Release Asuswrt-Merlin 386.14 is now available for AC models

[Tech9]

What can I do to reduce the cpu load

Withdraw Trend Micro data sharing agreement. It will stop all Trend Micro engine components. This router in basic configuration can do Gigabit wired. For your new system my advice is go with all MikroTik or all Ubiquiti equipment for better integration and management.

 

[lgkahn]

in my two houses my main wifi router is a gt-axe16000 now that wifi 7 is out they can be gotten for a reasonable price.. i also have a second axe11000 on the other floor in each house as a 2nd wifi with wired backhaul via moca.,

 

[Wallace_n_Gromit]

After 28 days 23 hours of continuous use both my AC86U and my 2 AC68U's are running 386.14_2 flawlessly (after a dirty upgrade) as far as I can tell, in my current configuration, as per my signature below.

I have gone TAB to TAB through both my AC86U and the AC68U running on my LAN side interface. All pages/tabs render correctly.

This has been a great period of time being part of this site and having an opportunity to benefit from the clever work of a lot of great people.

The AC68U has had a great (and very long run) with Asuswrt-Merlin. I seem to recall that @RMerlin has mentioned Fresh Tomato (The work/developer of whom he is familiar), for those who, for whatever reason, want to use a different firmware in the future.

For the future, I am leaning toward bypassing the AX models (which are already a few years old) and jumping on the BE models like the models that @Tech9 recommended.

Asus RT-AX86U Pro on sale again

On sale at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-RT-AX86U-Extendable-Forwarding-Subscription-Free/dp/B0BQ417K47/?tag=snbforums-20

www.snbforums.com

The high cost is a bit prohibitive for me now. But then I'm thinking maybe buy an AX model for now as an interim router until the prices of the BE units drop. Could always use the older AX as an emergency backup. Just have to use my imagination a bit and figure out what is most important to me and how I would set up my router(s) on my home network.

 

[dlandiss]

For the future, I am leaning toward bypassing the AX models (which are already a few years old) and jumping on the BE models like the models that @Tech9 recommended.

I live in a 3-story, 122-year-old, house with thick walls so range is more important to me than speed. Over on the "SNB testing" site the ASUS RT-AX86Um is the current champion, and happens to be the model I bought many months ago. Still works great!

 

[Tech9]

jumping on the BE models like the models that @Tech9 recommended.

Only in case you want to continue with Asuswrt-Merlin firmware on 3006 base.

 

[banger]

Testing 14_2 as I had 40 days on stock. But on stock suddenly found couldn't ping my laptop on the LAN from other PCs connected even after reboot. I can with 14_2.

 

[Vexed]

The high cost is a bit prohibitive for me now. But then I'm thinking maybe buy an AX model for now as an interim router until the prices of the BE units drop. Could always use the older AX as an emergency backup. Just have to use my imagination a bit and figure out what is most important to me and how I would set up my router(s) on my home network.

I've been using a GX-424CC based opnsense firewall, 2x Dynalink DL-WRX36s (OpenWRT NSS AP mode) and a 68U (Merlin AP mode) for my two flat networks.

10 years was a pretty good run but it reinforced my worldview that Broadcom products should be avoided. Terrible firmware support (see: https://openwrt.org/toh/asus/rt-ac68u )

The Dynalinks? It's been a dream! There are OpenWRT builds with Qualcomm's hardware acceleration supported and if I want WiFI 7 I can just slot in a MediaTek USB adapter when those come out.

 

[banger]

Well 14_2 does the same as stock, cant ping another PC from a wired PC to a wifi PC after about 10 days uptime. A system reset cures it so will try now with a weekly scheduled reboot.

 

[banger]

Well 14_2 does the same as stock, cant ping another PC from a wired PC to a wifi PC after about 10 days uptime. A system reset cures it so will try now with a weekly scheduled reboot.

Factory reset done see if that makes any difference. The WPS reset doesn't seem to work anymore with this firmware for nodes. Had to use the reset button on the back. See adding mesh nodes has improved.

 

[Wallace_n_Gromit]

I've been using a GX-424CC based opnsense firewall, 2x Dynalink DL-WRX36s (OpenWRT NSS AP mode)

I like the DL-WRX36 and on Amazon it has such a nice Price point ($59.99us) for a WiFi 6 router:

https://www.amazon.com/Dynalink-DL-WRX36-8-Stream-Wireless-3-6Gbps/dp/B096K9SVCT?tag=snbforums-20

And with OpenWRT support, kewl:

[OpenWrt Wiki] Dynalink DL-WRX36

openwrt.org

That would make it less than half the current price of a RTAX86U. I'm tempted to hit that [Buy Now] button. (If it was a cool black color I probably would have already)

 

[Tech9]

See this:

A New Port – GL-MT6000

A whole year has now passed since I first announced the Tomato64 project. I’d like to thank all those who have tried it out, to all those who are using it, to those who have given bug reports…

tomato64.org

[OpenWrt Wiki] GL.iNet GL-MT6000

openwrt.org

 

[StrikerXXX]

Guys, how do you definitely disable this message? I do not use wifi from the router, I have our own for this, functioning as an access point, but this message bothers me. Is it possible to disable it?

 

[Tech9]

There is a simple trick - make some random ASUS_101 SSID on one radio, put some password on it, leave the radio enabled, hide the SSID so you don't ever see it on any device, make a schedule with 24h Wi-Fi disabled. When you restart the router the Wi-Fi may come up momentarily and turn off again. The message will never show up again since the radio is not technically disabled in settings.

 

[Wallace_n_Gromit]

See this:

A New Port – GL-MT6000

A whole year has now passed since I first announced the Tomato64 project. I’d like to thank all those who have tried it out, to all those who are using it, to those who have given bug reports…

tomato64.org

[OpenWrt Wiki] GL.iNet GL-MT6000

openwrt.org

I just pulled the trigger on the DL-WRX36. The price point (59.99us) is good vs. the GL-MT6000 (159.99us) or even the RT-AX86U Pro (184.63us) on Amazon.

I like the claim @Vexed made that if you wanted to "slot in a MediaTek [WIFI 7] USB adapter" in the future, that particular router allows for it.

Amazon.com

 

[Tech9]

I have one, haven’t played with it for awhile, had some quirks. There is a new OpenWrt to try on it. Definitely good hardware device for the price. Good luck!

 

[dave14305]

haven’t played with it for awhile, had some quirks

There's an ARP bug with ath11k that has dogged this router for a while, affecting broadcast traffic. There's an unofficial fix, but you would need to look at some of the community builds or compile your own after adding the patch in this thread (easier said than done for most people).

Dynalink DL-WRX36 Askey RT5010W IPQ8072A technical discussion

You can try the unofficial NSS builds. AgustinLorenzo's build has ARP and the failed to flush transmit fixes. You can upload openwrt-qualcommax-ipq807x-dynalink_dl-wrx36-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin to the backup/firmware flash page.

forum.openwrt.org

Potential Broadcast Issues After GTK Key Exchange on ath11k with IPQ8072A (QCN5024/QCN5054) - Steffen Moser

 

[Tech9]

Patching critical vulnerabilities discovered on Jan 20, 2025 at the moment. This will have to wait.

 

[Smokindog]

We had some storms knock out one of my APs. I pulled an AC3100 from the spare box. It wasn't up to the latest Merlin so I flashed it to 386.14_2 and did a reset.

First thing I noticed is it didn't come up with the expected initial setup screens so I did a red button reset and no change. I get into the router and re-flashed and reset again. Same issue. I had already had my network connected via the WAN port and unplugged it then red button reset again. That got to the expected setup. I did a quick configure as a router just to check a few things out and went to the admin tab to change modes and got this screen. Just to be safe I again downloaded the firmware and reset/re-flashed a couple more times. No change. Can't change the operation mode to AP. You CAN click on the firmware version and get back to the expected tabs and you can in fact do a reset from the GUI by can't change it's mode.

Seems to be a bug. I haven't gone back to factory just yet, thought I'd play a bit more but was wondering if anyone else has seen similar.

UPDATE - I was able to get into the router and configure it from the initial startup screens so lang as there was NOT an active connection to the WAN port. That most DEFINITELY impacts the behavior of the firmware on reset. I've never seen this before.

 

[dave14305]

thought I'd play a bit more but was wondering if anyone else has seen similar.

If it’s just going to be an AP, put it back on 386.13 and be happy (assuming it works on that release). Otherwise, clear browser caches and look for errors in the browser F12 developer console.