Asuswrt-Merlin 3.0.0.4.372.31 is out

[brusyev]

A number of things could have happened, but the most common one is the router being too low on free memory and requiring a reboot to clear it, so the router would have enough space to put the uploaded trx file.

It this normal for memory to be this low on this router? or is something wrong with my device? I am trying to copy a large file on the hard drive which is attached to my router and get errors saying that server is low on memory. Each time I need to restart my transfer. Can anything be done to free up more memory? I am using the latest 372.31 firmware.

Total 234.22 MB
Free 62.65 MB
Buffers 41.53 MB
Swap usage 0.00 / 0.00 MB

 

[joegreat]

It this normal for memory to be this low on this router? or is something wrong with my device?

Total 234.22 MB
Free 62.65 MB
Buffers 41.53 MB
Swap usage 0.00 / 0.00 MB

Hi,

This memory usage is normal. I have nearly the same free amount of memory:

             total         used         free       shared      buffers
Mem:        239844       174792        65052            0        13560
-/+ buffers:             161232        78612
Swap:        64252         2252        62000

The only difference is that I use swap to avoid real low memory issues!

I am trying to copy a large file on the hard drive which is attached to my router and get errors saying that server is low on memory.

Are you sure that is says low router memory and now low space on router disk?

With kind regards
Joe

 

[routerdave]

Hello there! I'm new to the board.

I've recently re-flashed my AC66U with the 372.31 version.

I've also downloaded the source code and cloned the development environment using the git utility. I'm interested in exploring this code.

I checked out the 372.31 source and built it with no problems. Using 64 bit Ubuntu 12.04 on a VMware.

So just for the heck of it I diff'd the *.trx file I built with the one I downloaded from Merlin's site, just to make sure the images matched. They did not.

Lot's of diffs.

I also gave them both the same time and date stamp but still no match.

I don't want to turn my AC66U into a brick.

Are these differences benign? Does anyone know?

They both say they are from the same build via the trx file name.

I got the procedure from two sources:

https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/wiki/Download-the-latest-source-code-from-GitHub

and this one:

https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/wiki/Compile-Firmware-from-source-using-Ubuntu

Having a lot of fun with this stuff! I enjoy learning new tech.

Thanks in advance for any help! I appreciate it.

David T.

Howdy folks,

A new build of Asuswrt-Merlin is now available for download. This build saw the core code merged with the recent final 372 release from Asus (I was previously using a very early version of the 372 code branch).

This update includes the AiCloud security fixes - upgrading to this version ASAP is STRONGLY recommended if you use AiCloud.

The RT-N66U is still using the older (but stable) wireless driver from build 270. That means it will be compatible with Intel devices, however it will lack HW accelerated PPP support and the Xbox optimization option.

Not much else in the changelog versus 372.30, partly due to lack of time, but also because the merge with the final 372 code was far more complex than previous merges (a typical merge takes me an evening, this one took about three days). I want to ensure that I have a stable base FW with 372 before going forward.

One notable addition to the Experimental build is support for the Yandex.DNS service. This is a DNS-based filtering service that Asus is integrating into the firmware. You can find the settings on the Parental Control section.

Speaking of which, the Parental Control time slot management is currently broken under Internet Explorer 10. The issue seems to lie within the third party Javascript code used by Asus for this calendar, and a bit over my head to fix. Until Asus fixes it you will have to use a different browser for managing Parental Control.

That's about it. As usual, see the changelog for the details. Enjoy!

 

[brusyev]

Hi,

This memory usage is normal. I have nearly the same free amount of memory:

             total         used         free       shared      buffers
Mem:        239844       174792        65052            0        13560
-/+ buffers:             161232        78612
Swap:        64252         2252        62000

The only difference is that I use swap to avoid real low memory issues!


Are you sure that is says low router memory and now low space on router disk?

With kind regards
Joe

Nope, I have plenty of space on my attached drive. Where can I find instructions on how to enable the swap option? I am new to the forum so I am still learning what this router is capable off.

 

[RogerSC]

Hello there! I'm new to the board.

I've recently re-flashed my AC66U with the 372.31 version.

I've also downloaded the source code and cloned the development environment using the git utility. I'm interested in exploring this code.

I checked out the 372.31 source and built it with no problems. Using 64 bit Ubuntu 12.04 on a VMware.

So just for the heck of it I diff'd the *.trx file I built with the one I downloaded from Merlin's site, just to make sure the images matched. They did not.

Lot's of diffs.

I also gave them both the same time and date stamp but still no match.

I don't want to turn my AC66U into a brick.

Are these differences benign? Does anyone know?

They both say they are from the same build via the trx file name.

I got the procedure from two sources:

https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/wiki/Download-the-latest-source-code-from-GitHub

and this one:

https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/wiki/Compile-Firmware-from-source-using-Ubuntu

Having a lot of fun with this stuff! I enjoy learning new tech.

Thanks in advance for any help! I appreciate it.

David T.

There are a lot of possibilities in why the code generated by two different build environments are different. Date strings is certainly a big one, but you could have some library differences (things that you don't build, but take built from others), tools like compilers can have slightly different switch settings, there are a lot of reason for differences. One thing that you can do to check this out, if you've eliminated all the external variables (tool switches, date strings, library modules, etc.) is to get a tool that can disassemble object modules...I've done this in the past, find some corresponding code that's different and see if they're functionally the same. This is time consuming, but there are tools made to display object modules (compiled code), that will give you the generated code in "assembly language", the native language of the machine that the code runs on, and you can compare those. I've often see functionally equivalent code that isn't exactly the same due to variables in code generation, environmental variables, etc. Spot checking is usually enough, patterns turn up that you recognize as being functionally equivalent after while.

Anyways, just a thought if it comes to that. RMerlin can give you much better, higher level ideas, since he's the guy whose fiddled with the source and built the firmware for some time now.

 

[RMerlin]

So just for the heck of it I diff'd the *.trx file I built with the one I downloaded from Merlin's site, just to make sure the images matched. They did not.

Lot's of diffs.

I also gave them both the same time and date stamp but still no match.

I don't want to turn my AC66U into a brick.

Are these differences benign? Does anyone know?

Differences are normal. Date strings as mentioned are one reason. Some binaries also include paths (Samba is one of them that does if I remember correctly) from the build environment.

If your firmware is at least close to mine (25-ish MB), then it's safe to flash. Don't flash if the file is abnormally small (like only a few megs), or larger than 31-ish MB. If you flash a broken firmware, you should be able to recover using Firmware Recovery - I had to do it a couple of times.

If you are serious about tinkering, I strongly recommend buying a serial cable. Altho I worked for months without one, it was essential when I was troubleshooting kernel-level issues.

The main ways to really brick it:

1) Doing anything funky to the CFE partition

2) Flashing a very small file instead of an actual firmware - I believe someone once saw something that hinted at the router potentially treating any small flash file as being a CFE flash. I haven't verified this for myself however.

 

[BigManz]

Hello All,

I'm enjoying the stability of the 5Ghz wifi on this build. However my wired speeds are slightly slower. From 200Mbps to 175Mbps... (this is with per ip logging enabled)

Logging has been broken for awhile now. When I reboot my device its unable to open the logs file again =/ Permissions appear to be correct when I logged into the router via ssh. I can even see the files..

Error: (I put USER instead of my actual username)
Aug 9 21:03:05 cstats[320]: Problem loading /mnt/oldshare/logs/tomato_cstats_60a44ca0fc88.gz. Still trying...

USER@RT-AC66U:/tmp/mnt/oldshare/logs# df -h .
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 74.6G 88.1M 74.5G 0% /tmp/mnt/oldshare

USER@RT-AC66U:/tmp/mnt/oldshare/logs# ll
-rwxrwxrwx 0 USER root 0 Jun 24 09:57 tomato_cstats_60a44ca0fc88.gz*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 USER root 4291 Aug 8 09:46 tomato_cstats_60a44ca0fc88.gz.tmp*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 USER root 237 Aug 9 21:05 tomato_rstats_60a44ca0fc88.gz*

USER@RT-AC66U:/tmp/mnt/oldshare/logs# ls -ld /mnt/oldshare/
drwxrwxrwx 1 USER root 4096 May 25 14:57 /mnt/oldshare/
USER@RT-AC66U:/tmp/mnt/oldshare/logs# ls -ld /mnt/oldshare/logs/
drwxrwxrwx 1 USER root 0 Aug 9 21:05 /mnt/oldshare/logs/

Lastly, the network map doesn't show the space utilization.. =/
PIC: http://prntscr.com/1kdk42

Aside from these small complaints, great work RMerlin... first router I've enjoyed in years!

 

[RMerlin]

I'm enjoying the stability of the 5Ghz wifi on this build. However my wired speeds are slightly slower. From 200Mbps to 175Mbps... (this is with per ip logging enabled)

IPTraffic is not compatible with HW acceleration, so it will cause the maximum WAN speed to be around 150-200 Mbits, depending on which features you are using.

Logging has been broken for awhile now. When I reboot my device its unable to open the logs file again =/ Permissions appear to be correct when I logged into the router via ssh. I can even see the files..

Error: (I put USER instead of my actual username)
Aug 9 21:03:05 cstats[320]: Problem loading /mnt/oldshare/logs/tomato_cstats_60a44ca0fc88.gz. Still trying...

USER@RT-AC66U:/tmp/mnt/oldshare/logs# df -h .
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 74.6G 88.1M 74.5G 0% /tmp/mnt/oldshare

USER@RT-AC66U:/tmp/mnt/oldshare/logs# ll
-rwxrwxrwx 0 USER root 0 Jun 24 09:57 tomato_cstats_60a44ca0fc88.gz*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 USER root 4291 Aug 8 09:46 tomato_cstats_60a44ca0fc88.gz.tmp*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 USER root 237 Aug 9 21:05 tomato_rstats_60a44ca0fc88.gz*

Your cstats file is 0 bytes long, meaning it's probably corrupted. Delete it (as well as the tmp file), then re-create it.

Lastly, the network map doesn't show the space utilization.. =/
PIC: http://prntscr.com/1kdk42

Your own "du" output shows 0% used, so that's why you see an empty bar - you don't have enough space used for it to register on the fuel gauge.

 

[BigManz]

Thanks for the prompt reply... answers inline

IPTraffic is not compatible with HW acceleration, so it will cause the maximum WAN speed to be around 150-200 Mbits, depending on which features you are using.

[BigManz]: I'm aware of that, I was comparing speeds with HW acceleration off and IPTraffic on. (Apples to Apples)

Your cstats file is 0 bytes long, meaning it's probably corrupted. Delete it (as well as the tmp file), then re-create it.

[BigManz]: I'm always having to re-create it upon rebooting/resetting the router. I'd like to keep the historical data if at all possible. Its nice to have my own metrics instead of relying upon the ISP

Your own "du" output shows 0% used, so that's why you see an empty bar - you don't have enough space used for it to register on the fuel gauge.

[BigManz]: For some reason I thought it would show a percentage, my bad..

--

I even noticed that shares are being exported when they shouldn't be. I turn sharing off but yet the log files are still accessible via SMB

554 USER 2416 S nmbd -D -s /etc/smb.conf
555 USER 2356 S nmbd -D -s /etc/smb.conf
573 USER 3240 S N smbd -D -s /etc/smb.conf
9438 USER 3492 S N smbd -D -s /etc/smb.conf
9439 USER 3492 S N smbd -D -s /etc/smb.conf

I can just modify the smb.conf and restart smb... but thought I'd point it out

Thanks again!

 

[routerdave]

thanks Merlin. the two trx files are the exact same size so i'm very confident it's safe to flash my local build. i'm just being safe.

nice job on this stuff, btw. i already have two friends using your firmware on their own brand new ac66u's

Differences are normal. Date strings as mentioned are one reason. Some binaries also include paths (Samba is one of them that does if I remember correctly) from the build environment.

If your firmware is at least close to mine (25-ish MB), then it's safe to flash. Don't flash if the file is abnormally small (like only a few megs), or larger than 31-ish MB. If you flash a broken firmware, you should be able to recover using Firmware Recovery - I had to do it a couple of times.

If you are serious about tinkering, I strongly recommend buying a serial cable. Altho I worked for months without one, it was essential when I was troubleshooting kernel-level issues.

The main ways to really brick it:

1) Doing anything funky to the CFE partition

2) Flashing a very small file instead of an actual firmware - I believe someone once saw something that hinted at the router potentially treating any small flash file as being a CFE flash. I haven't verified this for myself however.

 

[dikkiedirk]

I am currently on 3.0.0.4.220. Do I need to reset to factory defaults?


I use a Intel WiFi adapter in my laptop. Will it still work after the update to 4.372.31? What does the new WiFi driver do for Intel adapters? Any improvement?

 

[joegreat]

Hi,

I am currently on 3.0.0.4.220. Do I need to reset to factory defaults?

Yes, with the newer firmware hidden settings have changed.

I use a Intel WiFi adapter in my laptop. Will it still work after the update to 4.372.31? What does the new WiFi driver do for Intel adapters? Any improvement?

No new drivers: Merlin re-compiled with the old ones.

With kind regards
Joe

 

[pigbrother]

After a power failure, my RT-N66U lost its manually set WAN MAC address and started with the hardware default one. Since i wasn't home, it was a problem.

I thought the MAC address is written in NVRAM, but it was the only lost settings, so I guess it is not.

 

[RMerlin]

After a power failure, my RT-N66U lost its manually set WAN MAC address and started with the hardware default one. Since i wasn't home, it was a problem.

I thought the MAC address is written in NVRAM, but it was the only lost settings, so I guess it is not.

The MAC is stored in the CFE at the manufacturing plant, but it gets copied to nvram after a factory default reset. So if your settings get corrupted, the nvram value that gets used by the router might get lost - a factory default reset would restore it.

 

[pigbrother]

The strange thing was that my MAC address was the only lost thing, the other settings where just fine. I guess I should call it a bad day and that's it.

 

[RogerSC]

The strange thing was that my MAC address was the only lost thing, the other settings where just fine. I guess I should call it a bad day and that's it.

Comcast (my ISP) used to require the same MAC address on my line that I had to enter manually, but doesn't any more. I can just let the RT-N66U connect with it's own default MAC address and all is good. I'm not sure if this is because I have a newer cable modem (with DOCSIS 3 and IPv6 support), or because Comcast itself stopped needing to see the same MAC address on my line.

Wonder if you need to have a particular MAC address because you have an older modem, or because your ISP requires it? Do you know?

 

[RMerlin]

Comcast (my ISP) used to require the same MAC address on my line that I had to enter manually, but doesn't any more. I can just let the RT-N66U connect with it's own default MAC address and all is good. I'm not sure if this is because I have a newer cable modem (with DOCSIS 3 and IPv6 support), or because Comcast itself stopped needing to see the same MAC address on my line.

Wonder if you need to have a particular MAC address because you have an older modem, or because your ISP requires it? Do you know?

I don't know how it works in the US, but over here in Canada the ISP relies on the modem's MAC address to authenticate you, not the router's. That might be because we use DOCSIS 3.0 (and 2 for older/slower profiles) perhaps.

 

[Peligroso]

Hi,

First of all, thank you Merlin for your very hard work. I've had my RT-N66U router for about 10 months now and haven't actually had many issues at all. Every now and then, the 2.4GHz wifi has stopped working but normally that has been resolved with a simple router reboot.

However, the last week it has been a nightmare. The 2.4GHz network is just not working anymore. I'm trying to connect with iPads, iPhone and a laptop but they just can't connect. I also have an EA-N66 which is set to repeat the 2.4GHz network but that can't connect either so that doesn't work. As I said, previously this has been solved by simply rebooting but now I can try rebooting 20 times and it still doesn't work. I have also upgraded to this firmware (3.0.0.4.372.31 merlin) but unfortunately I'm still having the same problem.

Does anyone have any ideas for what I can try? It should probably be mentioned that the 5GHz network is working, so I'm only having these problems with the 2.4GHz.

Thanks!

 

[RMerlin]

Hi,

First of all, thank you Merlin for your very hard work. I've had my RT-N66U router for about 10 months now and haven't actually had many issues at all. Every now and then, the 2.4GHz wifi has stopped working but normally that has been resolved with a simple router reboot.

However, the last week it has been a nightmare. The 2.4GHz network is just not working anymore. I'm trying to connect with iPads, iPhone and a laptop but they just can't connect. I also have an EA-N66 which is set to repeat the 2.4GHz network but that can't connect either so that doesn't work. As I said, previously this has been solved by simply rebooting but now I can try rebooting 20 times and it still doesn't work. I have also upgraded to this firmware (3.0.0.4.372.31 merlin) but unfortunately I'm still having the same problem.

Does anyone have any ideas for what I can try? It should probably be mentioned that the 5GHz network is working, so I'm only having these problems with the 2.4GHz.

Thanks!

Make sure you have it set to 20 MHz, and to a fixed channel.

 

[Peligroso]

Make sure you have it set to 20 MHz, and to a fixed channel.

Oh sweet, at first glance it does seem like that fixed it. Thanks a ton