How do you install DD-WRT on R7000?

[seitys]

I can't find detailed instructions. I'm confused and I don't want to brick my router.

On Kong's website, there are initial .chk files. So I understand that part. But then there are .bin files for the latest firmware. What am I supposed to do with those?

I have installed tomato and tomato only used .chk files so what are .bin? Which .bin files on his site do I use?

And when I used tomato, there was a back to official firmware .chk file. Is there something similar for dd-wrt?

 

[thiggins]

I did this recently and I agree the "instructions" are confusing.

All I had to do is load the proper DD-WRT .chk file just like doing a factory firmware upgrade. Resist the temptation to refresh the browser page while it is upgrading. It takes a long time.

To go back, you flash NETGEAR firmware. As I recall, I had to do this a few times to get it to work.

 

[Pierino]

The .bin files are fir flashing the router after you are on dd-wrt. You should flash one of the bin files after the initial .chk file.
There is a lot of info on the dd-wrt forum on which to use. I used the last old .bin that kong published but fir some the newd works better.
Those were firmware with older and newer Broadcom drivers respectively.

His most recent firmware only have the new drivers.

 

[seitys]

There are two .bin files. One is .bin and the other is .md5.bin? What is the difference? And when you say use the netgear firmware to flash back, does it matter which version I use? I know tomato was pretty picky.

 

[Pierino]

The other one is the checksum. I couldn't revert back using the latest netgear fw, nor the 2 before it. I had to use one 3 back I think.
Try them till one flashes back.

 

[Razor512]

Once you have DD-WRT installed, it is simple to update to the .bin builds, but reverting back to stock can be tricky at times. Compared to the wrt54g days, there just isn't much community effort being put into making dd-wrt and tomato as easy to install as possible while being as stable as possible.

When I had trouble reverting, I just decided to use the serial header on the router and just flash the stock firmware through the CLI.

if you are going to be testing many beta firmware builds, I highly recommend getting a serial adapter e.g, http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Pc-USB-2-...384?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4181779e30

very useful if you end up with a build that just refuses to boot properly.

 

[KGB7]

Install initial chk file.
Log in to router and install bin file.

Just look for largest file size with version numbers.

Don't use 30/30/30 method to reset your router, as it no longer works with new routers.

Flashing back to Asus firmware is simple. Just flash Asus firmware over ddwrt firmware. At times it might take few tries.

If you have any issues, ddwrt has a dedicated thread for your router.

 

[sinshiva]

I did this recently and I agree the "instructions" are confusing.

All I had to do is load the proper DD-WRT .chk file just like doing a factory firmware upgrade. Resist the temptation to refresh the browser page while it is upgrading. It takes a long time.

To go back, you flash NETGEAR firmware. As I recall, I had to do this a few times to get it to work.

have some 3rd party firmware benchmarks in the works?

 

[seitys]

Reporting back. I installed Kong's initial .chk then std.bin the latest version updated 8/7/14. Initially things seemed okay. 5 minutes in, the router would reboot every 3 minutes. It was completely unusable. So my conclusion is that netgear firmware has been most stable (esp for wifi) but it still sucks.

I'm going to return this and buy a wrt1900ac. All I care about is connecting multiple devices to wifi with stability. The r7000 clearly does not meet those requirements.

 

[KGB7]

Try another version of the Kong's firmware.

 

[theveterans]

Reporting back. I installed Kong's initial .chk then std.bin the latest version updated 8/7/14. Initially things seemed okay. 5 minutes in, the router would reboot every 3 minutes. It was completely unusable. So my conclusion is that netgear firmware has been most stable (esp for wifi) but it still sucks.

I'm going to return this and buy a wrt1900ac. All I care about is connecting multiple devices to wifi with stability. The r7000 clearly does not meet those requirements.

Did you factory reset and manually start from scratch after each update? Also manually reboot the router after the adjustments to prevent random reboots.

WRT1900AC has the random reboot issue too but I only experienced it once, but after manually rebooting the router right after finalizing some configuration (no need to reboot for every single change), it's now as stable as a rock. I'm pretty sure it applies to any router with any firmware too. Heck even Apple routers need to reboot for every little change you do.

 

[NightOwl326]

Reporting back. I installed Kong's initial .chk then std.bin the latest version updated 8/7/14. Initially things seemed okay. 5 minutes in, the router would reboot every 3 minutes. It was completely unusable. So my conclusion is that netgear firmware has been most stable (esp for wifi) but it still sucks.

I'm going to return this and buy a wrt1900ac. All I care about is connecting multiple devices to wifi with stability. The r7000 clearly does not meet those requirements.

Must be the version you chose, not doing a full reset or something else you did wrong. I and many run dd-wrt on the r7000 without issue. Tells me it's on your side. Most trouble free version is http://desipro.de/ddwrt/K3-AC-Arm/24345M/dd-wrt.v24-K3_AC_ARM_STD_OLDD.bin. Pick reset from the drop down menu on firmware update page and reconfigure. Or bail out to a featureless WRT1900. It's more of an eye candy novice router and maybe that's all you need. DD-WRT is for the patient power user.

 

[seitys]

I did a factory reset after the firmware install. I'm not a power user. I just wanted stable wifi for multiple devices. I was hoping DD-WRT or Tomato would help but it didn't work out in my case. I already ordered the WRT1900AC and this router is going back shortly.

Edit: In case I wasn't clear, the problem when I tried dd-wrt isn't that I had to reboot for small changes, it was the random reboots.

 

[NightOwl326]

I did a factory reset after the firmware install. I'm not a power user. I just wanted stable wifi for multiple devices. I was hoping DD-WRT or Tomato would help but it didn't work out in my case. I already ordered the WRT1900AC and this router is going back shortly.

Shame...the r7000 is a Corvette with DD-WRT and the WRT with current firmware is a minivan. But then Chrysler sold tons of mini vans in the day to the minivan crowd. Don't know how but they did. To each his own.

 

[seitys]

I don't know how much of a Corvette it is because signal quality is terrible from one end of my 1000 sq foot apartment to the other end. It's about 30 feet from my living room, where wifi signal is worse than the previous linksys series EA4500? (something like that), to the other end, where the router is located. All I want to do is watch twitch.tv.

 

[htismaqe]

Shame...the r7000 is a Corvette with DD-WRT and the WRT with current firmware is a minivan.

In your opinion.

I don't know how much of a Corvette it is because signal quality is terrible from one end of my 1000 sq foot apartment to the other end. It's about 30 feet from my living room, where wifi signal is worse than the previous linksys series EA4500? (something like that), to the other end, where the router is located. All I want to do is watch twitch.tv.

Do you have a wall or some other obstacle in the way? I'm active both here and on the Netgear forums and this might be the very first report of poor coverage on the R7000 I've seen.

 

[fistv]

I don't know how much of a Corvette it is because signal quality is terrible from one end of my 1000 sq foot apartment to the other end. It's about 30 feet from my living room, where wifi signal is worse than the previous linksys series EA4500? (something like that), to the other end, where the router is located. All I want to do is watch twitch.tv.

You could also have had a flaky router out of the box, it happens. I've dont DD-wrt on a dozen or so linksys routers, not just the older wrt54G's but the newer ones and provided I followed the directions and followed the instructions up to and including going and getting a cup of coffee never had one brick or fail to install.
That said I have a wrt1900ac, it's stable, works, does what I need. When the 1900 comes in plug your main wired pc into the first lan port, plug in the wan port to your cable modem/whatever and power it up, in less than a minute on mine it popped a configuration screen/browser all on it's own, I did not need to do anything except log in and make my config changes. My main PC is a win8 pro, I have no idea what would happen if you were to try this with a mac or a linux box. The first thing I did do was to do the firmware update/upgrade. From then on it was setting up the features I wanted which did not include a USB drive or printer stuff. All my printers are network wired.

 

[TonyH]

Hi,
Try this. Hold the reset button for good 5 mins. Then reconfigure, clear the nvram. Latest dd-wrt(dated 7 Aug.) works fine. Also note you can use Putty or
SSH with dd-wrt. New stock f/w came out, V1.0.3.68. I never had problem flashing back and forth many times. Streaming every night on 5GHz to HT
no complaints from wife and kids.

 

[RogerSC]

Reporting back. I installed Kong's initial .chk then std.bin the latest version updated 8/7/14. Initially things seemed okay. 5 minutes in, the router would reboot every 3 minutes. It was completely unusable. So my conclusion is that netgear firmware has been most stable (esp for wifi) but it still sucks.

I'm going to return this and buy a wrt1900ac. All I care about is connecting multiple devices to wifi with stability. The r7000 clearly does not meet those requirements.

I would try an older dd-wrt release first, like 24345M "OLDD" (old wireless drivers). If that works for you, then you can try a newer dd-wrt release if you want, but can always go back to 24345M if you have problems.

 

[roldogg]

DD-WRT

I can't find detailed instructions. I'm confused and I don't want to brick my router.

On Kong's website, there are initial .chk files. So I understand that part. But then there are .bin files for the latest firmware. What am I supposed to do with those?

I have installed tomato and tomato only used .chk files so what are .bin? Which .bin files on his site do I use?

And when I used tomato, there was a back to official firmware .chk file. Is there something similar for dd-wrt?

First flash the .chk file, which basically sets the router back in stock mode, and once it's completed, flash the .bin file. For future updates, all you need to do is flash the .bin file. Some people decided to try Tomato after using Kong's DD-WRT and tried flashing directly from one to another, and that's how the router gets bricked. If you wanted to change firmware, always flash the .chk file first.