Cannot install Merlin on AX-58U

[antonavy]

Have you seen the size of GT-AX6000?

Not really, couldn't find it anywhere, even in the official website. Though now I see, that it's twice as heavy as ax58u...

 

[Tech9]

Though now I see, that it's twice as heavy as ax58u...

Almost twice as big as well. Perhaps the worst idea for travel router. Expensive, bulky, not needed hardware and with missing core features.

 

[dovedescent7]

Well v2 is technically “better” if your concerned with specs. But yeah no Merlin support I understand since it is a lower end model, even with Merlin it won’t get all the additional features that the flagship HND models get from asus. That said asuswrt-Merlin absolutely has its own merits and addon features that improve the experience.

I would definitely look at some of the newer supported AX or AXE models, but obviously buy within your means or needs, I prefer to somewhat future proof my routers for at least 5-10 years buying the better ones, even so newer better routers are always releasing and being a tech guy it makes me also kind of want to dive into pfsense or ubiquity products but lack the real need.

Just as i suspected, i now see confirmation that the AX58U v1 or v2 are "low end" routers. I had the V1 and it completely fried itself yesterday after roughly 9 mo of hard use on stock fw. Couldn't rescue it either.

Since it would take me weeks of learning and my AX58U v1 fried last night after latest (6/20 i think?) stock fw update, and since my knowledge is less than limited, would you mind recommending a few routers better than the RT-AX58U that are under $159? I'll just go with one of those asap.

 

[SMS786]

Just as i suspected, i now see confirmation that the AX58U v1 or v2 are "low end" routers. I had the V1 and it completely fried itself yesterday after roughly 9 mo of hard use on stock fw. Couldn't rescue it either.

Since it would take me weeks of learning and my AX58U v1 fried last night after latest (6/20 i think?) stock fw update, and since my knowledge is less than limited, would you mind recommending a few routers better than the RT-AX58U that are under $159? I'll just go with one of those asap.

The RT-AX68U is going to be your best bet for a new Merlin supported router in that price range.

Edit: The AX68U is currently $145 USD. As others have noted, this may change by country.

 

[DJones]

Just as i suspected, i now see confirmation that the AX58U v1 or v2 are "low end" routers. I had the V1 and it completely fried itself yesterday after roughly 9 mo of hard use on stock fw. Couldn't rescue it either.

Since it would take me weeks of learning and my AX58U v1 fried last night after latest (6/20 i think?) stock fw update, and since my knowledge is less than limited, would you mind recommending a few routers better than the RT-AX58U that are under $159? I'll just go with one of those asap.

You’re going to have to tell us your country in order to recommend anything around that price. Routers featuring AX support will only go up in price. If you want Merlin support only these routers are supported currently. Note that RMerlin is undecided if he will continue support on the RT-AX58U since v2 will likely become the norm and is not supported. With that in mind the RT-AX58U v1 or the RT-AX56U would be among the lower end and cheaper Merlin capable models. If you decide AC models are acceptable you should be able to find reduced prices. I would shop around either online or in stores to find sales. Note that AC models will eventually lose Merlin support as AX/AXE and eventually wifi7 (2025?) becomes more dominant.

If you don’t need Merlin there is the RT-AX55 or RT-AX57 not sure about specs. But likely below the RT-AX58U in terms of technical specs (maybe not stock features).

ASUS AX3000 Dual Band WiFi 6 (802.11ax) Router (RT-AX57) - The source for WiFi products at best prices in Europe - wifi-stock.com

1x Gigabit WAN Port | 4x Gigabit LAN Ports | 802.11ax/ac/n/g/b/a Standards (Dual-band Wi-Fi: 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz) | Speeds up to 2976 Mbps | Instant Guard | AiProtection Pro | Advanced Parental Controls | AiMesh Compatible|Built-in VPN | OFDMA | Beamforming | WPA3 Network Security product description

www.wifi-stock.com

Asus RT-AX55 WiFi 6 Router Review – MBReviews

The Asus RT-AX55 is currently, the most budget-friendly WiFi 6 router that Asus has to offer and it's essentially an RT-AX56U that's been stripped by some of

www.mbreviews.com

Asus Merlin capable
RT-AC68U	386.11
RT-AC88U	386.11
RT-AC3100	386.11
RT-AC5300	386.11
RT-AC86U	386.11
RT-AX56U	388.2_2
RT-AX58U	388.2_2
RT-AX86U	388.2_2
RT-AX88U	388.2_2
GT-AC2900	386.11
GT-AX11000	388.2_2
RT-AX68U	388.2_2
GT-AXE11000	388.2_2
ZenWiFi Pro XT12	388.2_2
GT-AX6000	388.2_2
GT-AXE16000	388.2_2
GT-AX11000_PRO	388.2_2
RT-AX86U_PRO	388.2_2
RT-AX88U_PRO	388.3

 

[DJones]

The RT-AX68U is going to be your best bet for a new Merlin supported router in that price range.

For me the rt-ax68u is around CA$300 so him telling us his country is kind of necessary. Better then the rt-58u I would have to agree, but the prices tend to jump up $100-$200 as you tier up.

Sadly all residential home routers kind of suck I found and if you want a ton of features and ports you’re going to pay big money. Getting any cheap ax router to use as a wifi access point and a ubiquity managed switch or old server that can run pfsense is more worth it in my mind, but really depends on use case. (Certainly not going to be as power efficient). Merlin in these Asus routers really up’s the game if you want additional features, but even still entware is limited by cpu power and memory. That said sounds like your not pushing the bounds of residential use like many people on this forum.

 

[Ranger802004]

I cannot install MERLIN 387.7_2 or 386.5_2 on RT-AX58U used as an access point running 3.0.0.4.386_49674.

I have tried downloading both versions twice, but get the same error. It starts to install, but tells me that the installation has failed. Once back on line, I am still on the stock FW. I really miss the MERLIN stuff on my other routers..... so any help would be very much appreciated!

I had this issue with an AX-58U and had to restore the firmware with the recovery tool first and then it worked.

 

[ZaInT]

Hope I'm not being too much of a PITA; if I was to try to compile for the AX55, is it possible? From what I understand it's pretty much the AX56U v1 but with half the resources - the architecture is there and "everything" else is.
Does it simply not run on the amount of RAM, does it not fit in the ROM, or is it rather because the model is too gimped and probably not popular enough to warrant the extra effort @RMerlin
I understand that you can't do this for every model under the sun, it just feels bad and at least it doesn't seem to be any radical changes having to be made. I could be wrong, but I hope that you can take a minute or two just telling me if it's a days or weeks work adapting the latest released 56U release to the 55.

I am somewhat seasoned in Linux and having worked with HTML/JS/JSON/PHP/bash/perl/python.

TIA.

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

Hope I'm not being too much of a PITA; if I was to try to compile for the AX55, is it possible? From what I understand it's pretty much the AX56U v1 but with half the resources - the architecture is there and "everything" else is.
Does it simply not run on the amount of RAM, does it not fit in the ROM, or is it rather because the model is too gimped and probably not popular enough to warrant the extra effort @RMerlin
I understand that you can't do this for every model under the sun, it just feels bad and at least it doesn't seem to be any radical changes having to be made. I could be wrong, but I hope that you can take a minute or two just telling me if it's a days or weeks work adapting the latest released 56U release to the 55.

I am somewhat seasoned in Linux and having worked with HTML/JS/JSON/PHP/bash/perl/python.

TIA.

The real problem comes in when you talk about older GPL's mixing with newer components. Truly a Frankenstein build. Which is why RMerlin dropped support for this model. He was given older incomplete GPL's that he could not guarantee would continue to work with the current newer codebase.

 

[ZaInT]

The real problem comes in when you talk about older GPL's mixing with newer components. Truly a Frankenstein build. Which is why RMerlin dropped support for this model. He was given older incomplete GPL's that he could not guarantee would work with the current newer codebase.

I might have been unclear there; my thought was to try to adapt the last (and final) build of Merlin that was released for the AX56U v1. So as I understand it RMerlin has already sorted that mess out...?

 

[SomeWhereOverTheRainBow]

IIRC, merlin only supported AX56U v2 of the firmware. Users attempted to flash v1, but it typically led to them bricking the router.

 

[ZaInT]

IIRC, merlin only supported AX56U v2 of the firmware. Users attempted to flash v1, but it typically led to them bricking the router.

No, AX56U v2 ~ AX55.