GT-AXE11000 Stability help needed after NAND replacement (amtm/Scribe setup)

[jr lee]

Hi everyone

First of all, a huge thanks to ColinTaylor for helping me rebuild my mtd10 partition earlier. Thanks to that, my GT-AXE11000 is back to life with a fresh NAND chip (Macronix) and a new 90W PSU.

However, I am struggling with stability when using amtm (Swap and Scribe). The router was rock solid for over 9 days on pure NAND, but once I attach a USB storage for amtm, it eventually crashes and reboots.

Current Setup:

• Storage: Kioxia High Endurance 64GB microSD.
• Connection: An unbranded, cheap 3-in-1 USB-C reader connected via a low-quality generic C-to-A adapter (dollar-store grade).
• Logs: I see FCACHE Duplicate blog errors and occasionally BUG: failure at kernel/irq_work.c or eth Link DOWN logs right before it reboots.

I really want to keep using my Kioxia High Endurance card to protect my new NAND from excessive writes.

My Questions:

1. What is the absolute most stable way to connect a microSD card to the GT-AXE11000 for 24/7 amtmusage?
2. Does the Transcend RDF5 truly solve these "Link DOWN" and kernel panic issues caused by USB/EMI interference?
3. Are there any specific NVRAM or Scribe tweaks (like log flushing intervals) you recommend for a setup that uses a microSD reader?

I want to stop these random reboots and finally enjoy this beast of a router. Any advice on the "Gold Standard" hardware for this specific model would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

 

[ColinTaylor]

amtm is just a frontend for installing other software. So your issue is not with amtm, but might be with Scribe or the USB drive.

Unless your log is being written to at an unusually high rate I strongly suggest you don't install Scribe. In my opinion, for normal router use, it's a waste of time and causes more issues than it solves.

 

[jr lee]

amtm is just a frontend for installing other software. So your issue is not with amtm, but might be with Scribe or the USB drive.

Unless your log is being written to at an unusually high rate I strongly suggest you don't install Scribe. In my opinion, for normal router use, it's a waste of time and causes more issues than it solves.

Thank you so much for the very clear and direct advice.

I took your suggestion and completely uninstalled Scribe and uiScribe. I reformatted my Kioxia High Endurance microSD to EXT4 and currently have only Entware (ep) and a 2GB Swap file (sw)running through amtm.

I now realize that Scribe might have been putting too much I/O strain on my cheap adapter/reader setup, leading to those kernel panics. I'm currently monitoring the uptime to see if the system remains stable without the heavy logging.

I will report back after a few days of testing. Fingers crossed for long-term stability!

 

[jr lee]

amtm is just a frontend for installing other software. So your issue is not with amtm, but might be with Scribe or the USB drive.

Unless your log is being written to at an unusually high rate I strongly suggest you don't install Scribe. In my opinion, for normal router use, it's a waste of time and causes more issues than it solves.

Quick update: I uninstalled Scribe as you suggested, but the router is now crashing even faster—every 1 hour.

I suspect my physical connection is the culprit: I'm using a cheap unbranded USB-C reader connected through a generic C-to-A adapter.

Since the router was 100% stable for 9 days on pure NAND without this USB setup, I’m worried this "adapter + reader" chain is inducing EMI or voltage drops that trigger the irq_work.c BUG.

Do you agree that I should ditch this adapter setup and switch to a high-quality "direct-plug" USB-A reader like the Transcend RDF5? Or could there be another reason it's failing even with Scribe gone?

 

[Tech9]

Test with regular USB drive. You are introducing points of failure with readers and adapters. If the router still crashes - test with stock Asuswrt. If it still crashes - the problem is somewhere else.

 

[bennor]

However, I am struggling with stability when using amtm (Swap and Scribe). The router was rock solid for over 9 days on pure NAND, but once I attach a USB storage for amtm, it eventually crashes and reboots.

Remove the USB device(s) from the router and re-test if it crashes and or spontaneously reboots. If it does not crash/reboot, then use a quality USB storage device (a SSD drive is typically recommended around here) and test with only the USB drive attached, do not install Entware or a swap file to the USB storage drive. Just connect the drive all by itself and test to see if the router crashes or reboots. If it does not crash or reboot then proceed to create a swap file using amtm, then test if the router crashes or reboots. If it doesn't crash or reboot after swap file, then proceed to install Entware and test to see if the router crashes or reboots.

What is your use case for using a USB drive on the router?
What is your use case for using a swap file and Entware?
What specific addon scripts are you seeking to use for your use case?

 

[jr lee]

Test with regular USB drive. You are introducing points of failure with readers and adapters. If the router still crashes - test with stock Asuswrt. If it still crashes - the problem is somewhere else.

Thank you for the detailed advice. I will follow your troubleshooting steps.

 

[jr lee]

Remove the USB device(s) from the router and re-test if it crashes and or spontaneously reboots. If it does not crash/reboot, then use a quality USB storage device (a SSD drive is typically recommended around here) and test with only the USB drive attached, do not install Entware or a swap file to the USB storage drive. Just connect the drive all by itself and test to see if the router crashes or reboots. If it does not crash or reboot then proceed to create a swap file using amtm, then test if the router crashes or reboots. If it doesn't crash or reboot after swap file, then proceed to install Entware and test to see if the router crashes or reboots.

What is your use case for using a USB drive on the router?
What is your use case for using a swap file and Entware?
What specific addon scripts are you seeking to use for your use case?

Use case for USB/Swap/Entware: I recently replaced the NAND chip due to the "Error-74" (ECC error) issue. My primary goal is to protect the new NAND by offloading as many write operations as possible (logs, temp files, etc.) to external storage to extend its lifespan.

Addon scripts: I only plan to use amtm for basic management, a Swap file as a safety buffer for the 1GB RAM, and Entware for simple system utilities. I have already uninstalled Scribe following @ColinTaylor's advice to reduce I/O overhead.

Current Action:
I'm taking your advice and will test the system with a regular USB flash drive (direct Type-A connection) to eliminate the points of failure introduced by my current microSD reader and Daiso adapter.

I will test in stages: [USB Drive only] -> [Swap] -> [Entware] and monitor for any reboots.

I'll report back with the results after 24-48 hours. Thanks again for the help!

 

[bennor]

I'm taking your advice and will test the system with a regular USB flash drive...

Pretty much almost everyone here will recommend not using a USB Flash Drive for swap and Entware. Flash drives are not designed for repeated and sustained read write. Flash drives typically heat up and the cheaper ones will die quickly. For quick testing a Flash drive is fine, but for long term use seriously consider using a better external USB drive; SSD, NVMe, or HDD or similar that is designed for read/write use.