Connecting Repeater to Main Router

[Brenneke]

I am connecting my old RT-N16 dd-wrt router as a repeater to my main RT-AC68U router on 384.6 - have gone through a few tutorials on the dd- wrt side and have a new repeater ssid that I can successfully connect to but unfortunately no internet access.
Is there anything that I can check/set on my RT-AC68U that might be blocking internet access?
I have tried setting the dd-wrt as a repeater on one of my guest networks (preferred) and also on my main network, same result.
I am also open to flashing dd-wrt router with 374.43 LTS if recommended.
I am not very fluent in router, any patient assistance will be much appreciated.

 

[martinr]

When I tried this, I think I used this tutorial

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....w-use-an-old-dd-wrt-router-as-a-repeater/amp/

However, I later ran an ethernet cable to the ddwrt router and set it up as an access point with ddwrt instead.

You say you can’t access the Internet, but can you connect to the GUI of your main router through the repeater? Can you ping any other devices on the network through your repeater?

 

[Grisu]

maybe easier with John's fork working out of the box.

 

[martinr]

maybe easier with John's fork working out of the box.

And probably a lot more secure by virtue of its being kept up to date?

 

[john9527]

Asus never released an updated driver for the N16 to address the KRACK exploit. Running as a repeater, it's essentially a client to the router, so is exposed with Asus firmware (including my fork). I seem to remember that DD-WRT uses a different wireless stack and may have been able to address it. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[HowIFix]

From here download the latest beta version: Build 36410 (BS): 07/29/2018 - r36410

Tutorials for Access Point / Switch, Repeater / Repeater Bridge, Client / Client Bridge, etc.

• DD-WRT - Linking Routers

 

[Brenneke]

Thank you for replies .
That was one of the same tutorials I referenced. I also did go through dd-wrt documentation, tips & tricks.
I would like to attempt to flash John's fork as a last resort before this thing becomes e-waste - can I reset and flash directly from 374.43 LTS?

 

[Grisu]

and do factory afterwards after some minutes again. Load it with asus restauration tool or from cfe miniweb.

 

[john9527]

Thank you for replies .
That was one of the same tutorials I referenced. I also did go through dd-wrt documentation, tips & tricks.
I would like to attempt to flash John's fork as a last resort before this thing becomes e-waste - can I reset and flash directly from 374.43 LTS?

If you are currently running DD-WRT, it uses a different partitioning scheme on the MIPS routers. See this post for some additional steps you may need to take
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/going-from-dd-wrt-k3x-asuswrt-merlin.19167/

 

[Brenneke]

OK - now have an old version of Asus firmware successfully flashed on router.
I will now run these commands:

mtd-erase -d jffs2
mtd-erase -d nvram
reboot

And then flash latest John's fork - do I have it right?
How do I ssh onto this baby.....putty? (Windows)
Do I then just upload and flash John's fork from router gui?

 

[Brenneke]

Got it- connected using Telnet with PuTTY, ran above commands, flashed John's fork and reset.
I went on to set up repeater - it works very well except it seems problematic giving internet access to devices.
I tested with two Android phones - both could connect to RT-N16 repeater but only one had internet. When I tested a little later, same problem existed but on opposite phone. I disconnected the working phone, no change.
Where does one start in working this out?

 

[Grisu]

which 2G channel does it use, set to a fixed one, maybe your phone dont accept ch. 12+13.
Delete Wifi connection on phone and connect again.
Use only characters and digits for SSID/pw between 6 to 15 characters for testing.

 

[Brenneke]

I tested repeater using four devices:
Android 1
Android 2
Linux desktop
Windows laptop
Was able to get internet with Android 1 and Windows laplap only.
Changed channel on main router from 11 to 6, rebooted both routers, no difference. Channel cannot be changed on RT-N16 in repeater mode - correct? There are no other networks close, in rural area on acreage.
Changed from 20 Mhz to 20/40 on main router and rebooted, now have internet on all four devices and two more since guest arrived, has been flawless for days.
Thank you all.