RT-AC88U having high CPU usage from ASD - also dnsmasq-dhcp[410]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device

rkalinka · May 18, 2023

Hello,

My configuration is 3x RT-AC88U routers in an AiMesh configuration. This setup has been pretty solid for a couple years until this morning. Not sure what has occurred, but at 5:20am US Central this morning, my main router was throwing this error non stop:
...
dnsmasq-dhcp[410]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
...
While this was occurring, I have been having intermittent internet access problems (as expected of there router it throwing errors) until I took a look at the logs and finally restarted everything.

After reboot, 2 of my 3 nodes have a process called ASD that is consuming more than 50% of my available resources - chewing up a lot of memory too. I'll see if the problem comes back, but does anyone else know what this process is and why "all of the sudden" it's an issue?

NOTE - I am on the most recent firmware 3.0.0.4.386_48260 from 3/25/2022 and there have been no additional updates since.

pmcmorris · May 18, 2023

Oddly, my router Asus RT-AC68U has been fine for a long time and just started acting weird today also.

It suddenly dropped internet connectivity early afternoon PST. I logged into the router and it showed the LAN as fine but the WAN as disconnected even though the attached cabled modem was fine. I power cycled it and then it worked for a few hours before disconnecting again. So I power cycled it again and immediately went to look for a firmware update. I upgraded from 3.0.0.4.386_48262 to 3.0.0.4.386_51665 using the auto update (not manual). So it does appear that your firmware is behind. I wasn't sure if that would fix my issue so I started digging through the logs and found lots of similar errors:

Code:

May 17 18:51:32 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:51:41 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:51:41 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:51:49 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:04 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:13 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:13 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:52:47 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:47 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:52:55 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:55 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:53:07 syslog: wlceventd_proc_event(508): eth2: Disassoc CC:C0:79:57:58:E9, status: 0, reason: Disassociated because sending station is leaving (or has left) BSS (8), rssi:0
May 17 18:53:07 syslog: wlceventd_proc_event(527): eth1: Auth CC:C0:79:57:58:E9, status: Successful (0), rssi:0
May 17 18:53:07 syslog: wlceventd_proc_event(537): eth1: ReAssoc CC:C0:79:57:58:E9, status: Successful (0), rssi:0
May 17 18:53:10 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:19 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:34 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:34 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:53:42 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 103 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 103 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 105 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 108 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 117 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 118 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 138 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 46 bytes
May 17 18:54:11 firewall: apply rules error(2857)
May 17 18:54:11 firewall: apply rules error(2892)
May 17 18:54:11 firewall: apply rules error(4580)
May 17 18:54:11 rc_service: waitting "restart_firewall" via watchdog ...
May 17 18:54:11 rc_service: watchdog 736:notify_rc restart_firewall
May 17 18:54:11 rc_service: watchdog 736:notify_rc restart_wan
May 17 18:54:11 services: apply rules error(17779)
May 17 18:54:11 watchdog: restart_firewall due DST time changed(1->0)
May 17 18:54:12 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:54:12 dnsmasq[722]: cannot read /tmp/resolv.dnsmasq: Cannot allocate memory

I don't actually know what is wrong yet or if the firmware update fixed anything. But strange that we both started seeing problems at similar times. Going back through the logs, this hasn't been a longstanding problems. This first appeared this morning at 9:41 am PST. I enabled ssh and logged in to poke around. After flashing I done see any space issues. I'll monitor it for a few days and see if this creeps up or if I have some kind of leak.

Code:

# df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
rootfs                   40.8M     40.8M         0 100% /
/dev/root                40.8M     40.8M         0 100% /
devtmpfs                124.8M         0    124.8M   0% /dev
tmpfs                   124.9M      1.1M    123.8M   1% /tmp
/dev/mtdblock4           62.8M      2.2M     60.6M   3% /jffs

bennor · May 18, 2023

rkalinka said:
After reboot, 2 of my 3 nodes have a process called ASD that is consuming more than 50% of my available resources - chewing up a lot of memory too. I'll see if the problem comes back, but does anyone else know what this process is and why "all of the sudden" it's an issue?

If you do a search for "asd" you'll see a number of recent posts and topic discussions about it. Asus apparently pushed a bad update for that service. There are some suggestions in other topics/posts to kill or pause the ASD service with mixed results. Several of those past discussions:

AC router 386.10 asd memory usage

After recently jumping a few versions on my AC88U to 386.10, memory usage has gone from being stable to increasing by a few % a day. Part of this was the networkmap memory usage that's been reported elsewhere and I believe would need Asus to provide a new 386 level GPL to be fixed (I have a...

www.snbforums.com

To anyone who started seeing strange high CPU and memory usage - Merlin is not affected!

Today I started seeing highly suspicious behavior on my RT-AX56U running stock firmware - constantly high CPU usage leading to the full router lockup that does not go away even after a full reset! I spent hours trying to figure out the cause and even ended up ordering another router because I...

www.snbforums.com

RT-AX89X suddenly started using a lot more CPU and memory leak leads to lockup every ~10mins

EDIT: As of May 19th, the issue should be fixed for everyone. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/05/asus-fixes-error-that-caused-mass-router-outage-worldwide-for-2-days/ At around 2am the router locked up. Rebooting and troubleshooting I found that CPU is much higher with...

www.snbforums.com

As to what ASD is, per RMerlin:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/what-is-asd-process.76242/#post-729340

It's not related to Trend Micro. It's a separate security daemon from Asus, that handle security-related issues on the router itself. They provide a special set of signature files specific to Asuswrt-Merlin that automatically gets downloaded from them.

A suggestion. Use the site search if you haven't already to search for "failed to write". There are a number of past discussions about that message:

Search results for query: failed to write

www.snbforums.com

Edit to add: The "dnsmasq-dhcp: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device" error is possibly related to the ASD issue.
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/f...-device-retry-in-60s.28247/page-2#post-842003

rkalinka · May 18, 2023

pmcmorris said:

Oddly, my router Asus RT-AC68U has been fine for a long time and just started acting weird today also.

It suddenly dropped internet connectivity early afternoon PST. I logged into the router and it showed the LAN as fine but the WAN as disconnected even though the attached cabled modem was fine. I power cycled it and then it worked for a few hours before disconnecting again. So I power cycled it again and immediately went to look for a firmware update. I upgraded from 3.0.0.4.386_48262 to 3.0.0.4.386_51665 using the auto update (not manual). So it does appear that your firmware is behind. I wasn't sure if that would fix my issue so I started digging through the logs and found lots of similar errors:

Code:

May 17 18:51:32 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:51:41 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:51:41 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:51:49 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:04 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:13 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:13 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:52:47 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:47 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:52:55 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:55 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:53:07 syslog: wlceventd_proc_event(508): eth2: Disassoc CC:C0:79:57:58:E9, status: 0, reason: Disassociated because sending station is leaving (or has left) BSS (8), rssi:0
May 17 18:53:07 syslog: wlceventd_proc_event(527): eth1: Auth CC:C0:79:57:58:E9, status: Successful (0), rssi:0
May 17 18:53:07 syslog: wlceventd_proc_event(537): eth1: ReAssoc CC:C0:79:57:58:E9, status: Successful (0), rssi:0
May 17 18:53:10 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:19 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:34 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:34 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:53:42 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 103 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 103 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 105 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 108 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 117 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 118 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 138 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 46 bytes
May 17 18:54:11 firewall: apply rules error(2857)
May 17 18:54:11 firewall: apply rules error(2892)
May 17 18:54:11 firewall: apply rules error(4580)
May 17 18:54:11 rc_service: waitting "restart_firewall" via watchdog ...
May 17 18:54:11 rc_service: watchdog 736:notify_rc restart_firewall
May 17 18:54:11 rc_service: watchdog 736:notify_rc restart_wan
May 17 18:54:11 services: apply rules error(17779)
May 17 18:54:11 watchdog: restart_firewall due DST time changed(1->0)
May 17 18:54:12 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:54:12 dnsmasq[722]: cannot read /tmp/resolv.dnsmasq: Cannot allocate memory

I don't actually know what is wrong yet or if the firmware update fixed anything. But strange that we both started seeing problems at similar times. Going back through the logs, this hasn't been a longstanding problems. This first appeared this morning at 9:41 am PST. I enabled ssh and logged in to poke around. After flashing I done see any space issues. I'll monitor it for a few days and see if this creeps up or if I have some kind of leak.

Code:

# df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
rootfs                   40.8M     40.8M         0 100% /
/dev/root                40.8M     40.8M         0 100% /
devtmpfs                124.8M         0    124.8M   0% /dev
tmpfs                   124.9M      1.1M    123.8M   1% /tmp
/dev/mtdblock4           62.8M      2.2M     60.6M   3% /jffs

THanks for the update, seems like there are others out there having similar issues.

Lastly- when I go to the Asus support website for RT-AC88U, the most recent firmware is 3.0.0.4.386_48260 - wondering how I might be "behind" if there are no more updates beyond that - or am I looking in the wrong place?

rkalinka · May 18, 2023

bennor said:
If you do a search for "asd" you'll see a number of recent posts and topic discussions about it. Asus apparently pushed a bad update for that service. There are some suggestions in other topics/posts to kill or pause the ASD service with mixed results. Several of those past discussions:

AC router 386.10 asd memory usage

After recently jumping a few versions on my AC88U to 386.10, memory usage has gone from being stable to increasing by a few % a day. Part of this was the networkmap memory usage that's been reported elsewhere and I believe would need Asus to provide a new 386 level GPL to be fixed (I have a...

www.snbforums.com

To anyone who started seeing strange high CPU and memory usage - Merlin is not affected!

Today I started seeing highly suspicious behavior on my RT-AX56U running stock firmware - constantly high CPU usage leading to the full router lockup that does not go away even after a full reset! I spent hours trying to figure out the cause and even ended up ordering another router because I...

www.snbforums.com

RT-AX89X suddenly started using a lot more CPU and memory leak leads to lockup every ~10mins

EDIT: As of May 19th, the issue should be fixed for everyone. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/05/asus-fixes-error-that-caused-mass-router-outage-worldwide-for-2-days/ At around 2am the router locked up. Rebooting and troubleshooting I found that CPU is much higher with...

www.snbforums.com

As to what ASD is, per RMerlin:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/what-is-asd-process.76242/#post-729340

A suggestion. Use the site search if you haven't already to search for "failed to write". There are a number of past discussions about that message:

Search results for query: failed to write

www.snbforums.com

Edit to add: The "dnsmasq-dhcp: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device" error is possibly related to the ASD issue.
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/f...-device-retry-in-60s.28247/page-2#post-842003

Thanks for this information Bennor - i looked around a little bit last night, but it got to be pretty late, so I posted here before going to bed hoping that someone else was also see issues. Based on your reply, I gather that it was a bad update to the Asus service - to your point, there are mixed results with killing/stopping the process. Given what it ASD does, I am a little reluctant to simply whack it. That being said, if I cannot get out to the internet becuase the router is saturated - then I guess I am stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Hoping Asus can fix this ASAP.

rkalinka · May 18, 2023

UPDATE - so far, here is what I did with postive results for that last hour or so:
1.) From command line : simply do:
rm /jffs/asd/chknvram20230516
and then type
exit
to close
then reboot

2.) after reboot
free && sync && echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches && free
and finally

3.)
kill -SIGSTOP $(ps | grep '[a]sd$' | awk '{print $1}')

We'll see how it goes until a fix is pushed by ASUS.

karmalicious79 · May 18, 2023

rkalinka said:
UPDATE - so far, here is what I did with postive results for that last hour or so:
1.) From command line : simply do:
rm /jffs/asd/chknvram20230516
and then type
exit
to close
then reboot

2.) after reboot
free && sync && echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches && free
and finally

3.)
kill -SIGSTOP $(ps | grep '[a]sd$' | awk '{print $1}')

We'll see how it goes until a fix is pushed by ASUS.

My Zenwifi AC Mini which got aboslutely murdered today and was helped by this. I started looking for causes in top and found asd and started looking into it. chknvram is definitely the issue and shutting down asd seems to be necessary. Obviously we want to have the malware signatures again when this is fixed.
I think this will be a permanent fix until a fix is released.

karmalicious79 · May 18, 2023

karmalicious79 said:
My Zenwifi AC Mini which got aboslutely murdered today and was helped by this. I started looking for causes in top and found asd and started looking into it. chknvram is definitely the issue and shutting down asd seems to be necessary. Obviously we want to have the malware signatures again when this is fixed.
I think this will be a permanent fix until a fix is released.

Apparently some models have already fixes rolled out with new firmware. Interesting how a new firmware is needed when the issue is not firmware related really and chknvram file is updated.

rkalinka · May 18, 2023

UPDATE - after performing those steps, I made it almost 4 hours with no issues, but then the main router froze and i had to hard reset. In the interrim, I was able to reach ASUS support and their recommendation was to wipe and rebuild the main router - NOTE, they said MANUAL rebuild and indicated that i could not simply backup my settings and restore. Open to other suggestions if anyone has found a STABLE fix.

Hopefully you will all get better luck then I got.

Tre C · May 18, 2023

pmcmorris said:

Oddly, my router Asus RT-AC68U has been fine for a long time and just started acting weird today also.

It suddenly dropped internet connectivity early afternoon PST. I logged into the router and it showed the LAN as fine but the WAN as disconnected even though the attached cabled modem was fine. I power cycled it and then it worked for a few hours before disconnecting again. So I power cycled it again and immediately went to look for a firmware update. I upgraded from 3.0.0.4.386_48262 to 3.0.0.4.386_51665 using the auto update (not manual). So it does appear that your firmware is behind. I wasn't sure if that would fix my issue so I started digging through the logs and found lots of similar errors:

Code:

May 17 18:51:32 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:51:41 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:51:41 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:51:49 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:04 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:13 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:13 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:52:47 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:47 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:52:55 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:52:55 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:53:07 syslog: wlceventd_proc_event(508): eth2: Disassoc CC:C0:79:57:58:E9, status: 0, reason: Disassociated because sending station is leaving (or has left) BSS (8), rssi:0
May 17 18:53:07 syslog: wlceventd_proc_event(527): eth1: Auth CC:C0:79:57:58:E9, status: Successful (0), rssi:0
May 17 18:53:07 syslog: wlceventd_proc_event(537): eth1: ReAssoc CC:C0:79:57:58:E9, status: Successful (0), rssi:0
May 17 18:53:10 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:19 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:34 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:34 dnsmasq[722]: script process exited with status 16
May 17 18:53:42 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 100 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 103 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 103 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 105 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 108 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 117 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 118 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 138 bytes
May 17 18:53:47 dnsmasq[722]: failed to allocate 46 bytes
May 17 18:54:11 firewall: apply rules error(2857)
May 17 18:54:11 firewall: apply rules error(2892)
May 17 18:54:11 firewall: apply rules error(4580)
May 17 18:54:11 rc_service: waitting "restart_firewall" via watchdog ...
May 17 18:54:11 rc_service: watchdog 736:notify_rc restart_firewall
May 17 18:54:11 rc_service: watchdog 736:notify_rc restart_wan
May 17 18:54:11 services: apply rules error(17779)
May 17 18:54:11 watchdog: restart_firewall due DST time changed(1->0)
May 17 18:54:12 dnsmasq-dhcp[722]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
May 17 18:54:12 dnsmasq[722]: cannot read /tmp/resolv.dnsmasq: Cannot allocate memory

I don't actually know what is wrong yet or if the firmware update fixed anything. But strange that we both started seeing problems at similar times. Going back through the logs, this hasn't been a longstanding problems. This first appeared this morning at 9:41 am PST. I enabled ssh and logged in to poke around. After flashing I done see any space issues. I'll monitor it for a few days and see if this creeps up or if I have some kind of leak.

Code:

# df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
rootfs                   40.8M     40.8M         0 100% /
/dev/root                40.8M     40.8M         0 100% /
devtmpfs                124.8M         0    124.8M   0% /dev
tmpfs                   124.9M      1.1M    123.8M   1% /tmp
/dev/mtdblock4           62.8M      2.2M     60.6M   3% /jffs

Same here RT-AC68U. Woke at 5AM EDT to find no internet access. Would reboot router and it would work for a while only to need another reboot. I executed the same firmware update as you and am now watching and waiting. Also had the drop but at 9:51AM EDT:
May 18 09:51:43 dnsmasq[708]: failed to allocate 124 bytes
This of course repeated until I rebooted it.

PressAnyKey · May 18, 2023

RT-AC86U here and I ran into same problem mentioned above. Physical connection is up but there is no Internet connection. Syslog multiple entries:
( dnsmasq-dhcp[1793]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)
So I proceeded to ASUS online chat and support guy advised me to downgrade to FW ver 3.0.0.4.386.42643 (2021) while current is 3.0.0.4.386.51529 (2023)
My current is 3.0.0.4.386.48260 and it seems to be affected as well.
FW download page for AC86U here

Support guy mentioned that issue is multiple and all they can do for a moment is to advise to downgrade while they addressing this trouble.

2B\/~2B <- qn · May 18, 2023

Networking novice here

having the same problem with my home AC3100, also starting yesterday morning.

As of first thing yesterday, the syslog has hundreds of the following errors in the log:

Code:

May 17 23:30:18 dnsmasq[393]: failed to allocate 124 bytes
May 17 23:30:18 dnsmasq-dhcp[393]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device (retry in 60s)

In addition to this it's been assigning different IP addresses to client machines, applying internet access schedules wrong, randomly disallowing access to my 2.4 WiFi and generally being flaky. Current firmware version is the latest, 3.0.0.4.386_48260-gd4c241c. Rebooting fixes the problems and memory errors temporarily, but they soon come back.

I contacted ASUS support, and they said to restore the router to factory settings. Sounds like this is a known, recent issue but the support guy did not mention that. I asked if re-applying the current firmware version would help: he said it might. I downloaded and applied it, but the "no space left" error came back in about half an hour. I also saw the following in the log after uploading the firmware version:

Code:

May 18 13:40:14 WATCHDOG: [FAUPGRADE][auto_firmware_check:(7669)]do webs_update
May 18 13:40:18 WATCHDOG: [FAUPGRADE][auto_firmware_check:(7687)]retrieve firmware information
May 18 13:40:18 WATCHDOG: [FAUPGRADE][auto_firmware_check:(7702)]firmware update check first time
May 18 13:40:18 WATCHDOG: [FAUPGRADE][auto_firmware_check:(7733)]no need to upgrade firmware

Looks like it didn't actually reapply the current version ( ? ).

So the current advice from ASUS is to drop back to the previous firmware version for your AC88U; do you think I should try the same for my AC3100 (back to 3.0.0.4.386.46065)?

Thanks for your help!

uwotm8 · May 19, 2023

I'm glad it's not just me. I've been baffled, trying to figure out what's going on with my connection

CyberDude · May 19, 2023

I've experienced these issues too since yesterday, luckily not too severe, it only disconnected the WAN twice. After a power cycle this morning the issues seem to have stopped, meaning:
- overall memory consumption is stable (about 160K of 512K used)
- the asd process no longer using 50% CPU (about 1% now)
- no more errors in the system log
- router is stable

What I noticed different is that they (Asus) seem to have placed a "chknvram20230518" file in the "/jffs/asd" folder. Before this, I didn't have any chknvramXXX file in there.

uwotm8 · May 19, 2023

@CyberDude, what Asus device do you have? I just rebooted mine and am still seeing the high CPU and the syslog errors

Maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up too much with my model. The RT-AC87U is EOL

CyberDude · May 19, 2023

I have the RT-AC88U.

Note that I didn't reboot it from the button. I unplugged it, left it for a couple of minutes and plugged it back.
What is the content of your /jffs/asd folder?

PressAnyKey · May 19, 2023

2B\/~2B <- qn said:
May 18 13:40:18 WATCHDOG: [FAUPGRADE][auto_firmware_check7733)]no need to upgrade firmware[/CODE]

Looks like it didn't actually reapply the current version ( ? ).

no need to upgrade firmware - means your FW is latest or you have turned off auto upgrade option.

uwotm8 · May 19, 2023

Note that I didn't reboot it from the button. I unplugged it, left it for a couple of minutes and plugged it back.

Good point. I was doing it through the UI. Have just powered off properly. Not sure it will make a difference, though. The CPU utilisation is all over the place.

What is the content of your /jffs/asd folder?

I've also got the `chknvram` file in there. Appeared yesterday morning, correlating nicely with when these issues started happening.

Looks like these issues are widespread. I'm not very knowledgeable about networking equipment. Does anyone have a theory as to what's happened here? I doubt my EOL equipment is going to get a firmware fix for this.

2B\/~2B <- qn · May 19, 2023

After an overnight rest for the AC3100, I'm now seeing my two cores taking turns spiking to 90-100% every few seconds -- although core 2 seems to get the worst of it -- and RAM now settles around 70-72% usage and stays there.

I'll wait to see how it behaves today with more clients being added, but my knee-jerk reaction is to start researching non-ASUS routers. The jury is out ...

L&LD · May 19, 2023

Don't follow your knee-jerk reactions.

This situation could have happened to any manufacturer.

What I would suggest is to get an AX class router today though. AC class routers are effectively obsolete and will stay on 386.xx code until they're EOL.

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RT-AC88U having high CPU usage from ASD - also dnsmasq-dhcp[410]: failed to write /var/lib/misc/dnsmasq.leases: No space left on device

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