Unexpected troubles when swapping from official to Merlin firmware

[TheLyppardMan]

Some strange things happened yesterday evening. I was trying to move back to Merlin firmware from the latest official firmware. I connected my laptop to the router with an ethernet cable, uploaded the latest Merlin firmware, reset the router using the button on the router and then waited for the initial setup screen to appear, but it didn’t. So, I typed in 192.168.50.1 into my browser and to my surprise, the normal user and password fields appeared on my screen, but my user name and password were rejected (which I expected to happen after a reset). I repeated the reset and the same thing occurred again. I was in a bit of a panic as to what to do next, so I thought I would try the ASUS discovery utility, but since mobile tethering would not work for some unknown reason, I had to get up in my loft and retrieve my ISP’s router to get me back online and when I eventually found and downloaded the ASUS app, it wouldn’t install (it got so far and then just stalled). Getting ever more frustrated, I rebooted my laptop and tried again. This time, it did install, but it didn’t find the ASUS router when I was connected via the ethernet cable. So, I unplugged the cable and then I noticed that there was an open Wi-Fi access called ASUS_90 or something similar. It was something I had seen before, so I decided to try connecting to it and I was able to do that. I then ran the ASUS discovery app and to my relief, the initial setup wizard for my router came on screen and I was able to continue as normal. I have no idea what happened as I’ve never had any problem before with being able to set up my router after a full reset. Does anyone have any ideas as to what might have happened?

 

[joegreat]

Long story short: The firmware update/downgrade to Merlin did not work.

I had this behavior during previous updates from one Merlin version to the next one on my AX88U (not Pro).
The "solution" was to factory reset the router BEFORE the firmware update and do an absolute minimum config (no USB-drive).
Then the update via the web interface worked for me - but I had to reset and reconfigure the manually - what should be done anyway in your case.

 

[Tech9]

Does anyone have any ideas as to what might have happened?

You did a downgrade from 3.0.0.6 firmware to 3.0.0.4 firmware. Perhaps 3.0.0.6 has major changes creating the issues.

 

[L&LD]

What button did you press? The 'reset' button or did you use the WPS method applicable to your router?

[Wireless Router] When Standard Reset Isn’t Working: Hard Factory Reset - Models list | Official Support | ASUS USA

In either case, the reset wasn't performed at all (initially).

 

[TheLyppardMan]

What button did you press? The 'reset' button or did you use the WPS method applicable to your router?

[Wireless Router] When Standard Reset Isn’t Working: Hard Factory Reset - Models list | Official Support | ASUS USA

In either case, the reset wasn't performed at all (initially).

I used a paperclip to press the reset button on the back (or in my case top) of the router. I held it pressed until the power led started flashing and then I released it and the router rebooted. Q: If the reset wasn't performed at all initially, why could I no longer sign in with my user name and password?

 

[TheLyppardMan]

You did a downgrade from 3.0.0.6 firmware to 3.0.0.4 firmware. Perhaps 3.0.0.6 has major changes creating the issues.

Possibly, but no idea really.

 

[TheLyppardMan]

Long story short: The firmware update/downgrade to Merlin did not work.

I had this behavior during previous updates from one Merlin version to the next one on my AX88U (not Pro).
The "solution" was to factory reset the router BEFORE the firmware update and do an absolute minimum config (no USB-drive).
Then the update via the web interface worked for me - but I had to reset and reconfigure the manually - what should be done anyway in your case.

I thought the correct procedure was to perform a factory reset after the new firmware has been uploaded. That is what I have always done.

 

[L&LD]

The reset button method isn't reliable anymore. That is why the GUI (with the checked 'Initialize all settings...' box selected too) and/or the WPS/Hard reset method is suggested.

Yes, that is the correct procedure (factory reset afterward), always. But to actually flash the firmware, it does help sometimes to do a reset before too.

 

[qiuyan81]

I encountered this once and couldn't re-flash the firmware, nor could I use the official rescue program to get it back to normal. This was a hardware failure on the router. I sent the device back to the seller, and they replaced it for me.

 

[Tech9]

Possibly, but no idea really.

A change in file system structure or partitions can cause issues like this. @RMerlin perhaps knows more what may have happened.