Media Server not rescanning on 3.0.0.4.376_2524 firmware

[zabidlo]

I've recently purchased RT-AC66U wireless router -- a wonderful product -- and have finished setting it up to act as a media server. Everything works great after upgrading to the latest firmware version 3.0.0.4.376_2524 except one problem. Namely, when I add new music files to the USB drive that's plugged into the router, the media sever doesn't re-scan the directories and so the new files do not appear visible to the devices accessing the media sever content. I am able to force a re-scan by unplugging / re-plugging the USB drive, but I was hoping the re-scan would happen automatically.

Is this possible?

 

[RMerlin]

It's a bug in the firmware caused by a change Asus did to a support library used by minidlna. This causes minidlna to disable new file monitoring.

The only solution I can recommend for now is switching to my firmware, as in build 376.48 I compiled minidlna with its own version of the support library with proper support enabled.

You could also give a try to the recent 376_3602 release, I don't know if Asus resolved the issue with it.

Technically speaking: minidlna disables inotify support if libsqlite3 isn't compiled with threadsafe support enabled. Asus recently disabled threadsafe support, most likely to resolve issues in the DPI engine, which also uses that library.

 

[zabidlo]

Merlin, thanks for your reply. If I install Merlin firmware, do all settings (SSID names, passphrases, etc.) remain or do I need to set everything from scratch?

 

[roscolo]

I am able to force a re-scan by unplugging / re-plugging the USB drive, but I was hoping the re-scan would happen automatically.

You do not need to unplug / replug the drive. Just log in to the RT-AC66U, click on the drive on the "Network Map" page, in the right column labeled "External USB disk status" click "Disk Utility" and then click the "Rescan" button.

 

[RMerlin]

Merlin, thanks for your reply. If I install Merlin firmware, do all settings (SSID names, passphrases, etc.) remain or do I need to set everything from scratch?

Settings are kept intact after a firmware flash, although if you experience wireless issues that might be caused by a jump in wireless driver revision, you might need to do a factory default reset to resolve these.

 

[zabidlo]

I can confirm that installing Merlin (I used version 376.48_3) fixes the issue and now the newly added files are available immediately on the media server.

For those interested, I wrote the following Windows batch script to do the syncing (also runs as a scheduled task once a day):

ECHO OFF

cls

ECHO Cleaning up existing connections...
net use /delete "\\192.168.1.1\My Music"
net use /delete "\\192.168.1.1\My Pictures"
net use /delete "\\192.168.1.1\My Videos"
ECHO ...

ECHO Establishing network connections...
net use "\\192.168.1.1\My Music" /user:USERNAME PASSWORD
ECHO ...done.

ECHO Copying new music data...
robocopy "E:\My Music 2" "\\192.168.1.1\My Music" *.* /E /R:1 /COPY:DT /FFT
ECHO ...done.

ECHO Copying new picture data...
robocopy "E:\My Pictures 2" "\\192.168.1.1\My Pictures" *.* /E /R:1 /COPY:DT /FFT
ECHO ...done.

ECHO Copying new video data...
robocopy "E:\My Videos 2" "\\192.168.1.1\My Videos" *.* /E /R:1 /COPY:DT /FFT
ECHO ...done.

ECHO All done!

 

[follower]

It's a bug in the firmware caused by a change Asus did to a support library used by minidlna. This causes minidlna to disable new file monitoring.

The only solution I can recommend for now is switching to my firmware, as in build 376.48 I compiled minidlna with its own version of the support library with proper support enabled.

You could also give a try to the recent 376_3602 release, I don't know if Asus resolved the issue with it.

Technically speaking: minidlna disables inotify support if libsqlite3 isn't compiled with threadsafe support enabled. Asus recently disabled threadsafe support, most likely to resolve issues in the DPI engine, which also uses that library.

RMerlin.
Please read this.
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=21038
I think it's the same situation like I have.

 

[RMerlin]

RMerlin.
Please read this.
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=21038
I think it's the same situation like I have.

I already explained what the issue was, and fixed it on my end. I can't do anything about Asus's own firmware release.