WRT1900AC V1 Problems

[Dilvish]

Hey Everyone,

Sorry that it's been a few days since I've posted. Unfortunately, I've been tied up with other things. I hope to be able to get back to debugging this tomorrow.

Thanks for the above suggestions. I'll try them and reply with my results.

 

[B T C]

Maybe it's my imagination, but the wired Ethernet LED's on my unit don't seem as bright as the power on, internet and wireless indicators. I haven't checked all four indicators. The Ethernet LED's actually seem smaller to me, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Are you using the Ethernet cable that came with the router? Mine was flat, and I read somewhere that means it's not a twisted pair cable. Whether or not that's true, or whether it could have something to with your issue, I have no idea. Have you confirmed that your cables are all good?

 

[sfx2000]

Are you using the Ethernet cable that came with the router? Mine was flat, and I read somewhere that means it's not a twisted pair cable. Whether or not that's true, or whether it could have something to with your issue, I have no idea. Have you confirmed that your cables are all good?

It's a CAT6 flat... ok for short runs I suppose - I tossed it in the laptop bag to use with my travel kit...

 

[htismaqe]

I use flat cables for short runs in a couple of places. Not having twisted pairs really isn't an issue but the lack of shielding can be. I try to keep all of my network cables away from AC and DC power cables.

 

[B T C]

I'm still having good luck with the router after 3-4 days.

I've hooked up some external storage and it seems much more stable than on my previous EA6700. That router would frequently lose access to the external drive and I would have to power off the drive etc. It became such a pain that I just unplugged the drive from the router and plugged it directly into my workstation thus losing network access. That hasn't happened yet with the WRT router, but I've only had external storage connected for a couple of days.

I'm now convinced that the Ethernet LEDs on my router, or at least the one for the port I'm currently using, are clearly not as bright in comparison to the other LEDs. They actually appear to be a smaller LED/combination of LEDs. So hopefully this doesn't necessarily point to a bad unit for the OP.

I've also noticed the electrical flux smell mentioned in some other threads. Does this smell ever go away?

 

[sfx2000]

I use flat cables for short runs in a couple of places. Not having twisted pairs really isn't an issue but the lack of shielding can be. I try to keep all of my network cables away from AC and DC power cables.

I wouldn't go beyond 6ft (2m), but some folks might disagree with me on that...

 

[sfx2000]

I've also noticed the electrical flux smell mentioned in some other threads. Does this smell ever go away?

I love the smell of flux in the morning. You know, one time we had an upgrade, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked thru. The smell, you know, that flux smell, the whole damn data center.

Smelled like [sniffing, pondering] victory.

Son, someday this job's gonna end...

 

[htismaqe]

I wouldn't go beyond 6ft (2m), but some folks might disagree with me on that...

Yeah, I don't have any flats longer than 1m but I know Steve and some others around here have used them for longer runs without issues.

 

[Dilvish]

I reset the router and uploaded the latest firmware (again). Upon testing, I was getting ~1Mbps both up and down. Then I applied the settings suggested in this thread, the best I could get was ~30Mbps down and 3.5Mbps up. I tried the above multiple times.

Then I connected my PC to the cable modem directly and got over 95Mbps down and ~25Mbps up.

I've chalked this up as either bad router hardware and/or software and returned the unit today. Thanks to everyone who made suggestions!

Unfortunately, this leaves me without a working router since my Asus AC66R died after a little over 2.5 years. I would like to try the Synology router, but I haven't been able to find a release date for the USA other than early 2016. Has anyone heard anything about it?

Thanks again.

 

[TheManFromUncle]

The Synology router seems to be the most illusive router at the moment.

 

[marksanctuary]

The more I read about the WRT1900AC the more I am thinking its has/had great potential, but it may not really ever get there. The Marvell wireless chip is really holding back the router.

I have been watching the wireless driver wmlwifi developers discuss the issues, and watching the dd-wrt development, both are moving slowly. But I am concerned that by the time dd-wrt/wmlwifi developers get it all working, most people will have already moved on to a new router. The official dd-wrt firmware for the device or Kong's releases of dd-wrt are the most tempting options to use, but even as much as I don't want to, I am still on the Linksys stock firmware until I see the wireless driver reaches a better point.

 

[htismaqe]

What features do you need right now that DD-WRT doesn't provide? I know there are some issues with bridging, particularly WDS.

To me, even slow progress with open source is better than stock - releasing two firmware updates a year just isn't acceptable, especially considering how Spartan the firmware is. Add to it that pretty much the only diagnostic tool in stock firmware (Network Map) is still broken and all but useless, there's no reason to stay on stock IMO.

I've been up for over 60 days now on DD-WRT without even the slightest hiccup. AirPrint actually works 100% of the time now, as opposed to stock, and the Guest Network is not only secure but predictably stable, unlike on stock.

 

[marksanctuary]

Most my devices are 100/1000 wired going through netgear switches at each room. Wireless is connecting our OSX/iOS Apple devices, occasionally one or two MS Windows machines gets connected, and I have one remote Roku device on wireless.

Features I want to use is wired and wireless connectivity some DHCP and some set IP. I don't setup VPN on the router. I don't currently use the USB on the router. I don't bridge to another router, the house is only a single story which is working good with a single router. I don't use guest access, I just login friends as-needed to the normal wireless network.

What I do want is to have the latest security, data usage feedback on all my network traffic, and the router needs to be stable. I can't afford fiddling with the router all the time...too many family and work needs. If I can find a good dd-wrt release I will jump in. Kong's current release is after the wireless .16 driver release. The Kong version your using is before that release and not currently available for download.

Also I have some concerns that the Apple devices could suffer the wireless issues the forum is currently discussing. And the current issues that are being reported for each beta release. What do you think, does my usage model get around most of the outstanding issues?

 

[htismaqe]

As far as I know, Kong's latest release (Jan 10) is just as stable as the one I'm using. Personally, I think the ping latency thing is more of a curiosity than an actual issue. Actual throughput/performance for me is the same on DD-WRT as on stock.

Your use case is very similar to mine other than the fact I use the Guest Network. I have like 9 Apple devices in my house and they all work great, even with AirPrint (which was occasionally very wonky with stock firmware).

 

[B T C]

What are the advantages of the open source firmware? Would the average every day user benefit from running DD-WRT? Are there any disadvantages and/or risks?

 

[htismaqe]

The advantage to me is that basic things like guest networking and Bonjour/AirPrint support work under DD-WRT where there were intermittent issues on stock firmware.

Guest Networking on stock was especially problematic - lack of configuration features, unreliable logoff timers, and an implementation that left the router quite vulnerable to attack.

I'm not the average everyday user in terms of my knowledge or skill set (I'm a former network engineer) but my use case is very average - I use the router for wireless and wired connectivity with a guest network. I don't use USB, I don't use port forwarding, I don't run QoS. I use DD-WRT for the same basic feature set that I used on stock and I find DD-WRT to be far superior, especially in the amount of diagnostic capability it provides versus stock (aka none).

There certainly are risks. Some features are problematic, like client bridging and USB support. And there's always a chance you could brick your router installing 3rd party (although the WRT1900AC has a neat failsafe mechanism that makes it a lot less risky IMO).

 

[marksanctuary]

Ok thank you for the help htismaqe! I am on the edge and I think I will go ahead and give it a try when my family is not using the web.

 

[htismaqe]

Ok thank you for the help htismaqe! I am on the edge and I think I will go ahead and give it a try when my family is not using the web.

If your setup is like mine, minus the Guest Network, it won't take you more than 15 minutes or so to setup. It's really simple.

 

[B T C]

Any good reference links for installing DD-WRT or other open source firmware? I apologize in advance for being lazy.

 

[marksanctuary]

Any good reference links for installing DD-WRT or other open source firmware? I apologize in advance for being lazy.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=995338#995338