Enabling AiProtection or QoS on ASUS RT-AX58U breaks everything

[FTC]

That was never needed on RT-AC87U and neither ISP tech mentioned it I'd need it...

I understand. This was just a guess because it is quite common that IPTV providers also force to specify the vlan tagging for the rest of the traffic... seems more robust than relying on default behavior.

 

[RejZoR]

How do I even contact ASUS ? Went through their support thing and after entering some info, it just said thank you and that was it. When I clicked "Transfer to agent", all I got as an option were bunch of greyed out fields and below only option was USA or Canada. And I'm from neither...

Is anyone from ASUS around here who I could talk to directly to report the findings and potentially get it fixed?

 

[JIPG]

That was never needed on RT-AC87U and neither ISP tech mentioned it I'd need it...

In my RT-AC87U, I have to fill the internet field on the IPTV setup to have it working with my ISP. Try it (you do not loose anything). If your ISP does not provide this information, you can obtain it from your original ISP router or from communities of people using your ISP (the way I figured it out with mine).

 

[RejZoR]

I've talked to them and it's not required. Only the actual port used for TV box.

 

[vanic]

Hi @RejZoR : You could disable fc via telnet first, it could avoid this kernel panic.

[disable fc at run time]
fc disable
fc flush

[nvram to stop fc after reboot]
nvram set fc_disable=1
nvram set fc_disable_force=1
nvram commit

You could take a trail, it should resolve this issue.

Thanks,
Vanic

 

[vanic]

Forgot to notice, please remove the Ethernet from IPTV LAN4. After you input these command and check fc is disabled, you could plugin the Ethernet back.

Hi @RejZoR : You could disable fc via telnet first, it could avoid this kernel panic.

[disable fc at run time]
fc disable
fc flush

[nvram to stop fc after reboot]
nvram set fc_disable=1
nvram set fc_disable_force=1
nvram commit

You could take a trail, it should resolve this issue.

Thanks,
Vanic

 

[RejZoR]

Hi @RejZoR : You could disable fc via telnet first, it could avoid this kernel panic.

[disable fc at run time]
fc disable
fc flush

[nvram to stop fc after reboot]
nvram set fc_disable=1
nvram set fc_disable_force=1
nvram commit

You could take a trail, it should resolve this issue.

Thanks,
Vanic

And what is this "fc" that you're mentioning? So I know what I'm disabling here...

 

[RMerlin]

And what is this "fc" that you're mentioning? So I know what I'm disabling here...

Flow Cache - NAT acceleration.

 

[vanic]

@RMerlin : Thanks for your support!

@RejZoR :
FC : Flow Cache, BRCM's NAT acceleration
Issue : IPTV and tdts module (you called AiProtection or TrendMicro related features) enabled together, fc can't handle packets well to make it kernel panic
Scope : this issue only happened in RT-AX58U/RT-AX3000/TUF-AX3000

Steps to workaround:
1. unplugin the cable from IPTV port (LAN4)
2. Power on the router
3. Enable telnet or ssh in router
4. login router via telnet or ssh
5. disable fc
fc disable
fc flush
nvram set fc_disable=1
nvram set fc_disable_force=1
nvram commit
6. plugin the cable back into IPTV port (LAN4)
7. it should work to use AiProtection (TrendMicro related functions) and IPTV at the same time.

NOTE: If you want to recover hardware accelerator (of course, it need to disable IPTV or AiProtection, or router will kernel panic)
nvram set fc_disable=0
nvram unset fc_disable_force
nvram commit
make router reboot

I have tried it work perfect.

Thanks,
Vanic

 

[vanic]

Hi @RejZoR

Please try this beta firmware, I confirmed it should fix this issue.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7009nuy85ied8xb/AAC1-zcS9ppdtRHbMHG7bPN2a?dl=0

1. Upload this beta firmware via browser
RT-AX58U_9.0.0.4_384_9042-g130f4c5_cferom_pureubi.w

2. If you ever disable fc via telnet, just unset nvram to recover fc into auto
nvram set fc_disable=0
nvram unset fc_disable_force
nvram commit
make router reboot

3. Check whether IPTV and tdts module could work together (when fc enabled)

Thanks,
Vanic

 

[RejZoR]

Hi @RejZoR

Please try this beta firmware, I confirmed it should fix this issue.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7009nuy85ied8xb/AAC1-zcS9ppdtRHbMHG7bPN2a?dl=0

1. Upload this beta firmware via browser
RT-AX58U_9.0.0.4_384_9042-g130f4c5_cferom_pureubi.w

2. If you ever disable fc via telnet, just unset nvram to recover fc into auto
nvram set fc_disable=0
nvram unset fc_disable_force
nvram commit
make router reboot

3. Check whether IPTV and tdts module could work together (when fc enabled)

Thanks,
Vanic

Hi, thank you for providing this test firmware. Yes, I can confirm that IPTV can now co-exist with Trend Micro module. I'm currently watching the TV (IPTV) and also have QoS and AiProtection enabled and everything works. TV is working, WiFi is not experiencing any issues like before. I'll be observing it more for any anomalies, but so far it looks really promising as I can now finally fully use all the features of RT-AX58U.

Thank you and I'll be checking for new official final versions of firmware on ASUS page which will probably also include this fix. Thanks again!

 

[vanic]

@RejZoR : Sure, no problem. Thanks for your detailed information and testing, it is helpful for me to know the root cause. ASUS will try to apply this bugfix into the next official firmware.

 

[RejZoR]

@vanic
I'd also point out that this beta firmware spectacularly improves everything about RT-AX58U that wasn't quite right before. WiFi reception is now insane and works great even with MU-MIMO (before signal just plummeted when enabling it), I can have all of WiFi 6 features enabled and also have WPA2/WPA3 enabled. Before, if I tried using it everything just refused to connect. I can now finally enjoy fully utilized connection speed on 5GHz WiFi on laptop that's literally on the other end of the house. I couldn't even max 2.4GHz signal before and that one has better wall penetration. Really impressed and I hope you guys will continue with this pace. RT-AX58U finally shaping into what it deserves to be. Awesome little router despite initial problems that caused slight disappointment.