Merlin Newbie 386.1 Issues

[jplw]

I am a newbie to Merline firmware. I just upgraded my RT-66U B1 from the Asus 386 firmware to the Merlin 386.1. Per instructions, I just loaded the firmware through thre GUI. I did not factory reset. All seems to be working well except 3 things:

1. The alert light is blocking, saying that my router is "runnig low on JFFS storage". When I look at the system informstion as instructed, it shows that JFFS is unmounted.
2. Speed test fails...every time I try it.
3. A bug in the ASUS firmware, that one cannot specify a MAC/IP address binding on Guest network 1, remains unfixed in 386.1. Does the merlin firmware attempt to fix ASUS bugs?

 

[L&LD]

1, 2, 3, show that 'everything' is not working well.

1) Reset JFFS settings (JFFS Unmounted Issues)

2) and 3) Best Practice Update/Setup Router/AiMesh Node(s) 2021

 

[jplw]

Thanks. but I cannot even access with ssh even though the gui seays it is enabled. It says conection refused.

 

[L&LD]

Reboot, try again after 15 minutes.

If the same, use the WPS reset method and follow the rest of the suggested steps.

 

[jplw]

OK. I factory reset the router and reconfogured from scratch. I now have a mounted JFFS partition and can SSH into it.

However, #3 is not fixed: My main neywork is 192.168.1.*. My Guest network (#1) devices are assigned to 192.168.101.* if 2.4GHz, or 292.169.102.* if 5Ghz. However these Guest networksdevices cannot be edited in any way via the dialog the pops up when you click on them in the Client Status list of the Network Map. The name cannot be changed, The icon cannot be changed, the MAC and IP address Bnding cannot be turned on. Any click on Apply in the dialog yields an error message that the IP address is invalid.

Is this something Merlin can fix or must Asus eventually fix their bug? Do you know if any other way to turn on the binding?

 

[RMerlin]

Is this something Merlin can fix or must Asus eventually fix their bug?

The different subnet is by design to allow guest networks to work accross AiMesh nodes. Use Guest Network 2 if you need clients to be on the same subnet as the main network.

 

[jplw]

Thanks for your reply. I understand why there is a different subnet, but I do not understand why that prevents changing the device name or icon via that dialog. I discovered that I could change them via the ASUS IOS app, so they should be chageable through the dialog as well?

But, my issue is my cloud-connected doorbell camera. I access it via my NVR with its IP address, so it must be accessible from my main network (my other camera are hardwired to the main network). I have it on the guest network so that if it is hacked, my main network is not compromised. The problem is that I have discovered that when my router reboots, it sometimes changes the IP address of the camera (by 1). When this occurs, it drops off the NVR. That is why I wanted to bind its IP address. I already tried putting it on Guest network 2--and that lets me bind its IP address, but then it is not accesible from the main network.

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for your reply. I understand why there is a different subnet, but I do not understand why that prevents changing the device name or icon via that dialog. I discovered that I could change them via the ASUS IOS app, so they should be chageable through the dialog as well?

If there's really a bug there, it will be up to Asus to fix it.

That is why I wanted to bind its IP address. I already tried putting it on Guest network 2--and that lets me bind its IP address, but then it is not accesible from the main network.

Manually add it to the static lease page instead of relying on the network client list.

 

[jplw]

I tried that...same issue. See attached.

 

[RMerlin]

Then you will have to either use Guest Network 2, or try manually configure the static lease through a dnsmasq.add script.

dhcp-host=11:22:33:44:55:66,set:11:22:33:44:55:66,192.168.100.101

Not sure if dnsmasq will allow an out of scope IP like that though, you will have to try.