From 4c94b98292ce0208388dcd03a270e3321f2e7612 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "dependabot[bot]" <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2025 03:01:14 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 1/9] Bump softprops/action-gh-release in the all-actions group

Bumps the all-actions group with 1 update: [softprops/action-gh-release](https://github.com/softprops/action-gh-release).


Updates `softprops/action-gh-release` from 2.4.2 to 2.5.0
- [Release notes](https://github.com/softprops/action-gh-release/releases)
- [Changelog](https://github.com/softprops/action-gh-release/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md)
- [Commits](https://github.com/softprops/action-gh-release/compare/v2.4.2...v2.5.0)

---
updated-dependencies:
- dependency-name: softprops/action-gh-release
  dependency-version: 2.5.0
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-minor
  dependency-group: all-actions
...

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <support@github.com>
---
 .github/workflows/Create-NewReleases.yml | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/Create-NewReleases.yml b/.github/workflows/Create-NewReleases.yml
index 0cd286d9..05693af2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/Create-NewReleases.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/Create-NewReleases.yml
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ jobs:
           git push origin ${{ steps.nextver.outputs.tag }}
           
       - name: Create Release with Automated Release Notes
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2.4.2
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2.5.0
         with:
           token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
           tag_name: ${{ steps.nextver.outputs.tag }}

From c029dd96a24695fb185be41df1ebf2b4b158c2c7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "dependabot[bot]" <49699333+dependabot[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2025 23:11:01 +0000
Subject: [PATCH 2/9] Bump actions/checkout from 6.0.0 to 6.0.1 in the
 all-actions group

Bumps the all-actions group with 1 update: [actions/checkout](https://github.com/actions/checkout).


Updates `actions/checkout` from 6.0.0 to 6.0.1
- [Release notes](https://github.com/actions/checkout/releases)
- [Changelog](https://github.com/actions/checkout/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md)
- [Commits](https://github.com/actions/checkout/compare/v6.0.0...v6.0.1)

---
updated-dependencies:
- dependency-name: actions/checkout
  dependency-version: 6.0.1
  dependency-type: direct:production
  update-type: version-update:semver-patch
  dependency-group: all-actions
...

Signed-off-by: dependabot[bot] <support@github.com>
---
 .github/workflows/Create-NewReleases.yml | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/Create-NewReleases.yml b/.github/workflows/Create-NewReleases.yml
index 05693af2..fdfd46e7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/Create-NewReleases.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/Create-NewReleases.yml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - name: Checkout source code
-        uses: actions/checkout@v6.0.0
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6.0.1
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
           ref: 'main' # Ensure we're tagging the main branch after the merge

From bae364025176113bcedff624fc665087954a7f8a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ExtremeFiretop <joel.samson@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2025 11:38:16 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 3/9] Trigger Webs_update on Nodes

1. Bump Minimum Supported Versions
2. Forcefully Trigger Webs_update on the Nodes
3. Minor Cleanup/Tuning
---
 MerlinAU.sh | 43 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
 README.md   |  4 ++--
 version.txt |  2 +-
 3 files changed, 41 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/MerlinAU.sh b/MerlinAU.sh
index 420f09ad..7af179b7 100644
--- a/MerlinAU.sh
+++ b/MerlinAU.sh
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@
 set -u
 
 ## Set version for each Production Release ##
-readonly SCRIPT_VERSION=1.5.7
-readonly SCRIPT_VERSTAG="25111620"
+readonly SCRIPT_VERSION=1.5.8
+readonly SCRIPT_VERSTAG="25123011"
 readonly SCRIPT_NAME="MerlinAU"
 ## Set to "master" for Production Releases ##
 SCRIPT_BRANCH="master"
@@ -203,8 +203,8 @@ readonly fwInstalledBranchVer="${fwInstalledBaseVers}.$(echo "$fwInstalledBuildV
 # For minimum supported firmware version check #
 MinFirmwareVerCheckFailed=false
 readonly MinSupportedFW_3004_386_Ver="3004.386.13.2"
-readonly MinSupportedFW_3004_388_Ver="3004.388.8.4"
-readonly MinSupportedFW_3006_102_Ver="3004.388.8.2"
+readonly MinSupportedFW_3004_388_Ver="3004.388.10.0"
+readonly MinSupportedFW_3006_102_Ver="3006.102.4.0"
 
 ##----------------------------------------##
 ## Modified by Martinski W. [2025-Apr-09] ##
@@ -4797,6 +4797,40 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
         return 1
     fi
 
+    #####################################################################
+    # Trigger AiMesh node "Check for updates" (mimics UI start_apply.htm) #
+    #####################################################################
+
+    curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/start_apply.htm" \
+        --referer "${NodeURLstr}/Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
+        --user-agent 'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
+        -H 'Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8' \
+        -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
+        -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
+        -H "Origin: ${NodeURLstr}" \
+        -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
+        --data "current_page=Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
+        --data "next_page=Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
+        --data "flag=liveUpdate" \
+        --data "action_mode=apply" \
+        --data "action_script=start_webs_update" \
+        --data "action_wait=webs_update_trigger" \
+        --cookie '/tmp/nodecookies.txt' \
+        --max-time 3 > /tmp/node_fwcheck_trigger.txt 2>&1
+
+    # UI waits ~10s before querying status; give node a moment to update nvram/status
+    waitSeconds=8
+    waitMsg="Please wait while we query the node for update status"
+    printf "\n"
+    idx=0
+    while [ "$idx" -lt "$waitSeconds" ]
+    do
+        printf "\r%s (%ds)" "$waitMsg" "$((waitSeconds - idx))"
+        sleep 1
+        idx=$((idx + 1))
+    done
+    printf "\r%s Done.                                                    \n"
+
     # Retrieve the HTML content #
     htmlContent="$(curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/appGet.cgi?hook=nvram_get(productid)%3bnvram_get(asus_device_list)%3bnvram_get(cfg_device_list)%3bnvram_get(firmver)%3bnvram_get(buildno)%3bnvram_get(extendno)%3bnvram_get(webs_state_flag)%3bnvram_get(odmpid)%3bnvram_get(wps_modelnum)%3bnvram_get(model)%3bnvram_get(build_name)%3bnvram_get(lan_hostname)%3bnvram_get(webs_state_info)%3bnvram_get(label_mac)" \
     -H 'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
@@ -9091,7 +9125,6 @@ Please manually update to version ${GRNct}${MinSupportedFirmwareVers}${NOct} or
         Say "Please fix the BACKUPMON configuration, or consider uninstalling it to proceed flash.\n"
         Say "Resolving the BACKUPMON configuration is HIGHLY recommended for safety of the upgrade.\n"
         "$inMenuMode" && _WaitForEnterKey_ "$mainMenuReturnPromptStr"
-        _Reset_LEDs_
         return 1
     fi
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5236d0e9..af54b608 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # MerlinAU - AsusWRT-Merlin Firmware Auto Updater
 
-## v1.5.7
-## 2025-Nov-25
+## v1.5.8
+## 2025-Dec-30
 
 ## WebUI:
 ![image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9c1dff99-9c13-491b-a7fa-aff924d5f02e)
diff --git a/version.txt b/version.txt
index f01291b8..1cc9c180 100644
--- a/version.txt
+++ b/version.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.5.7
+1.5.8

From 5e125e251144b8c71801668fec456f549c98541d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ExtremeFiretop <joel.samson@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2025 20:58:48 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 4/9] Parallel Node Processing

Parallel Node Processing. This should speed up the checking of nodes to a single 8 second wait.
---
 MerlinAU.sh | 283 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------
 1 file changed, 214 insertions(+), 69 deletions(-)

diff --git a/MerlinAU.sh b/MerlinAU.sh
index 7af179b7..76a0effe 100644
--- a/MerlinAU.sh
+++ b/MerlinAU.sh
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 #
 # Original Creation Date: 2023-Oct-01 by @ExtremeFiretop.
 # Official Co-Author: @Martinski W. - Date: 2023-Nov-01
-# Last Modified: 2025-Nov-16
+# Last Modified: 2025-Dec-30
 ###################################################################
 set -u
 
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ readonly fwInstalledInnerVers="$(nvram get innerver)"
 readonly fwInstalledBranchVer="${fwInstalledBaseVers}.$(echo "$fwInstalledBuildVers" | awk -F'.' '{print $1}')"
 
 ##------------------------------------------##
-## Modified by ExtremeFiretop [2025-Apr-09] ##
+## Modified by ExtremeFiretop [2025-Dec-30] ##
 ##------------------------------------------##
 # For minimum supported firmware version check #
 MinFirmwareVerCheckFailed=false
@@ -4719,6 +4719,14 @@ _Populate_Node_Settings_()
     Update_Custom_Settings "${nodeKeyPrefix}New_Notification_Vers" "$update_vers"
 }
 
+##---------------------------------------##
+## Added by ExtremeFiretop [2025-Dec-30] ##
+##---------------------------------------##
+# Make an IP safe for filenames
+_MeshSafeID_() {
+    printf "%s" "$1" | tr '.:' '__'
+}
+
 ##---------------------------------------##
 ## Added by ExtremeFiretop [2024-Mar-26] ##
 ##---------------------------------------##
@@ -4743,13 +4751,95 @@ _GetNodeURL_()
     echo "${urlProto}://${NodeIP_Address}${urlPort}"
 }
 
+##---------------------------------------##
+## Added by ExtremeFiretop [2025-Dec-30] ##
+##---------------------------------------##
+# Trigger the node "Check for updates" (no waiting here)
+_MeshNodeTriggerFWCheck_() {
+    local NodeIP_Address="$1"
+    local runid="$2"
+    local safe_id="$(_MeshSafeID_ "$NodeIP_Address")"
+    local NodeURLstr="$(_GetNodeURL_ "$NodeIP_Address")"
+    local cookieFile="/tmp/${runid}.${safe_id}.cookie"
+
+    ## Check for Login Credentials ##
+    credsBase64="$(Get_Custom_Setting credentials_base64)"
+    if [ -z "$credsBase64" ] || [ "$credsBase64" = "TBD" ]
+    then
+        _UpdateLoginPswdCheckHelper_ InitPWD
+        Say "${REDct}**ERROR**${NOct}: No login credentials have been saved. Use the Main Menu to save login credentials."
+        "$inMenuMode" && _WaitForEnterKey_ "$mainMenuReturnPromptStr"
+        return 1
+    fi
+
+    # Perform login request #
+    curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/login.cgi" \
+    --referer "${NodeURLstr}/Main_Login.asp" \
+    --user-agent 'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
+    -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
+    -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
+    -H "Origin: ${NodeURLstr}" \
+    -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
+    --data-raw "group_id=&action_mode=&action_script=&action_wait=5&current_page=Main_Login.asp&next_page=index.asp&login_authorization=$credsBase64" \
+    --cookie-jar "$cookieFile" \
+    --max-time 2 >/dev/null 2>&1 || return 1
+
+    # Trigger firmware check (mimic WebUI "Check" button)
+    curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/start_apply.htm" \
+    --referer "${NodeURLstr}/Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
+    --user-agent 'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
+    -H 'Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8' \
+    -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
+    -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
+    -H "Origin: ${NodeURLstr}" \
+    -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
+    --data "current_page=Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
+    --data "next_page=Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
+    --data "flag=liveUpdate" \
+    --data "action_mode=apply" \
+    --data "action_script=start_webs_update" \
+    --data "action_wait=webs_update_trigger" \
+    --cookie "$cookieFile" \
+    --max-time 3 >/dev/null 2>&1 || return 1
+
+    # Perform logout request #
+    curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/Logout.asp" \
+    -H 'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
+    -H 'Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/avif,image/webp,*/*;q=0.8' \
+    -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
+    -H 'Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate' \
+    -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
+    -H "Referer: ${NodeURLstr}/Main_Login.asp" \
+    -H 'Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 0' \
+    --cookie "$cookieFile" \
+    --max-time 2 >/dev/null 2>&1
+
+    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+        return 1
+    fi
+
+    rm -f "$cookieFile"
+
+    return 0
+}
+
 ##------------------------------------------##
-## Modified by ExtremeFiretop [2025-Jun-08] ##
+## Modified by ExtremeFiretop [2025-Dec-30] ##
 ##------------------------------------------##
 _GetNodeInfo_()
 {
     local NodeIP_Address="$1"
+    local runid="$2"
+    local safe_id="$(_MeshSafeID_ "$NodeIP_Address")"
     local NodeURLstr="$(_GetNodeURL_ "$NodeIP_Address")"
+    local cookieFile="/tmp/${runid}.${safe_id}.cookie"
+    local varsFile="/tmp/${runid}.${safe_id}.vars"
+
+    # Shell-safe single-quote wrapper for writing vars files
+    _sh_quote_() {
+        # prints a single-quoted literal that can be safely `.` sourced
+        printf "'%s'" "$(printf "%s" "$1" | sed "s/'/'\\\\''/g")"
+    }
 
     ## Default values for specific variables
     node_productid="Unreachable"
@@ -4774,6 +4864,7 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
     if [ -z "$credsBase64" ] || [ "$credsBase64" = "TBD" ]
     then
         _UpdateLoginPswdCheckHelper_ InitPWD
+        rm -f "$varsFile"
         Say "${REDct}**ERROR**${NOct}: No login credentials have been saved. Use the Main Menu to save login credentials."
         "$inMenuMode" && _WaitForEnterKey_ "$mainMenuReturnPromptStr"
         return 1
@@ -4788,49 +4879,16 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
     -H "Origin: ${NodeURLstr}" \
     -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
     --data-raw "group_id=&action_mode=&action_script=&action_wait=5&current_page=Main_Login.asp&next_page=index.asp&login_authorization=$credsBase64" \
-    --cookie-jar '/tmp/nodecookies.txt' \
-    --max-time 2 > /tmp/login_response.txt 2>&1
+    --cookie-jar "$cookieFile" \
+    --max-time 2 >/dev/null 2>&1
 
     if [ $? -ne 0 ]
     then
         printf "\n${REDct}Login failed for AiMesh Node [$NodeIP_Address].${NOct}\n"
+        rm -f "$varsFile" "$cookieFile"
         return 1
     fi
 
-    #####################################################################
-    # Trigger AiMesh node "Check for updates" (mimics UI start_apply.htm) #
-    #####################################################################
-
-    curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/start_apply.htm" \
-        --referer "${NodeURLstr}/Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
-        --user-agent 'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
-        -H 'Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8' \
-        -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
-        -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
-        -H "Origin: ${NodeURLstr}" \
-        -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
-        --data "current_page=Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
-        --data "next_page=Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
-        --data "flag=liveUpdate" \
-        --data "action_mode=apply" \
-        --data "action_script=start_webs_update" \
-        --data "action_wait=webs_update_trigger" \
-        --cookie '/tmp/nodecookies.txt' \
-        --max-time 3 > /tmp/node_fwcheck_trigger.txt 2>&1
-
-    # UI waits ~10s before querying status; give node a moment to update nvram/status
-    waitSeconds=8
-    waitMsg="Please wait while we query the node for update status"
-    printf "\n"
-    idx=0
-    while [ "$idx" -lt "$waitSeconds" ]
-    do
-        printf "\r%s (%ds)" "$waitMsg" "$((waitSeconds - idx))"
-        sleep 1
-        idx=$((idx + 1))
-    done
-    printf "\r%s Done.                                                    \n"
-
     # Retrieve the HTML content #
     htmlContent="$(curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/appGet.cgi?hook=nvram_get(productid)%3bnvram_get(asus_device_list)%3bnvram_get(cfg_device_list)%3bnvram_get(firmver)%3bnvram_get(buildno)%3bnvram_get(extendno)%3bnvram_get(webs_state_flag)%3bnvram_get(odmpid)%3bnvram_get(wps_modelnum)%3bnvram_get(model)%3bnvram_get(build_name)%3bnvram_get(lan_hostname)%3bnvram_get(webs_state_info)%3bnvram_get(label_mac)" \
     -H 'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
@@ -4840,11 +4898,15 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
     -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
     -H "Referer: ${NodeURLstr}/index.asp" \
     -H 'Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 0' \
-    --cookie '/tmp/nodecookies.txt' \
+    --cookie "$cookieFile" \
     --max-time 2 2>&1)"
 
     if [ $? -ne 0 ] || [ -z "$htmlContent" ]
     then
+        rm -f "$varsFile"
+        rm -f "$cookieFile"
+        # Logout best-effort
+        curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/Logout.asp" --cookie "$cookieFile" --max-time 2 >/dev/null 2>&1
         printf "\n${REDct}Failed to get information for AiMesh Node [$NodeIP_Address].${NOct}\n"
         return 1
     fi
@@ -4880,41 +4942,66 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
     -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
     -H "Referer: ${NodeURLstr}/Main_Login.asp" \
     -H 'Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 0' \
-    --cookie '/tmp/nodecookies.txt' \
-    --max-time 2 > /tmp/logout_response.txt 2>&1
+    --cookie "$cookieFile" \
+    --max-time 2 >/dev/null 2>&1
 
     if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
         return 1
     fi
+
+    rm -f "$cookieFile"
+
+    # Write a vars file the parent shell can source safely
+    {
+        printf "node_productid=%s\n"       "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_productid")"
+        printf "node_asus_device_list=%s\n" "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_asus_device_list")"
+        printf "node_cfg_device_list=%s\n"  "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_cfg_device_list")"
+        printf "node_firmver=%s\n"         "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_firmver")"
+        printf "node_buildno=%s\n"         "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_buildno")"
+        printf "node_extendno=%s\n"        "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_extendno")"
+        printf "node_webs_state_flag=%s\n" "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_webs_state_flag")"
+        printf "node_webs_state_info=%s\n" "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_webs_state_info")"
+        printf "node_odmpid=%s\n"          "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_odmpid")"
+        printf "node_wps_modelnum=%s\n"    "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_wps_modelnum")"
+        printf "node_model=%s\n"           "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_model")"
+        printf "node_build_name=%s\n"      "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_build_name")"
+        printf "node_lan_hostname=%s\n"    "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_lan_hostname")"
+        printf "node_label_mac=%s\n"       "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_label_mac")"
+        printf "Node_combinedVer=%s\n"     "$(_sh_quote_ "$Node_combinedVer")"
+        printf "NodeGNUtonFW=%s\n"         "$NodeGNUtonFW"
+    } >"$varsFile"
+
+    return 0
 }
 
-##----------------------------------------##
-## Modified by Martinski W. [2024-Apr-06] ##
-##----------------------------------------##
+##------------------------------------------##
+## Modified by ExtremeFiretop [2025-Dec-30] ##
+##------------------------------------------##
 _GetLatestFWUpdateVersionFromNode_()
 {
    local retCode=0  webState  newVersionStr
 
-   if [ -z "${node_webs_state_flag:+xSETx}" ]
-   then webState=""
-   else webState="$node_webs_state_flag"
-   fi
-   if [ -z "$webState" ] || [ "$webState" -eq 0 ]
-   then retCode=1 ; fi
+    webState="${node_webs_state_flag:-}"
 
-   if [ -z "${node_webs_state_info:+xSETx}" ]
-   then
-       newVersionStr=""
-   else
-       newVersionStr="$(echo "$node_webs_state_info" | sed 's/_/./g')"
-       if [ $# -eq 0 ] || [ -z "$1" ]
-       then
-           newVersionStr="$(echo "$newVersionStr" | awk -F '-' '{print $1}')"
-       fi
-   fi
+    # Treat missing/non-numeric/zero as "no update info"
+    case "$webState" in
+        ""|*[!0-9]*|0) retCode=1 ;;
+    esac
 
-   [ -z "$newVersionStr" ] && retCode=1
-   echo "$newVersionStr" ; return "$retCode"
+    if [ -n "${node_webs_state_info:-}" ]
+    then
+        newVersionStr="$(printf "%s" "$node_webs_state_info" | sed 's/_/./g')"
+        if [ -z "$1" ]
+        then
+            newVersionStr="$(printf "%s" "$newVersionStr" | awk -F '-' '{print $1}')"
+        fi
+    else
+        newVersionStr=""
+    fi
+
+    [ -z "$newVersionStr" ] && retCode=1
+    printf "%s\n" "$newVersionStr"
+    return "$retCode"
 }
 
 ##----------------------------------------##
@@ -10121,7 +10208,7 @@ _ValidatePrivateIPv4Address_()
 }
 
 ##------------------------------------------##
-## Modified by ExtremeFiretop [2024-Apr-30] ##
+## Modified by ExtremeFiretop [2025-Dec-30] ##
 ##------------------------------------------##
 _ProcessMeshNodes_()
 {
@@ -10137,11 +10224,66 @@ _ProcessMeshNodes_()
 
         if [ -n "$node_list" ]
         then
-            # Iterate over the list of nodes and print information for each node
+            # Unique run id for temp files
+            local runid="mesh_$$.$(date +%s)"
+
+            # ---- trigger FW check on all nodes in parallel ----
+            for nodeIPv4addr in $node_list
+            do
+                _ValidatePrivateIPv4Address_ "$nodeIPv4addr" || continue
+                (
+                    _MeshNodeTriggerFWCheck_ "$nodeIPv4addr" "$runid"
+                ) >/dev/null 2>&1 &
+            done
+            wait
+
+            # ---- Single wait ----
+            local waitSeconds="${MESH_UPDATE_WAIT_SECONDS:-8}"
+            if [ "$includeExtraLogic" -eq 1 ]
+            then
+                local waitMsg="Please wait while we query the node(s) for status..."
+                printf "\n"
+                local idx=0
+                while [ "$idx" -lt "$waitSeconds" ]
+                do
+                    printf "\r%s (%ds)" "$waitMsg" "$((waitSeconds - idx))"
+                    sleep 1
+                    idx=$((idx + 1))
+                done
+                printf "\r%s Done.                                                      " "$waitMsg"
+            else
+                sleep "$waitSeconds"
+            fi
+
+            # ---- fetch node info on all nodes in parallel ----
             for nodeIPv4addr in $node_list
             do
-                ! _ValidatePrivateIPv4Address_ "$nodeIPv4addr" && continue
-                _GetNodeInfo_ "$nodeIPv4addr"
+                _ValidatePrivateIPv4Address_ "$nodeIPv4addr" || continue
+                (
+                    _GetNodeInfo_ "$nodeIPv4addr" "$runid"
+                ) >/dev/null 2>&1 &
+            done
+            wait
+
+            # ---- read each node's vars ----
+            for nodeIPv4addr in $node_list
+            do
+                _ValidatePrivateIPv4Address_ "$nodeIPv4addr" || continue
+
+                local safe_id="$(_MeshSafeID_ "$nodeIPv4addr")"
+                local varsFile="/tmp/${runid}.${safe_id}.vars"
+
+                # Load per-node globals (node_*, Node_combinedVer, NodeGNUtonFW)
+                if [ -s "$varsFile" ]; then
+                    . "$varsFile"
+                else
+                    # keep defaults consistent
+                    node_productid="Unreachable"
+                    Node_combinedVer="Unreachable"
+                    node_extendno="Unreachable"
+                    NodeGNUtonFW=false
+                fi
+
                 if ! Node_FW_NewUpdateVersion="$(_GetLatestFWUpdateVersionFromNode_ 1)"
                 then
                     Node_FW_NewUpdateVersion="NONE FOUND"
@@ -10149,8 +10291,8 @@ _ProcessMeshNodes_()
                     _CheckNodeFWUpdateNotification_ "$Node_combinedVer" "$Node_FW_NewUpdateVersion"
                 fi
 
-                # Apply extra logic if flag is '1'
-                if [ "$includeExtraLogic" -eq 1 ]; then
+                if [ "$includeExtraLogic" -eq 1 ]
+                then
                     _PrintNodeInfo "$nodeIPv4addr" "$node_online_status" "$Node_FW_NewUpdateVersion" "$uid"
                     uid="$((uid + 1))"
                 fi
@@ -10158,6 +10300,9 @@ _ProcessMeshNodes_()
             if [ -s "$tempNodeEMailList" ]; then
                 _SendEMailNotification_ AGGREGATED_UPDATE_NOTIFICATION
             fi
+
+            rm -f "/tmp/${runid}."*.vars 2>/dev/null
+
         else
             if [ "$includeExtraLogic" -eq 1 ]; then
                 printf "\n${padStr}${padStr}${padStr}${REDct}No AiMesh Node(s)${NOct}"

From 0120d623740b3b8f27ce84c697dc11aa504aafdd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ExtremeFiretop <joel.samson@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2025 20:59:21 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 5/9] Update Dev Tag

Update Dev Tag
---
 MerlinAU.sh | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/MerlinAU.sh b/MerlinAU.sh
index 76a0effe..6ded3a69 100644
--- a/MerlinAU.sh
+++ b/MerlinAU.sh
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ set -u
 
 ## Set version for each Production Release ##
 readonly SCRIPT_VERSION=1.5.8
-readonly SCRIPT_VERSTAG="25123011"
+readonly SCRIPT_VERSTAG="251230119"
 readonly SCRIPT_NAME="MerlinAU"
 ## Set to "master" for Production Releases ##
 SCRIPT_BRANCH="master"

From ece930e332517e5964d75024e2ec8fb13593286a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ExtremeFiretop <joel.samson@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2025 10:59:52 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 6/9] Additional Cleanup / No Logout

1. Additional Cleanup of Unused code
2. Don't logout until the final phase.
---
 MerlinAU.sh | 85 ++++++++++++++++-------------------------------------
 1 file changed, 25 insertions(+), 60 deletions(-)

diff --git a/MerlinAU.sh b/MerlinAU.sh
index 6ded3a69..ab2b732a 100644
--- a/MerlinAU.sh
+++ b/MerlinAU.sh
@@ -4802,24 +4802,10 @@ _MeshNodeTriggerFWCheck_() {
     --cookie "$cookieFile" \
     --max-time 3 >/dev/null 2>&1 || return 1
 
-    # Perform logout request #
-    curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/Logout.asp" \
-    -H 'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
-    -H 'Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/avif,image/webp,*/*;q=0.8' \
-    -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
-    -H 'Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate' \
-    -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
-    -H "Referer: ${NodeURLstr}/Main_Login.asp" \
-    -H 'Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 0' \
-    --cookie "$cookieFile" \
-    --max-time 2 >/dev/null 2>&1
-
     if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
         return 1
     fi
 
-    rm -f "$cookieFile"
-
     return 0
 }
 
@@ -4844,17 +4830,11 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
     ## Default values for specific variables
     node_productid="Unreachable"
     Node_combinedVer="Unreachable"
-    node_asus_device_list=""
-    node_cfg_device_list=""
     node_firmver="Unreachable"
     node_buildno="Unreachable"
     node_extendno="Unreachable"
     node_webs_state_flag=""
     node_webs_state_info=""
-    node_odmpid="Unreachable"
-    node_wps_modelnum="Unreachable"
-    node_model="Unreachable"
-    node_build_name="Unreachable"
     node_lan_hostname="Unreachable"
     node_label_mac="Unreachable"
     NodeGNUtonFW=false
@@ -4864,33 +4844,32 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
     if [ -z "$credsBase64" ] || [ "$credsBase64" = "TBD" ]
     then
         _UpdateLoginPswdCheckHelper_ InitPWD
-        rm -f "$varsFile"
         Say "${REDct}**ERROR**${NOct}: No login credentials have been saved. Use the Main Menu to save login credentials."
         "$inMenuMode" && _WaitForEnterKey_ "$mainMenuReturnPromptStr"
         return 1
     fi
 
-    # Perform login request #
-    curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/login.cgi" \
-    --referer "${NodeURLstr}/Main_Login.asp" \
-    --user-agent 'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
-    -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
-    -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
-    -H "Origin: ${NodeURLstr}" \
-    -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
-    --data-raw "group_id=&action_mode=&action_script=&action_wait=5&current_page=Main_Login.asp&next_page=index.asp&login_authorization=$credsBase64" \
-    --cookie-jar "$cookieFile" \
-    --max-time 2 >/dev/null 2>&1
-
-    if [ $? -ne 0 ]
+    # If Phase 1 already created a cookie, reuse it (skip login) else perform login request #
+    if [ ! -s "$cookieFile" ]
     then
-        printf "\n${REDct}Login failed for AiMesh Node [$NodeIP_Address].${NOct}\n"
-        rm -f "$varsFile" "$cookieFile"
-        return 1
+        curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/login.cgi" \
+            --referer "${NodeURLstr}/Main_Login.asp" \
+            --user-agent 'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
+            -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
+            -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
+            -H "Origin: ${NodeURLstr}" \
+            -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
+            --data-raw \
+                "group_id=&action_mode=&action_script=&action_wait=5&current_page=Main_Login.asp&next_page=index.asp&login_authorization=$credsBase64" \
+            --cookie-jar "$cookieFile" \
+            --max-time 2 >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
+                printf "\n${REDct}Login failed for AiMesh Node [$NodeIP_Address].${NOct}\n"
+                return 1
+            }
     fi
 
     # Retrieve the HTML content #
-    htmlContent="$(curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/appGet.cgi?hook=nvram_get(productid)%3bnvram_get(asus_device_list)%3bnvram_get(cfg_device_list)%3bnvram_get(firmver)%3bnvram_get(buildno)%3bnvram_get(extendno)%3bnvram_get(webs_state_flag)%3bnvram_get(odmpid)%3bnvram_get(wps_modelnum)%3bnvram_get(model)%3bnvram_get(build_name)%3bnvram_get(lan_hostname)%3bnvram_get(webs_state_info)%3bnvram_get(label_mac)" \
+    htmlContent="$(curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/appGet.cgi?hook=nvram_get(productid)%3bnvram_get(firmver)%3bnvram_get(buildno)%3bnvram_get(extendno)%3bnvram_get(webs_state_flag)%3bnvram_get(lan_hostname)%3bnvram_get(webs_state_info)%3bnvram_get(label_mac)" \
     -H 'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
     -H 'Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/avif,image/webp,*/*;q=0.8' \
     -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
@@ -4899,11 +4878,10 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
     -H "Referer: ${NodeURLstr}/index.asp" \
     -H 'Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 0' \
     --cookie "$cookieFile" \
-    --max-time 2 2>&1)"
+    --max-time 2 2>/dev/null)"
 
     if [ $? -ne 0 ] || [ -z "$htmlContent" ]
     then
-        rm -f "$varsFile"
         rm -f "$cookieFile"
         # Logout best-effort
         curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/Logout.asp" --cookie "$cookieFile" --max-time 2 >/dev/null 2>&1
@@ -4913,17 +4891,11 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
 
     # Extract values using regular expressions #
     node_productid="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"productid":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"productid":"//')"
-    node_asus_device_list="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"asus_device_list":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"asus_device_list":"//')"
-    node_cfg_device_list="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"cfg_device_list":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"cfg_device_list":"//')"
     node_firmver="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"firmver":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"firmver":"//' | tr -d '.')"
     node_buildno="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"buildno":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"buildno":"//')"
     node_extendno="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"extendno":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"extendno":"//')"
     node_webs_state_flag="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"webs_state_flag":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"webs_state_flag":"//')"
     node_webs_state_info="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"webs_state_info":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"webs_state_info":"//')"
-    node_odmpid="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"odmpid":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"odmpid":"//')"
-    node_wps_modelnum="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"wps_modelnum":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"wps_modelnum":"//')"
-    node_model="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"model":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"model":"//')"
-    node_build_name="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"build_name":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"build_name":"//')"
     node_lan_hostname="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"lan_hostname":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"lan_hostname":"//')"
     node_label_mac="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"label_mac":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"label_mac":"//')"
 
@@ -4949,22 +4921,16 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
         return 1
     fi
 
-    rm -f "$cookieFile"
+    rm -f "$cookieFile" >/dev/null 2>&1
 
     # Write a vars file the parent shell can source safely
     {
         printf "node_productid=%s\n"       "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_productid")"
-        printf "node_asus_device_list=%s\n" "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_asus_device_list")"
-        printf "node_cfg_device_list=%s\n"  "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_cfg_device_list")"
         printf "node_firmver=%s\n"         "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_firmver")"
         printf "node_buildno=%s\n"         "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_buildno")"
         printf "node_extendno=%s\n"        "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_extendno")"
         printf "node_webs_state_flag=%s\n" "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_webs_state_flag")"
         printf "node_webs_state_info=%s\n" "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_webs_state_info")"
-        printf "node_odmpid=%s\n"          "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_odmpid")"
-        printf "node_wps_modelnum=%s\n"    "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_wps_modelnum")"
-        printf "node_model=%s\n"           "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_model")"
-        printf "node_build_name=%s\n"      "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_build_name")"
         printf "node_lan_hostname=%s\n"    "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_lan_hostname")"
         printf "node_label_mac=%s\n"       "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_label_mac")"
         printf "Node_combinedVer=%s\n"     "$(_sh_quote_ "$Node_combinedVer")"
@@ -10231,9 +10197,7 @@ _ProcessMeshNodes_()
             for nodeIPv4addr in $node_list
             do
                 _ValidatePrivateIPv4Address_ "$nodeIPv4addr" || continue
-                (
-                    _MeshNodeTriggerFWCheck_ "$nodeIPv4addr" "$runid"
-                ) >/dev/null 2>&1 &
+                _MeshNodeTriggerFWCheck_ "$nodeIPv4addr" "$runid" >/dev/null 2>&1 &
             done
             wait
 
@@ -10259,9 +10223,7 @@ _ProcessMeshNodes_()
             for nodeIPv4addr in $node_list
             do
                 _ValidatePrivateIPv4Address_ "$nodeIPv4addr" || continue
-                (
-                    _GetNodeInfo_ "$nodeIPv4addr" "$runid"
-                ) >/dev/null 2>&1 &
+                _GetNodeInfo_ "$nodeIPv4addr" "$runid" >/dev/null 2>&1 &
             done
             wait
 
@@ -10274,13 +10236,16 @@ _ProcessMeshNodes_()
                 local varsFile="/tmp/${runid}.${safe_id}.vars"
 
                 # Load per-node globals (node_*, Node_combinedVer, NodeGNUtonFW)
-                if [ -s "$varsFile" ]; then
+                if [ -s "$varsFile" ]
+                then
                     . "$varsFile"
                 else
                     # keep defaults consistent
                     node_productid="Unreachable"
                     Node_combinedVer="Unreachable"
                     node_extendno="Unreachable"
+                    node_webs_state_flag=""
+                    node_webs_state_info=""
                     NodeGNUtonFW=false
                 fi
 

From 0f1dd8340b13fdbf331ecdff3c37caad4e88a4e7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ExtremeFiretop <joel.samson@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2025 11:01:57 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 7/9] Update Dev Tag

Update Dev Tag
---
 MerlinAU.sh | 4 ++--
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/MerlinAU.sh b/MerlinAU.sh
index ab2b732a..de40d80a 100644
--- a/MerlinAU.sh
+++ b/MerlinAU.sh
@@ -4,13 +4,13 @@
 #
 # Original Creation Date: 2023-Oct-01 by @ExtremeFiretop.
 # Official Co-Author: @Martinski W. - Date: 2023-Nov-01
-# Last Modified: 2025-Dec-30
+# Last Modified: 2025-Dec-31
 ###################################################################
 set -u
 
 ## Set version for each Production Release ##
 readonly SCRIPT_VERSION=1.5.8
-readonly SCRIPT_VERSTAG="251230119"
+readonly SCRIPT_VERSTAG="2512311"
 readonly SCRIPT_NAME="MerlinAU"
 ## Set to "master" for Production Releases ##
 SCRIPT_BRANCH="master"

From 3e9fef2508248a43f9c554c35a05f098be1d7308 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: ExtremeFiretop <joel.samson@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2025 11:10:20 -0500
Subject: [PATCH 8/9] Add Back Missing Comment

Add Back Missing Comment
---
 MerlinAU.sh | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/MerlinAU.sh b/MerlinAU.sh
index de40d80a..a132daae 100644
--- a/MerlinAU.sh
+++ b/MerlinAU.sh
@@ -10256,6 +10256,7 @@ _ProcessMeshNodes_()
                     _CheckNodeFWUpdateNotification_ "$Node_combinedVer" "$Node_FW_NewUpdateVersion"
                 fi
 
+                # Apply extra logic if flag is '1'
                 if [ "$includeExtraLogic" -eq 1 ]
                 then
                     _PrintNodeInfo "$nodeIPv4addr" "$node_online_status" "$Node_FW_NewUpdateVersion" "$uid"

From 9515ac67ac1f1c0221875b39faf1893d0e0ab4b9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Martinski4GitHub <119833648+Martinski4GitHub@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2026 13:46:11 -0800
Subject: [PATCH 9/9] Code Improvements

Miscellaneous code improvements and fine-tuning.
---
 MerlinAU.sh | 415 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------------
 README.md   |   2 +-
 2 files changed, 226 insertions(+), 191 deletions(-)

diff --git a/MerlinAU.sh b/MerlinAU.sh
index a132daae..8ecbf110 100644
--- a/MerlinAU.sh
+++ b/MerlinAU.sh
@@ -4,16 +4,16 @@
 #
 # Original Creation Date: 2023-Oct-01 by @ExtremeFiretop.
 # Official Co-Author: @Martinski W. - Date: 2023-Nov-01
-# Last Modified: 2025-Dec-31
+# Last Modified: 2026-Jan-02
 ###################################################################
 set -u
 
 ## Set version for each Production Release ##
 readonly SCRIPT_VERSION=1.5.8
-readonly SCRIPT_VERSTAG="2512311"
+readonly SCRIPT_VERSTAG="26010210"
 readonly SCRIPT_NAME="MerlinAU"
 ## Set to "master" for Production Releases ##
-SCRIPT_BRANCH="master"
+SCRIPT_BRANCH="dev"
 
 ##----------------------------------------##
 ## Modified by Martinski W. [2024-Jul-03] ##
@@ -927,6 +927,7 @@ else
     ## Set 20 minutes AFTER for APs and AiMesh Nodes ##
     readonly FW_Update_CRON_DefaultSchedule="20 0 * * *"
 fi
+readonly meshUpdate_WaitSecs=8
 
 ## Recommended 15 minutes BEFORE the F/W Update ##
 readonly ScriptAU_CRON_DefaultSchedule="45 23 * * *"
@@ -2087,23 +2088,23 @@ isEMailConfigEnabledInAMTM=false
 # Define the CRON job command to execute #
 readonly SCRIPT_UP_CRON_JOB_RUN="sh $ScriptFilePath checkupdates"
 readonly SCRIPT_UP_CRON_JOB_TAG="${ScriptFNameTag}_ScriptUpdate"
-readonly DAILY_SCRIPT_UPDATE_CHECK_JOB="sh $ScriptFilePath scriptAUCronJob &  $hookScriptTagStr"
-readonly DAILY_SCRIPT_UPDATE_CHECK_HOOK="[ -f $ScriptFilePath ] && $DAILY_SCRIPT_UPDATE_CHECK_JOB"
+readonly DAILY_SCRIPT_UPDATE_CHECK_JOB="$ScriptFilePath scriptAUCronJob &"
+readonly DAILY_SCRIPT_UPDATE_CHECK_HOOK="[ -x $ScriptFilePath ] && $DAILY_SCRIPT_UPDATE_CHECK_JOB $hookScriptTagStr"
 
 # Define the CRON job command to execute #
 readonly CRON_JOB_RUN="sh $ScriptFilePath run_now"
 readonly CRON_JOB_TAG_OLD="$ScriptFNameTag"
 readonly CRON_JOB_TAG="${ScriptFNameTag}_FWUpdate"
-readonly CRON_SCRIPT_JOB="sh $ScriptFilePath addCronJob &  $hookScriptTagStr"
-readonly CRON_SCRIPT_HOOK="[ -f $ScriptFilePath ] && $CRON_SCRIPT_JOB"
+readonly CRON_SCRIPT_JOB="$ScriptFilePath addCronJob &"
+readonly CRON_SCRIPT_HOOK="[ -x $ScriptFilePath ] && $CRON_SCRIPT_JOB $hookScriptTagStr"
 
 # Define post-reboot run job command to execute #
-readonly POST_REBOOT_SCRIPT_JOB="sh $ScriptFilePath postRebootRun &  $hookScriptTagStr"
-readonly POST_REBOOT_SCRIPT_HOOK="[ -f $ScriptFilePath ] && $POST_REBOOT_SCRIPT_JOB"
+readonly POST_REBOOT_SCRIPT_JOB="$ScriptFilePath postRebootRun &"
+readonly POST_REBOOT_SCRIPT_HOOK="[ -x $ScriptFilePath ] && $POST_REBOOT_SCRIPT_JOB $hookScriptTagStr"
 
 # Define post-update email notification job command to execute #
-readonly POST_UPDATE_EMAIL_SCRIPT_JOB="sh $ScriptFilePath postUpdateEmail &  $hookScriptTagStr"
-readonly POST_UPDATE_EMAIL_SCRIPT_HOOK="[ -f $ScriptFilePath ] && $POST_UPDATE_EMAIL_SCRIPT_JOB"
+readonly POST_UPDATE_EMAIL_SCRIPT_JOB="$ScriptFilePath postUpdateEmail &"
+readonly POST_UPDATE_EMAIL_SCRIPT_HOOK="[ -x $ScriptFilePath ] && $POST_UPDATE_EMAIL_SCRIPT_JOB $hookScriptTagStr"
 
 if [ -d "$FW_LOG_DIR" ]
 then
@@ -3433,7 +3434,7 @@ _DelPostUpdateEmailNotifyScriptHook_()
 
    if grep -qE "$POST_UPDATE_EMAIL_SCRIPT_JOB" "$hookScriptFile"
    then
-       sed -i -e '/\/'"$ScriptFileName"' postUpdateEmail &  '"$hookScriptTagStr"'/d' "$hookScriptFile"
+       sed -i -e '/\/'"$ScriptFileName"' postUpdateEmail & /d' "$hookScriptFile"
        if [ $? -eq 0 ]
        then
            Say "Post-update email notification hook was deleted successfully from '$hookScriptFile' script."
@@ -3486,7 +3487,7 @@ _DelPostRebootRunScriptHook_()
 
    if grep -qE "$POST_REBOOT_SCRIPT_JOB" "$hookScriptFile"
    then
-       sed -i -e '/\/'"$ScriptFileName"' postRebootRun &  '"$hookScriptTagStr"'/d' "$hookScriptFile"
+       sed -i -e '/\/'"$ScriptFileName"' postRebootRun & /d' "$hookScriptFile"
        if [ $? -eq 0 ]
        then
            Say "Post-reboot run hook was deleted successfully from '$hookScriptFile' script."
@@ -4046,53 +4047,75 @@ _CheckForMinimumModelSupport_()
     "$routerModelCheckFailed" && return 1 || return 0
 }
 
+##-------------------------------------##
+## Added by Martinski W. [2026-Jan-01] ##
+##-------------------------------------##
+_DoMainRouterLogin_()
+{
+    if [ $# -lt 3 ] || [ -z "$1" ] || [ -z "$2" ] || [ -z "$3" ]
+    then
+        echo ; return 1
+    fi
+    local routerURL="$1"
+    local credsENC="$2"
+    local cookieFile="$3"
+    local curlCode  curlResponse
+
+    curlResponse="$(curl -k "${routerURL}/login.cgi" \
+    --referer "${routerURL}/Main_Login.asp" \
+    --user-agent 'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
+    -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
+    -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
+    -H "Origin: ${routerURL}/" \
+    -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
+    --data-raw "group_id=&action_mode=&action_script=&action_wait=5&current_page=Main_Login.asp&next_page=index.asp&login_authorization=$credsENC" \
+    --cookie-jar "$cookieFile")"
+    curlCode="$?"
+
+    echo "$curlResponse"
+    return "$curlCode"
+}
+
 ##----------------------------------------##
-## Modified by Martinski W. [2025-Mar-07] ##
+## Modified by Martinski W. [2026-Jan-01] ##
 ##----------------------------------------##
 _TestLoginCredentials_()
 {
-    local credsENC  curlResponse  routerURLstr
+    local credsENC  routerURL  cookieFile  curlResponse  retCode
 
     if [ $# -gt 0 ] && [ -n "$1" ]
     then credsENC="$1"
     else credsENC="$(Get_Custom_Setting credentials_base64)"
     fi
 
-    # Define routerURLstr #
-    routerURLstr="$(_GetRouterURL_)"
+    routerURL="$(_GetRouterURL_)"
+    cookieFile="/tmp/MerlinAU_LoginCookie.txt"
 
     printf "\nRestarting web server... Please wait.\n"
-    /sbin/service restart_httpd >/dev/null 2>&1 &
-    sleep 5
+    /sbin/service restart_httpd >/dev/null 2>&1
+    sleep 4
 
-    curlResponse="$(curl -k "${routerURLstr}/login.cgi" \
-    --referer "${routerURLstr}/Main_Login.asp" \
-    --user-agent 'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
-    -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
-    -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
-    -H "Origin: ${routerURLstr}/" \
-    -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
-    --data-raw "group_id=&action_mode=&action_script=&action_wait=5&current_page=Main_Login.asp&next_page=index.asp&login_authorization=${credsENC}" \
-    --cookie-jar /tmp/cookie.txt)"
-
-    # Determine login success or failure. This is a basic check #
-    if echo "$curlResponse" | grep -Eq 'url=index\.asp|url=GameDashboard\.asp'
+    if curlResponse="$(_DoMainRouterLogin_ "$routerURL" "$credsENC" "$cookieFile")" && \
+       echo "$curlResponse" | grep -Eq 'url=index\.asp|url=GameDashboard\.asp'
     then
         _UpdateLoginPswdCheckHelper_ SUCCESS
         printf "\n${GRNct}Router Login test passed.${NOct}"
         printf "\nRestarting web server... Please wait.\n"
         /sbin/service restart_httpd >/dev/null 2>&1 &
         sleep 2
-        return 0
+        retCode=0
     else
         _UpdateLoginPswdCheckHelper_ FAILURE
         printf "\n${REDct}**ERROR**${NOct}: Router Login test failed.\n"
         printf "\n${routerLoginFailureMsg}\n\n"
         if _WaitForYESorNO_ "Would you like to try again?"
-        then return 1  # Indicates failure but with intent to retry #
-        else return 0  # User opted not to retry so just return #
+        then retCode=1  # Indicates failure but with intent to retry #
+        else retCode=0  # User chose not to retry so just return #
         fi
     fi
+
+    rm -f "$cookieFile"
+    return "$retCode"
 }
 
 ##----------------------------------------##
@@ -4619,13 +4642,14 @@ _GetLoginCredentials_()
         then
             _UpdateLoginPswdCheckHelper_ NewPSWD
             savedMsgStr="${GRNct}New credentials saved.${NOct}"
+            oldPWSDstring="$thePWSDstring"
         else
             _UpdateLoginPswdCheckHelper_ OldPSWD
             savedMsgStr="${GRNct}Credentials remain unchanged.${NOct}"
         fi
         printf "\n${savedMsgStr}\n"
         printf "Encoded Credentials:\n"
-        printf "${GRNct}$loginCredsENC${NOct}\n"
+        printf "${GRNct}${loginCredsENC}${NOct}\n"
 
         if _WaitForYESorNO_ "\nWould you like to test the current login credentials?"
         then
@@ -4722,18 +4746,17 @@ _Populate_Node_Settings_()
 ##---------------------------------------##
 ## Added by ExtremeFiretop [2025-Dec-30] ##
 ##---------------------------------------##
-# Make an IP safe for filenames
-_MeshSafeID_() {
-    printf "%s" "$1" | tr '.:' '__'
-}
+# Make an ID safe for filenames #
+_MeshSafeID_()
+{ printf "%s" "$1" | tr '.:' '__' ; }
 
 ##---------------------------------------##
 ## Added by ExtremeFiretop [2024-Mar-26] ##
 ##---------------------------------------##
 _GetNodeURL_()
 {
-    local NodeIP_Address="$1"
-    local urlProto urlDomain urlPort
+    local nodeIPv4addr="$1"
+    local urlProto  urlDomain  urlPort
 
     if [ "$(nvram get http_enable)" = "1" ]; then
         urlProto="https"
@@ -4748,50 +4771,78 @@ _GetNodeURL_()
         urlPort=":$urlPort"
     fi
 
-    echo "${urlProto}://${NodeIP_Address}${urlPort}"
+    echo "${urlProto}://${nodeIPv4addr}${urlPort}"
 }
 
-##---------------------------------------##
-## Added by ExtremeFiretop [2025-Dec-30] ##
-##---------------------------------------##
-# Trigger the node "Check for updates" (no waiting here)
-_MeshNodeTriggerFWCheck_() {
-    local NodeIP_Address="$1"
-    local runid="$2"
-    local safe_id="$(_MeshSafeID_ "$NodeIP_Address")"
-    local NodeURLstr="$(_GetNodeURL_ "$NodeIP_Address")"
-    local cookieFile="/tmp/${runid}.${safe_id}.cookie"
-
-    ## Check for Login Credentials ##
-    credsBase64="$(Get_Custom_Setting credentials_base64)"
-    if [ -z "$credsBase64" ] || [ "$credsBase64" = "TBD" ]
+##-------------------------------------##
+## Added by Martinski W. [2026-Jan-01] ##
+##-------------------------------------##
+_DoMeshNodeLogin_()
+{
+    if [ $# -lt 3 ] || [ -z "$1" ] || [ -z "$2" ] || [ -z "$3" ]
     then
-        _UpdateLoginPswdCheckHelper_ InitPWD
-        Say "${REDct}**ERROR**${NOct}: No login credentials have been saved. Use the Main Menu to save login credentials."
-        "$inMenuMode" && _WaitForEnterKey_ "$mainMenuReturnPromptStr"
         return 1
     fi
+    local nodeURL="$1"
+    local credsENC="$2"
+    local cookieFile="$3"
 
-    # Perform login request #
-    curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/login.cgi" \
-    --referer "${NodeURLstr}/Main_Login.asp" \
+    curl -s -k "${nodeURL}/login.cgi" \
+    --referer "${nodeURL}/Main_Login.asp" \
     --user-agent 'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
     -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
-    -H "Origin: ${NodeURLstr}" \
+    -H "Origin: ${nodeURL}" \
     -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
-    --data-raw "group_id=&action_mode=&action_script=&action_wait=5&current_page=Main_Login.asp&next_page=index.asp&login_authorization=$credsBase64" \
+    --data-raw "group_id=&action_mode=&action_script=&action_wait=5&current_page=Main_Login.asp&next_page=index.asp&login_authorization=$credsENC" \
     --cookie-jar "$cookieFile" \
-    --max-time 2 >/dev/null 2>&1 || return 1
+    --max-time 3 >/dev/null 2>&1
+
+    return "$?"
+}
+
+##----------------------------------------##
+## Modified by Martinski W. [2026-Jan-01] ##
+##----------------------------------------##
+# Trigger the node "Check for updates" (no waiting here)
+_MeshNodeTriggerFWCheck_()
+{
+    if [ $# -lt 2 ] || [ -z "$1" ] || [ -z "$2" ]
+    then echo "**ERROR** **NO_PARAMS**" ; return 1
+    fi
+
+    local nodeIPv4addr="$1"  runID="$2"
+    local safeID="$(_MeshSafeID_ "$nodeIPv4addr")"
+    local nodeURL="$(_GetNodeURL_ "$nodeIPv4addr")"
+    local cookieFile="/tmp/${runID}.${safeID}.cookie"
+
+    # Check for Login Credentials #
+    credsENC="$(Get_Custom_Setting credentials_base64)"
+    if [ -z "$credsENC" ] || [ "$credsENC" = "TBD" ]
+    then
+        _UpdateLoginPswdCheckHelper_ InitPWD
+        Say "${REDct}**ERROR**${NOct}: No login credentials have been saved. Use the Main Menu to save login credentials."
+        "$inMenuMode" && _WaitForEnterKey_ "$mainMenuReturnPromptStr"
+        return 1
+    fi
+
+    if _DoMeshNodeLogin_ "$nodeURL" "$credsENC" "$cookieFile"
+    then
+        Say "${GRNct}Successful Login for AiMesh Node [$nodeIPv4addr].${NOct}"
+    else
+        rm -f "$cookieFile"
+        Say "${REDct}Failed Login for AiMesh Node [$nodeIPv4addr].${NOct}"
+        return 1
+    fi
 
-    # Trigger firmware check (mimic WebUI "Check" button)
-    curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/start_apply.htm" \
-    --referer "${NodeURLstr}/Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
+    # Trigger firmware check (mimic WebUI "Check" button) #
+    curl -s -k "${nodeURL}/start_apply.htm" \
+    --referer "${nodeURL}/Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
     --user-agent 'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
     -H 'Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8' \
     -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
     -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
-    -H "Origin: ${NodeURLstr}" \
+    -H "Origin: ${nodeURL}" \
     -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
     --data "current_page=Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
     --data "next_page=Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
@@ -4800,34 +4851,34 @@ _MeshNodeTriggerFWCheck_() {
     --data "action_script=start_webs_update" \
     --data "action_wait=webs_update_trigger" \
     --cookie "$cookieFile" \
-    --max-time 3 >/dev/null 2>&1 || return 1
+    --max-time 3 >/dev/null 2>&1
 
-    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
-        return 1
-    fi
-
-    return 0
+    return "$?"
 }
 
-##------------------------------------------##
-## Modified by ExtremeFiretop [2025-Dec-30] ##
-##------------------------------------------##
+##----------------------------------------##
+## Modified by Martinski W. [2026-Jan-01] ##
+##----------------------------------------##
 _GetNodeInfo_()
 {
-    local NodeIP_Address="$1"
-    local runid="$2"
-    local safe_id="$(_MeshSafeID_ "$NodeIP_Address")"
-    local NodeURLstr="$(_GetNodeURL_ "$NodeIP_Address")"
-    local cookieFile="/tmp/${runid}.${safe_id}.cookie"
-    local varsFile="/tmp/${runid}.${safe_id}.vars"
+    if [ $# -lt 2 ] || [ -z "$1" ] || [ -z "$2" ]
+    then echo "**ERROR** **NO_PARAMS**" ; return 1
+    fi
 
-    # Shell-safe single-quote wrapper for writing vars files
-    _sh_quote_() {
-        # prints a single-quoted literal that can be safely `.` sourced
+    local curlCode  htmlContent
+    local nodeIPv4addr="$1"  runID="$2"
+    local safeID="$(_MeshSafeID_ "$nodeIPv4addr")"
+    local nodeURL="$(_GetNodeURL_ "$nodeIPv4addr")"
+    local cookieFile="/tmp/${runID}.${safeID}.cookie"
+    local varsFile="/tmp/${runID}.${safeID}.vars"
+
+    # Shell-safe single-quote wrapper for writing vars files #
+    _sh_quote_()
+    {   # prints a single-quoted literal that can be safely "sourced" #
         printf "'%s'" "$(printf "%s" "$1" | sed "s/'/'\\\\''/g")"
     }
 
-    ## Default values for specific variables
+    # Default values for specific variables #
     node_productid="Unreachable"
     Node_combinedVer="Unreachable"
     node_firmver="Unreachable"
@@ -4839,9 +4890,9 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
     node_label_mac="Unreachable"
     NodeGNUtonFW=false
 
-    ## Check for Login Credentials ##
-    credsBase64="$(Get_Custom_Setting credentials_base64)"
-    if [ -z "$credsBase64" ] || [ "$credsBase64" = "TBD" ]
+    # Check for Login Credentials #
+    credsENC="$(Get_Custom_Setting credentials_base64)"
+    if [ -z "$credsENC" ] || [ "$credsENC" = "TBD" ]
     then
         _UpdateLoginPswdCheckHelper_ InitPWD
         Say "${REDct}**ERROR**${NOct}: No login credentials have been saved. Use the Main Menu to save login credentials."
@@ -4849,47 +4900,38 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
         return 1
     fi
 
-    # If Phase 1 already created a cookie, reuse it (skip login) else perform login request #
-    if [ ! -s "$cookieFile" ]
+    # If already created a cookie, reuse it (skip login), else perform login request #
+    if [ ! -s "$cookieFile" ] && \
+       ! _DoMeshNodeLogin_ "$nodeURL" "$credsENC" "$cookieFile"
     then
-        curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/login.cgi" \
-            --referer "${NodeURLstr}/Main_Login.asp" \
-            --user-agent 'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
-            -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
-            -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
-            -H "Origin: ${NodeURLstr}" \
-            -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
-            --data-raw \
-                "group_id=&action_mode=&action_script=&action_wait=5&current_page=Main_Login.asp&next_page=index.asp&login_authorization=$credsBase64" \
-            --cookie-jar "$cookieFile" \
-            --max-time 2 >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
-                printf "\n${REDct}Login failed for AiMesh Node [$NodeIP_Address].${NOct}\n"
-                return 1
-            }
+        rm -f "$cookieFile"
+        Say "${REDct}Failed Login for AiMesh Node [$nodeIPv4addr].${NOct}"
+        return 1
     fi
 
-    # Retrieve the HTML content #
-    htmlContent="$(curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/appGet.cgi?hook=nvram_get(productid)%3bnvram_get(firmver)%3bnvram_get(buildno)%3bnvram_get(extendno)%3bnvram_get(webs_state_flag)%3bnvram_get(lan_hostname)%3bnvram_get(webs_state_info)%3bnvram_get(label_mac)" \
+    # Retrieve Info #
+    htmlContent="$(curl -s -k "${nodeURL}/appGet.cgi?hook=nvram_get(productid)%3bnvram_get(firmver)%3bnvram_get(buildno)%3bnvram_get(extendno)%3bnvram_get(webs_state_flag)%3bnvram_get(lan_hostname)%3bnvram_get(webs_state_info)%3bnvram_get(label_mac)" \
     -H 'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
     -H 'Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/avif,image/webp,*/*;q=0.8' \
     -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
     -H 'Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate' \
     -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
-    -H "Referer: ${NodeURLstr}/index.asp" \
+    -H "Referer: ${nodeURL}/index.asp" \
     -H 'Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 0' \
     --cookie "$cookieFile" \
     --max-time 2 2>/dev/null)"
+    curlCode="$?"
 
-    if [ $? -ne 0 ] || [ -z "$htmlContent" ]
+    if [ "$curlCode" -ne 0 ] || [ -z "$htmlContent" ]
     then
+        # Logout best-effort #
+        curl -s -k "${nodeURL}/Logout.asp" --cookie "$cookieFile" --max-time 2 >/dev/null 2>&1
+        printf "\n${REDct}Failed to get information for AiMesh Node [$nodeIPv4addr].${NOct}\n"
         rm -f "$cookieFile"
-        # Logout best-effort
-        curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/Logout.asp" --cookie "$cookieFile" --max-time 2 >/dev/null 2>&1
-        printf "\n${REDct}Failed to get information for AiMesh Node [$NodeIP_Address].${NOct}\n"
         return 1
     fi
 
-    # Extract values using regular expressions #
+    # Extract values #
     node_productid="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"productid":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"productid":"//')"
     node_firmver="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"firmver":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"firmver":"//' | tr -d '.')"
     node_buildno="$(echo "$htmlContent" | grep -o '"buildno":"[^"]*' | sed 's/"buildno":"//')"
@@ -4905,25 +4947,20 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
     # Combine extracted information into one string #
     Node_combinedVer="${node_firmver}.${node_buildno}.$node_extendno"
 
-    # Perform logout request #
-    curl -s -k "${NodeURLstr}/Logout.asp" \
+    # Logout request #
+    curl -s -k "${nodeURL}/Logout.asp" \
     -H 'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
     -H 'Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/avif,image/webp,*/*;q=0.8' \
     -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
     -H 'Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate' \
     -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
-    -H "Referer: ${NodeURLstr}/Main_Login.asp" \
+    -H "Referer: ${nodeURL}/Main_Login.asp" \
     -H 'Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 0' \
     --cookie "$cookieFile" \
     --max-time 2 >/dev/null 2>&1
+    curlCode="$?"
 
-    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
-        return 1
-    fi
-
-    rm -f "$cookieFile" >/dev/null 2>&1
-
-    # Write a vars file the parent shell can source safely
+    # Write a vars file the parent shell can source safely #
     {
         printf "node_productid=%s\n"       "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_productid")"
         printf "node_firmver=%s\n"         "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_firmver")"
@@ -4935,9 +4972,10 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
         printf "node_label_mac=%s\n"       "$(_sh_quote_ "$node_label_mac")"
         printf "Node_combinedVer=%s\n"     "$(_sh_quote_ "$Node_combinedVer")"
         printf "NodeGNUtonFW=%s\n"         "$NodeGNUtonFW"
-    } >"$varsFile"
+    } > "$varsFile"
 
-    return 0
+    rm -f "$cookieFile"
+    return "$curlCode"
 }
 
 ##------------------------------------------##
@@ -4945,7 +4983,7 @@ _GetNodeInfo_()
 ##------------------------------------------##
 _GetLatestFWUpdateVersionFromNode_()
 {
-   local retCode=0  webState  newVersionStr
+    local retCode=0  webState  newVersionStr
 
     webState="${node_webs_state_flag:-}"
 
@@ -4966,7 +5004,7 @@ _GetLatestFWUpdateVersionFromNode_()
     fi
 
     [ -z "$newVersionStr" ] && retCode=1
-    printf "%s\n" "$newVersionStr"
+    echo "$newVersionStr"
     return "$retCode"
 }
 
@@ -8547,7 +8585,7 @@ _SelectOfflineUpdateFile_()
         return 1
     fi
 
-    # Confirm the selection
+    # Confirm selection #
     if _WaitForYESorNO_ "\nDo you want to continue with the selected file?"
     then
         printf "\n---------------------------------------------------\n"
@@ -8944,7 +8982,7 @@ _Unmount_Eject_USB_Drives_()
 }
 
 ##----------------------------------------##
-## Modified by Martinski W. [2025-Nov-09] ##
+## Modified by Martinski W. [2026-Jan-01] ##
 ##----------------------------------------##
 _RunFirmwareUpdateNow_()
 {
@@ -9019,10 +9057,10 @@ Please manually update to version ${GRNct}${MinSupportedFirmwareVers}${NOct} or
 
     if ! node_online_status="$(_NodeActiveStatus_)"
     then node_online_status="" 
-    else _ProcessMeshNodes_ 0
+    else _ProcessMeshNodes_ false
     fi
 
-    local retCode  credsBase64=""
+    local retCode  credsENC=""
     local currentVersionNum=""  releaseVersionNum=""
     local current_version=""
 
@@ -9129,8 +9167,8 @@ Please manually update to version ${GRNct}${MinSupportedFirmwareVers}${NOct} or
     dottedVersion="$(echo "$fwUpdateBaseNum" | sed 's/./&./g' | sed 's/.$//')"
 
     ## Check for Login Credentials ##
-    credsBase64="$(Get_Custom_Setting credentials_base64)"
-    if [ -z "$credsBase64" ] || [ "$credsBase64" = "TBD" ]
+    credsENC="$(Get_Custom_Setting credentials_base64)"
+    if [ -z "$credsENC" ] || [ "$credsENC" = "TBD" ]
     then
         _UpdateLoginPswdCheckHelper_ InitPWD
         Say "${REDct}**ERROR**${NOct}: No login credentials have been saved. Use the Main Menu to save login credentials."
@@ -9390,8 +9428,9 @@ Please manually update to version ${GRNct}${MinSupportedFirmwareVers}${NOct} or
     Say "Required RAM: ${requiredRAM_kb} KB - RAM Free: ${freeRAM_kb} KB - RAM Available: ${availableRAM_kb} KB"
     check_memory_and_prompt_reboot "$requiredRAM_kb" "$availableRAM_kb"
 
-    routerURLstr="$(_GetRouterURL_)"
-    Say "Router Web URL is: ${routerURLstr}"
+    routerURL="$(_GetRouterURL_)"
+    Say "Router Web URL is: ${routerURL}"
+    cookieFile="/tmp/FW_UpgradeCookie.txt"
 
     if "$isInteractive"
     then
@@ -9412,7 +9451,7 @@ Please manually update to version ${GRNct}${MinSupportedFirmwareVers}${NOct} or
     #------------------------------------------------------------#
     "$isInteractive" && printf "\nRestarting web server... Please wait.\n"
     /sbin/service restart_httpd >/dev/null 2>&1 &
-    sleep 5
+    sleep 4
 
     # Send last email notification before F/W flash #
     _SendEMailNotification_ START_FW_UPDATE_STATUS
@@ -9447,20 +9486,11 @@ Please manually update to version ${GRNct}${MinSupportedFirmwareVers}${NOct} or
         requiredDIVER_version="$(_ScriptVersionStrToNum_ "5.2.0")"
     fi
 
-    ##------------------------------------------##
-    ## Modified by ExtremeFiretop [2024-Sep-07] ##
-    ##------------------------------------------##
-    curl_response="$(curl -k "${routerURLstr}/login.cgi" \
-    --referer "${routerURLstr}/Main_Login.asp" \
-    --user-agent 'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
-    -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
-    -H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
-    -H "Origin: ${routerURLstr}/" \
-    -H 'Connection: keep-alive' \
-    --data-raw "group_id=&action_mode=&action_script=&action_wait=5&current_page=Main_Login.asp&next_page=index.asp&login_authorization=${credsBase64}" \
-    --cookie-jar /tmp/cookie.txt)"
-
-    if echo "$curl_response" | grep -Eq 'url=index\.asp|url=GameDashboard\.asp'
+    ##----------------------------------------##
+    ## Modified by Martinski W. [2026-Jan-01] ##
+    ##----------------------------------------##
+    if curlResponse="$(_DoMainRouterLogin_ "$routerURL" "$credsENC" "$cookieFile")" && \
+       echo "$curlResponse" | grep -Eq 'url=index\.asp|url=GameDashboard\.asp'
     then
         _UpdateLoginPswdCheckHelper_ SUCCESS
 
@@ -9523,11 +9553,11 @@ Please manually update to version ${GRNct}${MinSupportedFirmwareVers}${NOct} or
         # the following 'curl' command MUST always be the last step in this block.
         # Do NOT insert any commands after it! (unless you understand the implications).
         #----------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
-        nohup curl -k "${routerURLstr}/upgrade.cgi" \
-        --referer "${routerURLstr}/Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
+        nohup curl -k "${routerURL}/upgrade.cgi" \
+        --referer "${routerURL}/Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp" \
         --user-agent 'Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:109.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/115.0' \
         -H 'Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.5' \
-        -H "Origin: ${routerURLstr}/" \
+        -H "Origin: ${routerURL}/" \
         -F 'current_page=Advanced_FirmwareUpgrade_Content.asp' \
         -F 'next_page=' \
         -F 'action_mode=' \
@@ -9536,7 +9566,7 @@ Please manually update to version ${GRNct}${MinSupportedFirmwareVers}${NOct} or
         -F 'preferred_lang=EN' \
         -F "firmver=${dottedVersion}" \
         -F "file=@${firmware_file}" \
-        --cookie /tmp/cookie.txt > /tmp/upload_response.txt 2>&1 &
+        --cookie "$cookieFile" > /tmp/upload_response.txt 2>&1 &
         curlPID=$!
 
         #----------------------------------------------------------#
@@ -9572,6 +9602,7 @@ Please manually update to version ${GRNct}${MinSupportedFirmwareVers}${NOct} or
             printf "\n${routerLoginFailureMsg}\n\n"
             _WaitForEnterKey_
         fi
+        rm -f "$cookieFile"
         _SendEMailNotification_ FAILED_FW_UPDATE_STATUS
         _DoCleanUp_ 1 "$keepZIPfile" "$keepWfile"
         _EntwareServicesHandler_ start
@@ -9703,7 +9734,7 @@ _DelFWAutoUpdateHook_()
 
    if grep -qE "$CRON_SCRIPT_JOB" "$hookScriptFile"
    then
-       sed -i -e '/\/'"$ScriptFileName"' addCronJob &  '"$hookScriptTagStr"'/d' "$hookScriptFile"
+       sed -i -e '/\/'"$ScriptFileName"' addCronJob & /d' "$hookScriptFile"
        if [ $? -eq 0 ]
        then
            Say "F/W Update cron job hook was deleted successfully from '$hookScriptFile' script."
@@ -9787,7 +9818,7 @@ _DelScriptAutoUpdateHook_()
 
    if grep -qE "$DAILY_SCRIPT_UPDATE_CHECK_JOB" "$hookScriptFile"
    then
-       sed -i -e '/\/'"$ScriptFileName"' scriptAUCronJob &  '"$hookScriptTagStr"'/d' "$hookScriptFile"
+       sed -i -e '/\/'"$ScriptFileName"' scriptAUCronJob & /d' "$hookScriptFile"
        if [ $? -eq 0 ]
        then
            Say "ScriptAU cron job hook was deleted successfully from '$hookScriptFile' script."
@@ -10173,14 +10204,17 @@ _ValidatePrivateIPv4Address_()
    fi
 }
 
-##------------------------------------------##
-## Modified by ExtremeFiretop [2025-Dec-30] ##
-##------------------------------------------##
+##----------------------------------------##
+## Modified by Martinski W. [2026-Jan-01] ##
+##----------------------------------------##
 _ProcessMeshNodes_()
 {
-    includeExtraLogic="$1"  # Use '1' to include extra logic, '0' to exclude
     if [ $# -eq 0 ] || [ -z "$1" ]
-    then echo "**ERROR** **NO_PARAMS**" ; return 1 ; fi
+    then echo "**ERROR** **NO_PARAMS**" ; return 1
+    fi
+    # 'true' to include extra logic, 'false' to exclude #
+    local includeExtraLogic="$1"
+    local runID
 
     if "$aiMeshNodes_OK"
     then
@@ -10190,57 +10224,57 @@ _ProcessMeshNodes_()
 
         if [ -n "$node_list" ]
         then
-            # Unique run id for temp files
-            local runid="mesh_$$.$(date +%s)"
+            # Unique run ID for temp files #
+            runID="mesh_$$.$(date +%s)"
 
-            # ---- trigger FW check on all nodes in parallel ----
+            # ---- Trigger F/W check on all nodes in parallel ---- #
             for nodeIPv4addr in $node_list
             do
                 _ValidatePrivateIPv4Address_ "$nodeIPv4addr" || continue
-                _MeshNodeTriggerFWCheck_ "$nodeIPv4addr" "$runid" >/dev/null 2>&1 &
+                _MeshNodeTriggerFWCheck_ "$nodeIPv4addr" "$runID" >/dev/null 2>&1 &
             done
             wait
 
-            # ---- Single wait ----
-            local waitSeconds="${MESH_UPDATE_WAIT_SECONDS:-8}"
-            if [ "$includeExtraLogic" -eq 1 ]
+            # ---- Single wait ---- #
+            local waitSeconds="${meshUpdate_WaitSecs:-8}"
+            if "$includeExtraLogic"
             then
                 local waitMsg="Please wait while we query the node(s) for status..."
-                printf "\n"
+                echo
                 local idx=0
                 while [ "$idx" -lt "$waitSeconds" ]
                 do
                     printf "\r%s (%ds)" "$waitMsg" "$((waitSeconds - idx))"
                     sleep 1
-                    idx=$((idx + 1))
+                    idx="$((idx + 1))"
                 done
                 printf "\r%s Done.                                                      " "$waitMsg"
             else
                 sleep "$waitSeconds"
             fi
 
-            # ---- fetch node info on all nodes in parallel ----
+            # ---- Fetch info from all nodes in parallel ---- #
             for nodeIPv4addr in $node_list
             do
                 _ValidatePrivateIPv4Address_ "$nodeIPv4addr" || continue
-                _GetNodeInfo_ "$nodeIPv4addr" "$runid" >/dev/null 2>&1 &
+                _GetNodeInfo_ "$nodeIPv4addr" "$runID" >/dev/null 2>&1 &
             done
             wait
 
-            # ---- read each node's vars ----
+            # ---- Read each node's vars ---- #
             for nodeIPv4addr in $node_list
             do
                 _ValidatePrivateIPv4Address_ "$nodeIPv4addr" || continue
 
-                local safe_id="$(_MeshSafeID_ "$nodeIPv4addr")"
-                local varsFile="/tmp/${runid}.${safe_id}.vars"
+                local safeID="$(_MeshSafeID_ "$nodeIPv4addr")"
+                local varsFile="/tmp/${runID}.${safeID}.vars"
 
-                # Load per-node globals (node_*, Node_combinedVer, NodeGNUtonFW)
+                # Load per-node globals (node_*, Node_combinedVer, NodeGNUtonFW) #
                 if [ -s "$varsFile" ]
                 then
                     . "$varsFile"
                 else
-                    # keep defaults consistent
+                    # keep defaults consistent #
                     node_productid="Unreachable"
                     Node_combinedVer="Unreachable"
                     node_extendno="Unreachable"
@@ -10256,21 +10290,22 @@ _ProcessMeshNodes_()
                     _CheckNodeFWUpdateNotification_ "$Node_combinedVer" "$Node_FW_NewUpdateVersion"
                 fi
 
-                # Apply extra logic if flag is '1'
-                if [ "$includeExtraLogic" -eq 1 ]
+                if "$includeExtraLogic"
                 then
                     _PrintNodeInfo "$nodeIPv4addr" "$node_online_status" "$Node_FW_NewUpdateVersion" "$uid"
                     uid="$((uid + 1))"
                 fi
             done
-            if [ -s "$tempNodeEMailList" ]; then
+
+            if [ -s "$tempNodeEMailList" ]
+            then
                 _SendEMailNotification_ AGGREGATED_UPDATE_NOTIFICATION
             fi
 
-            rm -f "/tmp/${runid}."*.vars 2>/dev/null
-
+            rm -f "/tmp/${runID}."*.vars 2>/dev/null
         else
-            if [ "$includeExtraLogic" -eq 1 ]; then
+            if "$includeExtraLogic"
+            then
                 printf "\n${padStr}${padStr}${padStr}${REDct}No AiMesh Node(s)${NOct}"
             fi
         fi
@@ -11115,7 +11150,8 @@ _ShowNodesMenu_()
    printf "${SEPstr}\n"
 
    if ! node_online_status="$(_NodeActiveStatus_)"
-   then node_online_status="" ; fi
+   then node_online_status=""
+   fi
 
    # Count the number of IP addresses
    local numIPs="$(echo "$node_list" | wc -w)"
@@ -11123,9 +11159,8 @@ _ShowNodesMenu_()
    # Print the result
    printf "\n${padStr}${padStr}${padStr}${GRNct} AiMesh Node(s): ${numIPs}${NOct}"
 
-   _ProcessMeshNodes_ 1
-
-   echo ""
+   _ProcessMeshNodes_ true
+   echo
 
    printf "\n  ${GRNct}e${NOct}.  Return to Main Menu\n"
    printf "${SEPstr}"
@@ -11549,7 +11584,7 @@ then
                _ReleaseLock_ cliFileLock
            fi
            ;;
-       processNodes) _ProcessMeshNodes_ 0
+       processNodes) _ProcessMeshNodes_ false
            ;;
        addCronJob) _AddFWAutoUpdateCronJob_
            ;;
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index af54b608..a2f11ee1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 # MerlinAU - AsusWRT-Merlin Firmware Auto Updater
 
 ## v1.5.8
-## 2025-Dec-30
+## 2026-Jan-02
 
 ## WebUI:
 ![image](https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9c1dff99-9c13-491b-a7fa-aff924d5f02e)