Xbox360 wireless connection problem

[RMerlin]

So to sum up the current firmware options (only listing non-beta, currently downloadable):

Merlin 270: 5GHz works, Xbox doesn't
Stock 272: 5GHz works, Xbox doesn't
Stock 370: 5GHz doesn't work, Xbox works
Merlin 372: 5GHz works, Xbox doesn't (?)

I haven't tested all of these myself, so please correct me if I'm mistaken. As far as I can tell, Merlin 372 does have the Optimized for Xbox setting, but it does not actually fix the Xbox problems (probably because the older wireless driver does not support it?)

Thanks for confirming. I wasn't sure if the option they change in the driver was available in the old driver or not.

Since there are more general 5 GHz users than XBox 360 users, I will stick with this older driver for now, until the time Asus and Broadcom can come up with a fixed driver (it's coming, they just don't have any ETA about this at this time). XBox users who badly needs the option can still run 354.29.

 

[TheGlenn88]

Merlin do you have any idea what command is run when you tick "Optimized for Xbox" ?

Regards
Mike

 

[RMerlin]

Merlin do you have any idea what command is run when you tick "Optimized for Xbox" ?

Regards
Mike

wl -i eth1 ldpc_cap 0
wl -i eth2 ldpc_cap 0

EDIT: there's a chance that wireless might need to be restarted after setting these. There's no simple way to restart wireless on the stock FW, short of disabling and reenabling the two radios.

 

[TheGlenn88]

No thats superb information thanks!

I wanted the commands for use with shibby's build, he has a testing version with the newer wireless driver but the xbox still has the same issues. I'm hoping to be able to run the commands in a script to fix it. the same as checking the "optimized for xbox" button which it doesn't have.

Thanks for your help i will test and confirm if it works.

Regards
Mike

 

[TheGlenn88]

I can confirm that in the latest stable version of tomato shibby v112 the commands work to fix the xbox streaming issue.

In telnet:
wl -i eth1 ldpc_cap 0
wl -i eth2 ldpc_cap 0
wl down & wl up

(this worked for me if you know a better solution to restart the wireless please post.)

I will be putting this into a startup script in tomato shibby to make it semi permanent until shibby possibly integrates the fix into his build.

The startup script will be:
wl -i eth1 ldpc_cap 0
wl -i eth2 ldpc_cap 0
wl down
wl up

Regards
Mike

 

[Concision]

I've read through most of this thread (just registered for this) and I'm still not sure what my situation is.

I bought an RT-N66U earlier this month because of glowing reviews pretty much everywhere. I've been very pleased with its performance, except I did think it was weird that the Netflix app on my Xbox didn't stream HD. Buying the router also coincided with me moving and changing ISPs, so I figured maybe they were throttling the Xbox or something weird.

After some research I found out about this known issue and I don't really know what I should do at this point. Here's what makes it interesting:

1. My Xbox doesn't get above two or three hundred KB/s even when connected by ethernet to the router. I've tried different ports on the router.

2. I've tried updating to firmware 3.0.0.4.374_257, which I think is the most recent. I enabled "Optimize for Xbox" on the 2.4 Ghz band, rebooted the router and the Xbox. The problem is not fixed. The 2.4 and 5 bands have different SSIDs.

3. It's not a problem with my ISP. If I plug the 360 directly into the modem, HD streaming works perfectly fine.

Is there any firmware out there that will help me? Alternatively, what do I do? Can I claim a warranty defect here? Many people have this problem, but many of them online have found a fix. None of those have worked for me!

 

[NeutralGold]

I think there is a version of merlins firmware that has the fix checkbox but still using the older driver. So the fix isn't actually in the firmware. I can't tell you which version to get with the fix, but I think that may be what the problem is for you. Hopefully some one else can chime in and give you the correct info.

I haven't updated in a good while and I no longer have access to the xbox slim so I can't be any more help. Sorry and goodluck.

 

[jphughan]

I've read through most of this thread (just registered for this) and I'm still not sure what my situation is.

I bought an RT-N66U earlier this month because of glowing reviews pretty much everywhere. I've been very pleased with its performance, except I did think it was weird that the Netflix app on my Xbox didn't stream HD. Buying the router also coincided with me moving and changing ISPs, so I figured maybe they were throttling the Xbox or something weird.

After some research I found out about this known issue and I don't really know what I should do at this point. Here's what makes it interesting:

1. My Xbox doesn't get above two or three hundred KB/s even when connected by ethernet to the router. I've tried different ports on the router.

2. I've tried updating to firmware 3.0.0.4.374_257, which I think is the most recent. I enabled "Optimize for Xbox" on the 2.4 Ghz band, rebooted the router and the Xbox. The problem is not fixed. The 2.4 and 5 bands have different SSIDs.

3. It's not a problem with my ISP. If I plug the 360 directly into the modem, HD streaming works perfectly fine.

Is there any firmware out there that will help me? Alternatively, what do I do? Can I claim a warranty defect here? Many people have this problem, but many of them online have found a fix. None of those have worked for me!

Well the Xbox issue applies only to wireless. If you're seeing poor streaming performance even on wired, something else is amiss. Have you tried another Xbox, maybe borrow a friend's? Otherwise did you reset the router to factory defaults after the firmware upgrade just to be safe? Can you stream reliably to/from other devices? This is the first I've heard of poor wired streaming performance through the router....

 

[Concision]

Yeah, I agree it's weird. I've used the Xbox with a wired connection with different routers, and I can use the wired connection on this router with my computer just fine.

The wired connection and wireless both seem to show the same performance problem, which is quite odd.

However, I think I might have fixed it today. I changed the SSID to something completely new, and I think now it works (maybe). I think that even though i restarted the Xbox several times, it was maintaining some connection state that was causing the slowdown, and changing the SSID forced it to treat it as a brand new connection.

We'll see if it holds out.

I haven't tested the wired connection again, and honestly i'm kind of scared to mess with anything haha.

 

[RMerlin]

Never dismiss the possibility of a bad Ethernet cable. A lot of folks have fixed performance issues on wired by replacing a cable. Not all Ethernet cables are created equal (you need Cat5e or Cat6 rating for the Gigabit ports used by this router), also the connection can start to wear out at the connector level due to wear and tear.

 

[mozbius]

Has a new driver/firmware been finally released which adresses the Xbox streaming issue while keeping all the other benefits/features for that router?

 

[jphughan]

Has a new driver/firmware been finally released which adresses the Xbox streaming issue while keeping all the other benefits/features for that router?

Yes, a while ago. And there have been a few firmware revisions since then that have fixed other stuff, like finicky 5 GHz that was introduced when the underlying Broadcom Wifi driver was updated.

 

[redpants]

^ please state the name of the fw version

 

[mozbius]

^ please state the name of the fw version

I went to Asus website through a Google search...

http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?slanguage=en&m=RT-N66U+(VER.B1)&os=8

 

[jphughan]

^ please state the name of the fw version

Really? Because going to the ASUS Support site and looking for the firmware files and release notes yourself was too difficult? Ok, the 5 GHz issue was fixed in 3.0.0.4.374.720, and the latest firmware is 3.0.0.4.374.979.

 

[redpants]

I thought we were on this forum to help each other and not to act like d*cks.

 

[jphughan]

I thought we were on this forum to help each other and not to act like d*cks.

Fair enough, that did come off as a bit harsh. It just struck me as hugely lazy and perhaps sarcastic given the at the end, so I responded in kind. If someone was genuinely having trouble finding firmware on the ASUS site, my apologies.

 

[mozbius]

I thought we were on this forum to help each other and not to act like d*cks.

True but then again if I was able to do my due diligence of searching on Google you could too you know.. It's kind of an Internet forum etiquette to at least try to serch a little bit before asking. Just saying.