New RT-AX86U

[ShawnTRD]

Just upgraded from my RT-AC87U to this new RT-AX86U.

It wants to update the firmware.

Current Version : 3.0.0.4.386_41535-g1caa24a
The latest version : 3.0.0.4.386_45934-gb23bdac

Should I upgrade to the latest firmware or a different version? Stay with Asus or switch right to Merlin?

Thanks

 

[L&LD]

Is that really an RT-AX86U?

 

[ShawnTRD]

Is that really an RT-AX86U?

Yes. It's the ZAKU II EDITION.

https://www.newegg.com/asus-rt-ax86...-11n-ieee-802-11ac-ieee-802/p/N82E16833320497

 

[L&LD]

I would go straight to the Alpha (2) build today for the RT-AX86U. Stock firmware isn't interesting to me for years now.

Download | Asuswrt-Merlin

These Alpha builds have been stable for my 2x RT-AX86U wired AiMesh (2.5GbE backhaul) set since August of this year.

Be sure you do a full reset afterward (at least once), then minimally and manually configure it.

[Wireless] ASUS router Hard Factory Reset | Official Support | ASUS Global

Fully Reset / Best Practice Setup / More

Almost all L&LD Links

 

[bbunge]

Staying with Asus firmware is just fine. Please do the upgrade, though.

 

[SoCalReviews]

Congrats on your new router purchase ShawnTRD. IMO you bought the best Asus router available right now.

I always recommend upgrading to the latest stock firmware right away and make sure the brand new router works properly for you. If there are any hardware or firmware issues then you still have the option of getting full warranty technical support. Otherwise you have to deal with wondering if something happened during the third party firmware flashing or if there is an issue related to hardware if things don't work right.

Give it some time (weeks or a month) to make sure you don't have any bugs you need to deal with using stock firmware then you can decide on third party firmware whether that be Merlin for Asus or another one. You might even decide that the stock firmware works good enough for you.

The only drawback doing it this way is that you will need to configure or customize your settings once again for the third party firmware if you go that route but at least you will know whether or not the new router works the way it should with the stock firmware.

 

[RMerlin]

I would go straight to the Alpha (2) build today for the RT-AX86U. Stock firmware isn't interesting to me for years now.

People should not be running alpha software unless then intend to TEST things. This is NOT a stable release, and people should stop recommending others to flash it.

 

[Tech9]

The latest version : 3.0.0.4.386_45934-gb23bdac

Update to the latest Asuswrt version and see what's available. If you need something more, look at Asuswrt-Merlin.

 

[L&LD]

@RMerlin, of course, they should test the Alpha firmware. But it needs to be installed to do so. @ShawnTRD is at the perfect place to do so, now.

I've been using the latest Alpha 2 build (RT-AX86U_386.4_alpha2-g952c6bdecc) and haven't experienced any issues so far. No hiccups, no glitches.

The last 16 hours were spent with remote support, so the network, NAS, and ISP got a good workout too.

 

[RMerlin]

@RMerlin, of course, they should test the Alpha firmware. But it needs to be installed to do so. @ShawnTRD is at the perfect place to do so, now.

The OP never mentioned he wanted to test something, let alone something that wasn't even in a beta stage yet. He only asked if he should switch to my firmware. The correct answer is to ask them if there is any specific feature from my firmware they want, and if they say so, to point them at the latest stable build of it.

Please stop directing users to switch to a snapshot build of a work-in-progress without knowing if the user wants to become a very early betatester, it will ultimately only cause frustration as people blindly following that advice will find themselves having to deal with all kind of issues that are related to such early builds. You only need to take a look at the alpha build discussion thread to see that every single alpha build so far has various issues reported associated to them.

People shouldn't run a beta (even less an alpha) build of my firmware without at the very least being already familiar with my firmware.

The last 16 hours were spent with remote support, so the network, NAS, and ISP got a good workout too.

Yesterday's build has half-disabled Wireguard code left in there that is causing issues for some users. It has webui-related issues with AiMesh that I haven't bothered investigating at this time because I already have 45958 GPL code to merge on top of it, which will include changes to that portion of the code. I have a text file containing my personal development notes which include the need to investigate a random issue that I encountered that led to the jffs partition getting wiped on one of my development routers. Another had its webui SSL cert suddenly overwritten with a self-generated one. I have notes about the firmware upgrade code in need of a thorough review because major changes were merged in with the last GPL merge.

Just because you are able to route traffic for 16 hours doesn't mean that my own TODO/to review/to debug list is empty of any bug or unfinished code. Otherwise, it would be released as 386.4, not 386.4-alpha2.

 

[L&LD]

@RMerlin, thank you for your alternate point of view. I agree with your advice, even if it seems overly protective (and assumes a lot of the OP).

When someone asks for an opinion, I try to give an honest one (mine). There is some responsibility on the other end too. The easiest would be to ask questions, in which case I most certainly would have repeated what you stated in your post above.

In this case, the OP sounds like he knows a good deal already, and more importantly, is willing to learn more. I don't think I've ever steered anyone wrong so far.

 

[ShawnTRD]

The OP never mentioned he wanted to test something, let alone something that wasn't even in a beta stage yet. He only asked if he should switch to my firmware. The correct answer is to ask them if there is any specific feature from my firmware they want, and if they say so, to point them at the latest stable build of it.

Please stop directing users to switch to a snapshot build of a work-in-progress without knowing if the user wants to become a very early betatester, it will ultimately only cause frustration as people blindly following that advice will find themselves having to deal with all kind of issues that are related to such early builds. You only need to take a look at the alpha build discussion thread to see that every single alpha build so far has various issues reported associated to them.

People shouldn't run a beta (even less an alpha) build of my firmware without at the very least being already familiar with my firmware.


Yesterday's build has half-disabled Wireguard code left in there that is causing issues for some users. It has webui-related issues with AiMesh that I haven't bothered investigating at this time because I already have 45958 GPL code to merge on top of it, which will include changes to that portion of the code. I have a text file containing my personal development notes which include the need to investigate a random issue that I encountered that led to the jffs partition getting wiped on one of my development routers. Another had its webui SSL cert suddenly overwritten with a self-generated one. I have notes about the firmware upgrade code in need of a thorough review because major changes were merged in with the last GPL merge.

Just because you are able to route traffic for 16 hours doesn't mean that my own TODO/to review/to debug list is empty of any bug or unfinished code. Otherwise, it would be released as 386.4, not 386.4-alpha2.

I've used your firmware for ever with my old AC87. Mostly because I found it more stable then the official version. I upgraded to the newest ASUS version now and will see how it goes for awhile.