RT-AC68U Version 3.0.0.4.384.10007

[rtcomputersinc]

It appears to be the same with Repeater Mode. A repeater with 384.10007 firmware cannot connect to the primary router -- it appears to revert to a 192.168.1.1 IP address regardless of repeater or router configuration (I use a 192.168.222.1 IP for the primary router, and the repeater will not connect using either DHCP (auto) or manually configured 192.168.222.x IP).

I had same experience with this version. In the gui it would say disconnected but if I connected through wireless I could access the main and other repeaters just no internet. Reverted back and problem went away.

 

[doczenith1]

At least something is changed in the NAT Acceleration part.
My router now only shows "CTF (Cut Through Forwarding) is enabled" while with previous firmware also "FA (Flow Acceleration)" was mentioned. This may just be a GUI correction, I believe FA is not supported by the RT-AC68U.

I can confirm that FA is no longer showing up in the 384.10007 firmware. I loaded 384.10007 on my 68U and reset to defaults. I noticed that only CTF was enabled but no FA. I did another reboot, no FA. I switched NAT acceleration off, did a reboot, switched NAT acceleration back to auto, did a reboot and still no FA. I'm wondering if there were some issues with FA and the AiMesh stuff. A flash back to the 382 branch and FA is showing in the GUI. I wasn't able to hook the router up to my WAN connection to verify via cpu usage if FA is indeed not working and not just a GUI issue.

 

[arthurlien]

I can confirm that FA is no longer showing up in the 384.10007 firmware. I loaded 384.10007 on my 68U and reset to defaults. I noticed that only CTF was enabled but no FA. I did another reboot, no FA. I switched NAT acceleration off, did a reboot, switched NAT acceleration back to auto, did a reboot and still no FA. I'm wondering if there were some issues with FA and the AiMesh stuff. A flash back to the 382 branch and FA is showing in the GUI. I wasn't able to hook the router up to my WAN connection to verify via cpu usage if FA is indeed not working and not just a GUI issue.

Have you any issue or usage impacted in "no FA" ?

 

[mokodi]

@arthurlien is it possible to enable auto update firmware on this model? Can this feature be added? It would be convenient and improves security by allowing the firmware to auto update.

 

[arthurlien]

@arthurlien is it possible to enable auto update firmware on this model? Can this feature be added? It would be convenient and improves security by allowing the firmware to auto update.

Sorry. I can't said "Yes" or "No". Some people like auto and some people like manual to upgrade FW.... In technical point of view, It's doable.

 

[doczenith1]

Have you any issue or usage impacted in "no FA" ?

I never cared for FA. It would screw up the traffic monitor stats and I could still get 940 Mbps WAN<>LAN speed with just CTF enabled albeit at 100% cpu usage. To get FA to turn off I would enable the AiProtection features. You can also turn on Traffic Analyzer>Statistic to get FA to turn off as I am sure there many other options with will force it off which I'm guessing are all related to the Trend Micro engine needing to inspect the traffic.

 

[arthurlien]

I never cared for FA. It would screw up the traffic monitor stats and I could still get 940 Mbps WAN<>LAN speed with just CTF enabled albeit at 100% cpu usage. To get FA to turn off I would enable the AiProtection features. You can also turn on Traffic Analyzer>Statistic to get FA to turn off as I am sure there many other options with will force it off which I'm guessing are all related to the Trend Micro engine needing to inspect the traffic.

Thanks for your response.

 

[wouterv]

@arthurlien is it possible to enable auto update firmware on this model? Can this feature be added? It would be convenient and improves security by allowing the firmware to auto update.

Sorry. I can't said "Yes" or "No". Some people like auto and some people like manual to upgrade FW.... In technical point of view, It's doable.

Linksys (that time still owned by Cisco) performed automatic firmware upgrades on their flagship routers a couple of years ago, this caused them a huge amount of trouble and people dumping Linksys fast as lightning.
People found their routers not working at all after the automatic upgrade, found features they didn't want enabled (that time the Linksys cloud based configuration was introduced), new bugs where introduced, router operation was unexpectedly interrupted.

To allow automatic firmware upgrades I believe the setup of the firmware shall be drastically changed to avoid the Linksys pitfall.
If decided to implement, I anyway suggest to make it a user select-able option to automatic upgrade Yes or No.

One feasible feature maybe to implement a warning similar to the "WAN down notice", to present a one-time "Update your router firmware" pop-up on a selected client browser when new firmware is available.

 

[RMerlin]

@arthurlien , unless this was made mandatory by the FTC settlement, my recommendation would be to make this feature user-configurable, instead of a build time option in target.mak. Maybe ask it during QIS, default it to enabled if you prefer, but still leave the user the option to disable it. IMHO, too many things can go wrong with automated update of a core network device. A failed upgrade would take the entire network down. Or an update occurring in the middle of, for example, the user running off-site backups over the Internet would also be disruptive.

@arthurlien is it possible to enable auto update firmware on this model? Can this feature be added? It would be convenient and improves security by allowing the firmware to auto update.

That would be a very bad idea for the RT-AC68U, because it needs to flash the firmware on top of a live filesystem. That means that on occasions, a power cycle is necessary to get the router to properly reboot to the new image. This is not an issue with the RT-AC86U because that model has two separate firmware partitions. Therefore, it runs from one image, while writing to the second image, preventing any issue.

 

[Jens Ovesen]

Am I the only one where the 2.4G network doesn't show anymore? I've tried everything, even downgraded to multiple firmwares, to no avail. The 2.4G doesn't show. And yes, I have checked that the network is enabled.

Thank you, Jens