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Upgrade from 384.19 to 386.1_2

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DFactory

Occasional Visitor
Apologies for the noob question but I could not find this info on the website, nor in the chat and I came to this update with some delay.

The question: Is it fine to just dirty flash the new firmware 386.1_2 on top of 384.19, or one needs to factory reset the whole router when upgrading? I know factory reset is somehow always preferred, but still (see reason below).

Reason for asking: we have lockdown and curfew, so I would upgrade remotely. In worst case, I have a person at the premises, but would prefer to avoid any potential disruption to the internet connection in case things go wrong.
 
If you're doing this remotely, and you can't go in person now, wait until you can.

The chances of disruption are proportionately greater the farther/less likely you can get there yourself in a timely manner to fix any issues presented by upgrading. :)
 
Ah, sorry, Asus RT-86U.

About the rest: yeah, I am aware of that. I have not been on site for some years already :D
 
Which '86U'? :)
 
Thanks Ramz for the feedback. Much appreciated! Do you have any VPN server running, or any additional extras, plugins?
 
Thanks Ramz for the feedback. Much appreciated! Do you have any VPN server running, or any additional extras, plugins?
I do have Nordvpn but its not turned on.
 
Thanks Ramz for the feedback. Much appreciated! Do you have any VPN server running, or any additional extras, plugins?
Seems that from reading that people here have had issues and needed a factory reset.
 
Sometimes you get away with it, sometimes you don't. But if weird problems develop down the road, you'll probably end up doing a factory reset anyway, if only because you'll be suspicious the dirty upgrade was to blame. So many dirty upgraders will end up doing the factory reset anyway, it's just a matter of when.

But remote upgrades are the worst since if they fail, the router is likely inaccessible until an on-site visit. And so my advice is to *never* do remote upgrades unless there's some VERY compelling reason (e.g., a fix for a likely to be exploited vulnerability), *and* it's better to attempt to fix it w/ an upgrade and risk the lost access, then to continue w/ the current firmware and risk being hacked. But that's YOUR call.

There will always be high-wire acts that take the risk even when it isn't really necessary. But at least if a *local* update fails, you can quickly and easily recover using the old firmware and backup (you did create a backup, right?).
 
Last edited:
There are too many threads to follow and this seems the most appropriate one to reply to.
It appears there is a known issue with 386.x (even Asus's f/w) as some are having 2.4G random drops; I have too since moving to 386.1 but ONLY on one device; a LaCrosse Weather Station. Tried the usual suggestions one at a time but at random times throughout the day, it would still flood the log with deauth, assoc messages so back to 384.19 and all is well. Then comes 386.1.2 and had same results. (yes, did the usual flash, reset routine). So back to 384.19 again. I'm guessing there was a driver change that my LaCrosse wx station does not like.
 

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