Asuswrt-Merlin 380.57 is now available

[martinr]

Resetting from the GUI as mentioned in the linked post did not fully erase NVRAM as my experience would imply. However, the post in general is quite good for those less informed than I.

Are you surmising that NVRAM isn't fully cleared by a factory reset or have you tested this?

 

[GG7]

that's exactly my case , i got a brand new one for xmas and now? Am i going to have a broken support for ever for my router? :/ funny i had chosen asus over netgear for the so called better support

It is a bummer that this significant bug managed to get all the way through testing and as far as the Merlin version!

But... at least you knew of this forum and can access the previous release of Merlin (378.56_2) which runs great and does not suffer from this issue.

That is the version I have installed on my brand new 68U rev. B1 and so far, no issues at all. I would like to have access to those few new features in the latest version, but I can wait for those in hopefully a soon to be issued patch version that fixes the 2.4 G internet connection bug.

Meanwhile, I can only imagine the number of ASUS routers that are being returned as defective as we speak! Most folks will not assume their 2.4 band issue is a firmware problem. I sure didn't at first!

 

[RMerlin]

Even on this release.... Overclocking is not fixed... 3 releases and no good news yet ???

There's nothing to "fix", as overclocking was never a supported feature. The bootloader values are now automatically overwritten at boot time by a closed-source component, therefore it will never be "fixed".

 

[SwampKracker]

Are you surmising that NVRAM isn't fully cleared by a factory reset or have you tested this?

100% surmising. Without analyzing a hex dump of NVRAM before and after a factory reset, I can only speculate. As I stated about my RT-N66U problem (with additional info), upgrading to firmware with a new SDK, resetting to factory defaults, manually entering all parameters, testing with a multiple GB file transfer and seeing the same odd behavior with every new firmware release was quite irritating. The "fix" was changing the 5GHz channel AFTER having entered all parameters and then deciding to try something different.

One would think that changing the 5GHz channel the first time after a reset would have sufficed. It was only after changing the 5GHz channel a second time after the reset that my torment finally ended. That is why I surmise resetting to factory defaults may not necessarily clear NVRAM.

I hate speculating, but I do not have the knowledge or expertise to know with 100% certainty why I battled with my RT-N66U when the SDK6 drivers were released. The problems expressed by some with the new drivers in this thread seem reminiscent of my past experience.

Maybe I don't have the answers, but someone reading this just might.

 

[RMerlin]

So I have to choose the option Create or reset data files: Enable if using new location. I should set it on Yes right ?

Yes.

 

[chele809]

There's nothing to "fix", as overclocking was never a supported feature. The bootloader values are now automatically overwritten at boot time by a closed-source component, therefore it will never be "fixed".

It's cool.. therefore I will stay at .55 anyway none of the new features I need.. Thanks for you're work Merlin...

Sent from my SM-G925T using Tapatalk

 

[dsquared2]

Is SmartConnect reliable now? I haven't used it ever because of launch issues.

 

[jsmiddleton4]

" Overclocking is not fixed... 3 releases and no good news yet ???"

If you want overclocking to "stick" you can use Shibby's Tomato variant. And for these 1ghz CPU B1 68U's, Shibby's recognizes them as 68P's.

 

[propergol]

Regarding 2.4GHz issue, can we assume that only ASUS can solve things or is there any "tricks" that could come from you Merlin?

 

[GG7]

Regarding 2.4GHz issue, can we assume that only ASUS can solve things or is there any "tricks" that could come from you Merlin?

The ball is 100% in ASUS's court on this one. And don't worry! I have an open ticket on this with ASUS support that I filed about 10 days ago now. After a chat with second tier support staffer, the ticket was quickly escalated to the group that actually writes the firmware.

The same day the ticket was sent to them, they contacted me via email and asked me to email them a copy of a settings file that would reliably reproduce the problem. Very easy for me to comply since any settings file I have created from a factory reset breaks the 2.4 G internet the second you flash either the latest ASUS factory firmware or this latest release from Merlin which incorporates the same SDK and wi-fi drivers now.

Personally, I have my money on the new wi-fi drivers as being the source of the dead 2.4 band, but of course, no one knows for sure yet and will have to wait for the ASUS coders to locate the problem and issue a new FW release post haste.

When all those returned 68Us start showing up on ASUS's loading docks with the defect listed as "No Internet Connection on 2.4 GHz band", you know someone's head is going to roll! Wouldn't be surprised if the entire firmware team gets a serious spanking over this screw up!

 

[propergol]

Then they should also check 5GHz channels that can't be used in EU when they should... we don't care of FCC rules here!

 

[jsmiddleton4]

"only ASUS can solve things or is there any "tricks" that could come from you Merlin?"

The issue continues to be solve what? Given some of us have no issues you'd think if it was a major firmware glitch the symptom would show up across the board.

If there is an issue with "older" hardware and staying with a previous non-380 earlier version is required then that might be the answer. I have an older Nvidia video card. IF I want to keep other features such as CUDA acceleration working when I do video compression I have to stick with older video drivers. Nvidia is not going to "fix" that. There's nothing to "fix".

If some line of code was missed, some model board ID identification missed, ASUS will find it. Still hard to explain how it works well for some of us and not for all of us even in that kind of scenario.

It is not that hard to try Shibby's Tomato variant for the 68U's. IF I was having issues I'd have done so just to eliminate some variables.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

any "tricks" that could come from you Merlin?"

It's all closed source now so i doubt Merlin could do anything to fix except maybe some huge firmware hack that nobody wants..

 

[GG7]

"only ASUS can solve things or is there any "tricks" that could come from you Merlin?"

The issue continues to be solve what? Given some of us have no issues you'd think if it was a major firmware glitch the symptom would show up across the board.

If there is an issue with "older" hardware and staying with a previous non-380 earlier version is required then that might be the answer. I have an older Nvidia video card. IF I want to keep other features such as CUDA acceleration working when I do video compression I have to stick with older video drivers. Nvidia is not going to "fix" that. There's nothing to "fix".

Nothing "Older" about this problem!

Both of the 68Us I had this happen with were brand new factory sealed units from Amazon.com with the B1 revision printed on the back sticker. I received the first unit the same week the new ASUS firmware was released. I flashed this latest firmware version from ASUS before I even hooked the router up to our network. Not for a second considering the discovery of the dead 2.4 GHz internet to be a firmware bug, I did what anyone new to a product would do.

I saved wasting my personal time trying to sort it out and I returned this first brand new router as defective with a dead 2.4 GHz band. Received the replacement from Amazon a few days later. This time, I checked the 2.4 GHz functionality before upgrading the firmware that was factory installed. 2.4 GHz worked fine. Added in all my custom settings. Everything still worked fine.

Flashed 1031 and just like turning off a light switch, the 2.4 GHz band lost all connections to the internet. Every single device that had previously worked perfectly on the older firmware were all dead in the water, even though all but a handful showed as connected to the router and could communicate with all LAN clients normally. Only change was the total loss of internet for the 2.4 GHz band.

Again... Brand new router that was in its factory sealed, shrink wrapped box 5 minutes earlier.

It really doesn't matter that your router works fine. The fact that brand new routers with the most recent hardware revision are being purchased and installed right now and then are having their 2.4 GHz band glitched by this latest firmware is the real story here.

Considering I was 2 for 2 myself, and most new owners of any effected routers are going to assume this to be a hardware defect and return the unit to the retailer as such, ASUS has a MAJOR problem on their hands until this is fixed.

 

[L&LD]

GG7, I can't find in the above few posts if you did a reset to factory defaults after you flashed to the new firmware?

Did you do a reset to factory defaults and then manually and minimally re-configure the router(s)?

 

[GG7]

GG7, I can't find in the above few posts if you did a reset to factory defaults after you flashed to the new firmware?

Did you do a reset to factory defaults and then manually and minimally re-configure the router(s)?

Yep. Always included a factory reset to defaults after any firmware change starting with 68U #2.

Didn't do anything with the first unit because I never thought for a second that what I was seeing could be caused by a firmware upgrade. But when the brand new replacement arrived, I focused in on every single detail in case this wasn't a one off problem with the first unit and instead proved to be something more alarming. Wanted to make sure that I could pin point the moment in time where the 2.4 GHz internet got broken, and this decision saved me a TON of time later on!

After trying every combo I could think of and always preceded by a reset to factory defaults , it always came down to the same cause, test after test after test. Installing/flashing the ASUS 3.0.0.4.380.1031 update to the brand new AC68U B1 rendered the previously fully functional 2.4 GHz band's internet connection totally unresponsive. All connected devices displayed a TX Rate of (1). Several 2.4 GHz N only devices could not establish a connection to the router at all, where minutes earlier under the older firmware, they all tested perfectly with speeds at the high range of our LAN to internet spec.

Whether it was a totally virgin settings config with the minimal stuff turned on to use the 2.4 WI-FI, or my complete setup for our home network, the second this brand new 68U was flashed with the latest ASUS firmware or any version of Merlin that incorporated the same new stuff as the factory version, all internet connections on the 2.4 GHz band ceased.

If you browse through the Merlin A4 thread as well as the several others on here that involve this latest transition, you will see a good number of identical reports from other 68U users.

Whatever the problem is, it is 100% fatal for those effected and nothing but a return to the previous firmware version (either ASUS 3.0.0.4.378.9313 or Merlin 378.56_2 or older) will resolve it.

 

[L&LD]

Yep. Didn't do anything with the first unit because I never thought for a second that what I was seeing could be caused by a firmware upgrade. But when the brand new replacement arrived, I focused in on every single detail to see if I could pin point the moment in time where the 2.4 GHz internet got broken.

After trying every combo I could think of, it always came down to the same cause. Installing/flashing the ASUS 3.0.0.4.380.1031 update to the brand new AC68U B1.

The second I flashed the latest firmware onto the unit, the 2.4 GHz band's internet connection was lost. Whether it was a totally virgin settings config with the minimal stuff turned on to work, or my complete setup for our home network, the second this brand new 68U was flashed with the latest ASUS firmware or any version of Merlin that incorporated the same new stuff as the factory version, DEAD 2.4 GHz connectivity.

If you browse through the Merlin A4 thread as well as the several others on here that involve this latest transition, you will see a good number of identical reports from other 68U users.

Whatever the problem is, it is 100% fatal for those effected and nothing but a return to the previous firmware version (either ASUS 3.0.0.4.378.9313 or Merlin 378.56_2 or older) will resolve it.

But it doesn't seem like you did a proper reset to factory defaults though?

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/no...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

 

[bluepoint]

Flashed 1031 and just like turning off a light switch, the 2.4 GHz band lost all connections to the internet. Every single device that had previously worked perfectly on the older firmware were all dead in the water, even though all but a handful showed as connected to the router and could communicate with all LAN clients normally. Only change was the total loss of internet for the 2.4 GHz band.

Again... Brand new router that was in its factory sealed, shrink wrapped box 5 minutes earlier.

Do you remember the firmware version out of the box before you upgraded the firmware?

 

[GG7]

But it doesn't seem like you did a proper reset to factory defaults though?

http://www.snbforums.com/threads/no...l-and-manual-configuration.27115/#post-205573

Oh! I did. I just didn't want type out all the steps I took because it has been covered more than a few dozen times. And while I am new to the ASUS brand of hardware/firmware, I have been working and dealing with this home networking stuff since the early 90s. The majority of that time actively involved in the DD-WRT and Tomato firmware communities for the WRT-54G and variants, and later the Netgear WNDR-4500 which this 68U is replacing.

You are not going to magically solve this problem by blaming the victim (s). Plenty of other users out there that have done all the same steps and have also been unable to run the latest firmware while maintaining their 2.4 internet functionality at the same time.

If you want to make suggestions on how to resolve this, I suggest that you contact ASUS support and suggest to them what they haven't done right.

You are totally off the mark and wasting everyone's time if you continue to assume that this is a client side caused problem.

 

[L&LD]

Trust me! I did. I just didn't want type out all the steps since it has been covered more than a few dozen times.

You are not going to magically solve this problem by blaming it all on me. Plenty of other users out there that have done all the same steps and have also been unable to run the latest firmware and retain their 2.4 internet functionality at the same time.

If you want to make suggestions on how to resolve this, I suggest that you contact ASUS support and ask them what they haven't done right.

Not trying to blame anyone, just clarifying the steps you've already taken.

Obviously, Asus has an issue if there are others like you with the same symptoms, but neither I nor they have the time to list for me what they haven't done right.