Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 1:59 Post subject: High pitch noise while 5ghz wifi is active
EDIT: Even on the latest build, the high pitch noise still is present when the 5ghz radio is up for a few hours. I ended up flashing OpenWRT and no more noise after 24h.
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TDLR: If you are using a WRT1900AC and the noise is bothering you, try another dd-wrt build. In my case switching from 31924 to 41328 made the router virtually silent from accross the room.
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I have a Linksys WRT1900ACv1 that I always used with dd-wrt. For a long time I stayed on Kong's build 31924, which was the most recommended firmware at the time and was indeed very stable.
The router was sitting in a basement but is now in the same room I work, and can easily hear a high pitch noise if the 5ghz radio is on. It actually alternates between a mid-pitch to a high-pitch noise every 5 seconds or so.
I was about to sell the router and get a new one and was surprised to see that by reverting to stock firmware, the noise disappeared!
I then tried Kong's 31924 again on factory settings. The issue came back after a little while so its obviously related to dd-wrt.
Since I need custom firmware for some features (QoS, PPTP, WDS), I would not accept reverting back to stock for good, so I tried the last dd-wrt build available (41328) and surprise, no more noise!
The new firmware looks stable for me (up 12h), let's hope its as stable as the legendary 31924.
Cheers!
Last edited by the_dog on Thu Oct 24, 2019 17:39; edited 2 times in total
Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:49 Post subject: Re: [FIXED] High pitch noise while 5ghz wifi is active
the_dog wrote:
TDLR: If you are using a WRT1900AC and the noise is bothering you, try another dd-wrt build. In my case switching from 31924 to 41328 made the router virtually silent from accross the room.
---
I have a Linksys WRT1900ACv1 that I always used with dd-wrt. For a long time I stayed on Kong's build 31924, which was the most recommended firmware at the time and was indeed very stable.
The router was sitting in a basement but is now in the same room I work, and can easily hear a high pitch noise if the 5ghz radio is on. It actually alternates between a mid-pitch to a high-pitch noise every 5 seconds or so.
I was about to sell the router and get a new one and was surprised to see that by reverting to stock firmware, the noise disappeared!
I then tried Kong's 31924 again on factory settings. The issue came back after a little while so its obviously related to dd-wrt.
Since I need custom firmware for some features (QoS, PPTP, WDS), I would not accept reverting back to stock for good, so I tried the last dd-wrt build available (41328) and surprise, no more noise!
The new firmware looks stable for me (up 12h), let's hope its as stable as the legendary 31924.
Cheers!
My modem makes little chirpy noises when I'm downloading. It makes me happy because I know I'm using my bandwidth.
Joined: 07 Nov 2008 Posts: 142 Location: Spring Hill, Fl
Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2019 3:13 Post subject:
you do know there's a fan in there that might be bad? _________________ modem: arris tm1602
router: r7800 voxel 1.0.2.77sf w/ kamoj 5.3b12 addon
ap: wrt1900ac v1 bs 43136,dir-825 b1 bs41117
NAS: Iomega ix2-200 CE 4tb, Seagate 1tb usb drive
Wash your hands and DONT TOUCH YOUR FACE!!!
you do know there's a fan in there that might be bad?
This is a sensible point. Could just be better thermal management on later builds / kernels.
I know there is a fan in there, it only runs during the boot process and then never runs in my case. I'm also not talking about the little chirping noise while a radio is under load. The sound I hear is a high pitch sound, alternating frequencies every 5 seconds or so, similar to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX7Ar3Z-oTo
Maybe most people can't hear it but I have very sensible ears I'm positive its related to dd-wrt since flashing back the stock firmware or the latest build of OpenWRT makes the 5ghz radio silent.
I ended up learning to use OpenWRT to get my features back, but would rather stick to dd-wrt for the ease of use. I tried different Wifi settings but it doesn't seem to change the behavior. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Maybe you are right, but one thing for sure: It is now silent since I switched to OpenWRT/LEDE. With dd-wrt, I eventually get the high pitch noise, even on factory settings, after about an hour of being powered on.
