[liv]

Hi, I have 2 EA6400 flashed to dd-wrt with same issue - 2.4GHz WiFi is transmitting something, I can detect it, but I can't connect to it. 5GHz WiFi works fine. Does anybody seen that behaviour?

[egc]

What build are you running?

Latest build is 50927.

Did you reset to defaults *after* update and put settings in manually?

What are your wireless settings, post screenshots.
Do not use auto channel but pick one and use WPA2-psk with AES128 for authentication.

Did you check your nvram on Status page, it should be below 32 Kb

[liv]

DD-WRT v3.0-r50927 std (11/21/22)

I use wpa2-aes, free channel, NVRAM 32KB/64KB. But I had FreshTomato, I have used about 40 KB of NVRAM before.

[egc]

Did you replace the CFE to allow more than 32 KB nvram?

If so it is usually replaced with an Asus style CFE and after a normal reset you have to do a WPS reset (power off, hold down the WPS button and while holding power on, hold the WPS button until the Linksys logo starts flashing, usually around 25 sec)

After those two resets put settings in manually.

For Wifi settings see: https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=327595

For maximum through put enable CTF and CTF&FA (if your router supports it) on Basic Setup page under Shortcut forwarding Engine and Flow Acceleration

If you did not have replaced your CFE your Nvram should not exceed 31 KB.

[liv]

I have everything OK.
I have replaced cfe to have more than 32kb. But (because of same error on 2 routers), could cfe be bad? Which one to use?

[egc]

I do not know with which CFE you have replaced it and if that worked.

But be sure to do a WPS button reset as described in my earlier post.

An upgraded CFE should reset with the WPS button.

[exception]

I, too, am experiencing terrible 2.4Ghz since initially installed DDWRT in 2018. I have 3 routers all loaded with Xvortex CFE and DDWRT

Two EA6400s:
5GHZ - 220Mbps, 2.4Ghz - 10Mbps. (That's 802.11b speed!)

One EA6900:
5GHz - 220Mbps, 2.4Ghz - 80Mbps.

All speed test results are from Xfinity Speed Test site with my laptop/phone next to router.

IN DD-WRT UI, when I compare the "Basic Setting" of WL0 between the good EA6900 and the bad EA6400, I found these options are available in EA6900, but missing in EA6400:

TurboQAM (QAM256) support
Explicit Beamforming
Implicit Beamforming
Airtime Fairness

This lead me to believe that the driver does not match the hardware perfectly, or some generic fallback driver is running. (Like generic Microsoft GPU driver throws 800x600 screen to you, even if you have a decent nVidia card)

The 2.4Ghz network cards are different: EA6900 has BCM4360, EA6400 has BCM43217.

I live in a rural house. No interference with neighbors. I checked with Wifi Analyzer app. I tested with laptops and phones and got same result. I also tried many 2.4Ghz channels and new SSIDs so there is no "ghost" device interfere with my test.

I tried "recommended advanced Wifi settings for Broadcom" found on this forum. No improvement. When Wifi-N fall back to Wifi-B speed, it is serious problem. I don't think tuning these numbers can fix that.

I tried different DDWRT versions since 2018. The latest is 2022-11-28. No improvement.

I tried both KoolShare and Xvortex CFE. No improvement. I even grabbed some "missing" data from OEM NVRAM and added to the modded CFE, hoping to better "identify" the BCM43217 network card, but it was not successful:

wl0_radioids=BCM2057
wl0_turbo_qam=1
wl0_phytype=n
wl0_phytypes=n


Many people claim DD-WRT "works" with EA6400. The big question is, HAVE YOU TESTED SPEED with 2.4Ghz Wifi-N?

My next attempt is probably switching to FreshTomato. Any one tested 2.4Ghz speed on FreshTomato+EA6400? Since their file has ".trx" extension, can I just run it the same way? like:

mtd -f write tomato.trx linux (and linux2)
nvram erase && reboot

[egc]

Who knows, I do not have one.
The only thing I can advise is to use the preferred settings:
For Wifi settings see: https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=327595

Do not use autochannel, but search for a free channel with an app on your phone, make sure you use WPA2-PSK CCMP-128 (AES) security.

FT is fine software if you do not mind you are stuck on an old and deprecated kernel 2.6. and you do not need WireGuard.

[rafaelbf]

Hi.
I have one EA6400 and one EA6300 v1 wich is the same hardware. (BCM43217 on 2.4G)
Both use same firmware DD-WRT r50308, with KoolShareCFE and same settings. No complaints. Thanks to developers.
Stable signal, using "BCM Best Wifi Settings", fixed channels and fixed TX power on 60 mW. Yes, it can go high but I prefer 2 EA's linked with cables (on different places) with slightly lower power instead of only one with max power, because this way I get better coverage less speed drop.

[liv]

rafaelbf: OK, thanks, but the routers and settings is OK. Happnes on ALL dd-wrt builds.


I have been using freshtomato on one of them and switched back to dd-wrt. Same issues, but chaotic settings.

[exception]

rafaelbf: your post is encouraging. Do you see these options at "Wireless -> Basic Settings -> WL-0 " (Just below Wireless SSID Broadcast) ?

TurboQAM (QAM256) support
Explicit Beamforming
Implicit Beamforming
Airtime Fairness

These options are in EA6900 (BCM4360), not in EA6400 (BCM43217)

[liv]

I made it to 10 Mbps speeds by setting TX power manually. But it's still slow.

[exception]

I can now repeat this problem by doing certain steps. It is due to AP mode that I want these EA6400s to be.

Immediately after flash, while every setting is default, 2.4Ghz speed is 40Mbps.

I can set wifi SSID, channel, password, or disable services and SPI firewall...... still 40Mbps.

As soon as I set these options, the 2.4Ghz drops to 10Mbps:

Setup -> Basic Setup -> type=Disabled, set a static IP/gateway/DNS, dhcp=Disabled
Setup -> Advanced Routing -> mode=Router

These are first steps in "Wireless Access Point, section 3.2: Normal Version (same subnet)" in Wiki.

https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Wireless_access_point

Again, these steps impact EA6400 only (not EA6900), and impact wl0 - 2.4Ghz only (not wl1)

[liv]

I have both of them in Gateway mode, also I have static WAN settings.

[egc]

Are yu sure you have reset the router first by pressing the reset button for5-7 seconds while the router is running and then, very important, with the WPS button reset as described in my earlier post?