Overclocking underclocks BogoMIPS? Pls HELP!

[stevieosaurus]

Tried to overclock my router, instead brought down my BogoMIPS to 10% of original values. And yes, it can be felt in the router UI, everything is much slower, CPU cores run constantly at +80% (before they rarely jumped over 10% in average browsing use)

Stock frequencies: 1000, 666
ARMv7 processor rev 0 (v71)
Model: AC68U running Merlin v.384.18
BogoMIPS: ~1990 (can't recall exactly)

Ran the following code:

nvram set asuscfeclkfreq=1200,800 && nvram set asuscfecommit=1
nvram set clkfreq=1200,800 && nvram commit && reboot

Success?! nvram get clkfreq returns 1200,800 even after several reboots (hard & soft)
Router web UI interface (in Tools, Sysinfo) also shows a CPU frequency of 1200, however...
When running cat /proc/cpuinfo in the ssh the BogoMips have fallen to 199.06 / 199.47

Now everything is slower. I have searched the forum but couldn't find anything similar happening to anyone. Please help.

 

[john9527]

When running cat /proc/cpuinfo in the ssh the BogoMips have fallen to 199.06 / 199.47

Now everything is slower. I have searched the forum but couldn't find anything similar happening to anyone. Please help.

Need to search a bit harder
This is expected....ASUS bootloader/firmware now prevents any overclocking and cripples the router if you try.

 

[stevieosaurus]

So what are my options? Just revert to default frequencies?

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

You replaced the CFE, right? Maybe you or someone else installed the 68P CFE (1.0.2.5) thinking it would improve performance? Go back to the stock 1.0.2.0. Then erase NVRAM.
And you absolutely can OC the 68U. My BogoMIPS : 2398.61

 

[stevieosaurus]

No, I did not replace the CFE prior to overclocking. I just applied the code above, committing frequency changes to the CFE with asuscfecommit, as per the code mentioned above.
Any hint, link, instruction on how to replace the CFE?

nvram get bl_version returns 1.3.0.7
(this is stock/default, I haven't changed it since it bought it)

 

[Hawk]

No, I did not replace the CFE prior to overclocking. I just applied the code above, committing frequency changes to the CFE with asuscfecommit, as per the code mentioned above.
Any hint, link, instruction on how to replace the CFE?

nvram get bl_version returns 1.3.0.7
(this is stock/default, I haven't changed it since it bought it)

How did you buy this? If it was retail then maybe different cfe in use. If through another person then possible to have totally different cfe then asus intended for it.

 

[stevieosaurus]

It's just the stock CFE flashed with the latest Merlin firmware. Bought it a month ago.

 

[john9527]

AFAIK it's the combination of CFE(bootloader) and firmware....it's also possible that ASUS has gotten around to updating the 68U CFE.
Working with others who hit the same problem, you should reverse the nvram changes you made then do a factory reset (it has seemed that a factory reset is necessary to get things back to normal)

 

[john9527]

or in order to just get back to stock frequencies AND not have the BogoMIPS cut down to 10%

This (factory reset after you undo the nvram changes)

 

[stevieosaurus]

No, resetting default frequency values worked without factory reset. Got my original BogoMIPS back (=1998), no harm done. Back to 1000,666
Meanwhile, the router accepted all combinations of frequencies up to 1400,800

If anybody knows or finds out how to make these frequencies stick without the BogoMIPS getting cut to 10%, I would very much appreciate it and try flashing again - with CFE 1.3.0.7 replacement or preferably without?

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

Was this a brand new 68U, or used? If new, Asus might now be shipping them with a locked CFE. Unlocking is probably a black-art. The old ones were easily hacked/modded. But discussion of that gets too close to the thread being locked. I've been warned too many times.

 

[stevieosaurus]

Brand new. Bought it about a month ago. 68U, not 68P. Can't find the bloody sticker, though. Cut it out and threw it away. Firmware/CFE locking should be illegal for manufacturers.

https://www.snbforums.com/attachments/router-back-jpg.25062

 

[Ronald Schwerer]

I'm sure there multiple threads discussing why manufacturers have locked them to prevent changing the country code (initially in CFE and copied to NVRAM). This prevents the use of illegal channels and power levels by setting it to regions where it isn't controlled.

 

[K-2SO]

What are you trying to achieve @stevieosaurus by overclocking the CPU/RAM on this router? What is not working on default clock settings?

 

[faux123]

I used to overclock my old 68U for faster OVPN speeds but since I got my 86U, I used my old 68Us as AiMesh nodes and kept them stock.

 

[stevieosaurus]

What are you trying to achieve @stevieosaurus by overclocking the CPU/RAM on this router? What is not working on default clock settings?

It was. I want MORE SPEEED!!!

 

[Wallace_n_Gromit]

@stevieosaurus :
If you're interested in overclocking the router @ironclad wrote a post about it here:

[Release] Asuswrt-Merlin 384.13 is now available

No it simply means that the PC in question has SMBv1 enabled. They probably just opened Windows Explorer and browsed the network. OK, but Windows Explorer open for 6-8 hours? Does not compute. I understand Windows can be aggressive with network traffic (I have a story about Windows 2000...) but...

www.snbforums.com

NOTE: RT-AC68U possible clocks: CPU 800/1000/1200/1400 RAM 533/666/775/800 ... I used to max my overclock to 1400/800 when I used to run OVPN on my router as a client to NordVPN. One Router supported it (booted fine), the other did not (would not boot). using @ironclad's method allowed for a quick recovery if the router failed due to the overclocking. Now I just moderately overclock at 1200/800 since I now use the windows/android/linux NordVPN apps on each computer/phone. The 68U is a bit underpowered (without AES-NI hardware) to really optimize the throughput.

I did modify Ironclad's directions a bit creating/editing the "services-stop" and init-start" files so I can merely add/remove the comment "#" as I want to play with various speed options:
=============================
nano /jffs/scripts/services-stop
---------
#!/bin/sh
#nvram set clkfreq=800,666
#nvram set clkfreq=1000,800
nvram set clkfreq=1200,800
#nvram set clkfreq=1400,800
nvram commit
=============================
nano /jffs/scripts/init-start
---------
#!/bin/sh
#nvram set clkfreq=800,666 # These settings merely allow the GUI
#nvram set clkfreq=1000,800 # on your router to show that
nvram set clkfreq=1200,800 # current clkfreq without actually
#nvram set clkfreq=1400,800 # changing anything--its optional
=============================

BTW my Bootloader (CFE) is version 1.0.2.0 That could be an issue with the version of bootloader you have as prior postings in this forum have mentioned that new 68U's have more recent/locked bootloaders.

 

[Wallace_n_Gromit]

When running cat /proc/cpuinfo in the ssh the BogoMips have fallen to 199.06 / 199.47

Try [cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep BogoMIPS] get a shorter more direct answer to your query.

 

[stevieosaurus]

Thank you for trying @Wallace_n_Gromit , unfortunately the result is exactly the same as before:
frequencies get updated correctly to 1400,800, but the BogoMIPS get cut down below 200, and performance drops accordingly.
As stated before, the issue is the CFE 1.3.0.7 bootloader, which should somehow either be edited, replaced or circumvented when different frequencies are registered in the nvram. Any other suggestion is appreciated.

 

[K-2SO]

I want MORE SPEEED!!!

You won't see any visual improvement in anything. Perhaps 10Mbps more in OVPN. Still not enough to utilize your >200Mbps ISP.