RussellInCincinnati
Senior Member
Not used to a router where you had to worry about what happens if it unexpectedly loses power. Pulled the plug on one of my new RT-AC66u installs, latest rtMerlin ...25b firmware, which had a USB flash drive installed as a form of "fileserver" for a half dozen workstations. Wouldn't function normally after next power-on, i.e. could ping the thing but no internet access or ability to go to main menus. Did briefly see the oddly bare-bones screen that invited you to reload firmware or reboot, but did not take advantage of it and after another power cycle never saw it again.
Now the great thing is how easy it was to "rescue" the router by restarting it while holding in the reset button for a few seconds until the power LED starting flashing slowly...then re-installing stock Asus '270 firmware with the Asus Windows rescue utility, then logging in normally and re-installing rtMerlin by normal firmware update procedure.
I suppose I could have directly re-installed the rtMerlin firmware using the Asus rescue utility and saved a step?
Anyway it was quite pleasant to see every single setting survive the 2 firmware reinstalls, and in not many minutes was back to normal operation.
One take-away is that perhaps this router is a good candidate for being served by a small battery backup unit. Another is that a professional installer of these units should become familiar with the easy reset procedure and the slow flashing of the power LED, signalling it is ready for the "rescue" utility to reload firmware. And said installer should carry around a flash drive, with the rescue utility installer and current firmware on it. Final takeaway is, why did I not save a stored a copy of the complex configuration somewhere so as to not worry about losing settings?
Thanks RMerlin for a super job of coming up with a complex product that saved all my settings through several firmware re-flashes.
Now the great thing is how easy it was to "rescue" the router by restarting it while holding in the reset button for a few seconds until the power LED starting flashing slowly...then re-installing stock Asus '270 firmware with the Asus Windows rescue utility, then logging in normally and re-installing rtMerlin by normal firmware update procedure.
I suppose I could have directly re-installed the rtMerlin firmware using the Asus rescue utility and saved a step?
Anyway it was quite pleasant to see every single setting survive the 2 firmware reinstalls, and in not many minutes was back to normal operation.
One take-away is that perhaps this router is a good candidate for being served by a small battery backup unit. Another is that a professional installer of these units should become familiar with the easy reset procedure and the slow flashing of the power LED, signalling it is ready for the "rescue" utility to reload firmware. And said installer should carry around a flash drive, with the rescue utility installer and current firmware on it. Final takeaway is, why did I not save a stored a copy of the complex configuration somewhere so as to not worry about losing settings?
Thanks RMerlin for a super job of coming up with a complex product that saved all my settings through several firmware re-flashes.
