How to Find Older Firmware (TUF-AX5400)?

[cdlight]

I may be doing something wrong, but the Asus (US) website for the TUF-AX5400 only shows the most recent firmware (3.0.0.4.388.21224). Is there some trick to finding the older 386-based firmware versions for this particular router? The download page for my RT-AC86U still shows a list of older 386- and 386-based firmware.

 

[Yota]

Asus likes to remove older firmware from their website, but there are some unofficial mirrors that can be used.

But why do you need older firmware, because usually older is not good.

 

[cdlight]

I want to give the latest stock Asus WRT 386-based firmware a better tryout now that I've learned more about optimizing the router's settings for our needs. I also want to see if I can fix my current inability to flash any new firmware to the router. From this post it sounds like the latter may be the result of my not waiting long enough before rebooting after flashing a new firmware, but I'll test that tonight.

I flashed GNUton's 386.07_2 Merlin firmware shortly after getting this router in December. Opinions vary on the current state of the 388-based firmware so I wanted to stick with the 386-series for the time being. When I couldn't find the Asus WRT version, I tried flashing GNUton's 388-based firmware from the Admin page. I figured I could always revert to my current firmware. After flashing and rebooting, the router was still on 386.07_2. I then used the Asus Firmware Restore tool to flash the Asus WRT 388 firmware after a factory reset, saw the "Please reboot your router manually" message and rebooted, but I was still on the older firmware. From the thread I linked above, it seems like I should have waited longer after flashing the firmware before rebooting. I'd still like to find the last 386-basee Asus WRT firmware to give it a whirl, if I can find it. The current Asus WRT firmware for this router has "COMBO" in its name, which seems to have been incompatible with the Firmware Restore tool on an AC68U.

 

[Tech9]

But why do you need older firmware, because usually older is not good.

Since 388 arrived usually newer is not good.

 

[tgl]

Asus likes to remove older firmware from their website, but there are some unofficial mirrors that can be used.

Actually, the older firmware is probably still there on ASUS' official site, if you happen to know the release number you want. (Back threads in this forum can help you with that.) Then extrapolate from the URLs on the front download page. For example, I just did a "copy link" on the XT8 firmware download page to get this URL for the oldest still-visible version:

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/ZenWiFi_XT8/FW_ZENWIFI_XT8_300438645898.zip?model=ASUS%20ZenWiFi%20AX%20(XT8)

Changing the "45898" part to "42095" gave me a working link for the much-sought-after 386.42095 release. (I compared what I got to the copy I'd archived last year, and it matched.)

But why do you need older firmware, because usually older is not good.

Uh ... you been following the threads in this forum?

 

[argh0815]

You can download older versions here: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/8uYITeoKL8TrJA/TUF-AX5400

 

[cdlight]

Actually, the older firmware is probably still there on ASUS' official site, if you happen to know the release number you want. (Back threads in this forum can help you with that.) Then extrapolate from the URLs on the front download page. For example, I just did a "copy link" on the XT8 firmware download page to get this URL for the oldest still-visible version:

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/ZenWiFi_XT8/FW_ZENWIFI_XT8_300438645898.zip?model=ASUS%20ZenWiFi%20AX%20(XT8)

Changing the "45898" part to "42095" gave me a working link for the much-sought-after 386.42095 release. (I compared what I got to the copy I'd archived last year, and it matched.)

Thanks for the tip. I did the same with the URL for the latest TUF-AX5400 firmware and tried changing it to:

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/TUF-AX5400/FW_TUF_AX5400_3.0.0.4.386.50224.zip?model=TUF-AX5400

but I must have the syntax wrong. I'll keep trying, though.

You can download older versions here: https://disk.yandex.ru/d/8uYITeoKL8TrJA/TUF-AX5400

It appears to be asking me to log in and I couldn't get it to display in English. Thank you anyway, though.

 

[argh0815]

It appears to be asking me to log in and I couldn't get it to display in English. Thank you anyway, though.

You can change language to English at the bottom right. Then select a firmware file and press Download at the top (not save to Yandex).

 

[tgl]

Thanks for the tip. I did the same with the URL for the latest TUF-AX5400 firmware and tried changing it to:

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/TUF-AX5400/FW_TUF_AX5400_3.0.0.4.386.50224.zip?model=TUF-AX5400

but I must have the syntax wrong. I'll keep trying, though.

Their pattern seems to be to leave all the punctuation out of the firmware version part. I see this as the URL for the latest version:

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/TUF-AX5400/FW_TUF_AX5400_COMBO_300438821224.zip.zip?model=TUF-AX5400

Note the lack of dots in 300438821224, which squares with the pattern I saw on the XT8 files.

Also I wonder whether COMBO is used consistently or not for this model ... also note the doubled ".zip", which is pretty weird and might be a one-off error.

 

[cdlight]

Thanks, @argh0815. That worked.

 

[cdlight]

Their pattern seems to be to leave all the punctuation out of the firmware version part. I see this as the URL for the latest version:

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/TUF-AX5400/FW_TUF_AX5400_COMBO_300438821224.zip.zip?model=TUF-AX5400

Note the lack of dots in 300438821224, which squares with the pattern I saw on the XT8 files.

Also I wonder whether COMBO is used consistently or not for this model ... also note the doubled ".zip", which is pretty weird and might be a one-off error.

Yes, I noticed that after posting and removed the dots, but no joy. I also tried ".zip" and".zip.zip", and with/without "_COMBO_". Oh, well.

 

[Dr Mono]

Bummer. Glad I kept the last few in a folder. Waiting for the next 388 release (assuming it's stable) before updating.

 

[cdlight]

I was successfully able to use the Asus Firmware Restore tool to apply the previous version of GNUton's TUF-AX5400 firmware last night. I let the router sit overnight but it didn't reboot, and it booted into the older firmware after I turned it off, then on again. So it appears that @Tech9 's advice to let it sit also applies to this model, and not just the RT-AC68U.

For anyone interested, I used the Restore tool because when I attempted to flash a the firmware through the router's web interface, it would stop at displaying "Applying Settings..." and never get to the usual progress bar showing that the firmware update was being applied. During my various attempts, the LED for the Ethernet port I was using to apply the update flickered as if it was uploading but then stopped, and the longest I left the router before pulling the plug was about 30 minutes. Perhaps it would have completed if I left it overnight, but I don't think so. This morning with the previous version of GNUton's firmware running, I flashed the current GNUton firmware through the web interface and it proceeded to the progress bar quickly, as usual.