ASUS RT-N66U - my review

[kingjms]

I really appreciate the help guys, unfortunately I still seem to have issues. When manually assigning an ip address I still cannot access the router. I uploaded the previous firmware through the Asus firmware restore utility, but now the router is cycling off and on repeatedly. This is very frustrating! What firmware version are you guys using?

One thing to note is I flashed tomato successfully..it's just going back to the Asus firmware I'm having issues with.

I had the same problem at first and I came across the fix by luck I suppose. When it keeps power cycling keep spamming 192.168.1.1 in the browser you should see the CFE Web server come up and when it does keep spam clicking Erase NVRAM. It that doesn't work you can try putting the router in recovery mode and instead of flashing the ASUS firmware login to 192.168.1.1 and you'll see the CFE web server and erase NVRAM from there.

 

[dejanh]

I flashed the newest 3.0.0.3.96 firmware and so far I have to say that I have no issues with it. I flashed the firmware through Firefox (flash did not work correctly from IE) and rebooted the router after the flash completed. I did not try mucking around with any new settings like the transmitter because my router was set up a certain way and settings were all saved post update. DLNA seems to be working better so far, but I have to validate it further. I am now able to use an NTFS formatted drive for DLNA and the multimedia indexing seems to be happening on the fly correctly. I will report back with more results when I get a chance to test things further in the next few days.

I did notice that my wireless devices seem to acquire the connection with one bar less than usual (signal is slightly weaker). I wonder if this is something that can be corrected by messing with the transmitter power settings. I guess I need to try this as well.

I take back what I said about DLNA. DLNA is not working correctly with this firmware either. While I can use NTFS now, indexing is still all screwed up. Sometimes the files are picked up, other times nothing is picked up. If files are loaded to the drive, then the router is rebooted nothing is picked up any more and all of the files have to be reloaded. How can they but this up so badly I really do not get it.

Changing transmit power seems to take on my router, sometimes right away, sometimes after like 3-4 clicks of the Apply button. However, I am not seeing any strength difference on my devices nor performance difference. Overall my signal seems to be lower by one bar on all of my wireless devices with 3.0.0.3.96 vs .90.

 

[darksamus]

Wow, I dont consider myself to be a networking proffesional by any means, but I do consider myself to be a VERY advanced user.

I must say... the info on tomato software is extremely scattered and vague!! DD-WRT had a much nicer compiled website.

From comparing Toastman and Shibby on the wiki, I'm liking Shibby's features more.... But I'm confused as hell since I'm not seeing support of the RTN66U mentioned anywhere!... Am I missing something?

Where can I download the Shibby build?

Also, why would you recommend toastman?

Last but not least, how do I install the firmware? Is it as simple as just updating the firmware through the GUI? Cause Im not finding RTN66U instructions.

Last but not least, can I easily go back to Asus FW if i decide to do that?

There is no one Tomato build created just for this router. I've use Shibby and Toastman builds and I really like Shibby's because its more stable and has features that I use. DD-WRT has a build just for this router but the last time I heard is that the WAN port does not pick up an ip address from the ISP.

Once you have 3rd party firmware loaded, you can always go back to stock at anytime.

Below is a link to Shibby's V083 build. The newest one is V084 but someone said it has missing menu options compare to V083.

http://tomato.groov.pl/index.php?dir=K26RT-N

The one that I use is the Mega-VPN becuase it has a lot of features. Note that is say RT-N10U but it will work on this router.

To load the firmware, I put the router into recovery mode by holding down the reset button and then pluging in the power cable while holding down the reset button until the power lights flash slow. Then use the asus recovery cd to upload the firmware. Someone here said you don't have to use the recovery cd, just go the router's ip of 192.168.1.1 and load the firmware.

 

[inroute]

I really appreciate the help guys, unfortunately I still seem to have issues. When manually assigning an ip address I still cannot access the router. I uploaded the previous firmware through the Asus firmware restore utility, but now the router is cycling off and on repeatedly. This is very frustrating! What firmware version are you guys using?

One thing to note is I flashed tomato successfully..it's just going back to the Asus firmware I'm having issues with.

The instructions I gave was what I did to roll back to the stock firmware from the Tomato Shibby build as well. I just didn't like the interface of Tomato as much as the ASUS, and the ASUS does everything I need once they get the NAT loopback actually working.

On a side note the icons in the newest .96 firmware are pretty sweet. I'm kinda surprised they updated them already, but it gives them a Tron-like feeling.

 

[darksamus]

The instructions I gave was what I did to roll back to the stock firmware from the Tomato Shibby build as well. I just didn't like the interface of Tomato as much as the ASUS, and the ASUS does everything I need once they get the NAT loopback actually working.

On a side note the icons in the newest .96 firmware are pretty sweet. I'm kinda surprised they updated them already, but it gives them a Tron-like feeling.

I choose functionality over the way it looks.

 

[Greg_Elite]

I choose functionality over the way it looks.

Yea but come on. A $200 router, I should be able to use the company's routing firmware that made it.

 

[magnus_ca]

Yea but come on. A $200 router, I should be able to use the company's routing firmware that made it.

Doesn't it suck when reality trumps principle?

Btw, I have no issue using the stock firmware. It is quite capable of meeting my needs, and I imagine many others, with aplomb. I understand it might not do everything it's advertised to (yet) but at least we have tomato as an alternative and Asus has released three firmware updates since its release. Perhaps in retrospect Asus would of worked out all these bugs before releasing it but then we'd all be complaining about the delays.

Such a fickle bunch we are.

 

[inroute]

I choose functionality over the way it looks.

I completely agree, which is why I installed it. I just found that it was way overkill for what I wanted, and having to flip through all the menus to find basic settings was annoying. I thought the ASUS software is more intuitive with settings placement.

I've always used DD-WRT on all my other routers, and I've tried Tomato in the past but always gone back to DD-WRT. The ASUS software does the things I want (such as static IPs), which many other stock firmwares don't do.

I understand that Tomato will work well for some people because maybe they want to do things like run a BitTorrent client on their router. For me I have a very specific set of needs, and if there are multiple firmwares that all accomplish those needs I'm going to fall back to the one that I feel looks better and is more intuitive to me.

I'm just thankful that there are even alternative firmwares available. I was perusing the source code for the RT-N66U and saw some Tomato-related references in there. So I think the ASUS firmware might have actually started with the Tomato firmware for the base.

 

[KidKB]

I had the same problem at first and I came across the fix by luck I suppose. When it keeps power cycling keep spamming 192.168.1.1 in the browser you should see the CFE Web server come up and when it does keep spam clicking Erase NVRAM. It that doesn't work you can try putting the router in recovery mode and instead of flashing the ASUS firmware login to 192.168.1.1 and you'll see the CFE web server and erase NVRAM from there.

The instructions I gave was what I did to roll back to the stock firmware from the Tomato Shibby build as well. I just didn't like the interface of Tomato as much as the ASUS, and the ASUS does everything I need once they get the NAT loopback actually working.

On a side note the icons in the newest .96 firmware are pretty sweet. I'm kinda surprised they updated them already, but it gives them a Tron-like feeling.

Thanks guys, using both ideas helped. I manually assigned network details and re-uploaded the firmware. The router started cycling on and off so I then spammed the browser for the default address and eventually I was able to get to the Asus page, it timed out a few times when hitting the reset nvram option, but after the third time it worked and the router stopped cycling and stayed lit up. After a few seconds the wireless band lights lit up and I'm back in business.

I hope Asus addresses this horrific process of upgrading the firmware...especially since Tomato flashed and worked immediately after the restore process.

Thanks again guys!

 

[kingjms]

Thanks guys, using both ideas helped. I manually assigned network details and re-uploaded the firmware. The router started cycling on and off so I then spammed the browser for the default address and eventually I was able to get to the Asus page, it timed out a few times when hitting the reset nvram option, but after the third time it worked and the router stopped cycling and stayed lit up. After a few seconds the wireless band lights lit up and I'm back in business.

I hope Asus addresses this horrific process of upgrading the firmware...especially since Tomato flashed and worked immediately after the restore process.

Thanks again guys!

No problem I'm glad it worked for you. I have a feeling theres gonna be lots of people who think their unit is bricked when flashing stock from third party. Need to get the word out about the CFE web browser so people don't spend extra money buying another.

I've also tested another method while flashing stock. If your using windows 7 install the TFTP client from the add/remove programs menu within windows. From there put your router in recovery mode and open up cmd prompt in windows from run. Make sure you manually assign an IP address like 192.168.1.4 or whichever you like and direct the cmd prompt to wherever stock firmware is located and type in tftp -i 192.168.1.1 PUT firmware.trx. Wait about 8 minutes and turn the unit off then on and it should work without power cycles. Let me know if anyone has tested this aswell.

 

[G37x]

last fw Asus update: Nothing is wrong with this!

Asus just told me that aside from one unit with a minor crash after the install, which was fixed with a factory reset, they have not been able to reproduce the reported instability users have had. Units have been tested over 24 hours of uptime at the moment. They will continue to look into the matter, but for now, they advise users to save their configuration files (advance settings > administration > restore/save/upload Settings) and perform a factory reset before a firmware update. For users that experience the issues, please have them contact us at Networking_support@asus.com.

This is what happens when not everyone reports their issues.

 

[inroute]

Asus just told me that aside from one unit with a minor crash after the install, which was fixed with a factory reset, they have not been able to reproduce the reported instability users have had. Units have been tested over 24 hours of uptime at the moment. They will continue to look into the matter, but for now, they advise users to save their configuration files (advance settings > administration > restore/save/upload Settings) and perform a factory reset before a firmware update. For users that experience the issues, please have them contact us at Networking_support@asus.com.

This is what happens when not everyone reports their issues.

Argh. I really don't want to try it again.

It would be so much easier if they'd just participate in this thread.

 

[tonytoronto]

Asus just told me that aside from one unit with a minor crash after the install, which was fixed with a factory reset, they have not been able to reproduce the reported instability users have had. Units have been tested over 24 hours of uptime at the moment. They will continue to look into the matter, but for now, they advise users to save their configuration files (advance settings > administration > restore/save/upload Settings) and perform a factory reset before a firmware update. For users that experience the issues, please have them contact us at Networking_support@asus.com.

This is what happens when not everyone reports their issues.

Just got the same copy/paste message as you. i tried what they suggest and didn't work for me, was stable until i loaded it with some file transfers, and crapped out. well, whats one to do?

 

[itsgambit]

I don't know if the HTTPS support question has been answered so I emailed Asus and this is the answer I got...

Hi XXXXXXX,

Thank you for contacting Asus Networking Support. HTTPS support is planned for a future update. Unfortunately, I do not have information on when this update will be available.


Best Regards,

Adam XXXXX.
Customer Care Specialist J
ASUS Computers International

Hope this helps.... It's sad that this $180 router does not have https support for web management from the get go...

 

[darksamus]

I don't know if the HTTPS support question has been answered so I emailed Asus and this is the answer I got...



Hope this helps.... It's sad that this $180 router does not have https support for web management from the get go...

Yeah I know!

 

[JohnyBGood]

Right now QoS is a POS. I'm not able to surf properly during p2p and my ISP is already throttling me to LESS than 1% of my DL bandwidth...I have plenty of bandwidth left over to surf, but it's just not happening. And wi-fi is out of the question when I'm torrenting.

Not to sound like a broken record, but I can't believe how many bug fixes are required for such an expensive router. We should have gotten a beta testing discount! Not joking. Anyway, my other problem is that I'm stubborn and only want to use official firmware, so I hope they continue to come out with firmware as things are fixed because I have confidence that I bought a solid router and can't wait to feel like I got my moneys worth.

 

[12darline]

HELP! I am trying to roll back to Asus firmware and the software tells me the I've recovered successfully, I can not get the damn thing to load, or do anything. It just recycles over and over again. When I enter 192.168.1.1 I just get, can't find errors. Can someone please assist me in this situation. I am just about to throw this thing in the trash.

Thanks...

 

[hggomes]

With original FW im sure that will take some time, you have other options for now

 

[tcool93]

Right now QoS is a POS. I'm not able to surf properly during p2p and my ISP is already throttling me to LESS than 1% of my DL bandwidth...I have plenty of bandwidth left over to surf, but it's just not happening. And wi-fi is out of the question when I'm torrenting.

Is it this way with the Tomato firmware also?

I was interested in this router. My current RT-N56U router has problems with QOS also, or at least when I'm uploading more than one file at a time, to Skydrive, I basically can't do much else until the uploads finish. I was hoping this RT-N66U was different.

 

[hggomes]

HELP! I am trying to roll back to Asus firmware and the software tells me the I've recovered successfully, I can not get the damn thing to load, or do anything. It just recycles over and over again. When I enter 192.168.1.1 I just get, can't find errors. Can someone please assist me in this situation. I am just about to throw this thing in the trash.

Thanks...

Method 1: Use TFTP procedure to update FW, go to a static IP on your computer (ex:192.168.1.5) select file and press PUT (to 192.168.1.1) Wait 10m (to make sure it finished all) and then power off/on. You should have it fixed

Method 2: Put router in recovery mode (press reset without release while power is off and then power it on) use ASUS recovery software and select file and upload it. Wait 10m to make sure it finished all.

When changing from ORIGINAL to OTHER FWs and vice-versa you should after always reset to defaults and do a "erase nvram" and then reboot. This will avoid all kind of problems reported in this forum...