Firmware: Signature Version: 2.376 2023/10/17 - Filling System Log with errors

[Rooke]

Router: RT-AC66U B1 (AC1750); Firmware Version: 3.0.0.4.51665 ;
On Tuesday, 2023/10/17, I noticed the entire System Log filled with the same repeating errors, all starting with error: "kernel: dcd/22609: potentially unexpected fatal signal 6." The only difference between the errors is the dcd number.

I checked the Administration menu, Firmware Upgrade tab, and found that the Firmware Signature Version had been updated to "2.376 2023/10/17 09:04" which was a couple of hours before I checked the logs.

After seeing that, I unplugged the Router for a few minutes and plugged it in again and let it boot up.

The errors went away for about an hour then came back. Subsequent (4) power off/on resulted in the same situation.

The errors do not seem to be affecting the router's performance, but the problem needs to be addressed by Asus. Attached is a snippet of the errors.

[Rooke]

@kevinkar  I googled what the dcd means and it is the Data Carrier Detect and means the router has detected the presence of a carrier signal.  It's got something to do with the modem detecting a signal from the remote modem (ISPs?).  I'm guessing the numbers are picked from a list (I've seen a range from 294 - 32755) and get recycled when the list is exhausted. 

I'm also guessing that "potentially unexpected fatal signal 6" is a bug introduced by the Signature Firmware 2.376 not interpreting the Carrier Detect results correctly. 

[kalle]

Data carrier detect sounds like a moden connection, I think that PID is the program id for the program causing this dump. I have signatureversion 2.372

[kevinkar]

Thanks Rooke, that's some good info.

I still want to know how the router gets any update automatically without my explicit intervention.  Sure it's a "signature version" and not necessarily a full firmware update but still, shouldn't I be the one to initiate that?  I mean, we've been using routers for decades and it's common for firmware updates to introduce bugs and issues such that you are able to downgrade if need be but that's after you update yourself.  This seems to be a "ghost update" that, while on the surface might just be a log filling bug but should have been *approved* by me so as to NOT introduce a problem.

And I admit to not knowing what actually happened, if anything was actually updated/changed, but this filling up of logs seems to show something happened without my knowledge.  I'm all for improvements but I don't want automatic breakage at the discretion of the manufacturer without asking me for permission.

Since I've had Asus routers they've had many years of extra useless data being thrown into the logs which is annoying to me since I don't really know what any of it means and it's difficult to pour through them to see if anything nefarious is happening.  All the fluff needs to be suppressed so ONLY real important info is captured, not 50 lines of the same thing over and over due to a bug.  Whatever.

Didn't we have an actual log-filling bug about a year ago that wasn't in the log via the admin page but rather on the router itself and I had to telnet into it, find the full directory and delete the offending data to free up space?  I think that was 1 or maybe 2 firmwares ago.  THAT was annoying!

Hopefully they figure it out soon.

[Rooke]

@Aureliannn_ASUS 

Have you heard anything yet from ASUS regarding this problem?  I've still not gotten any email response from them about the 2 feed-backs that I provided.

[cleytonanderson]

Hello ! 

Still without any resolution, the worst thing is that I'm having constant connection drops because of the router, I tested with another router and it doesn't give connection drops, I thought the asus was good in support, but apparently I'm going to change the equipment from my house to mikrotik.