RT-AX86U Pro 3006_102.4 "Firmware upgrade unsuccessful"

[jschu2]

I don't know what's going on, but during the upgrade from 3004.388.8_4, I get the message "Firmware upgrade unsuccessful. This may result from incorrect image or error transmission. Please check the version of firmware and try again." However, the progress bar eventually goes all the way to 100%. It then told me to manually reboot. After that, I was still on the original firmware. I downloaded the image again from a different source and get the same error, only this time it didn't ask me to manually reboot, I just had to log in again. I found this thread, but the things discussed are way out of my league:

RT-AX86U Pro firmware upgrade failed

I have RT-AX86U Pro currently running RT-AX86U_PRO_3006_102.4_beta2. A few days ago I saw beta3 out. I downloaded it but failed to upgrade my router. Today I saw 3006_102.4 is released. I downloaded but upgrade also failed. I tried Firefox, Chrome and Safari from my Mac, and all gave: First...

www.snbforums.com

The guy ended up getting his router fixed or replaced under warranty, so I'm hoping that's not the issue with mine. Could someone please walk me through what I need to do to figure this out? Please be patient with me, because I know very little. Thank you.

 

[bennor]

What specific troubleshooting steps have you tried?
Have you tried the usual troubleshooting steps?

• Clear the browser's cache
• Make sure you are on the very latest stock Asus firmware prior to trying to flash Asus-Merlin firmware
• Try using a different web browser
• Try from a different computer
• On the computer being used to flash the firmware, temporarily disable any security/antivirus software
• On the computer being used to flash the firmware, temporarily disable any web browser addons/extensions
• If a USB device is attached to the router, disconnect that USB device before attempting to flash the firmware
• Use only a wired Ethernet computer to update the firmware
• Disconnect all other devices connected to the router, including WiFi devices, and use only one single wired computer to flash the firmware
• Physically power off the router and leave it sit for 10 minutes then power it on and try to flash the firmware
• Perform a hard factory reset on the router, and manually configure it just enough to gain access to the main interface then try to flash the firmware
• As a last resort, try using: [Wireless Router] How to use Rescue Mode (Firmware Restoration)?

 

[bbunge]

If you know very little about topics such as flashing a different firmware you should not be doing it. Practice with some old equipment that you can afford to lose.
The Asus firmware for your router is good for what you need.

 

[ExtremeFiretop]

RT-AX86U Pro firmware upgrade failed

I have RT-AX86U Pro currently running RT-AX86U_PRO_3006_102.4_beta2. A few days ago I saw beta3 out. I downloaded it but failed to upgrade my router. Today I saw 3006_102.4 is released. I downloaded but upgrade also failed. I tried Firefox, Chrome and Safari from my Mac, and all gave: First...

www.snbforums.com

Ha that's funny, thats a thread I helped with.
As others have touched on though, if you are not comfortable with troubleshooting steps, the best move is just call ASUS and put in a regular support ticket

If you want to go down the DIY path, @bennor had the right idea, you want to progressively try to turn up the troubleshooting with each attempt to fix it.
Take extensive notes and screenshots of the things you try; for both ASUS and the forums here while you troubleshoot, at the end of the day we have little idea what the problem is without logs.

 

[jschu2]

If you know very little about topics such as flashing a different firmware you should not be doing it. Practice with some old equipment that you can afford to lose.
The Asus firmware for your router is good for what you need.

Ha that's funny, thats a thread I helped with.
As others have touched on though, if you are not comfortable with troubleshooting steps, the best move is just call ASUS and put in a regular support ticket

If you want to go down the DIY path, @bennor had the right idea, you want to progressively try to turn up the troubleshooting with each attempt to fix it.
Take extensive notes and screenshots of the things you try; for both ASUS and the forums here while you troubleshoot, at the end of the day we have little idea what the problem is without logs.

I've been flashing firmware for years, but I know nothing about entering Linux code and where to put it. He mentioned "MerlinAU", but there's no clickable link in your signature. You helped him through DMs, so I couldn't follow that process. I really don't need a condescending attitude from you people and this is exactly what I was afraid of, which is why I said "please be patient with me." I guess you guys were born with this knowledge and never had to ask anyone? I don't know how to create logs, either.

 

[jschu2]

What specific troubleshooting steps have you tried?
Have you tried the usual troubleshooting steps?

• Clear the browser's cache
• Make sure you are on the very latest stock Asus firmware prior to trying to flash Asus-Merlin firmware
• Try using a different web browser
• Try from a different computer
• On the computer being used to flash the firmware, temporarily disable any security/antivirus software
• On the computer being used to flash the firmware, temporarily disable any web browser addons/extensions
• If a USB device is attached to the router, disconnect that USB device before attempting to flash the firmware
• Use only a wired Ethernet computer to update the firmware
• Disconnect all other devices connected to the router, including WiFi devices, and use only one single wired computer to flash the firmware
• Physically power off the router and leave it sit for 10 minutes then power it on and try to flash the firmware
• Perform a hard factory reset on the router, and manually configure it just enough to gain access to the main interface then try to flash the firmware
• As a last resort, try using: [Wireless Router] How to use Rescue Mode (Firmware Restoration)?

Thank you, I'll give this a try.

 

[ExtremeFiretop]

I've been flashing firmware for years, but I know nothing about entering Linux code and where to put it. He mentioned "MerlinAU", but there's no clickable link in your signature. You helped him through DMs, so I couldn't follow that process. I really don't need a condescending attitude from you people and this is exactly what I was afraid of, which is why I said "please be patient with me." I guess you guys were born with this knowledge and never had to ask anyone? I don't know how to create logs, either.

Nothing in my reply was condescending? I think your reading what you want to read in the reply. I said "IF" as in it's for you to reflect and determine your troubleshooting skill levels and pick the path best suited for you.

Best of luck.

 

[jschu2]

Nothing in my reply was condescending? I think your reading what you want to read in the reply. I said "IF" as in it's for you to reflect and determine your troubleshooting skill levels and pick the path best suited for you.

Best of luck.

It was more directed towards the initial replay of bbunge. After that, you told me to pound rocks and call Asus, then used a smiley emoji. That's what offended me. This is all because I made the mistake of admitting that I wasn't born with the knowledge you have. This is the very first time in years that I've had problems upgrading firmware in a router. I've been using modified firmware since I had an RT-N66U. I'm not stupid, so don't dismiss me and tell me that I'm incapable of learning something new. I'm not lazy, nor am I asking to be spoonfed. As I mentioned, I already found the other thread and there was no usable information because you helped him through DMs.

 

[jksmurf]

Everyone, stop; before this escalates unnecessarily, take a deep breath, please.

Keyboards, despite emojis, lack the facial expressions and tones that give us personality clues. I’m sure no one means to be rude,

There’s a simple issue going on here, I’ve seen it happen on my updates several times in the last ten plus years on various routers. Let’s analyze the issue, get systematic feedback from the OP on what has been tried and rule out causes until the solution is found. It’s not hard and I’m sure it’s a simple solution.

 

[ExtremeFiretop]

I'm not stupid, so don't dismiss me and tell me that I'm incapable of learning something new. I'm not lazy, nor am I asking to be spoonfed. As I mentioned, I already found the other thread and there was no usable information because you helped him through DMs.

This is exactly the problem. No one said any of this, your reading this yourself, as though I'm telling you to "pound rocks" when I reality in telling you to start at step 1 and not jump the gun, call support, grab screenshots and take notes of anything you've tried or willing to try.

I'm not sure in what world a smiley face means anything negative... Just another example of you reading something that isn't there.

If you have any specific questions, like "how do I grab the logs?" Or "where do I find x" we can help, but saying your unable to flash with little info of what you've tried means we cant help much without guessing, I confirmed you should start with either bennors steps or with calling support, depending on your skills level, and that was based on the fact that you identified yourself that you know "very little" and "are way out of my league". If bennors steps are confusing or too much, support can help, we don't know what "very little" means.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Could someone please walk me through what I need to do to figure this out? Please be patient with me, because I know very little. Thank you.

You need to remove any USB devices and power off the router. Killing the power and a fresh reboot cures many ills.
When you re-power the router, asap, try flashing the firmware through the GUI.

If this doesn't go, we need more info.

 

[jksmurf]

I don't know what's going on, but during the upgrade from 3004.388.8_4, I get the message "Firmware upgrade unsuccessful. This may result from incorrect image or error transmission. Please check the version of firmware and try again." However, the progress bar eventually goes all the way to 100%. It then told me to manually reboot. After that, I was still on the original firmware.

I’ve seen this quite a few times on various routers, both wired and wireless, with the most recent culprit being a specific AImesh node which I tried to update OTA.

My go to fix, as bennor listed among his always thorough suggestions, is, in order:

• Make sure it is wired; try that
• Reboot it; try again
• Hard reset it, using the WPS button. That magnitude of update (large codebase change) calls for this anyway, so you might just want to do that first.

 

[bbunge]

It was more directed towards the initial replay of bbunge. After that, you told me to pound rocks and call Asus, then used a smiley emoji. That's what offended me. This is all because I made the mistake of admitting that I wasn't born with the knowledge you have. This is the very first time in years that I've had problems upgrading firmware in a router. I've been using modified firmware since I had an RT-N66U. I'm not stupid, so don't dismiss me and tell me that I'm incapable of learning something new. I'm not lazy, nor am I asking to be spoonfed. As I mentioned, I already found the other thread and there was no usable information because you helped him through DMs.

I apologize. My intent was for you to not mess up your router. Many homeowners do this very thing then have a bricked piece of hardware. Things are getting more complicated these days and with bad advice coming from ChatGPT and other AI products it will get worse. Keep it simple and stay with the Asus firmware. It will do upgrades successfully. Well, most of the time. Since using Asus routers, five of them, Asus, in my memory, has hosed up just one upgrade.
The Merlin firmware is OK (I have tested the recent release) but ask yourself if you really need it and can afford the time to continually fiddle with it.

 

[jschu2]

I apologize. My intent was for you to not mess up your router. Many homeowners do this very thing then have a bricked piece of hardware. Things are getting more complicated these days and with bad advice coming from ChatGPT and other AI products it will get worse. Keep it simple and stay with the Asus firmware. It will do upgrades successfully. Well, most of the time. Since using Asus routers, five of them, Asus, in my memory, has hosed up just one upgrade.
The Merlin firmware is OK (I have tested the recent release) but ask yourself if you really need it and can afford the time to continually fiddle with it.

I appreciate that, thank you. Based on the other thread that I linked where someone else had the exact same error that I did, I was concerned that my router was defective and needed to be sent back under warranty. I just wanted to diagnose my router to see if it also had "bad blocks on the NAND chip." Just because someone isn't as advanced as you, doesn't mean they are incapable of following instructions and being cautious. Plenty of people use Merlin firmware who aren't Mensa members.

Anyway, I did a hard reset of my router today using the WPS method. This time I disconnected my security system and a second Ethernet cable, so that the only Ethernet connected was going to my desktop. After I went through the initial process again, I was told that new firmware was available and chose to upgrade. The upgrade process was stuck and no further updates were given, even though it said it should take under 3 minutes. I opened another tab and logged into the router and was surprised to see that Merlin was still installed. I was under the impression that a hard reset would be a factory reset, so I'm a bit confused.

After doing another hard reset, I chose not to upgrade the firmware. Merlin was still installed. Before I went through the hassle of using the firmware restoration tool, I decided to try the manual update of the latest Merlin firmware again. It worked perfectly! I don't know what the problem was before. Maybe it was my security system or the fact that I was using a laptop?

 

[RMerlin]

I was under the impression that a hard reset would be a factory reset, so I'm a bit confused.

That only erases the configuration. It won't replace the entire operating system.

 

[jschu2]

That only erases the configuration. It won't replace the entire operating system.

Thank you. I'm glad it didn't!

 

[aussiebro]

Merlin software did that to my ax6000 to. Caused major issues the second i flashed it on my ax6000. Once I finally got merlin working on my main router I then bought another ax6000 for increased range. And then the ai mesh wouldn't work lol. Removed merlin of my router which took hours to do since it bugged my router from successfully flashing updates I had to keep hard Resetting and rescue flashing it was horrible the router was half bricked for a hour. All of this from just flashing merlin. After taking hours to finally get stock installed the ai mesh worked the very first time LOLLLL merlin what's going on here this is my first time using it . I literally spent 10 hours or longer fixing this.

 

[Twiglets]

Many many others do NOT have these issues and use Merlins Software with no problems.

Why you had such problems I cannot say BUT as always it is your choice what Software you run on your router.

I am happy with Merlins software and will continue to use it.

 

[aussiebro]

Many many others do NOT have these issues and use Merlins Software with no problems.

Why you had such problems I cannot say BUT as always it is your choice what Software you run on your router.

I am happy with Merlins software and will continue to use it.

Yeah there is alot of happy users but also I did enough looking around to notice there is issues to. Specifically the same issues I keep mentioning and never once saw a reply from merlin about it instead I see every 1 with these issues say its broken and send the router back. I thought mine was bricked to literally only the power light was coming on but I kept persisting with rescue and resets and eventually got the ax6000 working again. I dno there's something iffy about this software I think. If you look hard enough there is unhappy people. Not sure why maybe it's certain devices or merlin's software. All I can say is I owned the ax6000 for about a year on stock with no issues and the second I flashed the latest merlin non beta a insane amount of issues happened. I pinged merlin more then Once and never got a response so I'm going to stay on stock. I don't have the time to do 10 hour maintenances. It's our choice yes but we need to let people know this is happening. There's also a extreme biased on here merlins software like it cannot do no wrong. It's a bad look aswell. Anyway best of luck to every 1 and all that. Guys if you think your routers bricked keep at it with rescues and resets and rescuing with different firmwares like older ones fixed my bricked router.

 

[Twiglets]

I simply wanted to balance the argument that Merlins software is faulty as a blanket statement.
I appreciate you had a major problem restoring your router to a working state and would, if in your shoes, also go back to the stock software.

I don't have an answer to why it did not work !!!

Whether you try again is your choice ... I am NOT trying to tell you what to do !!!
You know how much risk you are able to accept and whether you think it is worth another go.