[DrCR_]

In a nutshell, my venerable, decade+ WRT54GL started going flacky, and recently quite so. So I picked up a second hand WRT1200AC (Rev A02, if it matters) for a song to replace it.

Recommendations on what dd-wrt version I should make use of for it? (I did some cursory searching before posting, and it appears there's some trade offs between either a version that biases towards the ethernet working or wifi working? If so, I'd lean towards making the former rock solid. And I have a UAP-AP-Pro I'll likely try to make use of, so I may turn off the WRT1200AC's wifi entirely anyway.)

[blkt]

So that's a V1? I don't have your router, but Monza has been reporting in the most recent build threads with no major issues (WRT1200AC v1).

I'm running 12-29-2019-r41813 currently and waiting for the next build after 01-14-2020-r41986 but again different routers.

If you can find a used EA8500 or R7800 they are highly recommended. I recently put my WRT3200ACM back into its fancy box.

Post #386, time to play some Wolfenstein or DooM.

[eddie4crazy]

There is nothing against an 1200 ac v2. I am using it, with no issues. Everything works fine and stable. Ihave wlan 2.4 and 5.0,vpn client usb support and nas. Everything works priity well. At moment realy stable version is DD-WRT v3.0-r40009 (06/11/19).

[blkt]

Nothing wrong with 1200 series; I was trying to clarify as revision and version are not the same thing. I confirmed Rev. A02 should be a V1 though.

https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1029905

https://forum.archive.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=50173&p=525

Not a big issue either; it appears V1 and V2 firmware are binary identical.

https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=305880

I agree r40009 is a great baseline stable build for Marvell WRT series.

If jumping between current builds and r40009 it's advisable to reconfigure from scratch and keep backups for each.

The models I recommended are because they are very well supported by DD-WRT. With people having "upgraded" to mesh/ad/ax the used router market has a lot of good deals.

I'm still on r41813 as kernel samba is still in development, but looking forward to a build after r42114.

[DrCR_]

Many thanks for the replies all.

I'm accordingly starting with the v3.0-r40009 (06/11/19) build recommended.

After an unsuccessful attempt, I'm a bit discombobulated on the process though. Apparently I'm not supposed to do an old school reset on this type of modern router? And am I supposed to do a reset after factory-to-ddwrt.bin and before ddwrt-linksys-wrt1200ac-webflash.bin, or am I supposed to immediately upgrade to ddwrt-linksys-wrt1200ac-webflash.bin after the Linksys successful firmware upgrade message and then reset... in a non-oldschool reset sort of way?

[kernel-panic69]

The factory-to-dd is for initial flash. Webflash is for upgrading to a newer version. The two methods to reset are reset button for x seconds until the panel light(s) do their thing, or in the firmware webUI "reset to defaults". Some folks are adamant about going in via telnet or ssh and doing an 'nvram erase' via CLI, YMMV. You should be able to upgrade to the latest build (42335) without much issue.

[DrCR_]

Now squared away. I found I had to use an older factory-to-ddwrt.bin.

11-Jun-2019 and 10-Feb-2020 factory-to-ddwrt.bin were unsuccessful. With those two: After successful firmware upgrade message in Linksys, I got a router rebooting (only option to click OK), Waiting..., and then within Linksys realm got a successful firmware upgrade or the like message. And reset or power cycling left me still within the Linksys firmware realm, hence my confusion if I needed to do something in addition to the factory-to-ddwrt.bin when within the Linksys realm.

Success with 26-Mar-2018 factory-to-ddwrt.bin. After firmware upgrading to that in Linksys realm, I left the computer and when I came back -- glorious dd-wrt.


From there I was home free. After all this fun, I successfully webflashed to 11-Jun-2019 for now, since it's apparently know for its stability. I guess I should check in or arbitrarily try a newer version every blue moon or so for security reasons?

Thanks all. Now I've got to read up on all the new configuration aspects introduced since the WRT54GL era..

[wilberfan]

I haven't updated in awhile on my 1200AC v2. I've been running r38581 for several months now. Is there a consensus on a solid version to switch to? I don't have anything very fancy in my setup at this point.

[blkt]

I'd go with the latest and greatest (currently r43136) and as always for any build don't use auto channel selection.

[DrCR_]

blkt,

Taking your above post in conjunction with your "I'm still on r41813 as kernel samba is still in development, but looking forward to a build after r42114" earlier post, could you elaborate on that? For example, is the WRT 1200 AC now venerable enough that any future, latest and greatest can be confidently expected to just work, or some such?


Still running 11-Jun-2019 right now. Realistically, just how important is it really to update to newer versions rather than updating once every... 3 years or some such?

Your post has encouraged me to go ahead and update to the latest and greatest which I will do soon ... but I'm dragging my feet since I don't feel like reconfiguring from scratch, which I presume is always needful?

[Side note: Running with wifi-turned off. Using unifi AP for wifi.]

[blkt]

You are talking to someone who has flashed new builds for EA8500 over 90 times this year, lol.

You've done your duty saving from flash chip wear. Disable ttraff Daemon in Services too as a bonus.

Just wait for the next build and flash it; likely will be fine with internal radios disabled.

Make notes of your current setup configuration. It's time to upgrade, if anything for security reasons.

If you run into problems after flashing, reset and reconfigure manually from scratch.

[DrCR_]

You're right, maybe you're not the right guy to ask about flash frequency, lol.

I just noticed your "New Build" posts in this subforum. I'll be sure to look for those when updating! Depending on how productive I feel in the immediate future, I'll likely just update to 11/03/2020 - r44715 if I don't wait for the next build.

[WENED]

The thread indicating best build for 1900V1 specifies r31924 which was the most stable build for this router. I have never seen r31924 available for 1200 though.

I currently run r44048 across all my routers as it is the most stable, even on my 1900's. I also have it on my 1200 which is being used for a 5Ghz link to a remote 1900 and the 2.4Ghz for ESP8266 devices and cameras and android devices since the 3200 is flakey when it comes to 2.4Ghz and certain devices. See my profile below.

r44048 appears to be the most reliable build for the WRT series that I have used. I don't run VPN or USB configs so I can't speak to whether this build is good for that. I have tried most new builds and have always jumped back to r44048 as I encountered strange problems on WiFi and periodic reboots.

[DrCR_]

Thanks, 08-02-2020-r44048 is a lot newer than what I'm on right now, so I'll use that as a new default point for subsequent upgrades.

Radios are turned off for me, so no concerns there. Got to find a how-to re VPN though, since that's something I'm going to want to do in the relatively near future. I'm a linux guy, but I haven't touched managed switches and the like since uni.

[DrCR_]

Based on the "New Build" thread for 11/03/2020 r44715, I decided to upgrade to that. Success. And no reconfiguration required via the route gleaned from the WRT32X DD-WRT Installation Procedure sticky thread. Woot. Now I won't be nearly as lazy in upgrading going foward. Thanks all, particularly blkt!

Including this quote from the above mentioned sticky thread, for emphasis.