WRT1900AC V1 Problems

[Dilvish]

I finally received this router that I ordered from Best Buy. I had high hopes for it, based on its review here and the forum comments I've read. Unfortunately, I'm not impressed. Its performance stinks.

I've run several speed tests from speedtest.net and I get ~1.5 Mbps down and ~.5 Mbps up. This is from my pc connected via ethernet cable. If I directly connect my pc to the cable modem, I get between 70-95 Mbps down and 20+ up.

When I connected my Usb 3 disk, first it showed up, then disappeared. I had to unplug, replug and reboot multiple times to get it recognized again. When I played a test video to my Samsung TV via 5Ghz wireless, it stuttered, paused and jerked.

There has to be something wrong somewhere. I've changed multiple settings and rebooted many times to no avail.

The odd thing is that they initially sent me the wrong router, a WRT1200AC which worked much better than the 1900 I ordered.

Does anyone know of the settings I need to make this thing perform as expected?

 

[TheManFromUncle]

"As expected", as I have learned is a very tricky matter. What firmware version does the router have?

 

[chadster766]

Make sure you are running the latest firmware, reset to factory defaults and reconfigure from scratch(no saved config file).

Optimal settings:

1. Enable Media Prioritization with Downstream Bandwidth set to wired www.speedtest.net * 1024
2. Enable WMM Support (Default)
3. Wireless 5Ghz Protocol Mixed
4. Wireless 5Ghz Channel Width Auto
5. Wireless 2.4 Protocol "b\g\n Only"
6. Wireless 2.4Ghz Channel Width Auto
7. Both 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz Wireless Security "WPA2 Personal" not mixed

The trick is that MP needs to be correctly configured once and then enabled and disabled. After that you can decide if MP is needed. This initializes the QOS system properly.

 

[Dilvish]

"As expected", as I have learned is a very tricky matter. What firmware version does the router have?

The firmware is version 1.1.10.167514.

As far as expected, my service is for 105Mbps down, so I expect something higher than 1.5Mbps.

 

[sfx2000]

Wireless 2.4Ghz Channel Width Auto

@chadster766 -Agree with everything you mentioned with the exception of the 2.4GHz channel width - in auto (20/40 mode) one loses about 3 dB Tx power, compared to 20MHz only...

3dB is pretty huge, relatively speaking... it's an odd artifact of the Marvell driver...

 

[sfx2000]

The odd thing is that they initially sent me the wrong router, a WRT1200AC which worked much better than the 1900 I ordered.

Does anyone know of the settings I need to make this thing perform as expected?

Sounds like you might have gotten a bad unit maybe?

 

[Dilvish]

Make sure you are running the latest firmware, reset to factory defaults and reconfigure from scratch(no saved config file).

Optimal settings:

1. Enable Media Prioritization with Downstream Bandwidth set to wired www.speedtest.net * 1024
2. Enable WMM Support (Default)
3. Wireless 5Ghz Protocol Mixed
4. Wireless 5Ghz Channel Width Auto
5. Wireless 2.4 Protocol "b\g\n Only"
6. Wireless 2.4Ghz Channel Width Auto
7. Both 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz Wireless Security "WPA2 Personal" not mixed

The trick is that MP needs to be correctly configured once and then enabled and disabled. After that you can decide if MP is needed. This initializes the QOS system properly.

Thanks for your reply Chadster. I'll try your recommendations. However, I have a few questions below.

The firmware is version 1.1.10.167514. The "check" finds no newer firmware.

I had already done numbers 3, 4, 5, and 7 from the above list.

Re #6: I had set it to 20 per a recommendation from someone in a different thread. I'll change it back to Auto. Anyone know why the differing recommendations?

Concerning #1. I don't understand your recommendation. Are you saying if speedtest.net reports my download speed as 20Mbps to multiply 20 or 20,000,000 by 1024?

Since my service is for 105Mbps down, shouldn't the value for #1 be 105*1024?

 

[Dilvish]

Sounds like you might have gotten a bad unit maybe?

I'm wondering that also.

One oddity is that the front indicator lights for wired LAN connections are noticeably dimmer than all the other front indicator lights. On the WRT1200AC that Best Buy mistakenly shipped me first, all the indicator lights were the same brightness. Are these light dimmer for other WRT1900AC owners?

Perhaps that's an indication of a bad unit?

 

[FattysGoneWild]

Thanks for your reply Chadster. I'll try your recommendations. However, I have a few questions below.

The firmware is version 1.1.10.167514. The "check" finds no newer firmware.

I had already done numbers 3, 4, 5, and 7 from the above list.

Re #6: I had set it to 20 per a recommendation from someone in a different thread. I'll change it back to Auto. Anyone know why the differing recommendations?

Concerning #1. I don't understand your recommendation. Are you saying if speedtest.net reports my download speed as 20Mbps to multiply 20 or 20,000,000 by 1024?

Since my service is for 105Mbps down, shouldn't the value for #1 be 105*1024?

That fast of a connection. You don't need no MP/QOS setup. Complete waste. I think you might have got a bad unit it. Reading from the post after this one.

 

[kamaaina]

The firmware is version 1.1.10.167514. The "check" finds no newer firmware.

Don't rely on that, check the linksys website. I would do a factory reset first within your firmware, then manually download/upload the latest firmware from the website, flash, and do factory reset again. Then configure. If that does not work, it might be the unit.

 

[htismaqe]

I'm wondering that also.

One oddity is that the front indicator lights for wired LAN connections are noticeably dimmer than all the other front indicator lights. On the WRT1200AC that Best Buy mistakenly shipped me first, all the indicator lights were the same brightness. Are these light dimmer for other WRT1900AC owners?

Perhaps that's an indication of a bad unit?

The wireless LEDs flash to indicate usage. If you have enough traffic going through them, they will "flash" so fast that it appears they are on solid but just dim.

I would do as @kamaaina suggested. Reset to factory defaults, manually load the latest firmware (even if it's the same version as you already have), and then do another factory reset.

Configure from there and see if you have any issues.

 

[chadster766]

@chadster766 -Agree with everything you mentioned with the exception of the 2.4GHz channel width - in auto (20/40 mode) one loses about 3 dB Tx power, compared to 20MHz only...

3dB is pretty huge, relatively speaking... it's an odd artifact of the Marvell driver...

Ok thanks for the advise

 

[chadster766]

Thanks for your reply Chadster. I'll try your recommendations. However, I have a few questions below.

The firmware is version 1.1.10.167514. The "check" finds no newer firmware.

Since my service is for 105Mbps down, shouldn't the value for #1 be 105*1024?

You should still do the manual firmware upload and reset to factory defaults as the other users recommend.

You should use your ISP service value 105 * 1024 = 107520kbps

At those speeds I recommend disabling MP after enabling it because IMO it won't be very effective.

 

[sfx2000]

One oddity is that the front indicator lights for wired LAN connections are noticeably dimmer than all the other front indicator lights. On the WRT1200AC that Best Buy mistakenly shipped me first, all the indicator lights were the same brightness. Are these light dimmer for other WRT1900AC owners?

They should all be similar levels of brightness - I think you have a bad unit...

 

[htismaqe]

They should all be similar levels of brightness - I think you have a bad unit...

If they're flashing fast enough, they will appear to be on solid but dim.

 

[e38BimmerFN]

Definitely suggested the factory reset and manual load of FW and factory reset and set the router up from scratch. Don't use a prior saved config file. And set BGN mode and not mixed on 2.4Ghz. There was mention of a bug on Mixed Mode and AC mode interfering on 2.4Ghz. Set manual channel 1 6 or 11 depending on your nieghbors usage. Follow the suggestions everyone has mentioned and you'll get good up time and less problems. Also recommend disabling IPv6 if your ISP doesn't support it natively and WPS on the router. Saw over two months of up time using the most currently FW version on my v1.

 

[sfx2000]

If they're flashing fast enough, they will appear to be on solid but dim.

It's the LAN ethernet LED's that he said were dim, and if connected but idle (link, no traffic), they are full brightness, so if they're dim, he's got a bad DC rail on the device - hence the suggestion that it's a bad unit...

 

[htismaqe]

For some reason I got wireless out of that. Duh.

 

[B T C]

I hope this is not a bad spot for a first post. It seems relevant as I also just got this router from Best Buy. I don't mean to hi-jack.

My wireless router (EA6700) recently died, which, in addition to Best Buy's price, prompted me to buy this unit. It was delivered yesterday and, based upon what I can tell, it is Version 1 with the fan etc. Is there any reason to be bummed out that it's not Version 2, which may actually be identical to the 1900ACS? My needs are pretty basic.

It's been less than one day, but I haven't had any issues yet. I went through the initial set up, which included a firmware upgrade to 1.1.10.167514, and I'm getting ~ 30 mbps down and 5-6 mbps up, which seem to be the limits of the plan I have through Comcast. My desktop gets the same speeds via both wireless and ethernet connection.

The one thing I have noticed in comparison to the EA6700, other than the fact the WRT1900 looks much cooler and will probably improve my love life, is that the range is dramatically improved and speeds don't seem to drop off, at least not very much, at the distances I've tested, which hasn't been very far as my house is not huge. Even at distances of around 15-20 feet, I seem to be getting the same speeds I get when I'm right next to the router. Does that sound normal, correct, possible or could there perhaps be something wrong with the measurements, which were done via Speedtest.net ?

 

[htismaqe]

My wireless router (EA6700) recently died, which, in addition to Best Buy's price, prompted me to buy this unit. It was delivered yesterday and, based upon what I can tell, it is Version 1 with the fan etc. Is there any reason to be bummed out that it's not Version 2, which may actually be identical to the 1900ACS? My needs are pretty basic.

IMHO, no. No reason to be bummed at all.

The fan gives you extra protection against overheating (although it almost never runs).

I run DD-WRT on mine but ran stock firmware for almost a year. Other than some issues specific to my setup, I've had few issues. It's pretty stable. I don't use USB/eSATA but I do have between 2 and 3 dozen active devices at any given time. I never see the memory or CPU spike at all so my personal opinion is the upgraded CPU and memory are probably overkill anyway.

I like my V1 and have no intention of trying to get a V2 or ACS.

The one thing I have noticed in comparison to the EA6700, other than the fact the WRT1900 looks much cooler and will probably improve my love life, is that the range is dramatically improved and speeds don't seem to drop off, at least not very much, at the distances I've tested, which hasn't been very far as my house is not huge. Even at distances of around 15-20 feet, I seem to be getting the same speeds I get when I'm right next to the router. Does that sound normal, correct, possible or could there perhaps be something wrong with the measurements, which were done via Speedtest.net ?

I tested the WRT1900Ac against several other AC1900 routers in my environment and I was more than pleased with the total coverage. It's definitely a top performer. Having 4 antennas gives it a little bit more oomph.