[Fork] Asuswrt-Merlin 374.43 LTS releases (Archive)

[Gravityz]

No, no plans for that one. If I remember correctly, there is really no order in which the clients are presented when querying the radios. Means I'd have to build an array, then sort it. Seemed like a lot of work, with other things to do

never to old to learn.

need to update my documentation
thanks John

admin@RT-AC66U-27E8:/tmp/home/root# nvram get wl_TxPower
120
admin@RT-AC66U-27E8:/tmp/home/root# nvram get wl0_TxPower
120
admin@RT-AC66U-27E8:/tmp/home/root# nvram get wl1_TxPower
100
admin@RT-AC66U-27E8:/tmp/home/root#

 

[sirwifi]

Nothing that is specific to this fork. The question has been asked many times in the main forums, search there for suggestions.

Asking because I've been having a lot of trouble lately on the 2.4Ghz band. It used to work just fine and it stopped being good with the past couple of regular Merlin updates. That's why I'm trying LTS now, I was hoping for older wireless drivers but it seems LTS also uses the latest drivers.

Anyway, here's the issue: on 2.4Ghz I'm seeing quite a bit of packet loss, around 5% and jitter all over the place (tested with iperf). Tried channels 1,6,11 to no avail. They all have 2-3 APs on them from neighbors, but that's always been the case and wouldn't call it crowded. Not sure what changed lately, but VOIP for example is atrocious, that's how I discovered something was not right. Using 5Ghz is not an option for some of my devices, trying to figure out what's making it worse than before.

What kind of packet loss and jitter is normal to see on 2.4Ghz, when client is close to the AP? I'd think 0 loss unless something is not right.

FWIW, if I let the channel selection on Auto, it picks ch 6, 20/40Mhz but it's really just 20Mhz.

Thanks for any potential ideas. This goes beyond the simple setup guides.

 

[HawkInOz]

After upgrading my RT-N66U to V27E5, it wouldn't come back up after manually powering down and back on (per the instructions after the firmware upgrade had completed). So, I did a factory reset and proceeded to re-configure it in Repeater mode. However, I'm certain that I had previously set it up (a few firmware versions ago) using "Express Way" with a 5GHz connection back to my RT-AC88U and broadcasting only 2.4GHz using the same SSID on both routers and enabling Roaming Assistant to most effectively extend my network in a wireless dead zone area of the house. After the upgrade to V27E5, I cannot seem to find an option to use the "Express Way" configuration. What am I doing wrong? Has it been removed? Did I do something out of order?

 

[john9527]

However, I'm certain that I had previously set it up (a few firmware versions ago) using "Express Way" with a 5GHz connection back to my RT-AC88U and broadcasting only 2.4GHz using the same SSID on both routers and enabling Roaming Assistant to most effectively extend my network in a wireless dead zone area of the house.

Uhhh....maybe someone else will correct me....but I don't know there was ever such an option.

 

[john9527]

Asking because I've been having a lot of trouble lately on the 2.4Ghz band. It used to work just fine and it stopped being good with the past couple of regular Merlin updates. That's why I'm trying LTS now, I was hoping for older wireless drivers but it seems LTS also uses the latest drivers.

You didn't say what router.....only the AC68 has newer drivers (required by the newer rev processor SDK)

 

[sirwifi]

You didn't say what router.....only the AC68 has newer drivers (required by the newer rev processor SDK)

Indeed RT-AC68U. What LTS version introduced the new driver? Perhaps I can try the older ones.

 

[HawkInOz]

Uhhh....maybe someone else will correct me....but I don't know there was ever such an option.

Just checked my Downloads folder and it appears I had initially set it up this way with V26E3 (after dusting it off a bit), updated it successfully to V26E4 (which also required a manual reboot of the router after the update had completed). Pretty sure I didn't imagine the configuration as previously described. I remember doing a bit of research on both "express way" and "roaming assistant" to decide if and how I wanted to use them. It was working brilliantly until the last upgrade blitzed the router. Bizarre.

 

[atkinsom]

I'm trying to play with the Bandwidth Limiter in QOS and I keep getting an error saying 'Fields cannot be blank' whenever I enable QOS with the Bandwidth Limiter radio button enabled. I don't see where to input data in the automatic mode for Bandwidth Limiter. Traditional QOS radio button gives the same error but you get fields to input data into after clicking OK on the message. See image below and let me know where I might be going wrong. Thanks so much everyone.

 

[john9527]

Just checked my Downloads folder and it appears I had initially set it up this way with V26E3 (after dusting it off a bit), updated it successfully to V26E4 (which also required a manual reboot of the router after the update had completed). Pretty sure I didn't imagine the configuration as previously described. I remember doing a bit of research on both "express way" and "roaming assistant" to decide if and how I wanted to use them. It was working brilliantly until the last upgrade blitzed the router. Bizarre.

I had to check with my N66 on V27 (I don't usually use repeater mode anywhere). When I switch to repeater mode,
- it does a site scan and asks what you want to connect to (this maybe is your "ExpressWay"?)
- it then asks what SSID and Keys you want to assign to both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.
-done

Everything looks like it's working fine for me.

 

[john9527]

Traditional QOS radio button gives the same error but you get fields to input data into after clicking OK on the message. See image below and let me know where I might be going wrong. Thanks so much everyone.

Use the pulldown in the upper right corner to select the 'User-defined Bandwidth Limiter' and enter at least one rule first.

EDIT: @atkinsom - I took another look.....in addition to the above, switch to Traditional QoS and fill in values for the upload and download bandwidths (I'll bet they are blank for you), then hit save. Then you can switch back to the Bandwidth limiter. I'll pick up a fix for this in the next release.

 

[john9527]

Indeed RT-AC68U. What LTS version introduced the new driver? Perhaps I can try the older ones.

V27 is the first with the newer drivers....you could try V26E4

 

[sirwifi]

V27 is the first with the newer drivers....you could try V26E4

Thank you, Sir!
Downgraded to: 3.0.0.4.374.43_2-26E4j9527
Driver: Apr 25 2014 11:16:33 version 6.37.14.86 (r456083)

WOW that old of a driver!

But ... don't want to jinx it and it's way too early to declare victory (I need to try a bunch of VOIP calls), after multiple runs, iperf reports something like this now:

Bandwidth        Jitter   Lost/Total Datagrams
150 Mbits/sec   0.079 ms    0/128205 (0%)

Very low jitter and no more 5% packet loss.

I'd appreciate it if others with the RT-AC68U could chime in and report their experiences on the latest wifi driver.
Actually I should mention that my hardware version is the magenta telco branded TM-AC1900, one of the early versions from 3+ yrs ago, but I never ran on its original firmware, put Merlin on it from day 1, so I always forget it's not the "real" AC68. Goes to show that old hardware works best with old software.

@john9527 -- thanks for your help and for your work. Keep an eye on other reports, the newer driver may have issues. Hard to tell from my single data point.

 

[john9527]

Goes to show that old hardware works best with old software.

Actually, my theory would be that things work best when of the same vintage. When you mix old router and new clients or new router and old clients, there may have been some compromises made.

How 'old' is the client you are testing against?

 

[sirwifi]

Actually, my theory would be that things work best when of the same vintage. When you mix old router and new clients or new router and old clients, there may have been some compromises made.

How 'old' is the client you are testing against?

The iperf tests are done with a Macbook Pro late 2013 model. Can't run iperf on the actual clients used for VOIP. Other side of iperf is a *wired* Linux server.

 

[ColinTaylor]

The iperf tests are done with a Macbook Pro late 2013 model. Can't run iperf on the actual clients used for VOIP. Other side of iperf is a *wired* Linux server.

I've just done back to back tests with my Lenovo laptop (2.4GHz@20MHz) to a wired Linux server using iperf3, V27E5 and V26E4. I found no detectable difference in throughput or jitter.

Mind you my jitter was nowhere near as good as yours at ~0.6ms. Throughput was ~118Mbps for a link speed of 144Mbps.

 

[sirwifi]

I've just done back to back tests with my Lenovo laptop (2.4GHz@20MHz) to a wired Linux server using iperf3, V27E5 and V26E4. I found no detectable difference in throughput or jitter.

Mind you my jitter was nowhere near as good as yours at ~0.6ms. Throughput was ~118Mbps for a link speed of 144Mbps.

Which router? RT-AC68U?

Link speed as reported by my Mac is 217 Mbps for my good tests, but it syncs at 217Mbps with either version of the drivers. RSSI: -54 dBm, Noise: -96 dBm, Channel 6.

For kicks, I went back to the current Merlin 380.68 (even though it's somewhat painful to downgrade back to LTS). Same problem returned, jitter and packet loss. Now back to LTS 26E4 and it's fine. There's clearly something going on between the latest driver and my hardware. The weird thing is that the connection itself is stable (the client doesn't get disconnected) and the signal is strong. It's just that the Tx/Rx is messed up somehow and packets don't make it. I thought it was interference initially so I tried different channels but they all have the same problem.

I guess I'm "stuck" on v26E4, but it's not a big deal as I use it in AP mode only so other features don't really matter to me.

FWIW, here's my hardware rev:

TM-AC1900 (2014) flashed as RT-AC68U
Bootloader (CFE): 1.0.2.0

nvram get boardrev
0x1100

nvram get HW_ver
170

nvram get bl_version
1.0.2.0

nvram get wl_corerev
42

 

[sirwifi]

Could the CFE have something to do with it? Being that my router is not a real AC68 with a CFE that I modified by hand based on some guide 3+ yrs ago, it could be possible. Though my understanding is the CFE just loads the ROM, but I'm not sure whether it may have some parameters hard-coded in there that could fool the latest wifi driver.
IIRC, I think I read that some version of firmware actually updates the CFE? Not sure what happens in my case if it tried to update my custom made one.
At this point I have a working solution but the engineer in me and the curiosity are killing me.

 

[ColinTaylor]

@sirwifi Yes it's a genuine RT-AC68U. My link speed is 144 because my laptop has 2 antennas vs. your 3.

Could it be the CFE? Anything's possible when a combination of hardware and software for one manufacturer interacts with that of another. For example; when I had ADSL "the clever users" would seek out a particular model of Netgear router because it had a Broadcom chipset that worked well with the Broadcom equipment used in the telephone exchanges resulting in greater download speeds.

 

[sirwifi]

I started a thread if others want to discuss there:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/p...-tm-ac1900-and-wifi-driver-6-37-14-126.41144/

 

[cowst]

@john9527 Regression.
With this version when my modem reboots, the router stops providing internet to the clients, although they don't notice it.
In the past I think you fixed it with intensive work on wan watchdog.