Voxel Custom firmware build for R7800 v. 1.0.2.97SF

[LeKeiser]

Again, no problem with this upgrade. Smooth as ever
Big Big BIG MERCIS Mr @Voxel
I wish one day we'll meet and we'll drink a few Perriers together, it's on me

 

[zabolots]

Question regarding config persistence with Voxel firmware...

If I edit /etc/config/wireless to manually set the beacon interval for the 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz radios, will it persist after a reboot?

 

[NetBytes]

Question regarding config persistence with Voxel firmware...

If I edit /etc/config/wireless to manually set the beacon interval for the 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz radios, will it persist after a reboot?

This will survive reboots, but it definitely will not survive firmware upgrades.
You can use a USB key and the post-mount script to ensure these changes persist for good.
Edit:
Per @fossil below it will not survive reboots.
You *could* use a USB key and the post-mount script to ensure these changes persist on reboots,
but the suggestion is not to.

 

[fossil]

If I edit /etc/config/wireless to manually set the beacon interval for the 2.4Ghz & 5Ghz radios, will it persist after a reboot?

It won't survive reboot. This file is regenerated at every reboot. For beacon interval it uses hard coded values from /sbin/update-wifi.
/sbin/update-wifi file's function generate_bintval() sets beacon intervals for 2.4 (wlg) & 5 (wla) GHz.

Tip: Not a good idea to change beacon interval for general usage, unless you have a specific scenario where you want to utilize beacon interval and dtim.

 

[zabolots]

Tip: Not a good idea to change beacon interval for general usage, unless you have a specific scenario where you want to utilize beacon interval and dtim.

The goal is to try to have clients "prefer" the 5GHz channel by seeing it's beacon before seeing the the 2.4GHz beacon. Is this not what beacon interval is meant to be used for?

 

[L&LD]

It doesn't matter which beacon it sees first, its driver will decide which to connect to.

 

[fossil]

The goal is to try to have clients "prefer" the 5GHz channel by seeing it's beacon before seeing the the 2.4GHz beacon. Is this not what beacon interval is meant to be used for?

Beacon interval is not the way to achieve this. I mentioned the file in my previous post which sets beacon interval, if you really want you can do some testing.

Beacon interval is used to maintain a stable connection between devices and router. Router constantly sends a frame/beacon at the specified interval to maintain that stable connection. This value is used in combination with dtim (power mgmt) interval. Default value of 100 is pretty optimal balance between stable connection and throughput. Setting it too high, your devices will have connection drops. Setting it too low, it will impact your throughput. Along with other issues for both high and low values. Some folks increase it slightly to gain throughput. Based on my personal testing difference in throughput is not noticeable with couple of SSIDs and approx 15 clients. Slightly higher value may yield slight throughput gains if you have many access points.

Client plays most important role in deciding which network to connect. Here are few things that may be helpful.

• Disable Smart Connect (if you have it enabled) from admin ui. Keep 2.4 and 5 GHz SSIDs with separate names.
• For android clients that you prefer to use 5GHz, only keep 5GHz SSID under "saved networks".
• On windows clients you can keep both 2.4GHz and 5GHz under "known networks". Enable "Connect automatically when in range" only for 5GHz SSID.
• iOS starts with "most preferred" network strategy, then security level and then signal strength. This might help. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202831
• For clients you do not care, keep both in the preferred list with auto connect enabled.

Edit:
Android 11 added a new feature auto-connect for saved networks. Something similar to Windows. In older stock android versions they used to have wi-fi priority for saved networks. But it is long gone from stock android. Some custom roms still have this feature.

 

[LeKeiser]

Hello everyone,
Hope you're all doing well

I've downloaded the latest Voxel's Firmware, R7800-V1.0.2.97.2SF. and tried to install it the usual way.
_ I always first uninstall Mr Kamoj Add-on eventhough I know the Add-on will be uninstalled with the newest firmware. But that's what I do anyway
_ I logged on my R7800, chose the new firmware to upload (I'm using Vivaldi on my Ubuntu laptop) and started to upload the firmware.
_ got a Connexion Failed (or something like that) during the transfer. Weird.
_ launched Firefox and uploaded the firmware again. Weird thing, no sign on the GUI window that it was uploading, no progression. Then I lost again the connection.
_ I logged back using Vivaldi and this is weird, the GUI said I was using v97.2SF but the router hadn't rebooted at all. I could surf and all but no reboot.
_ I logged on my MacBook and started the upload process again using Safari. Again, no sign of the upload progression, just that it was uploading the file. Then I lost the connexion WITH the R7800. I write WITH because I didn't lose the WiFi connection, the router was still alive. And again, the GUI said I was using v97.2SF.
_ so I logged on my desktop computer that has an Ethernet connection to the router. I launched Brave, and stated again the upload ot the newest firmware. Again, no sign of progression. Lost again the connection to the router. Back to the GUI, firmware was again 97.2SF but the router hadn't rebooted.

So I decided to revert back to v97.1SF. I got a warning saying it was an older firmware than the one being used. I decided to upload it anyway. This time, I don't know why, I saw the upload progression on the GUI window. The router rebooted at the end.
When I logged back, the GUI said I was using v97.1SF. I installed Mr Kamoj Add-on again, no problem.
Everything seems running fine. I've got to go to work (I'm late now :O ) but I'll check again later today.

This is the first time I'm having problem upgrading the firmware.
For info, this is the file's size : 31,0 Mo (31 027 329 octets)

Was I too fast and geeky to install this firmware? Am I the only one having this problem? Is there a cure?

Thanx a lot for your returns and help

 

[Kitsap]

Hello everyone,
Hope you're all doing well

I've downloaded the latest Voxel's Firmware, R7800-V1.0.2.97.2SF. and tried to install it the usual way.
_ I always first uninstall Mr Kamoj Add-on eventhough I know the Add-on will be uninstalled with the newest firmware. But that's what I do anyway
_ I logged on my R7800, chose the new firmware to upload (I'm using Vivaldi on my Ubuntu laptop) and started to upload the firmware.
_ got a Connexion Failed (or something like that) during the transfer. Weird.
_ launched Firefox and uploaded the firmware again. Weird thing, no sign on the GUI window that it was uploading, no progression. Then I lost again the connection.
_ I logged back using Vivaldi and this is weird, the GUI said I was using v97.2SF but the router hadn't rebooted at all. I could surf and all but no reboot.
_ I logged on my MacBook and started the upload process again using Safari. Again, no sign of the upload progression, just that it was uploading the file. Then I lost the connexion WITH the R7800. I write WITH because I didn't lose the WiFi connection, the router was still alive. And again, the GUI said I was using v97.2SF.
_ so I logged on my desktop computer that has an Ethernet connection to the router. I launched Brave, and stated again the upload ot the newest firmware. Again, no sign of progression. Lost again the connection to the router. Back to the GUI, firmware was again 97.2SF but the router hadn't rebooted.

So I decided to revert back to v97.1SF. I got a warning saying it was an older firmware than the one being used. I decided to upload it anyway. This time, I don't know why, I saw the upload progression on the GUI window. The router rebooted at the end.
When I logged back, the GUI said I was using v97.1SF. I installed Mr Kamoj Add-on again, no problem.
Everything seems running fine. I've got to go to work (I'm late now :O ) but I'll check again later today.

This is the first time I'm having problem upgrading the firmware.
For info, this is the file's size : 31,0 Mo (31 027 329 octets)

Was I too fast and geeky to install this firmware? Am I the only one having this problem? Is there a cure?

Thanx a lot for your returns and help

I have a suspicion something is amiss. When @Voxel made the R7800-V1.0.2.97.1SF snapshot available, he posted a message and provided a change log. The new snapshot, R7800-V1.0.2.97.2SF is available on his web site but there have been no messages and no change log.

I am going to refrain from updating until more is known about the new snapshot.

Edit: Just saw the change log on the Voxel web site.

 

[LeKeiser]

When I downloaded the new firmware this morning, there was the change log.
Have you tried to upgrade your R7800 with this new firmware? Am I the only one?

 

[Kitsap]

When I downloaded the new firmware this morning, there was the change log.
Have you tried to upgrade your R7800 with this new firmware? Am I the only one?

Not yet. In the change log I do see a number of CVE fixes I would like to have in place.

Maybe tomorrow......

 

[Kitsap]

Dirty update from v1.0.2.97.1SF to v1.0.2.97.2 via an Ethernet connection with Firefox on Windows 10.

Smooth update with no information screen problems during the update. Version number, progress bars, and etc. as expected. So far so good.

@Voxel Thank you!

@LeKeiser - Maybe try again.

 

[zabolots]

Dirty update from v1.0.2.97.1SF to v1.0.2.97.2 via an Ethernet connection with Firefox on Windows 10.

Smooth update with no information screen problems during the update. Version number, progress bars, and etc. as expected. So far so good.

Does such an update wipe out your settings? I presume it at least wipes out your private SSH keys (if you added them), correct?

I'm new to Voxel and still not clear on what gets wiped vs what doesn't when you upgrade to a new version.

 

[Kitsap]

Does such an update wipe out your settings? I presume it at least wipes out your private SSH keys (if you added them), correct?

I'm new to Voxel and still not clear on what gets wiped vs what doesn't when you upgrade to a new version.

No, it does not wipe out my settings. Being an experienced firmware updater, I always save a backup configuration file before updating. Never had to use one of them. The term, dirty update means I did not do a firmware default reset and reconfigure after the update. I let the update process bring in the settings from my previous firmware version.

I have not added private SSH keys. In fact, I do not really know how. Can you share what the purpose is and how it is done?

 

[LeKeiser]

Dirty update from v1.0.2.97.1SF to v1.0.2.97.2 via an Ethernet connection with Firefox on Windows 10.

Smooth update with no information screen problems during the update. Version number, progress bars, and etc. as expected. So far so good.

@Voxel Thank you!

@LeKeiser - Maybe try again.

Hello

During the update, when the file was being transfered, you could see the progress bar moving? Did your router reboot when it was done? Did you lose the connection during the whole process?
Cuz when I tried to update mine, I didn't see the router rebooting, I didn't lose the connection. When I reloaded the webpage, the GUI said I was using v97.2 firmware.
I wonder, is there a way to check the version in the command window? Is there a command line you can use when you're logged on the router?

 

[Kitsap]

Hello

During the update, when the file was being transferred, you could see the progress bar moving? Yes, although it was quicker than normal. Did your router reboot when it was done? Yes. Did you lose the connection during the whole process? Only after the reboot when I had to log back in.
Cuz when I tried to update mine, I didn't see the router rebooting, I didn't lose the connection. When I reloaded the webpage, the GUI said I was using v97.2 firmware.
I wonder, is there a way to check the version in the command window? Is there a command line you can use when you're logged on the router? I am sure there is, I just do not know what it is.

 

[fossil]

I wonder, is there a way to check the version in the command window? Is there a command line you can use when you're logged on the router?

Multiple ways:
1 - cat /firmware_version
2 - Do "ls -l" at the root directory (top most). Most of the files and folder will have "Sep 30" timestamp for firmware version "V1.0.2.97.2SF" (ignore /tmp timestamp and folders with Dec 31 1969 timestamp). For V1.0.2.97.1SF timestamp is "Sep 11"
...

 

[LeKeiser]

Ok, I decided to give it another shot.
_I logged on my Ubuntu laptop.
_ I launched a Telnet window and I removed Mr Kamoj Add-on and rebooted the router.
_ I logged on the router using FF and uploaded the latest snapshot firmware. This time, I did see the progress bar and then the router rebooted.
_ I installed Mr Kamoj Add-on again and rebooted the router.

Everything this time went smooth. I really have no clue as to what happened before. Everything is working pervect.

Big Thanx again to Mr @Voxel and always also to Mr @kamoj

 

[revengineer]

@Voxel Can I please beg you to log at this post and tell me why I cannot access the Admin GUI in Voxel firmware 1.0.2.97SF in Access Point mode from a different subnet? Access point is on 192.168.3.2, I am trying to access from 192.168.1.10. I can log into SSH (so routing generally ok) but not the Admin GUI. I have spent hours of frustration on this. If you tell me that this is not possible then at least I can stop trying. Thank you!

 

[LeKeiser]

@revengineer It think it would be very helpful if you could relate what you've done, and the results of your actions, so that we could help you as much as we can.
You've spent hours of frustration on this but we have no clue what you've done. What were the errors that you got.
It's a very interesting problem, I'm sure we're all eager to help you and solve it