needing a full reboot and WiFi can be a bit poor...

But is it worth changing.. If so to what version?
Thanks

 

[Marc66]

It is usually good practice to regularly update the firmware as new versions usually fix bugs and security issues. In some cases, new versions also bring new features, which you may or may not want to use, so you can always chose not to enable them.

Your version is ~6 months old and there's been a few releases since, so I would encourage you to look at the change log and see if it addresses your problems.

If you are not keen on updating at every new release, you should definitely do it at least once every six months.

 

[Nullity]

Don't forget that upgrading can also introduce new bugs and security holes.

Though, as a general rule, staying up to date is probably safest.

 

[martinr]

It is usually good practice to regularly update the firmware as new versions usually fix bugs and security issues. In some cases, new versions also bring new features, which you may or may not want to use, so you can always chose not to enable them.

Your version is ~6 months old and there's been a few releases since, so I would encourage you to look at the change log and see if it addresses your problems.

If you are not keen on updating at every new release, you should definitely do it at least once every six months.

As an example, there is this post http://www.snbforums.com/threads/security-lan-side-security-hole-mitigation.21774/
announced barely 2 months ago:

"There's currently a security hole in all known versions of Asuswrt and Asuswrt-Merlin that can allow a LAN user to execute a command on the router without requiring authentication.

LATEST UPDATE:
Asus resolved the issue with firmware updates released on January 12th for all models. If using the stock firmware then make sure you update to the latest version released on or around January 12th."


But your question is a fair one to ask - and it seems to get asked reasonably regularly. I have not yet updated for the following reason: no-one else is on my LAN so that particular vulnerability is a concern but not a priority for me, but your setup might be different and, had you been unaware of this vulnerability, you might now be rushing to update. I have an ASUS RT-AC68U and a very tiny number of users reported minor problems with the latest update for that model, so I'm going to hang on a little while longer - probably for the next minor update - and then I'll update, especially as this latest update requires a manual re-input of all settings, so it will require careful preparation and a quiet hour or 2.

It's no different to OS updates for your mobile phone or PC: if it fixes some very risky vulnerability you rush to install it; if it fixes minor, not-too-risky vulnerabilities or adds minor enhancements, you might wait a week or 2 and see whether the forums are reporting trashed devices before updating, and if it adds only features or enhancements that are of no interest to you, you may well decide it's not worth your time (especially if you run into a snag), so you leave it for perhaps an update or 2 after that. That's why Marc66 is encouraging your looking at the change log and weighing up the need against any risks, whilst avoiding complacency.

Nevertheless, it's good to question the wisdom of blindly updating anything just for the sake of it.

 

[TomT]

Thanks for the replies.
Can you advise what version is recommended to upgrade to ?
What are users find the most stable with decent wireless ( I seem to have lots of wireless issues )

Thanks

 

[martinr]

Thanks for the replies.
Can you advise what version is recommended to upgrade to ?
What are users find the most stable with decent wireless ( I seem to have lots of wireless issues )

Thanks

I should think that if you are going to the trouble to upgrade, you'd want the latest version ie 378.51. Having graduated to ASUS Merlin from DDWRT some 4 months or so ago, I believe asking which is the most stable version just isn't a question that needs to be asked about this firmware (in contrast to DDWRT, when it would be a perfectly valid question).

And the reason is obvious from this extract from Merlin's page outlining his approach to Asuswrt-Merlin:

"Priorities: Stability > performance > features. Fewer changes to the code means fewer chances that new bugs might be introduced. A router firmware is the core of your home network. It must be rock-stable above all. And performance optimizations can have unexpected side-effect when dealing with things that aren't fully understood."


Yesterday, I upgraded from 376.48 to the latest version, carefully following the instructions to factory restore. In fact, I followed the method outlined in another topic ("378.50 is out") rather than do a factory restore through the GUI, i.e.:


1. Power off

2. Power on holding the WPS button until the power led begins flashing

3. Release the WPS button and let the router boot up

4. Apply the new firmware and do the minimum in the wizard once it boots up

5. Repeat steps 2 and 3

6. Manually reapply settings in the gui . Reboot one final time after new settings in place


And everything went as smooth as silk.

 

[Gunner84]

Hi

Does resetting before flashing new firmware have any advantage?

I just update then hold the reset button in for about 5 secs, setup my settings and reboot one final time.

Resetting before hand seems a waste of time unless I'm missing something?

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Hi

Does resetting before flashing new firmware have any advantage?

I just update then hold the reset button in for about 5 secs, setup my settings and reboot one final time.

Resetting before hand seems a waste of time unless I'm missing something?

Reseting before upgrading serves no purpose and is not needed.

 

[martinr]

Hi

Does resetting before flashing new firmware have any advantage?

I just update then hold the reset button in for about 5 secs, setup my settings and reboot one final time.

Resetting before hand seems a waste of time unless I'm missing something?

You're possibly, even probably, right, but having locked myself out the very first time I flashed this router - the day after it arrived (and wondering if Amazon would still take it back!) - I'm not taking any chances or experimenting to see if I can get away with it.

Martin

 

[wuyanxu]

Excellent thread. I'm on the exactly same old firmware and also using AC68u.

I planed to do the upgrade to the latest in the new few days, and switch my Transmission and Adblocking to use Entware.

But at the same time, I feel the old saying "if it ain't broken, don't fix it." Applies here.....

 

[martinr]

Excellent thread. I'm on the exactly same old firmware and also using AC68u.

I planed to do the upgrade to the latest in the new few days, and switch my Transmission and Adblocking to use Entware.

But at the same time, I feel the old saying "if it ain't broken, don't fix it." Applies here.....

Yes, there's a lot of grey between the black and white at each end of the spectrum!

I spent a good hour or so taking screenshots of every page and tab on my installed firmware beforehand - even those that I thought I'd never want to consult - been caught out in the past - and saved them before doing the upgrade. It's time well repaid in future.

Good luck, although I'm not sure luck comes into it: the seven "p"s applies: prior preparation and planning prevents piss-poor performance.

Martin

 

[joegreat]

I spent a good hour or so taking screenshots of every page and tab on my installed firmware beforehand - even those that I thought I'd never want to consult - been caught out in the past - and saved them before doing the upgrade.

Hi,

Any reason not using the NVRAM Save/Restore utility?
Makes life much easier when switching firmware versions!

With kind regards
Joe

 

[Martineau]

Reseting before upgrading serves no purpose and is not needed.

If you are attempting to upgrade a customised running router, and it has been running for a while with all the 'extras' or any custom Entware/Optware apps, then the router may or may not have a potential memory shortage (not to mention reduced CPU cycles etc.) that could cause the firmware upgrade to fail.

So I always unplug any USB attached drives (after a drive mysteriously got wiped during an upgrade) and spend the extra 5 mins to reset to factory defaults then flash the required firmware.

Just my personal methodology.

 

[martinr]

Hi,

Any reason not using the NVRAM Save/Restore utility?
Makes life much easier when switching firmware versions!

With kind regards
Joe

Hi Joe,

Yes, one excellent reason why I don't use it: I'm really unfamiliar with things like nvram and jffs and am more than a little hesitant to start poking about unless I'm sure I'm not going to mess things up! I half remember seeing mention of this facility when 350 came out but I was very hesitant to follow it up, because an additional reason is that, since I'm no expert, and don't call up the router settings all that often, manually re-entering my settings helps me stay familiar with the features and options. It forces me to visit each page and tab and it also sometimes makes me question features I select and perhaps look into the implications of selecting "yes" or "no" to a feature., especially as it might impinge on security.

Nevertheless, I very much appreciate your telling me about this Save/Restore feature. I look forwards to the day when I feel confident enough to use it knowing exactly what I'm doing.

Many thanks, Joe.

Martin

 

[wuyanxu]

Done the upgrade to 378.51 last night, installed Entware and Transmission. Everything seems fine so far.

There's no Wi-fi issue, no bugs, it was all plane sailing thanks to RMerlin. Only 2 things might catch people out when upgrading:
- NAT loopback need to be set to Asus method (only for ARM routers I think)
- Custom script are disabled by default now, so needed to enable it.
It wasn't a problem because I was restoring settings from screenshots. So I was able to notice all the new menu settings.

A few more hours of tweaking tonight to set up Entware's Adblock, and see tweak the new adaptive QoS.

 

[Gunner84]

Done the upgrade to 378.51 last night, installed Entware and Transmission. Everything seems fine so far.

There's no Wi-fi issue, no bugs, it was all plane sailing thanks to RMerlin. Only 2 things might catch people out when upgrading:
- NAT loopback need to be set to Asus method (only for ARM routers I think)
- Custom script are disabled by default now, so needed to enable it.
It wasn't a problem because I was restoring settings from screenshots. So I was able to notice all the new menu settings.

A few more hours of tweaking tonight to set up Entware's Adblock, and see tweak the new adaptive QoS.

I have no idea what NAT loopback does but do I need to change it from default on my N66U?

thanks

 

[joegreat]

- NAT loopback need to be set to Asus method (only for ARM routers I think)A few more hours of tweaking tonight

I have no idea what NAT loopback does but do I need to change it from default on my N66U?

Hi,

Reading the change log for the release (part of the ZIP you downloaded) answers your question:

The original NAT loopback was re-added, and is now user-selectable (between None, Asus, and Merlin). I recommend using Merlin for MIPS routers. For ARM routers with the Trend Micro engine, I applied a few tweaks to attempt to make my (Merlin) NAT loopback code work with it (so far it's working fine on my own router), but your own results may vary, so experiment with both. I expect Asus's own loopback to be hopefully fixed with their next release.

...and Google is also very, very helpful to find what is NAT loopback!

With kind regards
Joe

 

[wuyanxu]

I host a photo website, so I needed NAT loopback to check my website.

My comment was more towards OP, who uses the same AC68u router.

 

[Gunner84]

Hi,

Reading the change log for the release (part of the ZIP you downloaded) answers your question:

...and Google is also very, very helpful to find what is NAT loopback!

With kind regards
Joe

Hi

I did actually read that but I still had no better understanding of it, lol. I think I will just leave it on default which I think is nat loopback merlin.

Thanks

 

[martinr]

Hi

I did actually read that but I still had no better understanding of it, lol. I think I will just leave it on default which I think is nat loopback merlin.

Thanks

This was also my first time coming across NAT loopback, and I had to do a bit of digging with Google. I can give you an example that might start to make it clearer; bear in mind, this is as I understand it.

I have an app on my iPhone that allows me to log in securely (ssh) to my router and media players on my network. And I can do this not only from inside my network (ie at home), but even from outside. If I access my router from inside the network I use 192.168.1.1. And to allow me to access when I'm away from home, I need my router's external IP address, which changes as my ISP sees fit, so I've used ASUS' dynamic DDNS service and now have a permanent external IP address, fred25.asuscomm.com (altered for this example), that maps to whatever my real, public IP address is. So when at home I'd login using the address 192.168.1.1 and when away I'd login using the address fred25.asuscomm.com. But that would mean 2 profiles in the app to do the very same thing depending on my location, and it requires me to remember which profile to use and when. NAT loopback would mean I'd only need to set up one profile, using the address fred25.asuscomm.com, and, even if I was inside my own network (when I would otherwise have to use 192.168.1.1 to access my router), the router would know that, under these circumstances, fred25.asuscomm.com is to be understood as the internal address of the router. So I now only need the one profile; it works wherever I am, and I don't have to rely on my fallible memory to remember which profile in the app I use when at home and which one when away from home.

And, unless I'm wrong, it really is that simple, and now you probably see why people with security cameras would similarly be interested in it.

(And thanks to wuyanxu for the correct setting for NAT loopback on the RT-AC68U. I now look forwards to getting it working for me.)

Martin