RT-AX86U Firmware Issues

[bbunge]

I am not posting this to dissuade anyone from purchasing the AX86U. I have had my router for 15 months and feel it has worked well for me over this time.

However, in the past week while "testing" Merlin 386.7 alpha and beta firmware's some issues have developed. As I like to tinker and search for the best for my home network, I am prone to switch between Asus and Merlin firmware.

My story begins with Asus FW_RT_AX86U_300438646061. This version has worked well for me with the known bug of the Bandwidth Monitor not working. Then came Asus FW_RT_AX86U_300438648377 which bricked some routers but not mine. With caution I flashed back to FW_RT_AX86U_300438646061 and ran that for a while. I did run Merlin 386.5_2 successfully for a while then went back to FW_RT_AX86U_300438646061. When Merlin 386.7 alpha 1 (the first one) came out for the AX86U I loaded it with no issues to try then went back to FW_RT_AX86U_300438646061. When the Merlin 386.7 beta1 came out I loaded that to try and that was successful, I thought. I started having problems with the 5 GHz not starting with Auto channel and 20, 40, 80, 160 MHz selected. Using a fixed channel, any availible, did allow the 5 GHz to start even DFS channels. So back to Asus FW_RT_AX86U_300438646061. And I had the same issues with 5 GHz. Yes, I do a Factory Reset with Initialize after flashing and manually configure.

I wanted to go back to an Asus firmware that I knew did not have known issues so I flashed Asus 3.0.0.4.386_45934-gb23bda, Did a Hard Factory Reset with a manual configure. Seemed to work OK until I went to the speed test and discovered test results from the prior firmware revision. The Asus Hard Factory reset did not fully work! I did a GUI factory reset with Initialize on the FW_RT_AX86U_300438645934 firmware and manually configured. Seems to be working OK except I expected the router to find the "recent" Asus firmware FW_RT_AX86U_300438646061 and upgrade itself on setup. I didn't and a GUI firmware check shows that 3.0.0.4.386_45934-gb23bdac is "The router's current firmware...". A check of the AX86U Support site shows Version 3.0.0.4.386.46061 fro January to be current, yet...

Does this mean the Asus upgrade servers are getting ready to release a new version?

I really do not need suggestions to fix any of my issues. I've been at this sort of thing a very long time. Yes, I do make and usually learn from my mistakes. I just wanted to get this out for others to see.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Does this mean the Asus upgrade servers are getting ready to release a new version?

When it doesn't work, I assume it's not working. I wouldn't suspect anything more than that.

The only 5.0 issue I've notice is that the router takes a longer time to bring it up when trying to use DFS channels. So I wait for it.

The bigger question I have is... when it does work, given ASUS is moving the firmware to a new SDK, do you want to be the first to try it?

OE

 

[bbunge]

When it doesn't work, I assume it's not working. I wouldn't suspect anything more than that.

The only 5.0 issue I've notice is that the router takes a longer time to bring it up when trying to use DFS channels. So I wait for it.

The bigger question I have is... when it does work, given ASUS is moving the firmware to a new SDK, do you want to be the first to try it?

OE

Would not start even on UNII 1 channels after 20 minutes.

Someone has to be first and the AX86U is under warranty. There is also the trusty AC66U_B1 in standby....

 

[Tech9]

There is also the trusty AC66U_B1 in standby....

Traffic Monitor doesn't work on this one in 386 code base, both Asuswrt and Asuswrt-Merlin.