Asus RT-86U blocked in Chinese language

[Jean-No]

Good evening,
I have a big problem, I updated my RT-86U with the latest version of the official Asus firmware, and I end up with everything in Chinese ...
If I click on the language button at the top right, I can see English, but when I click on it nothing helps.
So I downloaded the latest version of the Merlin firmware, but when I try to install it manually, I indicate the firmware, but there is no tool to validate.
How to do it please?
Thank you

 

[ColinTaylor]

Did buy this router from China?

 

[Jean-No]

Yes,
In 2018; and when I was using it I had no worries, I was able to put it in English and install the Merlin firmware

 

[L&LD]

After changing to English in the drop-down menu, does a reboot help?

 

[Jean-No]

Infortunely nop.

 

[L&LD]

What if you flash the RMerlin 384.17_0 firmware on it?

Or an older stock firmware?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Perform a factory reset.

Turn off the power.
Press and hold the WPS button.
Turn on the power while holding the WPS button.
Wait 10 seconds and then release the WPS button.

Log into the router and try to change the language.

 

[Jean-No]

@L&LD : I can't flash with the Merlin, it won't let me do it ...
@ColinTaylor : I just tried, I had to recreate my password, the SSID, but still the same.

What do you think if I try to force the installation of Merlin firmware with Asus firmware recovery?

 

[L&LD]

Older stock firmware work?

The Asus firmware recovery should let you install any version you want.

 

[ColinTaylor]

What do you think if I try to force the installation of Merlin firmware with Asus firmware recovery?

I would try going back to the old version of the firmware that you previously had and installing Merlin from there.

 

[Jean-No]

@L&LD and @ColinTaylor : that I install an old stock firmware and after that I install the Merlin. I will test. Thank you

 

[Jean-No]

Well, I tried putting a stock version from last year, and even worries; impossible to put me in english.
So I launched an update from the Asus application on IOS, the update is done without worries; I restarted the router from the mobile application; but the same ....
Everything remains in Chinese and impossible to update with the Merlin firmware.
I will test tomorrow by updating the recovery with the Merlin

Finaly I installed the Merlin firmware up to date thanks to the recovery, everything went well; unfortunately, but after restarting the router, it remains blocked in Chinese ...

EDIT: Change Title

 

[Martineau]

I updated my RT-86U with the latest version of the official Asus firmware, and I end up with everything in Chinese ...
If I click on the language button at the top right, I can see English, but when I click on it nothing helps.
So I downloaded the latest version of the Merlin firmware, but when I try to install it manually, I indicate the firmware, but there is no tool to validate.
How to do it please?

see this technique Trying to change language from Japanese to English on ASUS RT-AC86U

 

[RMerlin]

This is by design. To prevent grey market abuses, Asus hardcodes the language in a few regions. So if you have Chinese model, it will be hardcoded to Chinese.

 

[Jean-No]

@Martineau : Thanks, I'm going to watch this
@RMerlin : Ah, yet when I bought it I even had French

EDIT: It's the big sh*t, impossible to activate the SSH. I help myself from tutorials found on the internet to switch to SSH since almost all the words are in Chinese; I activated the SSH mode on LAN + WAN, but when I click below to validate the changes, nothing happens ...: '(

EDIT2: Allelujha ...
I remembered that sometimes it is the internet browser which is not very cooperative and that it is necessary to empty the cache.
So I tried installing Firefox, and miraculously, it works. I was able to validate the passage in English, the activation of SSH, etc ...
When I go back to Safari, everything is fine in English: D

I have one last question: is it possible to have French with the Merlin firmware? The first one I installed gave me this possibility from the drop-down menu at the top right.

Thank you to all of you

 

[RMerlin]

I have one last question: is it possible to have French with the Merlin firmware? The first one I installed gave me this possibility from the drop-down menu at the top right.

Only if your router is in a non-locked region. China and Japan are currently locked, and limit which languages are available.

 

[Martineau]

@Martineau : Thanks, I'm going to watch this
@RMerlin : Ah, yet when I bought it I even had French
So I tried installing Firefox, and miraculously, it works. I was able to validate the passage in English, the activation of SSH, etc ...
When I go back to Safari, everything is fine in English: D

I have one last question: is it possible to have French with the Merlin firmware? The first one I installed gave me this possibility from the drop-down menu at the top right.

If the French 'FR' dictionary file is present

List the available language files

ls -lah /www/*.dict

 

[Jean-No]

Hello,

Thank you to you 2 for these answers.
@RMerlin : I don't think the router is blocked since the 1st version of Merlin that I installed in 2018 was in Fr.

@Martineau : I just checked with the order, and all the dictionaries seem to be present. I'll look.

admin@RT-AC86U-2280:/tmp/home/root# ls -lah /www/*.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      228.6K Apr 26 06:10 /www/BR.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      187.6K Apr 26 06:10 /www/CN.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      228.8K Apr 26 06:10 /www/CZ.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      218.6K Apr 26 06:10 /www/DA.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      236.0K Apr 26 06:10 /www/DE.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      199.9K Apr 26 06:10 /www/EN.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      237.8K Apr 26 06:10 /www/ES.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      222.8K Apr 26 06:10 /www/FI.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      240.4K Apr 26 06:10 /www/FR.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      245.5K Apr 26 06:10 /www/HU.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      227.4K Apr 26 06:10 /www/IT.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      278.4K Apr 26 06:10 /www/JP.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      232.8K Apr 26 06:10 /www/KR.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      217.2K Apr 26 06:10 /www/MS.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      225.9K Apr 26 06:10 /www/NL.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      208.1K Apr 26 06:10 /www/NO.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      231.5K Apr 26 06:10 /www/PL.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      244.0K Apr 26 06:10 /www/RO.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      344.0K Apr 26 06:10 /www/RU.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      239.8K Apr 26 06:10 /www/SL.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      214.8K Apr 26 06:10 /www/SV.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      481.2K Apr 26 06:10 /www/TH.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      231.9K Apr 26 06:10 /www/TR.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      187.8K Apr 26 06:10 /www/TW.dict

-rw-rw-r--    1 admin    root      363.8K Apr 26 06:10 /www/UK.dict

admin@RT-AC86U-2280:/tmp/home/root# mount -o bind   /www/CN.dict   /www/$FR.dict

mount: mounting /www/CN.dict on /www/.dict failed: No such file or directory

admin@RT-AC86U-2280:/tmp/home/root#

But I wonder if it's really essential.
Thank you

 

[RMerlin]

Thank you to you 2 for these answers.
@RMerlin : I don't think the router is blocked since the 1st version of Merlin that I installed in 2018 was in Fr.

Asus changed this at one point, it wasn't initially the case.

 

[Martineau]

@Martineau : I just checked with the order, and all the dictionaries seem to be present. I'll look.

admin@RT-AC86U-2280:/tmp/home/root# mount -o bind   /www/CN.dict   /www/$FR.dict

mount: mounting /www/CN.dict on /www/.dict failed: No such file or directory

You have included an extra/unecessary '$' character in the French dictionary file name.

e.g. try

mount -o bind   /www/CN.dict   /www/FR.dict