ASUS RT-AC51U settings lost after reboot

Installing and Using OpenWrt
#1

I just started using OpenWrt and know almost nothing about anything OpenWrt related. My goal is to use my VPN with my router but thats a different story.
What I did until now: I enabled Wifi and set up security for it and set up a root password, (that is literally all I did).
My Problem: After every Reboot all my settings are lost and I get asked to set up a root password again.
My Hardware: ASUS RT-AC51U (RT-AC750)
The release I use: 21.02.3
I would appreciate if you could help me and if so, explain like I am five since I know literally nothing about this. I saw the post of someone with the same issue but was confused since I don´t know where to put commands.
Thanks!

#2

Which image exactly have you flashed?

Which posting exactly are you referring to?

#3

If you mean what it says after "Firmware Version" it is: OpenWrt 21.02.3 r16554-1d4dea6d4f / LuCI openwrt-21.02 branch git-22.083.69138-0a0ce2a

This one: Lost luci settings

#4

I think what he means is: did you flash a dedicated image for your device or one that happens to work more or less since it shares most/all hardware with another device that is supported in OpenWrt?

Also, a logread printout (text, no screenshot please) might be helpful to see what's going on, along with df -h output (again in text format).

#5

I used the Supported Version which was mentioned on the device page, if that answers your question: https://openwrt.org/toh/asus/rt-ac51u?datasrt=supported%20current%20rel#supported_versions

Do you mean system log or kernal log and where do I find "df -h"?

#6

Both are commands you run in a terminal.

#7

Sorry for the beginner question, but how do I reach the command line in luci?

#8

You should use PuTTY.

After first logon with 'root' user change password with command passwd, and wait 10 minutes. After you can reboot your router.

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#9

It is command in command line, use PuTTY as above.

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#10

See if this helps: https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-quick-start/sshadministration

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#11

What i got out of logread had too many characters to be posted here. Can you maybe tell me what excerpt to look for so that I can post within character limitations?

root@OpenWrt:~# df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
tmpfs                    28.7M     11.1M     17.6M  39% /
tmpfs                    28.7M    244.0K     28.4M   1% /tmp
tmpfs                   512.0K         0    512.0K   0% /dev
root@OpenWrt:~#

Hope this is right, thanks in advance!

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#12

Thanks. You have no /overlay, so nothing to write your settings to. tmpfs is a RAM based file system.

As for logread, you can use a pastebin like paste.debian.net e.g. and link to it here.

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#13

So an /overlay should do the trick? How exactly can I fix this?

I just uploaded it to my gdrive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vpgbYC0Yqo850BVoOqN88Hd6JQxjVBpE/view?usp=sharing

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#14

It is very strange, it looks like initram image, which is loaded into RAM without using local storage. What method have you used for running OpenWRT?

#15

I used the "ASUS Firmware Restoration Tool" Method, you can find here: https://openwrt.org/toh/asus/rt-ac51u?datasrt=supported%20current%20rel#supported_versions

#16

Re-download the sysupgrade image from the firmware selector and do a firmware upgrade from within luci

https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/?version=21.02.3

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#17

Well I didn´t knew that a sysupgrade would be mandatory :slight_smile: Thank you very much to everyone trying to help! The sysupgrade did the trick for me

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