Unable to log in on router (Web & SSH, local & remote) when SSD goes offline; why?

[XIII]

Because using an SSD instead of a USB stick should be more stable, I migrated from a (SanDisk) USB stick to a (Verbatim) SSD in a (Verbatim) external enclosure . Unfortunately, this SSD sometimes becomes read only (until the next reboot) or the router does not even see it all (until I detach and re-attach it).

When this happens I can no longer access the router via the web GUI or SSH, both at home (LAN) and remote (using OpenVPN or Tailscale), but it's still providing WiFi and internet access to all devices in my home.

Why would I lose access when the SSD goes down? How can I prevent losing access? (When still using this SSD)

Could it be related to my "special setup" using the commands below in /jffs/scripts/post-mount to be able to make zsh my router's default shell?

[ -d "$1/home/root" ] && mount -o bind $1/home/root /home/root
ln -nsf /home/root /home/$(nvram get http_username)

(PS: According to TAILMON Tailscale goes down when this happens, but TAILMON keeps mailing me about that - every minute if I don't use the rate limiter...)

 

[CaptnDanLKW]

Do you use scribe? it redirects logs to /opt, perhaps a deadlock condition because it can't write. Or any other addon that would try to read page code to render the GUI but can't access the drive, so it hangs. The more processes that rely on external storage, and that storage doesn't act the way it expects, processes could hang or die. Just throwing out ideas....

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Could it be related to my "special setup" using the commands below in /jffs/scripts/post-mount to be able to make zsh my router's default shell?

Have you tried backing out this modification and seeing if that might help?

Here is my theory, and please shoot it down if I'm sorely mistaken... I'm going to guess that zsh might be an Entware install, which by default would be living on your SSD. So when your SSD goes down, your ability to use zsh is pooched, and because your router knows you are trying to use zsh instead of ssh but is dealing with a failed link to this binary, ssh is also a non-starter.

Just a theory.

 

[XIII]

I do indeed use Scribe.

zsh on SSD might explain not being able to SSH into the router, but it wouldn’t explain the web GUI not showing the log in page?