Asuswrt-Merlin - Custom firmware for RT-AC66U

[R3S2a7i6]

Ambient temperature 25[FONT=&quot]°C …[/FONT]I'm also using the stock power output (80 mw).

After AC66U firmware update to 3.0.0.3.178 RM15, I note the temperature readings have gone up for 2.4Ghz: 58°C and 5Ghz: 64°C.

Usage: Medium traffic on wired and wirelss connection.

Also the blue lights on the router are now very bright. Has the firmware increased the power to the board?
The router unit alround is also very (temperature) Hot !

 

[RMerlin]

Ambient temperature 25[FONT=&quot]°C …[/FONT]I'm also using the stock power output (80 mw).

After AC66U firmware update to 3.0.0.3.178 RM15, I note the temperature readings have gone up for 2.4Ghz: 58°C and 5Ghz: 64°C.

Usage: Medium traffic on wired and wirelss connection.

Also the blue lights on the router are now very bright. Has the firmware increased the power to the board?
The router unit alround is also very (temperature) Hot !

Nothing should have changed that could cause temperature or LED difference. I'd be worried that there might be an issue with your AC adapter if you are sure that the LEDs are really brighter. That could also explain the higher temperatures.

If you have access to a voltmeter, try measuring the output voltage.

 

[RMerlin]

RT-AC66U is affected by the same GRO-related issues as the RT-N66U. Accessing a LAN device through either the NAT loopback or VPN will cause the router to reboot if GRO is enabled (this network optimization option gets enabled if you have a USB disk plugged in).

I will disable GRO in the next release (which will match the RT-N66U in that regard).

 

[R3S2a7i6]

Nothing should have changed that could cause temperature or LED difference. I'd be worried that there might be an issue with your AC adapter if you are sure that the LEDs are really brighter. That could also explain the higher temperatures.

If you have access to a voltmeter, try measuring the output voltage.

[FONT=&quot]
To check again, I downgraded to your previous firmware 3.0.0.3.164.15 Beta build and the temperature readings have dropped! For 2.4Ghz: 51°C and 5Ghz: 58°C with medium traffic on wired and wireless connections. Also the blue lights on the router are not so bright as before.


[/FONT]

 

[RMerlin]

To check again, I downgraded to your previous firmware 3.0.0.3.164.15 Beta build and the temperature readings have dropped! For 2.4Ghz: 51°C and 5Ghz: 58°C with medium traffic on wired and wireless connections. Also the blue lights on the router are not so bright as before.

I just did the test, flashing back and forth between 164 and 178 while standing in front of the router in a relatively dark room. There was no change in LED intensity.

All I can suggest is you try reverting back to factory defaults in case one of the hardware-related nvram setting got messed up at some point. To be sure you really go back to factory default settings, do an actual format of the nvram partition, over telnet:

mtd-erase -d nvram
reboot

I also have slightly higher temperatures than before, but since Asus adjusted how it handled output power in newer versions, it could be related.

 

[RMerlin]

Just notice this, if the chip can be used with 70-80 grd then you must consider what ambient temp you have. Eg 25grd ambient then temprise only can exceed 45-55grd temprise.

octopus

The 70-80C limit is the internal temperature, as reported on the web interface.

 

[scottegos2]

RT-AC66U is affected by the same GRO-related issues as the RT-N66U. Accessing a LAN device through either the NAT loopback or VPN will cause the router to reboot if GRO is enabled (this network optimization option gets enabled if you have a USB disk plugged in).

I will disable GRO in the next release (which will match the RT-N66U in that regard).

Do you have an ETA on the release? In the meantime, do I need to ssh in and use ethtool or something (I use NAT loopback a lot).

 

[RMerlin]

Do you have an ETA on the release? In the meantime, do I need to ssh in and use ethtool or something (I use NAT loopback a lot).

No ETA, as I'm waiting for the next release from Asus hoping it will also take care of the serious Wifi slowdown when QoS is enabled (so I can kill two birds with one stone).

One way to work around this for now is to not enable SMB sharing - GRO only gets enabled when SMB sharing gets enabled.

 

[yestertech]

General NAT loopback question

I have been trying to get a stable system that allows NAT loopback on my RT-N16 and am testing your ASUS_RTN16_3003178_RM15 build on that promise.

Am I missing something obvious? I cannot see any evidence that the loopback works to Virtual Server / Port Forwarding hosts! Is there some secondary setting needed?

DD-WRT in recent builds has similar issues, but there are obscure stored rule workarounds.

I cannot use DD-WRT as I have on others for years because it has been locking up hard in the 12 to 20 hours range of use. I am not clear why.

This firmware is the best looking factory firmware I have ever seen, especially since it allows great projects like yours! I have high hopes to run with it.

-- update
please disregard - Bad interaction of mac address with uverse HG - fixed in firewall there.

 

[Chuck_IV]

No ETA, as I'm waiting for the next release from Asus hoping it will also take care of the serious Wifi slowdown when QoS is enabled (so I can kill two birds with one stone).

One way to work around this for now is to not enable SMB sharing - GRO only gets enabled when SMB sharing gets enabled.

Will disabling GRO(in the next firmware) affect SMB sharing? I do a lot of movie streaming(BluRay and DVD rips) from a drive I have attached to the AC66U, using a Boxee Box.

If so, would it be possible to have it as an option to turn on/off?

 

[RMerlin]

Will disabling GRO(in the next firmware) affect SMB sharing? I do a lot of movie streaming(BluRay and DVD rips) from a drive I have attached to the AC66U, using a Boxee Box.

If so, would it be possible to have it as an option to turn on/off?

When I did a few tests, I couldn't see any real performance difference between having GRO enabled or not.

GRO support is disabled at compile time of the firmware, so probably can't easily be implemented as a user-configurable option I suspect. In any case, allowing users to enable/disable an option that WILL cause their router to crash isn't doing them any service.

 

[yestertech]

Testing on an RT-N16:

I formatted nvram and set up from scratch.

Set up has an internal server for AFP (time machine) on a pseudo-static DHCP and routing through NAT loopback so laptop backups work from home or out.

2 notes:
Loopback works, but speed is really bad (not LAN, not even WAN, just a trickle)
The bandwidth realtime monitor seems to be all over the place

update--
disabling QOS (leaving HW accel on) seems to resolve modt performance.
The realtime monitor seems to come an go in scale and accuracy

 

[Stone-D]

Client link speed?

Firstly, first post. Hi y'all! Browsing SNB over the past two days has greatly enhanced my knowledge... tres useful!

Secondly, fantastic work, Merlin. I installed this last night and am very impressed.

Now...

Is there, or are there plans for, a way to show a list of connected clients and their connected speeds? I'm trying to debug my iOS devices, and they're all (iPad 2, iPhone 4, iPhone 4s) are all connected at 54Mbps. This is according to the jailbreak apps, "Wifi Analyzer" and "WiFiFoFum". I have not been able to discover whether this is a limitation of those apps, or something wrong with my router settings.

The router is set to 2.4Ghz mixed mode, 5Ghz N only. The iPhones (clearly) are connecting to the mixed mode, while the iPad is connecting to the N mode 5Ghz... but those apps are still only reporting 54Mbps.

Is there a better app or jailbreak tweak for wifi debugging? Is there a log file somewhere I can dig through? I'm not scared of ssh, not by a long shot.

Before anyone mentions them, I'm not interested in Speedtest.net or other internet connectivity tests. I'm interested in local throughput only.

Addendum:

Also, while I'm here. I'm not in the US - is there a way (or real reason, as I'm a newb) to enable the FCC restricted channels above 11?

 

[RMerlin]

Is there, or are there plans for, a way to show a list of connected clients and their connected speeds? I'm trying to debug my iOS devices, and they're all (iPad 2, iPhone 4, iPhone 4s) are all connected at 54Mbps. This is according to the jailbreak apps, "Wifi Analyzer" and "WiFiFoFum". I have not been able to discover whether this is a limitation of those apps, or something wrong with my router settings.

Not planned at this time - no idea if it would be possible or not.

 

[Stone-D]

Not planned at this time - no idea if it would be possible or not.

Ah, ok cheers. Take it off the list, if you have one - there are probably better dedicated tools for this purpose anyway.

 

[Briant73]

Firstly, first post. Hi y'all! Browsing SNB over the past two days has greatly enhanced my knowledge... tres useful!

Secondly, fantastic work, Merlin. I installed this last night and am very impressed.

Now...

Is there, or are there plans for, a way to show a list of connected clients and their connected speeds? I'm trying to debug my iOS devices, and they're all (iPad 2, iPhone 4, iPhone 4s) are all connected at 54Mbps. This is according to the jailbreak apps, "Wifi Analyzer" and "WiFiFoFum". I have not been able to discover whether this is a limitation of those apps, or something wrong with my router settings.

The router is set to 2.4Ghz mixed mode, 5Ghz N only. The iPhones (clearly) are connecting to the mixed mode, while the iPad is connecting to the N mode 5Ghz... but those apps are still only reporting 54Mbps.

Is there a better app or jailbreak tweak for wifi debugging? Is there a log file somewhere I can dig through? I'm not scared of ssh, not by a long shot.

Before anyone mentions them, I'm not interested in Speedtest.net or other internet connectivity tests. I'm interested in local throughput only.

Addendum:

Also, while I'm here. I'm not in the US - is there a way (or real reason, as I'm a newb) to enable the FCC restricted channels above 11?

I also would like to see Asus or a 3rd party add the view of connected clients and at what speed. My dir-655 has it and I use it at times when double checking connection speeds.

 

[RMerlin]

Tim has created a sub-forum dedicated to Asuswrt-Merlin, so we can have separate threads, making it far more easy for people to look for info or jump in conversations. Please start new individual threads, I will lock down this old thread in a few days.

 

[emax.b]

After TapaTalk support,now sub-forum x Asuswrt-Merlin!!! Thanks

 

[RMerlin]

Locking down this thread now.