Most stable version of Merlin.

[Sandman]

I have an rt-n66r running Merlin 3.0.0.270.26. It runs with no noticeable issues.

While I am a proponent of don't fix what isn't broke, I see there had been quite a bit of changes since the version I am running.

First and foremost I need my router to be stable on wan, lan, and wifi. I don't really use any advanced features other than qos. Is there any reason I should consider upgrading to a version other than the latest?

I know everybody will have different opinions and experiences on this, but I'm wondering if there is a general consensus.

 

[darkknight74]

Stick with it, I can't find any newer version that is 100% good I have tried them all.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

The new releases also have a very noticeable reduction in wifi range on the N66.

 

[wiz]

I have an RT66u and ran for about a couple of months with the same version. I had openvpn on it, and other than that nothing fancy, it just ran rocksolid.

At the moment it is running 374.43. In the mean time I swapped my isp and moved openvpn to my self build nas due to cpu limitations. I have no complaints from my son who's in the attic with his playstation and laptop, wireless still rock solid although it is crowded here with wifi networks of neigbors.

I needed vlan tagging setup with my new isp, and after some tinkering it works flawlessly.

If you do not want hassle, stick with the firmware you have. If you want to update, 374.43 runs pretty decent on my rt-n66u.

 

[ustavio]

I have an rt-n66r running Merlin 3.0.0.270.26. It runs with no noticeable issues.

I ran this for the longest time with similar success. I don't really use any of the more advanced features. I've got my n66r plugged into my Fios Actiontec router mainly for the dual band wireless feature. Everything else pretty much relies on MoCa.
270.26b had extremely solid range and stability. I did, however upgrade with every new Merlin release with varying degrees of success. I did so mainly for security improvements although I really like many of the new features and GUI changes. Merlin is masterful in how he enhances the Asus stock firmware.

I'm running the most current 376.45 version and the only real issues I experience involve reduced range and weaker, less stable 5g. It will cut out completely at times but the 2.4 will kick in as backup. I wonder sometimes about about going back to 270.26b and comparing the differences in interface and performance. Although it is no longer available for download, I still have it should I choose to experiment.

Maybe I'll toy with and see.

 

[L&LD]

You may want to try this version instead, it includes all the fixes and upgrades but retains the range and throughput of previous versions.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=18914


I have been using it for the past few days with no issues, but I would recommend to do a full reset to defaults and manually configure your router after doing the above firmware flash.


Specifically:

Unplug any USB devices.

Reboot router and wait about 5 minutes.

Flash the new firmware you want.

Configure the router manually and minimally for internet and lan access. That is, create a router password, a 2.4 and a 5GHz band ssid and passwords and optionally configure the LAN settings (if needed).

Reboot the router, wait 5 minutes and reboot the router once more. This step has helped greatly for stability in my case.


With the above complete, take a backup of your working settings (for this specific firmware) and feel free to experiment with tweaking any settings you think may improve things.

What I change is Tx power to 200mW for both bands and disabling beamforming too.

 

[Sandman]

Thanks all for the advice.

I wonder sometimes about about going back to 270.26b and comparing the differences in interface and performance. Although it is no longer available for download, I still have it should I choose to experiment.

Thanks for pointing out that the older builds are no longer available. I just searched my hd and found the 270.26b firmware, so I think that's what I'm running even tho my admin page shows "270.26"

As L&LD suggested I may backup my current settings and flash a newer firmware to try it out. Should I expect any issues if I decide to downgrade my firmware back to 270.26b and restore my 270.26b backed up settings? Perhaps special steps to take?

 

[F5ing]

Should I expect any issues if I decide to downgrade my firmware back to 270.26b and restore my 270.26b backed up settings? Perhaps special steps to take?

Downgrade the same way as you upgrade.

After downgrade do the factory reset and reload your old saved settings.

 

[ustavio]

Maybe I'll toy with and see.[/QUOTE]

Well, just for the heck of it, I rolled back to 270.26b and it rocks my socks off. Range, signal strength and throughput are all solid, steady and maxed out in both 2.4g and 5g. Fluctuations are almost nil. And this is with multiple laptops, game platforms and cell phones....all at the same time.

I had forgotten what it was like. I miss some of the current GUI changes. I know that 270.26b is not as secure as the latest versions, so I don't know if I'll keep running it. However, for the moment it feels kinda like sticking the Prius in the garage and tooling up the coast in *(insert name of favorite classic muscle car here)...with the top down.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Maybe I'll toy with and see.

Well, just for the heck of it, I rolled back to 270.26b and it rocks my socks off. Range, signal strength and throughput are all solid, steady and maxed out in both 2.4g and 5g. Fluctuations are almost nil. And this is with multiple laptops, game platforms and cell phones....all at the same time.

I had forgotten what it was like. I miss some of the current GUI changes. I know that 270.26b is not as secure as the latest versions, so I don't know if I'll keep running it. However, for the moment it feels kinda like sticking the Prius in the garage and tooling up the coast in *(insert name of favorite classic muscle car here)...with the top down.[/QUOTE]

Yep i know what you mean the N66 was and still is a great router but sadly it has been crippled by Asus firmware and it will never be the same again unless you run old firmware.

 

[john9527]

Maybe I'll toy with and see.

While you are on that code....could you do me a favor....run the following and send me the output.

nvram show | grep 0x | grep :

And if you decide to go back to the new code, the same thing.

Just some silly wild idea I have.

 

[F5ing]

While you are on that code....could you do me a favor....run the following and send me the output.

nvram show | grep 0x | grep :

And if you decide to go back to the new code, the same thing.

Just some silly wild idea I have.

John,

Would it help you if I report that output from an N66 that I just so happened to have one of Merlin's old SDK5 firmwares loaded?

Getting ready to go back to newer firmware and can report that as well.

 

[john9527]

That would be terrific.....

My silly idea is that those values sort of look like hardware register settings (can't tell without the Broadcom SDK)....I'm wondering if it's not the driver, but how the hardware is being configured that may be causing differences between builds. Anyway, would be interesting if they change when different builds are configured the same way.

 

[F5ing]

John,

The command returns nothing (other than size and bytes left).

I get a bunch of hex entries by searching for 0x (of course), MAC and time entries when searching for ":", nothing when combined (no entries have both "0x" and ":").

 

[john9527]

John,

The command returns nothing (other than size and bytes left).

I get a bunch of hex entries by searching for 0x (of course), MAC and time entries when searching for ":", nothing when combined (no entries have both "0x" and ":").

Sorry...again difference between N66 and AC68....let's try grabbing the hex (0x) entries....

 

[F5ing]

RT-N66 running 3.0.0.4.372.32_beta3 (Merlin's)

nvram grep 0x

pci/2/1/leddc=0xFFFF
pci/1/1/pa2gw1a0=0x1AAD
pci/1/1/pa2gw1a1=0x1C2D
pci/1/1/pa2gw1a2=0x1971
boardrev=0x1100
pci/2/1/maxp5gla0=0x40
pci/2/1/maxp5gla1=0x40
pci/2/1/maxp5gla2=0x40
wl0_leddc=0x640000
wl0_radarthrs=0 0x6a8 0x6c8 0x6ac 0x6c7
wl_leddc=0x640000
pci/2/1/maxp5gha0=0x5E
pci/2/1/maxp5gha1=0x5E
pci/2/1/maxp5gha2=0x5E
pci/2/1/pa5gw0a0=0xFEE1
pci/2/1/pa5gw0a1=0xFEAC
pci/2/1/pa5gw0a2=0xFE9B
pci/2/1/mcsbw20ul5gmpo=0x75311111
pci/2/1/pa5glw2a0=0xFA8E
pci/2/1/boardflags=0x90000200
pci/2/1/pa5glw2a1=0xFABC
pci/2/1/pa5glw2a2=0xFABC
pci/2/1/mcsbw205gmpo=0x75311111
pci/1/1/legofdmbw202gpo=0x55555555
pci/1/1/legofdmbw20ul2gpo=0x55555555
pci/2/1/devid=0x4333
boardtype=0xF5B2
pci/2/1/pa5ghw2a0=0xFAD2
pci/1/1/cckbw202gpo=0x3333
pci/2/1/pa5ghw2a1=0xFA6F
pci/2/1/pa5ghw2a2=0xFADB
pci/1/1/mcsbw20ul2gpo=0xFC955555
pci/1/1/pa2gw0a0=0xFE74
pci/1/1/pa2gw0a1=0xFE8F
pci/1/1/pa2gw0a2=0xFE7F
pci/1/1/boardflags=0x80001200
pci/1/1/boardvendor=0x14E4
pci/2/1/mcsbw20ul5glpo=0x00000000
boardflags2=0x00000000
pci/2/1/pa5glw1a0=0x1637
pci/2/1/pa5glw1a1=0x1591
pci/2/1/pa5glw1a2=0x1591
pci/2/1/mcsbw205glpo=0x00000000
wl_radarthrs=0 0x6a8 0x6c8 0x6ac 0x6c7
pci/2/1/mcsbw20ul5ghpo=0x75311111
pci/2/1/legofdmbw205gmpo=0x75311111
pci/1/1/venid=0x14E4
wl1_radarthrs=0 0x6a8 0x6c8 0x6ac 0x6c7
pci/2/1/mcsbw205ghpo=0x75311111
pci/1/1/maxp2ga0=0x64
pci/1/1/maxp2ga1=0x64
pci/1/1/maxp2ga2=0x64
pci/2/1/pa5ghw1a0=0x160D
pci/2/1/pa5ghw1a1=0x16C3
pci/2/1/pa5ghw1a2=0x1684
pci/1/1/boardflags2=0x00100000
pci/2/1/pa5gw2a0=0xFAF7
pci/2/1/mcsbw405gmpo=0x75311111
pci/2/1/pa5gw2a1=0xFA82
pci/2/1/pa5gw2a2=0xFAAC
pci/1/1/mcs32po=0x9999
pci/2/1/legofdmbw20ul5gmpo=0x75311111
pci/1/1/legofdm40duppo=0x4444
sdram_config=0x0000
pci/2/1/legofdm40duppo=0x2222
pci/2/1/maxp5ga0=0x5E
pci/2/1/pa5glw0a0=0xFE87
pci/2/1/maxp5ga1=0x5E
pci/2/1/pa5glw0a1=0xFE9A
pci/2/1/maxp5ga2=0x5E
pci/2/1/pa5glw0a2=0xFE9A
pci/2/1/legofdmbw205glpo=0x00000000
pci/2/1/venid=0x14E4
boardflags=0x00000110
sdram_refresh=0x0000
sdram_ncdl=0x00000000
pci/2/1/boardvendor=0x14E4
pci/2/1/legofdmbw205ghpo=0x75311111
pci/1/1/cckbw20ul2gpo=0x3333
pci/1/1/leddc=0xFFFF
pci/1/1/pa2gw2a0=0xF980
pci/1/1/pa2gw2a1=0xF924
pci/1/1/pa2gw2a2=0xF9C8
wl1_leddc=0x640000
pci/2/1/pa5ghw0a0=0xFEDC
pci/2/1/pa5ghw0a1=0xFEB0
pci/2/1/pa5ghw0a2=0xFEDD
pci/2/1/pa5gw1a0=0x1663
pci/2/1/mcsbw405glpo=0x00000000
pci/2/1/pa5gw1a1=0x1676
pci/2/1/pa5gw1a2=0x15FA
pci/2/1/legofdmbw20ul5glpo=0x00000000
sdram_init=0x0000
pci/2/1/mcsbw405ghpo=0x75311111
pci/2/1/boardflags2=0x00200000
pci/2/1/legofdmbw20ul5ghpo=0x75311111
pci/1/1/devid=0x4332
wps_config_method=0x2688
pci/1/1/mcsbw402gpo=0xFFFF9999
pci/2/1/mcs32po=0x2222
pci/1/1/mcsbw202gpo=0xFC955555

 

[F5ing]

John,

Let me know if you got what you needed from that output, or if you need some other data. I'll probably flash it tomorrow (well, actually later today), but I'll check here first.

 

[darkknight74]

Where can I download 270.26b version?

 

[Ah-Pin-Kor]

Where can I download 270.26b version?

Try this link

 

[cofetym]

John9527 could you please date your builds, so we know the order of progression. Thanks