[Beta 384/NG] Asuswrt-Merlin 384.5 Beta is now available

[skeal]

Observations: AC3100 on 384.5 beta 1. Router at 4 days uptime and all is well. Absolutely zero issues. Nice beta that's for sure.

 

[JohnSmith]

I repeatedly did the ole' power down, unplug & push the power button to discharge everything trick.

I have a plan of attack for next time. I am going to unhook everything. All connections and USB except for my Surface. Then, after thoroughly researching what I need to do to upgrade, I will go from there.

I have a similar experience with the Network Client List...
it refreshes... freezes my remote Realvnc session for a few seconds, shows empty after that and when going back to the Network Map, Clients number is showing 0 is slowly increasing when clients are reconnecting. this is weird because I never had this issue with the previous 394.4.2 release.
Clients are still connected even if not shown in the list.

As a long time reader of the Asuswrt-Merlin Forum, and silent user of the firmware, I decided to post my experience with the AC3100 firmware upgrade process, as this was the first time I had seen this issue in all of my firmware upgrades previously (since 380.64_2 & upgrading ever since then, mostly beta and stable releases).

Was currently on V384.4_2, and the only two issue I had and am still having are:

- the CPU graph on the "Network Map" tab, one of the CPU's would go to 100%, usually after being up for over a week, but when running TOP, CPU levels were low, so dismissed this as a graphic glitch, and it would be resolved with a soft or hard reboot.

- The "Adaptive QOS" tab used to show client names mostly (both DHCP & Static from a separate DNS/DHCP server), including IPhones, VMWare, Windows clients, etc., but now a lot of them show only the product name (Apple, Sony, VMWare, Western Digital, etc.)


Waited until V384.5 Beta 1 was released, and then proceeded with firmware upgrade. After upgrade complete, and reboot complete, started to test the system, from speed tests, to checking settings, etc.. When clicking on tab "Network Map", Clients showed around 29-32, but once clicking the "Computer" icon or "View List" button, the client list showed for a moment, and then went to zero (0), and then started to add icons again.

Went over the to the "Adaptive QOS" tab, and all the clients were gone, and started to be rebuilt again. Also, the whole network lost connectivity to the internet. In the past, the main basic fix was to hard reboot the router, so power switch off, pull power to drain, and then power back up.

Went back to the tab "Network Map" after a while, Clients showed 29-32, Adaptive QOS Clients showed up, everything appears to be working, clicking the "Computer" icon or "View List" button, the client list showed for a moment (including Wired and Wireless clients), and then went to zero (0), and then started to add icons again. This was the same for the "Adaptive QOS" tab, clients had to rebuild the list again.

Hope this helps to see if others are having this same issue with their AC3100's.


ASUS AC3100 - Wireless Router Mode - V384.5 Beta 1
ASUS RT-AC66U - Qty 2 - AP Mode - V380.70

 

[skeal]

As a long time reader of the Asuswrt-Merlin Forum, and silent user of the firmware, I decided to post my experience with the AC3100 firmware upgrade process, as this was the first time I had seen this issue in all of my firmware upgrades previously (since 380.64_2 & upgrading ever since then, mostly beta and stable releases).

Was currently on V384.4_2, and the only two issue I had and am still having are:

- the CPU graph on the "Network Map" tab, one of the CPU's would go to 100%, usually after being up for over a week, but when running TOP, CPU levels were low, so dismissed this as a graphic glitch, and it would be resolved with a soft or hard reboot.

- The "Adaptive QOS" tab used to show client names mostly (both DHCP & Static from a separate DNS/DHCP server), including IPhones, VMWare, Windows clients, etc., but now a lot of them show only the product name (Apple, Sony, VMWare, Western Digital, etc.)


Waited until V384.5 Beta 1 was released, and then proceeded with firmware upgrade. After upgrade complete, and reboot complete, started to test the system, from speed tests, to checking settings, etc.. When clicking on tab "Network Map", Clients showed around 29-32, but once clicking the "Computer" icon or "View List" button, the client list showed for a moment, and then went to zero (0), and then started to add icons again.

Went over the to the "Adaptive QOS" tab, and all the clients were gone, and started to be rebuilt again. Also, the whole network lost connectivity to the internet. In the past, the main basic fix was to hard reboot the router, so power switch off, pull power to drain, and then power back up.

Went back to the tab "Network Map" after a while, Clients showed 29-32, Adaptive QOS Clients showed up, everything appears to be working, clicking the "Computer" icon or "View List" button, the client list showed for a moment (including Wired and Wireless clients), and then went to zero (0), and then started to add icons again. This was the same for the "Adaptive QOS" tab, clients had to rebuild the list again.

Hope this helps to see if others are having this same issue with their AC3100's.


ASUS AC3100 - Wireless Router Mode - V384.5 Beta 1
ASUS RT-AC66U - Qty 2 - AP Mode - V380.70

You neglected to say if you ever reset to defaults and manually configured without importing any settings. Is this something you failed to mention or..

 

[JohnSmith]

You neglected to say if you ever reset to defaults and manually configured without importing any settings. Is this something you failed to mention or..

I didn't mention it, because I have not done it. Much like DaveMishSr, that would be a last resort, and I would hope that following all other protocols and procedures, on firmware upgrades that you do not have to reset to defaults and manually reconfigure.

Skeal, when you did your reset to defaults and manually reconfigure (as I have read your posts since the beginning knowing you have an AC3100), were you able to import your JFFS partition from last version backup, or did you start that from clean as well?

I would like to be able to keep all my traffic analysis and traffic data.

Does your network client list show all your devices by name?

Also, has one of your CPU's ever gone to 100% and stays there, but TOP shows low CPU utilization?



ASUS AC3100 - Wireless Router Mode - V384.5 Beta 1
ASUS RT-AC66U - Qty 2 - AP Mode - V380.70

 

[skeal]

I didn't mention it, because I have not done it. Much like DaveMishSr, that would be a last resort, and I would hope that following all other protocols and procedures, on firmware upgrades that you do not have to reset to defaults and manually reconfigure.

Updating an OS that is live can not be expected to flash without the possibility of a reset to get it all working. This is neither strange odd or uncalled for.

Skeal, when you did your reset to defaults and manually reconfigure (as I have read your posts since the beginning knowing you have an AC3100), were you able to import your JFFS partition from last version backup, or did you start that from clean as well?

I always keep a backup of the jffs and yes you can import safely by using the webui. Your usb stick will be safe from any changes but should be unplugged to make sure.

I would like to be able to keep all my traffic analysis and traffic data.

You should save your traffic file to usb drive this is accomplished by enabling a custom loaction under tools other settings.

Does your network client list show all your devices by name?

Yes but they were manually set when a reset to defaults is needed.

Also, has one of your CPU's ever gone to 100% and stays there, but TOP shows low CPU utilization?

No never but you can expect to straighten this out with a firmware reset to defaults.
This blog is excellent and I highly recommend it. You can find it here. https://x3mtek.com/asuswrt-merlin-firmware-upgrade/

 

[Morac]

Updating an OS that is live can not be expected to flash without the possibility of a reset to get it all working. This is neither strange odd or uncalled for.

That’s a fallacy and it is unusual to have to do a complete reset when updating an OS. Just think of smart phones which get frequent updates and don’t require resets.

I’ve had Merlin’s firmware on my AC88U and other than the initial flash, I’ve never had to reset it to get it working. Any issues I’ve had, have always been bugs in the firmware, which were fixed in future versions. I only install release versions though, not alpha or beta.

Also, the update isn’t done “live”. If it were a reboot wouldn’t be done as part of the update.

 

[Xentrk]

Thanks, will use that when it's time to upgrade!
One question though, should the quotation marks be used in
nvram set dhcp_staticlist=”values_previously_saved”

Yes. Copy the text saved in the clipboard containing the DHCP static lease information and paste between the quotes and press enter. Then, type nvram commit to save.

You can verify by typing the command nvram show | grep dhcp_staticlist or nvram get dhcp_staticlist. I'll add this to the blog.

EDIT: Update made, including the comments below from @john9527 about the length limitation of 2500 characters. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[scjr]

That’s a fallacy and it is unusual to have to do a complete reset when updating an OS. Just think of smart phones which get frequent updates and don’t require resets.

Not unusual. Sometimes a factory reset is necessary.

RMerlin recommends it, especially if there’s odd behavior.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/faq-nvram-and-factory-default-reset.22822/

Why do I sometime need to do a factory default reset?
In addition to those user-entered settings, there's all those system level settings I previously mentioned. Sometimes, the manufacturer will need to change some of those low-level settings, either to resolve an issue, or to adapt to a newer wireless driver that they started using.

If you fail to do a factory default reset, then your router will still have the old values, and it will keep using them. That can lead to performance issues (especially in changes related to the wireless driver), or flat out odd behaviour (if one of the settings no longer works the same way as before).

 

[john9527]

Yes. Copy the text saved in the clipboard containing the DHCP static lease information and paste between the quotes and press enter. Then, type nvram commit to save.

You can verify by typing the command nvram show | grep dhcp_staticlist or nvram get dhcp_staticlist. I'll add this to the blog.

If moving from 380 to 384, you should also check the length of dhcp_staticlist

nvram get dhcp_staticlist | wc -m

the 384 code limits the total length to 2500 characters, and it will fail on 384 code if it exceeds this limit.

 

[Morac]

Not unusual. Sometimes a factory reset is necessary.

RMerlin recommends it, especially if there’s odd behavior.

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/faq-nvram-and-factory-default-reset.22822/

There’s a difference between recommending it if there’s odd behavior and saying it’s required for every update, which is what the poster said.

RMerlin only recommends it if jumping 3 or more release versions.

 

[scjr]

There’s a difference between recommending it if there’s odd behavior and saying it’s required for every update, which is what the poster said.

RMerlin only recommends it if jumping 3 or more release versions.

Where did the poster recommend doing it after every update? I can’t find that post. Did I miss it? I see where skeal asked the member, who was having issues, whether they tried a factory reset to address those issues.

According to you, you never have to perform a reset on your 88u. That’s great if you never have issues, but issues can pop up that require a reset. Nature of the beast.

 

[Morac]

Where did the poster recommend doing it after every update? I can’t find that post. Did I miss it? I see where skeal asked the member, who was having issues, whether they tried a factory reset to address those issues.

Look at what I quoted in the post you first quoted.

 

[scjr]

Look at what I quoted in the post you first quoted.

Updating an OS that is live can not be expected to flash without the possibility of a reset to get it all working. This is neither strange odd or uncalled for.

Without the possibility of and after every update are two very different things and not the same.

The poster said he was having several problems and skeal recommend he consider a factory default reset to address those issues. I’ve never seen skeal recommend a reset after every single update.

If there’s an oddity or oddities, it’s appropriate to consider a reset. I just read in this thread someone had trouble with ipv6 not working after updating to this build. Poster reset to factory default and ipv6 is working again. It happens. A reset sometimes addresses those type of issues.

 

[skeal]

Look at what I quoted in the post you first quoted.

It doesn't matter what you think I posted to be honest. The fact remains any time someone flashes this firmware there is the possibility a reset will be needed, in the event of weirdness. You are lucky you haven't had to recently, but that is it, just lucky. If you have read anything on this forum you would know that different things happen to different people with the same hardware, and likewise different fixes work for different peoples hardware. If after a flash you have any kind of trouble, before blaming the firmware or saying it has a bug, the prudent thing to do would be to factory reset and enter minimal settings to test. You are making suggestions on a forum for the use of beta testing. You stated earlier that you only flash stable versions. Tell me...what brings you to criticise advice you don't need? Trolling comes to mind. To me this is not helping people.....just saying.

 

[LiFePO4]

Long time user, follower, rarely post. I have shown my appreciation to Eric and John, and can attest if an update does not work, power cycle everything in your network and if it still doesn't work, then do a reset from scratch. I always try an update and if it works, I leave it alone. But I did once have the router not work right and a reset did it.

P.S I have had exactly the same response to all of the bi-annual Windows 10 updates and it worked every time except one, and it did after a reset

YMMV

 

[Morac]

It doesn't matter what you think I posted to be honest. The fact remains any time someone flashes this firmware there is the possibility a reset will be needed, in the event of weirdness. You are lucky you haven't had to recently, but that is it, just lucky. If you have read anything on this forum you would know that different things happen to different people with the same hardware, and likewise different fixes work for different peoples hardware. If after a flash you have any kind of trouble, before blaming the firmware or saying it has a bug, the prudent thing to do would be to factory reset and enter minimal settings to test. You are making suggestions on a forum for the use of beta testing. You stated earlier that you only flash stable versions. Tell me...what brings you to criticise advice you don't need? Trolling comes to mind. To me this is not helping people.....just saying.

As I said I have no problem with telling people to do a reset if something isn’t working, but that’s not what you initially wrote and in fact I’ve seen multiple posts from you where you basically are heavily implying that a reset must be done after every 384 update. This is the first post I’ve seen where you said “possibility a reset will be needed”, which is a much more accurate statement.

Rather than state only people who are “very lucky” won’t need to flash after an update, it would be more accurate to state that a reset isn’t necessary unless you run into a problem.

That’s all I was trying to say and all I will say further on this matter.

 

[joe scian]

Issues on AC-5300 with half an WIFI Icon appearing on home page and 2.4GHZ wifi disappearing is 100% fixed by a factory reset AND Manually entering all configuration again - especially WIFI configuration. DO NOT restore settings from a previously saved file as this will lead to WIFI 2.4GHZ instability problems.

 

[joe scian]

IPSEC VPN - I can connect an IPSEC VPN Tunnel session via my Apple IPHONE to my IPSEC VPN hosted on an AC-5300 using Beta 1. When I try and access my IP cameras there is no data downloaded after 10 or so secs and the AC-5300 reboots. This happens on all builds since IPSEC VPN support added. Anyone else validate this please? PS- I am connecting to IPSEC tunnel via Telstra Mobile when the reboot occurs.

BTW I have set up an OPENVPN tunnel - accessing my home server hosted on the AC-5300 and all works great. Seems to be faster than previous builds with earlier OPENVPN versions.

 

[DonCatoli]

I didn't mention it, because I have not done it. Much like DaveMishSr, that would be a last resort, and I would hope that following all other protocols and procedures, on firmware upgrades that you do not have to reset to defaults and manually reconfigure.

Skeal, when you did your reset to defaults and manually reconfigure (as I have read your posts since the beginning knowing you have an AC3100), were you able to import your JFFS partition from last version backup, or did you start that from clean as well?

I would like to be able to keep all my traffic analysis and traffic data.

Does your network client list show all your devices by name?

Also, has one of your CPU's ever gone to 100% and stays there, but TOP shows low CPU utilization?



ASUS AC3100 - Wireless Router Mode - V384.5 Beta 1
ASUS RT-AC66U - Qty 2 - AP Mode - V380.70

Moving from 380 to 384 requires a factory default otherwise random failures will occur, there are just too many changes in 384.

 

[rtn66uftw]

This blog post explains the process you desire. Let me know how it goes so I can update it if required.
https://x3mtek.com/asuswrt-merlin-firmware-upgrade/

Looks great. Thanks for sharing!