Asuswrt-Merlin 3.0.0.4.374.38 is out

[lindvalll]

The problem with hardware acceleration off and a fast connection is CPU utilization. At around 300Mb/s the processor is pretty much pinned at 100%. It won't have much time to perform other tasks and or will slow down your throughput.

Dont think thats gonna be a problem for me. Stuck with crappy and slow 30Mbit. So I think its safe for me to use QoS without any drop in router performance.

 

[Builder71]

Thanks everyone for all the feedback concerning the new RT-N66U and the separate EM builds!
...

The least we could do.

And interesting reading about the -em switch.
Never guessed it to be "engineering mode".
Probably only Broadcom knows the details about this.
Let's hope -em will stay for some time.

Thx.

 

[raz0redge]

Can't reproduce the issue here.

Try to set a static channel if it was left on auto. It's possible that sometimes on a reboot it ends up choosing a channel that your wireless adapter doesn't support. Try setting it to 36 as as starting point, see if that helps.

It happen only when you use the on/off button on the router itself, I've tried with 3 totally different devices on 5ghz band and it's always doing the same thing when router has rebooted.

All wireless settings are on their default values (auto). Setting 5ghz band manually on channel 36 and hardrebooting, same problem...

Strange thing is when you alter any value on the 5ghz wireless settings page it DOES work until the next power-cycle of the router.

It does not happen on 35_4 firmware or the new official asus 3.0.0.4.374_2050.

 

[ikoul]

I ran into the same issue with 38_1 on AC68R. The media server never comes out of the scanning stage. I found a fix for the problem. But haven't tracked down the root cause.

Merlin's builds puts the media server database in the directory /var/cache/minidlna. It looks like one or more files in this directory is either incompatible with 374.38_1 or was corrupted when my router crashed repeatedly during the issues with the 374.38 build. I changed the media server database path to another directory on my partition and everything worked. I need to go back to the files on /var/cache/minidlna and look for any obvious problems there.

Thanks for the suggestion. I just wiped out the minidlna folders I had on both drives (seems like those hadn't been used in a while, from the logs) and in the /var/cache directory and then restarted the media server and all is well.

The only notable thing I had in my logs was a line at the bottom saying minidlna closed because it received signal 15 (which makes sense because signal 15 seems to be the termination signal), but no way to know why that happened. Could have been from me trying to fix it before. Anyway, I'm chalking the issue up to something weird minidlna did when switching between Asus and Merlin builds.

 

[RMerlin]

I have a question:

My HWA get disabled with the message of "IPTraffic"

The only thing I did. "tools" > "other settings" change "traffic hsitory location" to "custom location" and "TCP timeout established" to 1200. However, if I change everything back and reboot, it still stay with IPTraffic. I just wonder is there anyway to turn HWA back? thanks

You must also have enabled IPTraffic on that same page. Disable it.

 

[RMerlin]

I noticed that Hardware Acceleration also gets disabled when enabling QoS (which I use).

What drawbacks are there to have HWA disabled?

HW acceleration is needed for connections faster than 150 Mbits (N66/AC66) or 250 Mbits (AC56/AC68), otherwise the CPU will limit speed to these limits.

 

[PeterPasm]

N66u here. I just upgraded to .38_1 from .36_beta1 (sdk6 version), and the wireless range and coverage is vastly superior, the difference is almost night and day. I'm getting around -70 dBm at places where there was no signal with the previous FW. Thank you very much Merlin for all the great work you do!

Note: I'm still getting very low read speeds from the USB drive if using linux partitions (as I described in this thread some time ago). I think I tried everything and the only solution is to use NTFS, which gives me great performance. I'm affraid I will need to void my warranty and install a micro-sd card for entware, so I could use the USB drive with NTFS while still having transmission and irc bouncer running:/

 

[mbtsm]

hi RMerlin
wimax usb ax226 work with ac66u ??

 

[RMerlin]

hi RMerlin
wimax usb ax226 work with ac66u ??

No idea. Asus has no public list of supported devices, you will have to ask their tech support.

 

[mtrains]

Thanks for the suggestion. I just wiped out the minidlna folders I had on both drives (seems like those hadn't been used in a while, from the logs) and in the /var/cache directory and then restarted the media server and all is well.

The only notable thing I had in my logs was a line at the bottom saying minidlna closed because it received signal 15 (which makes sense because signal 15 seems to be the termination signal), but no way to know why that happened. Could have been from me trying to fix it before. Anyway, I'm chalking the issue up to something weird minidlna did when switching between Asus and Merlin builds.

Signal 15 is just the Linux kill signal issued when you restart the media server. I think it is normal. I went back and looked at the files.db file in the /var/cache/minidlna directory and it was bout 100MB in size. It should be a lot smaller than that for the number of media files I have. Looks like the media server was in a loop filling the files.db with spurious data. Don't know why that happened though.

 

[Dan_DaMan]

Not getting expected results

Gang -

I have an RT-N66U with a clean install of 3.0.0.4.374.38_1-em. I've seen several reports on here about people seeing greatly improved wireless signal and range on both the 2.4 and 5.0 bands but I'm not seeing similar results at all. After loading factory defaults, applying the new firmware (up from RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_374.36_beta1-sdk5) I'm seeing similar signal strength and range deficiencies as I was seeing in the more recent SDK6 builds. I've cleared out the NVRAM and done factory resets several times now and my results are always the same - if I put my router back on 36_beta1-sdk5, I see much better signal strength and better range.

I've flashed Merlin's firmware releases dozens of times so I'm quite familiar with the process but I'm a little miffed by this since so many folks are seeing these wonderful results yet I'm not - might there be something small and rather obvious that I'm overlooking here? I should add that I'm seeing the same results from various endpoints - iPhone, iPod, iPad, Intel adapters, Netgear wireless USB sticks, and a Roku and AppleTV.

Thanks for any suggestions, in advance...

 

[sinshiva]

i can definitely understand people missing this post as this thread has gone on forever lol, but it's a good one;

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showpost.php?p=98452&postcount=151

L&LD 374.38_1-em Report to RMerlin - Asus RT-N66U

A few hours ago I downloaded firmware 374.38_1-em for an RT-N66U to upgrade from firmware 374.37_0 (the one RMerlin had pulled hours after uploading it - but it was rock stable for me).


Router Settings:

Auto Wireless mode For both 2.4GHz & 5GHz bands.
Radio Channels: 2.4GHz: Channel 11 5GHz: Channel 161.
Channel Width: 2.4GHz: 20MHz 5GHz: 40MHz
Preamble Type: Short Preamble for both bands.
Xbox and b/g protection: Both unchecked.
Wireless Scheduler: Disabled for both bands.
Tx Power Adjustment: 100mW for both bands.
Enable TX Bursting: Disabled for both bands.
Enable WMM APSD: Enabled for both bands.
Optimize APMDU Aggregation: Enabled for both bands.
Optimize Ack Suppression: Enabled for both bands.




Test Environment:

I tested from ~35 feet away from the router to the notebook for all the following tests without moving the notebook at all. There are 2 walls between the tested devices and the notebook (Asus Transformer Windows 8.1) has a Broadcom 802.11abgn SDIO adaptor (single stream/single antenna) with the 5.93.98.187 (Oct 2, 2013) driver.



Results:


With 374.37_0 firmware:

inssider 3.07.48 showed signal strength readings of -52 (2.4GHz) and -58 (5GHz).

Ookla speed tests were 25/10 Mbps (2.4GHz) and 45/11 Mbps (5GHz) and 11 ms latency for both.




Immediately following upgrade to 374.38_1-em

inssider showed signal strength readings of -48 (2.4GHz) and -56 (5GHz).

Ookla speed tests were 28/10 Mbps (2.4GHz) and 19/11 Mbps (5GHz) and 11 ms latency for both.

The above is before doing a reset to defaults and with the original ssid's and passwords.





Firmware 374.38_1-em with a reset to defaults and new ssid/passwords

inssider showed signal strength readings of -46 (2.4GHz) and -52 (5GHz).

Ookla speed tests were 27/11 Mbps (2.4GHz) and 45/10 Mbps (5GHz) and 11 ms latency for both.

The above is after doing a reset to defaults and with new ssid's and passwords.





Firmware 374.38_1-em with reset and manually entering settings (above)

inssider showed signal strength readings of -42 (2.4GHz) and -48 (5GHz).

Ookla speed tests are 39/11 Mbps (2.4GHz) and 51/11 Mbps (5GHz) and 11 ms latency for both.

The above is after doing a reset to defaults and with new ssid's and passwords and then manually entering/settings as described in section above, including setting the Tx power levels to 100mW for both channels.





Conclusions:

I mostly use the basic features of my routers and am interested in the highest stability and highest performance possible from them.

I tried the default 80mW settings (reported above) but find the 100mW settings much better. I also tried the suggested 120mW Tx setting for the 5GHz band - but that brought worse, not better results than both the 80mW and 100mW settings in my tests.

In addition to the above numbers, inssider was reporting a score of 100% for the 5GHz band (even when the Ookla speeds were 19/11Mbps) and a score of 71% for the 2.4GHz band with the 374.37_0 firmware, 52% after the upgrade to 374.38_1-em, 55% after the reset to defaults and finally, 76% after entering my settings (above).

As can be seen from these results; this will be the standard (for me, at least) which all firmware forward will be judged (for performance).

I think it also shows how important it is to 'start fresh' and reset to defaults after a firmware upgrade.

Using the latest RMerlin firmware for the last 4 hours or so, everything feels faster on the 'net - and the small lags and hangs I thought were normal up to now with my ISP seem to be a thing of the past.


Thank you RMerlin and Asus!

A great router is approaching mythical performance in it's own lifetime.


Btw, does the TX Bursting setting affect anything other than 'G' networks?




Now? Curious to see what the -em special sauce is all about!


And what RMerlin version .39 will offer us with these 'old' routers.


Sorry for the long post - hope some find it useful.

additionally, merlin recommended deleting the wireless profile on the windows clients

 

[brummygit]

Gang -

I have an RT-N66U with a clean install of 3.0.0.4.374.38_1-em. I've seen several reports on here about people seeing greatly improved wireless signal and range on both the 2.4 and 5.0 bands but I'm not seeing similar results at all. After loading factory defaults, applying the new firmware (up from RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_374.36_beta1-sdk5) I'm seeing similar signal strength and range deficiencies as I was seeing in the more recent SDK6 builds. I've cleared out the NVRAM and done factory resets several times now and my results are always the same - if I put my router back on 36_beta1-sdk5, I see much better signal strength and better range.

I've flashed Merlin's firmware releases dozens of times so I'm quite familiar with the process but I'm a little miffed by this since so many folks are seeing these wonderful results yet I'm not - might there be something small and rather obvious that I'm overlooking here? I should add that I'm seeing the same results from various endpoints - iPhone, iPod, iPad, Intel adapters, Netgear wireless USB sticks, and a Roku and AppleTV.

Thanks for any suggestions, in advance...

Did you do the factory reset before flashing the new firmware as it sounds in your post - I would suggest that the reset is done by the new firmware so it initialises all values supported.

 

[Dan_DaMan]

I'll give these settings a shot and see where it gets me - many thanks for the reply!

 

[Dan_DaMan]

And yes, I always to a factory reset before loading the new firmware and again after the new firmware has been applied...probable don't need the second reset but it can't hurt...I don't think.

 

[lordv]

I was able to connect to the 5ghz band from two devices. I haven't tested a third yet as that device is tied up doing something. My macbook air has had issues for a long time with the 5ghz band, likely due to the channel as it never even sees the 5ghz AP. this is the first time the issue has shown up on my phone which had no issue up until this firmware. The odd thing about it is that my phone can see the AP.

Merlin, any advice?

Bumping this. Merlin, your thoughts?

 

[KenEsq]

I try to do a reset as well, but sometimes the thought of remembering all of the changes and then typing in a bunch of vpn and port trigger rules again just doesn't seem like much fun.

It would be neat if there was a way to dump a text file that listed all changed settings (settings other than default) so that the reset/recreation could be done a bit faster and without missing something.

i can definitely understand people missing this post as this thread has gone on forever lol, but it's a good one;

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showpost.php?p=98452&postcount=151

additionally, merlin recommended deleting the wireless profile on the windows clients

 

[RMerlin]

I try to do a reset as well, but sometimes the thought of remembering all of the changes and then typing in a bunch of vpn and port trigger rules again just doesn't seem like much fun.

It would be neat if there was a way to dump a text file that listed all changed settings (settings other than default) so that the reset/recreation could be done a bit faster and without missing something.

nvram show | sort > /mnt/sda1/oldsettings.txt

flash, then

nvram show | sort > /mnt/sda1/newsettings.txt

Then compare the two files.

 

[RMerlin]

Bumping this. Merlin, your thoughts?

The usual already mentionned in this thread: try channel 36.

 

[bobyang]

You must also have enabled IPTraffic on that same page. Disable it.

you are right. genius! I just found it is on! I am going to try it off.

by the way, FYI, I am using PPPoE 100m/40m. yesterday, the web remote access through WAN was ok, but today it is super slow again and take 10 minutes still loading... However, if I teamviewer in, then go through LAN, the speed is very fast.