Netgear R7800 Firmware 1.0.2.62

[Murtaza12]

Might contact NG support about it. If not, say on .52 or try Voxels FW.

While I do greatly appreciate Voxels work and contributions, and despite having used his firmwares in the past, this isn't something he can fix.

Since his latest FW releases are all based on 1.0.2.62, any wireless radio issues in that will also be part of his firmwares.

Unfortunately the fact that the issue only affects some, and not all users brings me to think that NG simply doesn't care and we won't see a new FW version for a while.

I'm sticking to OpenWRT now, but I'll be leaving for college in September, and I would ideally like my parents to have a carefree setup on both R7800s, which I can only achieve with stock FW since they're super stable. They're nowhere near capable enough to diagnose and fix issues with custom FWs if they were to arise.

 

[kamoj]

NG released a "patch" release for the XR500 with dropout problems.
https://forum.netduma.com/topic/28523-new-xr500-hotfix-firmware-for-drop-outs/?do=getNewComment
(The XR500 has the same HW used as the R7800, and share wifi drivers a.o.).

One big problem with NG is the lack of informative release notes, so people are speculating and guessing what fixes are made.
So, I checked it briefly and noticed they had made fixes for 11k, even if the Duma gang says it fixes WAN+LAN issues.

So if you don't need 11k, just switch it off at the debug page!

 

[Killhippie]

NG released a "patch" release for the XR500 with dropout problems.
https://forum.netduma.com/topic/28523-new-xr500-hotfix-firmware-for-drop-outs/?do=getNewComment
(The XR500 has the same HW used as the R7800, and share wifi drivers a.o.).

One big problem with NG is the lack of informative release notes, so people are speculating and guessing what fixes are made.
So, I checked it briefly and noticed they had made fixes for 11k, even if the Duma gang says it fixes WAN+LAN issues.

So if you don't need 11k, just switch it off at the debug page!

That hotfix has not been officially rolled out by Netgear though the routers update mechanism though, of via a patch on Netgears site which is odd. Also the XR family of routers are all starving in the firmware update sector as is the R7800. Either there is going to be a major overhaul of Netgear firmware or the XR500 will reach EOL in just a year and a bit along with the much longer lived R7800.

Its just feels a bit ominous that no updates have been released for such a long time. You would think if this hotfix was so important it would have been rolled out by now. As to the R7800 there is a warning not to run anything prior prior to 1.0.2.58 due to a cross site scripting security vulnerability. In fact there is a whole list of vulnerabilities at the moment listed on the R7800 download page for stock firmware for many of its routers including the new RAX120 https://www.netgear.com/support/product/R7800.aspx#download

 

[pege63]

If the XR500 has the same HW used as the R7800, would the XR500-V2.3.2.40-C424a.img FW work on the R7800?

Like with the Netgear R7960P coverted to R8000P.

 

[Murtaza12]

If the XR500 has the same HW used as the R7800, would the XR500-V2.3.2.40-C424a.img FW work on the R7800?

Like with the Netgear R7960P coverted to R8000P.

Probably not. FW sizes are different, and XR500 has larger flash memory.

R7960P and R8000P are identical on the inside, but just sold under different names.

 

[Murtaza12]

NG released a "patch" release for the XR500 with dropout problems.
https://forum.netduma.com/topic/28523-new-xr500-hotfix-firmware-for-drop-outs/?do=getNewComment
(The XR500 has the same HW used as the R7800, and share wifi drivers a.o.).

One big problem with NG is the lack of informative release notes, so people are speculating and guessing what fixes are made.
So, I checked it briefly and noticed they had made fixes for 11k, even if the Duma gang says it fixes WAN+LAN issues.

So if you don't need 11k, just switch it off at the debug page!

I use 11k since I have 2x R7800s, but I have it enabled so that phones switch from downstairs 2.4 GHz to upstairs AP 2.4GHz.

I dont' need 11k for 5 GHz, in case that's causing the issues, but I don't recall an option being there to turn it off for individual bands.

 

[kamoj]

The larger flash memory is NOT used in the XR500.

FW sizes is just a matter of partitioning.
(Voxel and LEDE/OpenWRT already uses bigger partitions for larger FW.)

So in theory it is possible, but NG has taken measures to make it difficult to cross-flash between XR500 and R7800.
I think many R7800 owners would be interested to get the XR500 FW with DumaOS , but it is not offered for sale by NG.

Also there is no Voxel support for the XR500, making e.g. it's vpn-client-performance as maybe half of in Voxels FW.

But back on topic: This thread is about the NG FW 1.0.2.62.

Probably not. FW sizes are different, and XR500 has larger flash memory.
R7960P and R8000P are identical on the inside, but just sold under different names.

 

[Killhippie]

The larger flash memory is NOT used in the XR500.

Thats not to say it wont be with new updates supposedly coming from Netduma in milestone 1.4, saying that I will believe it when I see it. I fear the R7800 is approaching EOL tbh the lack of streamboost updates is not great and both routers are way behind in updates, unless Netgear has something magical up its sleeve It would not surprise me if maybe other routers like the XR450/500/700 go that way too, as the rush to implement AX with DumaOS and AX in general is pushed harder by Netgear. Keep up the great work kamoj

 

[e38BimmerFN]

It would be something to try to see if Voxels FW does the same time. Again, this only seem to effect some routers while others are not effected.

Something to ask Netgear Guy about and bring it to his attention if he's not already aware of it

The R7800 is getting to be long in the pants and older now. Not sure what the future holds for the R7800. I presume NG maybe focusing more on RAX and making improvments there.

While I do greatly appreciate Voxels work and contributions, and despite having used his firmwares in the past, this isn't something he can fix.

Since his latest FW releases are all based on 1.0.2.62, any wireless radio issues in that will also be part of his firmwares.

Unfortunately the fact that the issue only affects some, and not all users brings me to think that NG simply doesn't care and we won't see a new FW version for a while.

I'm sticking to OpenWRT now, but I'll be leaving for college in September, and I would ideally like my parents to have a carefree setup on both R7800s, which I can only achieve with stock FW since they're super stable. They're nowhere near capable enough to diagnose and fix issues with custom FWs if they were to arise.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Just FYI, there are RAM size differences between the R7800 and XR500.

The larger flash memory is NOT used in the XR500.

 

[kamoj]

I didn't know that.

What is the difference and where did you get this information?
A URL would be nice. I'm always eager to learn!

(Not that it matters now, the 256 MB RAM is more than enough.)

Just FYI, there are RAM size differences between the R7800 and XR500.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Listed in the product data sheet for each router:
http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/datasheet/en/R7800.pdf
https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/networking/wifirouter/XR500.pdf

So 128Mb would not be enough.

I didn't know that.

What is the difference and where did you get this information?
A URL would be nice. I'm always eager to learn!

(Not that it matters now, the 256 MB RAM is more than enough.)

 

[kamoj]

I don't follow you.
Both these data sheets show 512MB RAM.

And my R7800 certainly have 512MB RAM.
(My addon: 28.2 % 133 / 472 MB).

But for Flash size NG is not telling the truth at all in the debug page.
It's hardcoded. This is their underlaying code:
flash_usage()
{
echo "32MB/128MB" > $FLASH_INFO
}

My addon gives the more correct:
85.9 % 110 / 128 MB File system: squashfs. Block:mtdblock6 ("rootfs" 31.326MB). 10.008MB/49.836MB

Thank you for your support!

Listed in the product data sheet for each router:
http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/datasheet/en/R7800.pdf
https://www.netgear.com/images/datasheet/networking/wifirouter/XR500.pdf

So 128Mb would not be enough.

 

[avtella]

The R7800 and XR500 are identical but differ in Flash size not RAM, both have 512 MB RAM. The XR500 has 2x (256 MB) more Flash storage.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

@kamoj The FLASH size that differs between the two. This is were working FW, configurations and add-ons go. So the R7800 is limited to this size vs the XR500.

 

[Killhippie]

@kamoj The FLASH size that differs between the two. This is were working FW, configurations and add-ons go. So the R7800 is limited to this size vs the XR500.

It would be nice to utilise any of the routers flash or ram and have a update that fixes the port mapping bug between Netgears firmware 4-3-2-1-WAN and DumaOS in table view seeing it as 1-2-3-4-WAN (this is not the same as the printing error that happened on the first units)

So if you have one Ethernet cable plugged into Ethernet port 1 on the latest revisions where Ethernet port is next to the WAN port and look in Netgears settings you can see Ethernet port 1 is in use, however in DumaOS in new table view for devices it says Port 4. So its possible the QoS gets confused, especially when people keep rebooting the router which seems the most popular past time on the Netduma forum Not that either party have fixed any of this, even though its a known issue. The last update for the XR500 not including the Hotfix for 11k thats not even on Netgears download page, was December the 17th 2018!

 

[kamoj]

I have looked at parts of the NG open source software for the XR500, and it is really old.
Much older than for the R7800 and R9000.
Many bugs corrected in R7800 and R9000 are yet not fixed in the XR500.
Seems like NG don't care about the XR500 at all.
I feel really sorry for the Duma people, they must have a bad time.

Sometimes I feel I should help with the XR500, but I don't have the time.
It's even easy to compare sources for the different routers and see what fixes are done where.
There is absolutely no correlation between the development of the the different routers.
NG's model of development is horribly bad.
Also it must be expensive for them to not have a master staging/branch for their development.

E.g. some XR500 people want option60 + option61 for iptv.
The soultion is super simple, but Duma refers to NG that refuses to add both options.
I think Duma should fix it themselves instead of blaming NG.

 

[rk8531]

I have looked at parts of the NG open source software for the XR500, and it is really old.
Much older than for the R7800 and R9000.
Many bugs corrected in R7800 and R9000 are yet not fixed in the XR500.
Seems like NG don't care about the XR500 at all.
I feel really sorry for the Duma people, they must have a bad time.

Sometimes I feel I should help with the XR500, but I don't have the time.
It's even easy to compare sources for the different routers and see what fixes are done where.
There is absolutely no correlation between the development of the the different routers.
NG's model of development is horribly bad.
Also it must be expensive for them to not have a master staging/branch for their development.

E.g. some XR500 people want option60 + option61 for iptv.
The soultion is super simple, but Duma refers to NG that refuses to add both options.
I think Duma should fix it themselves instead of blaming NG.

Netgear's Dev are the slopiest of all and the webui that they use in their router pretty much confirms this.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Remember, Duma is only developing there code for use on the XR routers, so this is only the Duma side of the OS/FW. Duma does not do any development outside of there domain. All other areas outside of the Duma OS is handled by NG. So thinking about it you have the gaming aspect of the OS working with or aside with NG FW which may or may not be developed well.

Yes, the XR routers are having continued bad experiences seems like. You can see some of the issues over on the NG forum. Some of these are just misconfigurations, however there are some that are not. I guess I'm luck to have bought a good unit. I like it and it's working well as a router.

Ya it's a shame that NG isn't a bit more proactive on using more up to date code and packages. Seems like either the devs are not well experienced enough in some of what there doing or the way of developing and there thinking isn't more broad and outside of the box. Seems to be stuck in side the box and no ability to think outside the box. I see this with other 3rd party country developers and such. Seem to be stuck on a one track mind.

I have looked at parts of the NG open source software for the XR500, and it is really old.
Much older than for the R7800 and R9000.
Many bugs corrected in R7800 and R9000 are yet not fixed in the XR500.
Seems like NG don't care about the XR500 at all.
I feel really sorry for the Duma people, they must have a bad time.

Sometimes I feel I should help with the XR500, but I don't have the time.
It's even easy to compare sources for the different routers and see what fixes are done where.
There is absolutely no correlation between the development of the the different routers.
NG's model of development is horribly bad.
Also it must be expensive for them to not have a master staging/branch for their development.

E.g. some XR500 people want option60 + option61 for iptv.
The soultion is super simple, but Duma refers to NG that refuses to add both options.
I think Duma should fix it themselves instead of blaming NG.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Well there was a issue with the LAN ports being mis-labled. Not sure if the UI was effected as well. Possible that NG missed this as well.

Something you should bring up with NG or NetgearGuy and see if things could be fixed. Been a while now so who knows if it would fully get resolved or not.


Ya Ram and Flash RAM are specialized. I presume the RAM side of the router is just for only CPU and networking uses so there wouldn't be any access to that.

It would be nice to utilise any of the routers flash or ram and have a update that fixes the port mapping bug between Netgears firmware 4-3-2-1-WAN and DumaOS in table view seeing it as 1-2-3-4-WAN (this is not the same as the printing error that happened on the first units)

So if you have one Ethernet cable plugged into Ethernet port 1 on the latest revisions where Ethernet port is next to the WAN port and look in Netgears settings you can see Ethernet port 1 is in use, however in DumaOS in new table view for devices it says Port 4. So its possible the QoS gets confused, especially when people keep rebooting the router which seems the most popular past time on the Netduma forum Not that either party have fixed any of this, even though its a known issue. The last update for the XR500 not including the Hotfix for 11k thats not even on Netgears download page, was December the 17th 2018!