Download Cut From 30Mbps to 1Mbps After ASUS to Merlin Switch

[RexKramer]

Just updated AC68U from current ASUS firmware to Asuswrt-Merlin 378.51 and it cut my download speeds from 30 to 1mbps. Anyideas, Ive pretty much run my ASUS at original settings other than changing mac address to force a new IP from TW. Im interested in trying the VPN updates but havent touched them yet.

Thanks

 

[netware5]

Just updated AC68U from current ASUS firmware to Asuswrt-Merlin 378.51 and it cut my download speeds from 30 to 1mbps. Anyideas, Ive pretty much run my ASUS at original settings other than changing mac address to force a new IP from TW. Im interested in trying the VPN updates but havent touched them yet.

Thanks

Wireless or LAN connection?

 

[joegreat]

Just updated AC68U from current ASUS firmware to Asuswrt-Merlin 378.51 and it cut my download speeds from 30 to 1mbps.

Hi Rex,

Did you do a factory reset (after changing the firmware version) and re-entered the setting manually (correct settings)?

With kind regards
Joe

 

[RexKramer]

Netware, LAN

Joe, no factory reset, just tried turning on QoS and setting to my Time Warner speed settings and it improved download from 1 mpbs to 8 mpbs. Am goning to do a factory reset now. I will have do the wireless settings, most of my network is still hardwired.


UPDATE: just reset to factory defaults and set my LAN back up (this is what Im testing on) and after setting QoS both on and off Im only getting 1 Mbps upload instead of 30

 

[sm00thpapa]

Netware, LAN

Joe, no factory reset, just tried turning on QoS and setting to my Time Warner speed settings and it improved download from 1 mpbs to 8 mpbs. Am goning to do a factory reset now. I will have do the wireless settings, most of my network is still hardwired.


UPDATE: just reset to factory defaults and set my LAN back up (this is what Im testing on) and after setting QoS both on and off Im only getting 1 Mbps upload instead of 30

Did you try it without setting up QOS to see what you get? Factory re-set again and just set up the basics like wifi settings and if you want to enable Jumbo frames or not.

 

[RexKramer]

Ok what Ive done is roll back to ASUS firmware reset everything to default only thing Ive turned on is jumbo frames and Im back to my full speeds. Going to try this again.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Ok what Ive done is roll back to ASUS firmware reset everything to default only thing Ive turned on is jumbo frames and Im back to my full speeds. Going to try this again.

Sounds good. I have 29 devices on my AC68P network including 4 consoles gaming. I have never used QOS and everything runs great with no lag. But I do have a 150Mbps download speed soon to be upgraded to 300Mbps download speed.

 

[RexKramer]

No go, followed the same procedures for the ASUS firmware install with asuswrt-merlin 378.51 and Im thottled on my speeds to 1 mpbs up 1 mpbs down, cant figure out why, reboot modem and router each time as well...

EDIT: fyi Im running a Surfboard SB6141 Docsis 3.0 modem

 

[RexKramer]

Ok I got it working, at least on both my (in home) office CAD pc's. Tests are close to 30 mpbs down 5 mpbs up on my timewarner internet subscription advertised speeds. I turned on Adaptive QoS, Jumbo Frames and added hardwired systems to Manually Assigned IP around the DHCP list.

Interestingly when checking my modem config its using my original (home pc) mac address and not the routers mac, not sure how that happens but I cant change it. I think TW has too even though its my modem. Here is what is listed under addresses the others are modem releated:

Known CPE MAC Address (Max 1) Status
1 XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX Dynamic

 

[KevTech]

Interestingly when checking my modem config its using my original (home pc) mac address and not the routers mac, not sure how that happens but I cant change it.

I have had this happen before too after I reset the router but not sure why.

I changed the setting back to use the routers MAC then rebooted the modem.

WAN > Internet Connection tab

Scroll down to Special Requirement from ISP then look at MAC address which should be blank.

If your PC MAC is in there just remove and reboot modem after applying the setting in the router.

 

[RexKramer]

KevTech thanks that worked!

 

[jegesq]

KevTech thanks that worked!

Why do you have Jumbo Frames enabled? Unless all of your devices across your entire LAN are set to use the same settings for Jumbo Frames it will cause problems. My suggestion is to turn off Jumbo Settings on all devices, and leave it off. Typically can cause more problems than it will ever solve.

Also, you MUST do a factory reset if coming from any version of ASUS or Merlin firmware prior to 378.xx when upgrading to the current version of Merlin's FW.

Also when you upgrade to 300/20 Mbps, you will need to get a different modem than the SB6141 (your's is an 8x4, only and you'll need a modem like the SB6183 that can bond 16 download channels to support the faster speeds). When you do get a new modem, you'll have to call TWC to have it properly provisioned (but you already know that). Just make sure you connect everything in proper sequence: With router turned off/unplugged, connect your AC68U. Plug the AC68U in and make sure it's fully booted before plugging in the modem. Then turn on the power to the modem, and wait a few minutes. The modem needs to get the router's MAC address, not vice versa. And as KevTech noted, your router should not have any information in the section WAN section's "Internet Connection" TAB-->"Special Requirement from ISP" section. With TWC, the only setting should be "Automatic IP". You can modify DHCP to use Google's servers or any other DNS you like (in fact you'll need to use Google's if you want true IPv6 at this point since TWC's isn't yet fully implemented), but the basic connection to TWC is simply "Automatic IP".

 

[sm00thpapa]

Why do you have Jumbo Frames enabled? Unless all of your devices across your entire LAN are set to use the same settings for Jumbo Frames it will cause problems. My suggestion is to turn off Jumbo Settings on all devices, and leave it off. Typically can cause more problems than it will ever solve.

Also, you MUST do a factory reset if coming from any version of ASUS or Merlin firmware prior to 378.xx when upgrading to the current version of Merlin's FW.

Also when you upgrade to 300/20 Mbps, you will need to get a different modem than the SB6141 (your's is an 8x4, only and you'll need a modem like the SB6183 that can bond 16 download channels to support the faster speeds). When you do get a new modem, you'll have to call TWC to have it properly provisioned (but you already know that). Just make sure you connect everything in proper sequence: With router turned off/unplugged, connect your AC68U. Plug the AC68U in and make sure it's fully booted before plugging in the modem. Then turn on the power to the modem, and wait a few minutes. The modem needs to get the router's MAC address, not vice versa. And as KevTech noted, your router should not have any information in the section WAN section's "Internet Connection" TAB-->"Special Requirement from ISP" section. With TWC, the only setting should be "Automatic IP". You can modify DHCP to use Google's servers or any other DNS you like (in fact you'll need to use Google's if you want true IPv6 at this point since TWC's isn't yet fully implemented), but the basic connection to TWC is simply "Automatic IP".

What do you do if you have unmanaged switches on your network that all support 9k jumbo frames? You can't turn them off as they are always on since it's unmanaged. Would that cause problems if it off on the router but always on on the switches?

 

[RMerlin]

What do you do if you have unmanaged switches on your network that all support 9k jumbo frames? You can't turn them off as they are always on since it's unmanaged. Would that cause problems if it off on the router but always on on the switches?

Switches don't matter, it's the endpoint that do: routers, NAS, computers, etc...

 

[sm00thpapa]

Switches don't matter, it's the endpoint that do: routers, NAS, computers, etc...

Ok thanks Merlin.

 

[jegesq]

Switches don't matter, it's the endpoint that do: routers, NAS, computers, etc...

R. Merlin, are you certain that this is a correct statement? I ask because I think that switches do matter if Jumbo Frames are enabled, and the switch's implementation must match with the same implementation being used on the end devices.

According to Tim Higgins' excellent article on Jumbo Frames posted here at SNB, he wrote:

A key point regarding jumbo frames is:
Key Point #1: For a large frame to be transmitted intact from end to end, every component on the path must support that frame size.
This means that the switch(es), router(s), and NIC(s) from one end to the other must all support the same size of jumbo frame transmission for a successful jumbo frame communication session.

The issue as I understand it is that Jumbo Frames can significantly increase throughput (by as much as 20%), but only if all devices, including switches, on the LAN are using the same same implementation (meaning all drivers for all devices must support the same frame size, the same MTU, etc.). Otherwise significant issues can occur with device interoperability, i.e., dropping of packets and incomplete transmissions.

There's a really interesting blog that some of you may know, "Coding Horror" which often has very useful. There was a post several years ago there entitled "The Promise and Peril of Jumbo Frames" in which the author, citing to Tim Higgins' article (quoted from above by me) was also summarized. Some additional points from Tim's article highlighted there were:

2) Switches that don't support jumbo frames will drop jumbo frames.
In the event that both ends agree to jumbo frame transmission, there still needs to be end-to-end support for jumbo frames, meaning all the switches and routers must be jumbo frame enabled. At Layer 2, not all gigabit switches support jumbo frames. Those that do will forward the jumbo frames. Those that don't will drop the frames.
3) For a jumbo packet to pass through a router, both the ingress and egress interfaces must support the larger packet size. Otherwise, the packets will be dropped or fragmented.
If the size of the data payload can't be negotiated (this is known as PMTUD, packet MTU discovery) due to firewalls, the data will be dropped with no warning, or "blackholed". And if the MTU isn't supported, the data will have to be fragmented to a supported size and retransmitted, reducing throughput.

I'm not so sure of what the correct answer to Smoothpapa's question really is. Perhaps it is that if Jumbo Frames aren't enabled on either end device, it won't matter that the switch has them enabled by default, because they'll just be ignored. But if you're going to enable Jumbo Frames, then I'm fairly certain you must be sure that the switch's implementation is the same as what you're also going to enable on each device on both ends of a transmission, otherwise you're just looking for trouble.

 

[RMerlin]

R. Merlin, are you certain that this is a correct statement? I ask because I think that switches do matter if Jumbo Frames are enabled, and the switch's implementation must match with the same implementation being used on the end devices.

My answer was in the context of sm00thpapa's question. Let me clarify what I meant.

If none of your endpoints are generating jumbo frames, then it doesn't matter whether your switches support it or not. The jumbo frames are generated by the endpoints, the switch merely buffers+forward them. So, if your switch supports Jumbo Frames but you don't enable it on the any of your computers, then it will have zero impact on your network. It merely means the switch is able to buffer UP TO 9000 bytes per frame - it won't be generating actual frames of that size.

 

[jegesq]

My answer was in the context of sm00thpapa's question. Let me clarify what I meant.

If none of your endpoints are generating jumbo frames, then it doesn't matter whether your switches support it or not. The jumbo frames are generated by the endpoints, the switch merely buffers+forward them. So, if your switch supports Jumbo Frames but you don't enable it on the any of your computers, then it will have zero impact on your network. It merely means the switch is able to buffer UP TO 9000 bytes per frame - it won't be generating actual frames of that size.

Yes, I understood the context. Thanks for the confirmation re: switches and jumbo frames when the end points aren't using them.

 

[VBNSNB]

Hi all, Hi RMerlin

I have Asus AC66U, with your leatest release.
Thanks for your job about merlinfirmware Asus, why the guys as you dosnt work for big C.O, to made the things more smooth

To dont open a new thread, i would like know why the lan (switch) dosnt support jumbo frame ? is there any option to do ? i have all my switch and pc and nas jumbo compatible (9k), but the router drop or fragment the packets, because when i do copy between 2 pc or 1 pc & nas, the speed is 80MB-1MB, but more 1MB.

Please need any info to increase the mtu of br0 or eth0 at 9k to have a real jumbo.


Thanks again for your passion
Thanks for any help .

 

[RMerlin]

To dont open a new thread, i would like know why the lan (switch) dosnt support jumbo frame ? is there any option to do ? i have all my switch and pc and nas jumbo compatible (9k), but the router drop or fragment the packets, because when i do copy between 2 pc or 1 pc & nas, the speed is 80MB-1MB, but more 1MB.
.

LAN -> Switch Control