Upgrading RT-AC68U from Merlin 384.19 to 386.1

[JoshWinks]

Hello,

I have been having a heck of a time trying to upgrade from 384.19 to 386.1. I have been all over the forums and so far nothing has worked. Whenever I try to upgrade the firmware it will go to 100% then give me a message saying my jffs is full but when I look at the tools page I see it is actually unmounted.

I have tried all the steps in: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-internal-storage-tab-shows-jffs-unmounted.70042/

This seemed like a pretty similar situation to mine but did not yield the same result. I have also tried a restore with initialize selected which did not work. Even when the jffs is umounted I am still able to use SSH. Every single time I reboot though the jffs remounts just fine automatically so it is only unmounting when I try to upgrade the firmware.

I have also tried command chain: killall, syslogd, sync, rm /tmp/syslog.log*, rm /jffs/syslog.log*, sync, reboot

Has anyone else had this happen or can recommend a next step? Any help is appreciated!

 

[JoshWinks]

Hello,

I was just wondering if anyone had additional ideas other than what I had posted above.

Thanks,
Josh

 

[Jack Yaz]

any reason for 386.1? i'd go for 386.2_4 personally, or if you want to stay on .1 then at least go to .1_2

 

[JoshWinks]

any reason for 386.1? i'd go for 386.2_4 personally, or if you want to stay on .1 then at least go to .1_2

That's a great question! No I am ok with going straight to 386.2_4 but that did not work either. I was hoping to at least get to the 386.XX series and update from there.

 

[Happy Camper]

I'm encountering the exact same issue.
Did you ever get it to work?

 

[Tech9]

In case you have genuine RT-AC68U router and not converted T-Mobile hotspot, try to flash Asuswrt 386_41634 in Firmware Restoration Tool first and then upgrade in GUI to latest Asuswrt or Asuswrt-Merlin. Don't forget to reset to factory defaults after. Don't use saved configuration files.

 

[bennor]

I'm encountering the exact same issue.
Did you ever get it to work?

What is the specific error you are receiving when trying to update the firmware?
What firmware version are you currently running and what firmware version are you trying to update to?
What troubleshooting steps have you tried?
Have you checked the System log to see what errors it may be throwing, if any?
Have you tried rolling back to the stock Asus firmware and updating to the latest Asus firmware?
Do you have an Asus branded RT-AC68U or a T-Mobile branded RT-AC68U?

 

[Happy Camper]

In case you have genuine RT-AC68U router and not converted T-Mobile hotspot, try to flash Asuswrt 386_41634 in Firmware Restoration Tool first and then upgrade in GUI to latest Asuswrt or Asuswrt-Merlin. Don't forget to reset to factory defaults after. Don't use saved configuration files.

It's the T-Mobile version. Are they not identical? Am I SOL or would there be another solution?

 

[ColinTaylor]

It's the T-Mobile version. Are they not identical? Am I SOL or would there be another solution?

Not a supported model.

[FAQ] READ ME FIRST before posting a question

Model support Q: Will you support the RT-xxxxxx that was just announced? A: See detailed answer in post #3. Q: Will you support router XYZ from this non-Asus manufacturer? A: No. Asuswrt-Merlin only targets Asus-supported models, due to both technical and legal reasons. Q: I'm having...

www.snbforums.com

Q: Why can't I update my (modded) TM-AC1900 firmware?
A: Because you are running Asuswrt-Merlin on an UNSUPPORTED model, and Asus recently changed the firmware validation process to prevent such a thing. You will have to revert back to the original TM-AC1900. Beyond that, you're on your own.

 

[Happy Camper]

Interesting. So it is a legal issue and not really a hardware capability issue.

Why would anyone revert to the original TM-AC1900 version when Merlin 384.19 works just fine?

Anyone have a suggestion for another custom ROM? JoshWinks, what did you end up doing?

 

[Tech9]

Interesting. So it is a legal issue and not really a hardware capability issue.

Indeed. The product is hardware + software. One is RT-AC68U, the other TM-AC1900.

 

[RMerlin]

Interesting. So it is a legal issue and not really a hardware capability issue.

It's not just a legal issue. Asus have implemented various checks to prevent running a non T-Mobile firmware on that model, which will lead to random stability issues if people try to work around them.

 

[Happy Camper]

Ah, thanks RMerlin (excellent work BTW)

So it's a protectionist issue.

Guess I'll leave it at 384.19 then as it has been rock solid for me for years.

 

[bennor]

It's the T-Mobile version. Are they not identical? Am I SOL or would there be another solution?

It would appear you have an incorrectly modified TM-AC1900. As indicated in other discussions (like this recent one) an incorrectly modified TM-AC1900 can exhibit the issue you are seeing, being unable to update to later Asus or Asus-Merlin firmware versions. Search the internet for discussions on other websites/forums on the correct method to modify and convert that router. Further discussion here on how to correctly modify and convert it may result in thread lock per a tacked thread in another subforum here:

SNBForums Policy on ASUS TM-AC1900 Conversion Discussion

Further discussion of methods to get around ASUS' lockdown of TM-AC1900 firmware to prevent conversion to RT-AC68U will not be allowed. The main discussion thread has been deleted. Conversations related to defeating the lockdown have been deleted. New threads or Conversations opened on the...

www.snbforums.com

 

[Happy Camper]

Ah, thanks everyone for all your help and bennor for the clarity. Seems to me they are identical hardware wise but have some "bits" to differentiate them.

My apologies, I did not realize ASUS's bottom line was being threatened by these rogue mods and they are regulating this forum. I will cease and desist and roll back to the TM-AC1900 firmware... LOL JK

Happy modding... Cheers!

 

[Tech9]

You can do whatever you want with your hardware. Just can’t get support for some specific things here on SNB Forums.