HELP NEEDED: Unable to flash GNUton firmware on ASUS XT8 V2 (RT-AX95Q V2)

[MathijsE]

Hi all, I’ve been trying to flash the GNUton Asuswrt-Merlin firmware onto my ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 V2 (RT-AX95Q V2), but I’m completely stuck. I’m using the following GNUton build: Firmware: RT-AX95Q_3004_388.9_2-gnuton1_puresqubi.w (Downloaded from GitHub – explicitly for the XT8 V2)

What I’ve tried so far:

1. Web GUI (stock firmware): Uploading the .w file fails immediately with “Update failed”
2. Mini CFE Web UI (rescue mode): Accessed via reset + power to trigger recovery mode. Uploading the .w file fails with “Upload failed”
3. ASUS Firmware Restoration Tool (Windows): Tool detects the router. Upload appears to start but hangs on “waiting for reboot”. Manual reboot simply loads the stock firmware again
4. Downgraded to older ASUS firmware: Flashed the oldest available official firmware from ASUS’ website. Still rejected the GNUton firmware in all methods
5. USB (FAT32) method via PuTTY/SSH: USB mounted successfully (/tmp/mnt/MERLIN). .w file copied to /tmp. Set downgrade override via NVRAM:
   nvram set DOWNGRADE_CHECK=0
   nvram set DOWNGRADE_CHECK_PASS=1
   nvram commit
   reboot
   ubiformat /dev/mtd4 -y -f /tmp/RT-AX95Q_3004_388.9_2-gnuton1_puresqubi.w
   → Fails with: ubiformat: all 0 eraseblocks are bad
6. Alternative attempts: Tried dd to /dev/mtd2 → gets “Invalid argument”. mtd-write is not available. No write method to mtd2 or mtd4 has worked

Question: Does anyone have an idea how I might still be able to get this firmware flashed onto the XT8 V2? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tech9]

I don't see ZenWiFi XT8 V2 on the list of supported models...

 

[MathijsE]

I don't see ZenWiFi XT8 V2 on the list of supported models...

View attachment 66457

Thanks for the feedback. It turns out my unit is indeed an XT8 V2, which is currently not officially supported by GNUton’s fork. I had assumed it was, based on the presence of the puresqubi build and some community posts, but the model is not on the supported devices list.

Apologies for the noise, I’ll wait for official support or a loader release specific to the V2 variant.

 

[Tech9]

It happens. Just don't try to push hard wrong firmware because if successful it will kill your router.