Voxel Custom firmware build for R7800 v. 1.0.2.82SF & v. 1.0.2.82.1SF & v. 1.0.2.82.2SF

[Voxel]

Just FYI:

This folder contains my intermediate internal snapshot releases not published
officially (SNB or other forums). For people who wish to have up-to-date version.
Something like "beta".

The log is inside ZIP archive.

Voxel.

 

[RainGater96]

I had configured SSH before and haven't been using R7800 for a while. Today, I plugged in and flashed your new version and it's working great and thank you for your wonderful work.

When I tried to connect to the router using SSH, I get the dreaded "Permission denied (publickey)" error.

I am connecting to the router from Windows and I have both the files in the correct location. Any ideas what could be the issue? TIA.

"C:\Users\xxx\.ssh\id_rsa"
"C:\Users\xxx\.ssh\id_rsa.pub"

EDIT: Figured it out. I don't know what happened to /root/.ssh/authorized_keys as it was there before when I was using R7800. When I flashed your new version, the file went missing or I am not sure what happened to the file. Anyways, I recreated acuthorized_keys and it's all good.

 

[RainGater96]

E.g. part of my /mnt/sda1/autorun/scripts/post-mount.sh:

#!/bin/sh
. . .
# Autorestore from backup if flashing new firmware is detected
if [ ! -f /root/.ssh/authorized_keys ]; then
    cd /
    tar xf /mnt/optware/backup/root.tar
    echo "Flashing new firmware is detected. Restore settings from archive." > /tmp/autorun.log
fi

I.e. it is better to make a backup storing whole /root directory (once) and to provide "autorestore" as in example above.

I have an USB drive on R7800 and how do I get your autorun script to run after a new firmware update? I haven't installed any addons, just the firmware only.

I want to extract the /root folder after a new firmware update.

Would adding the code (to copy it to /root) in /etc/rc.local work? Does it survive firmware updates? Thanks.

root@R7800:/tmp/mnt/sda/root$ df
Filesystem           1k-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
tmpfs                      512         0       512   0% /dev
ubi0:overlay_volume      51032      9240     39148  19% /overlay
overlayfs:/overlay       51032      9240     39148  19% /
/dev/sda               3916288       164   3916124   0% /tmp/mnt/sda

 

[Voxel]

Interesting... How could you get this re: /tmp/mnt/sda but not /tmp/mnt/sda1...

Seems, you have to reformat your USB and with ext4 FS. First, fdisk when USB is unmounted:

umount -l /mnt/sda
fdisk /dev/sda

delete all partitions on your USB and create the primary partition. fdisk contains some help ("Command (m for help):").

After that you should see as /dev/sda as /dev/sda1

ls -l /dev/sda*

and after that:

mkfs.ext4 -L optware -O ^64bit /dev/sda1
tune2fs -O ^metadata_csum /dev/sda1
reboot

and if you create after reboot /mnt/sda1/autorun/scripts/post-mount.sh file and it will be executable ('chmod +x /mnt/sda1/autorun/scripts/post-mount.sh') it will be executed every time after you reboot your router.

And: add autorestore of your /root/.ssh (but not /mnt/sda/root/.ssh).

Voxel.

 

[RainGater96]

Interesting... How could you get this re: /tmp/mnt/sda but not /tmp/mnt/sda1...

Seems, you have to reformat your USB and with ext4 FS. First, fdisk when USB is unmounted:

umount -l /mnt/sda
fdisk /dev/sda

delete all partitions on your USB and create the primary partition. fdisk contains some help ("Command (m for help):").

After that you should see as /dev/sda as /dev/sda1

ls -l /dev/sda*

and after that:

mkfs.ext4 -L optware -O ^64bit /dev/sda1
tune2fs -O ^metadata_csum /dev/sda1
reboot

and if you create after reboot /mnt/sda1/autorun/scripts/post-mount.sh file and it will be executable ('chmod +x /mnt/sda1/autorun/scripts/post-mount.sh') it will be executed every time after you reboot your router.

And: add autorestore of your /root/.ssh (but not /mnt/sda/root/.ssh).

Voxel.

Thank you so much and appreciate your quick response.

Couple of more questions:

1. I unchecked the PIN for WPS in Advanced->Advanced Setup->Wireless Settings->WPS Settings->Router PIN. Is it all needed or how do I disable WPS completely?

2. In your README, I see that you have mentioned this: "manually remove ReadyCLOUD and Kwilt installations (several reboots might be needed)". I already set the NVRAM variables as you described but how to manually remove ReadyCLOUD and Kwilt?

Thank you in advance for your work and much appreciate it.

 

[Voxel]

1. I unchecked the PIN for WPS in Advanced->Advanced Setup->Wireless Settings->WPS Settings->Router PIN. Is it all needed or how do I disable WPS completely?

Please check this thread:

Disable WPS on R7800

Is there a way to completely disable WPS on the R7800? I have already disabled the PIN in the advanced wireless settings, but still would like to completely disable the feature. I'm using Voxel firmware. (Sorry if this has been answered before, the forum won't allow a search for "wps" because...

www.snbforums.com

2. In your README, I see that you have mentioned this: "manually remove ReadyCLOUD and Kwilt installations (several reboots might be needed)". I already set the NVRAM variables as you described but how to manually remove ReadyCLOUD and Kwilt?

If you do not use Entware:

rm -rf /opt
rm -rf /hipplay
reboot

Voxel.

 

[RainGater96]

Please check this thread:

Disable WPS on R7800

Is there a way to completely disable WPS on the R7800? I have already disabled the PIN in the advanced wireless settings, but still would like to completely disable the feature. I'm using Voxel firmware. (Sorry if this has been answered before, the forum won't allow a search for "wps" because...

www.snbforums.com

Thanks again for the response.

Actually, I serached for disabling WPS and came across that thread. But, there was no solution in it other unchecking the PIN. I read somewhere in this thread that you disabled WPS, so I was curious of how you did it.

I unchecked the "Keep Existing Wireless Settings" and it keeps getting enabled and not sure what is that for.

Btw, the web interface is so 1990s with frames inside frames. Never thought, in 2021, I will work on an interface as clumsy as it is but that's Netgear's problem.

 

[RainGater96]

I switched to my ASUS RT-AC87R to test the load and it dropped significantly. Whoa, Netgear has lots of work to do to fix it.

RT-AC87R:
   admin@RT-AC87R:/tmp/home/root# uptime
    13:22:58 up  5:30,  load average: 0.13, 0.13, 0.12

R7800:
   root@R7800:~$ uptime
    11:17:35 up  7:47, load average: 4.00, 4.01, 4.04

 

[LeKeiser]

Hello,
What did you do to load the CPU?

 

[RainGater96]

Hello,
What did you do to load the CPU?

Just the usual streaming/browsing from few devices, maybe around 6 - 8.

There is a bug in Netgear firmware and there are posts that mention about this *load* bug. Here is the post:

R7800 high load

Hi, First, thanks @Voxel for giving me the advice to use the new top GUI, it is fantastic to have the real-time monitor. I also wonder why my R7800 got so much load (>4)? Is this normal for R7800 or is it a bug in the firmware? Thank you.

www.snbforums.com

 

[LeKeiser]

Mine has the same results too :
root@R7800:/$ uptime
22:14:05 up 7 days, 2:54, load average: 4.15, 4.05, 4.05

That's why it's a bit hot too, 52° almost all the time...

 

[RainGater96]

Mine has the same results too :
root@R7800:/$ uptime
22:14:05 up 7 days, 2:54, load average: 4.15, 4.05, 4.05

That's why it's a bit hot too, 52° almost all the time...

Yes, that's why I thought of switching the router to see whether anything is messed up in my network. Found out that it's Netgear firmware and others are having the same issue too.

Will let my R7800 sleep for a while until it's fixed. ASUS is back in biz now. LOL.

 

[R. Gerrits]

The bug is not that the R7800 is using a lot of CPU.
The bug is only that the netgear kernel is calculating the load in a wrong way.

If you'd check the cpu usage with for instance mpstat -P ALL 1 1 then you'll probably see a high idle %

Also a temperature of 52 celcius is pretty oke in my opinion. (also considering that it doesn't have CPU fan)
Mine is usually running above 56c.
And if I really push the cpu load, then it will reach 70c

 

[NetBytes]

The bug is not that the R7800 is using a lot of CPU.
The bug is only that the netgear kernel is calculating the load in a wrong way.

If you'd check the cpu usage with for instance mpstat -P ALL 1 1 then you'll probably see a high idle %

Also a temperature of 52 celcius is pretty oke in my opinion. (also considering that it doesn't have CPU fan)
Mine is usually running above 56c.
And if I really push the cpu load, then it will reach 70c

FWIW: I placed a usb powered dual fan laptop cooler underneath my R7800 and the temp never gets that high anymore.

 

[HELLO_wORLD]

FWIW: I placed a usb powered dual fan laptop cooler underneath my R7800 and the temp never gets that high anymore.

I second that.
After my first R7800 (still pretty new) got a fried nvram chip, I got one of those for the second (RMA exchanged) one. Temps are way lower.

 

[LeKeiser]

I also use a usb powered dual fan laptop cooler underneath my R7800, but 1) it's a little noisy and my 7800 is in my bedroom, and 2) the temp never goes lower than 51°C, the room temperature is around 19°C at best.

 

[HELLO_wORLD]

I also use a usb powered dual fan laptop cooler underneath my R7800, but 1) it's a little noisy and my 7800 is in my bedroom, and 2) the temp never goes lower than 51°C, the room temperature is around 19°C at best.

I suppose some coolers are more efficient than others.
Mine is very quiet (but in the entryway so don’t know how it would feel in a silent bedroom). And temps (room is 21°C):

root@HERMES:~$ cat /sys/devices/virtual/thermal/thermal_zone*/temp
43
42
40
40
39
40
42
40
43
39
41
root@HERMES:~$

 

[LeKeiser]

I've tried many coolers, and the one I kept is relatively quiet. But there is still a little huming but I can live with that

The temps you are showing, aren't they from the Asus router?

Mine are :
root@R7800:/sys/devices/virtual/thermal$ cat thermal_zone*/temp
50
49
49
48
49
48
48
48
49
46
50

But my cooler is not on yet. It's still February, Spring is coming but not yet

 

[HELLO_wORLD]

I've tried many coolers, and the one I kept is relatively quiet. But there is still a little huming but I can live with that

The temps you are showing, aren't they from the Asus router?

Mine are :
root@R7800:/sys/devices/virtual/thermal$ cat thermal_zone*/temp
50
49
49
48
49
48
48
48
49
46
50

But my cooler is not on yet. It's still February, Spring is coming but not yet

R7800

I don’t have an Asus.

My cooler is on all the time.

 

[RMinNJ]

I have mine simply sitting on 2 old tv remote controls to give it air flow underneath. My cable modem is similar ..raised on 4 legs of lego blocks. Not saying its some crazy cooling but it can't hurt.