May have bricked my Archer C7 V2.. Dang

[Steve40th]

Well, today I was feeling froggy, and decided to install dd wrt software on my wifi. Well, after a successful install, I noticed my speeds were way down, from 80Mbps +- 10 Mbps all the way down to 12, even when hooked up to Ethernet.
So, I looked through all the settings and only two made sense. I followed their recommendations, from a link sent to me. Two that made sense were increase transmit power and turning vpn stuff off. Well, I did that and it only got worse.
So, I re-flashed router back to OEM TP link. No worky, and it intermittently would hold connection. I went through two other routers, Linksys e3000 and xfinitys modem wifi router. Both of those are N routers and were in the 30to 40Mbps consistently.
I think I fried it when I turned up transmit power to max. Others had done it, maybe mine wasnt liking it...
Thoughts. I am probably going to get another router and not try to work this one out. Just curious if anyone has thoughts as to what may have happened etc.

 

[JefeSteez]

I have a C7 and successfully flashed it with DD WRT. Never tried messing with the transmit power (I have a small apt), but I get my full 60 megs on both Wi-Fi and Wired. No 802.11ac though...

Which version of DD WRT did you use?

 

[Steve40th]

I have a C7 and successfully flashed it with DD WRT. Never tried messing with the transmit power (I have a small apt), but I get my full 60 megs on both Wi-Fi and Wired. No 802.11ac though...

Which version of DD WRT did you use?

Not sure, but i litterarly got it today. I had to verify if I had US or International. Once someone told me which version I had, he gave me the file/link.

 

[JefeSteez]

Hmm OK. I know that router has a funky contruction where the HDD and RAM are the same disc (or something similar, don't remember exactly) but I have read about issues before. It may be worth reading through this thread: http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=176560

 

[Steve40th]

Hmm OK. I know that router has a funky contruction where the HDD and RAM are the same disc (or something similar, don't remember exactly) but I have read about issues before. It may be worth reading through this thread: http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=176560

i am on page 48 and 49 on that thread. I think I was a little over my head. Lots of data and things to overcome. Not a real simple upgrade, especially when something happens and you have no idea why.

 

[Steve40th]

One thing I noticed was the governing country when loaded was germany. Does the country differ on Allowable power output of these radios, essentially since here in usa FCC regulates output

 

[sfx2000]

Well, today I was feeling froggy, and decided to install dd wrt software on my wifi. Well, after a successful install, I noticed my speeds were way down, from 80Mbps +- 10 Mbps all the way down to 12, even when hooked up to Ethernet.

DD-WRT (and OpenWRT) are not meant to be treated lightly, as I'm sure you've found out

 

[Steve40th]

I learned my lesson. But, i got a new one, same as I like the Archer C7, nice product.. Works well.

 

[RogerSC]

I'm going out on a limb here, but I'd venture to say that you should not be able to turn the tx power up enough to fry the router via the web interface (or the command line). It may heat up some, but it should be okay at the full power that it's capable of. Personally, I don't fiddle with the tx power, since I've found that other things are more likely to increase the signal both from the router and the signal level back from the client to the router (like antenna and router orientation) and you can introduce noise and distortion in the transmitted signal by raising the tx power above a certain point.

At any rate, I'd be really surprised if you could total a modern router by fiddling with the output power, they seem to protect themselves against that in the hardware. Seems more likely to me that flashing it bricked it in some fashion, and you might try a serial console adapter to see if you can bring it back by putting the original TP-Link firmware back on it that way (tftp). Or it might be broken, I can't tell from here *smile*. But I'd personally give un-bricking a try and see if I could do anything.

 

[Steve40th]

I did revert back to OEM TP Link firmware, but I had no AC. Wasnt broadcasting at all