Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 12:46 Post subject: E4200 - What Firmware Are You Running / Problems Do You See?
I just finished researching to find the best dual band router that will run DD-WRT and ended up concluding that the Cisco Linksys E4200 v1 is it, IMHO. I purchased a good used one and loaded it up with "dd-wrt.v24-18777_NEWD-2_K2.6_mini-e4200.bin".
As a test here where I work, there will be about 20-25 devices pounding on it daily. During yesterday's debut, I noticed I was disconnected twice in a 5 hour period, and that there is a comment about reducing both of the radios' power settings from 100mw to 50mw in order to increase WIFI stability. I just did that.
I would like to know what build others are running, what the conditions the router is running under, and what your observations are. I am considering going to "dd-wrt.v24-21061_NEWD-2_K2.6_mini-nv60k.bin" but I don't have much, information on that build, especially if anything broke.
Thank you very much. I think I'd like to experience a Mega build for once. I will try the same build you have.
However, this leads me to another question. The WIKI for this router ( http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys_E4200 ) says to always load a NV60 build once the E4200 is initially flashed with DDWRT.
On this site: ftp://ftp.basmaf.com/Fractal_Builds/21402/ it shows several flavors:
dd-wrt.v24-21402_NEWD-2_K2.6_mega-e4200.bin
dd-wrt.v24-21402_NEWD-2_K2.6_mega-nv60k.bin
Like I said, the WIKI says always load a NV60. Why would there be a "dd-wrt.v24-21402_NEWD-2_K2.6_mega-e4200.bin" available then?
BTW: I'm not using mega, but the mini one. I only need basic functionality, but are also using a free DNS service and want to have the router update the entry when my ip address changes.
It would be nice to have some clear explanation by the different builders (brainslayer, fractal, ..) on the goals they want to achieve, the different opinions or approaches they have, etc. This will make it easier for users to make a choice on the build to use. Just think about the openbsd, netbsd and freebsd differences for example.
I have chosen for fractals build because at that time (some months ago) there were regular updates and it just works fine for me. But when I have to choose now again, I might try Brainslayers builds first, because those had more frequent updates lately.
I saw that there are now kernel 3.x builds, which is a very nice improvement (made possible by Broadcom I assume? Because they provided suitable drivers?), I believe in technology improvements in the kernel from which we can benefit and expect these builds to become really better than the 2.6 based builds we have now. But I will not be a first adaptor of these new builds.
I saw that there are now kernel 3.x builds, which is a very nice improvement (made possible by Broadcom I assume? Because they provided suitable drivers?), I believe in technology improvements in the kernel from which we can benefit and expect these builds to become really better than the 2.6 based builds we have now. But I will not be a first adaptor of these new builds.
Hi, I was one of the first adopters and I wanted to tell you it worked really good since the beginning, and it still is now. I'm not using many complex functionalities of dd-wrt btw, just sshd and some personalizations of the included DNSMasq server and I always used the mega build, for little experiments I sometimes do with new stuff
Since when I've put in the 3.X build the router is very politely and stably working. Not that it was not before, honestly, but I had more problems upgrading between 2.6 builds than on 3.X!
@MartinHerrman
Thank you. I am not sure where I got that you were running mega , but thanks for all your insight.
@ErMeglio
I was thinking to go to a 3 version but I realize that I do not know all the DDWRT features to be able to tell if something is broken.
I do want to experience a stable Mega build on my E4200 but the sea of DDWRT is quite confusing to me.
In general, DDWRT features that interest me are:
-Dual band WIFI operation, particularly 5mhz operation. The reason for this is because once a year we have a 1000+ person get-together with vendors and they all have their own WIFI, most of it being 2.4Ghz, which has been causing much interference for us over the years. The 5Ghz band is not cluttered "yet", so we are moving that direction for next get-together.
-VOIP operability, since I am in charge of a VOIP phone system here at work, I'd like to see what flexibility I can achieve with DDWRT.
-VPN
-QOS
I think I will take a shot from the hip and load:
Fractal's "dd-wrt.v24-21402_NEWD-2_K2.6_mega-nv60k.bin"
I think it is better to start a new topic for the adblock issue you are facing.
Just a tip: when I needed to find out the root cause of this issue, I would run all the commands manually on the command line (using telnet or ssh session) and see where the error occurs.