[oscahie]

Here's an update:

28211 does not seem to have the 2.4 Ghz dropout issues, and in general it works quite well. I did notice some odd issues of very high CPU usage in the router while a client laptop was streaming media from the Plex server. I've noticed this a couple of times but it's not 100% reproducible. Navigating DD-WRT's admin page is also super slow while this is happening. Speed-wise I didn't test it thoroughly but it did perform significantly slower than the newer builds when testing WiFi speeds close to the router, not sure why. Other minor but kinda annoying issues are how it names eth0 and eth1 the wireless interfaces, or the signal bars looking wrong, but I could live with that.

33772 has exactly the same issues with the 2.4 Ghz WiFi as 33555 and 35452. I even did the so-called 30/30/30 reset after installing that build and reconfigured the basis from scratch, leaving as much as possible with default settings, but still, problem persists.

I think I'm going to try something newer next, perhaps 36000+, but I'm growing more and more disenchanted with DD-WRT. I'm closer than before to buying a new shiny router.

[oscahie]

35531 and 36410 also suffer of the same 2.4 Ghz WiFi issues. This is clearly a longstanding issue affecting the WNDR4500 at least, and given its age, I guess it's unlikely that the devs will bother to investigate and fix it.

So with the newer builds being a dead end, I'm going to try something in between 28211 and 33555. Last chance to DD-WRT!

[amikot]

Im still on DD-WRT v3.0-r33555 giga (10/20/17).
Problem with WiFi partially solved by limiting use of 2.4GHz and by scheduled router reset (every night 4am).

BTW. I think that problem may be related to WNDR4500v1 only. So if someone say that his WNDR4500 works good for 150days - it doesn't proof anything.

Did anyone tried Kong release with WNDR4500v1? If its so good and tested - maybe that's the solution?
Which Kong release would be good? Its so unclear which version to flash to WNDR4500v1 and which of them is safe to not brick the router.

[oscahie]

So, for a final update, I tried some builds released after 28211:

- 30432 no WiFi issues during my testing, but wireless bandwidth isn't that great (eg. tops at 100 Mbps downstream on the 5 Ghz band, being really close to the router). The wlan interfaces naming issue present 28211 is fixed.
- 33006 no WiFi issues so far, and speeds are much better, quite close to the newer builds and to Netgear's official firmware. This is because 33006 was the first build to implement the so-called SFE (Shortcut Forwarding Engine), which improves the throughput. For comparison, I get 185 Mbps using the same speed test.

According to another user in this thread, builds newer than 33006 and up to 33375 brick the WNDR4500v1, so I'm not willing to try them. That'd leave us with only a few more builds before the already tested and failing 33555, which are: 33413, 33492 and 33525. Presumably the 2.4 Ghz WiFi issue was introduced in one of these, or in 33555. I'm not sure I'll have the patience to test them...

Anyway, IMO the best build so far for this v1 router is 33006. Of course it might have other bugs on features I don't use (my setup is admittedly pretty basic, no fancy services, VPN, etc).

edit: I stand corrected. Unfortunately the build 33006 also suffers of the WiFI issue. I just saw it happening on an iPhone 6s. It doesn't seem to occur anywhere near as often as in the newer builds, but still there

So that's it, I'm buying a new router.

[amikot]

I think it may be this SFE feature itself that is causing the problem. However for me it's enough to do reboot every night when everyone is sleeping. Other features of 33555 works ok so probably I won't update it.
It would be nice to have bug-free router, but in comparison to router supplied by provider WNDR4500v1 is great and stable piece of hardware.

[amikot]

Currently on my WNDR4500v1 I'm running : DD-WRT v3.0-r36808 giga (08/30/1 (its confusing as firmware file to download is named not giga, but mega). While upgrade I did factory reset.
This build is running here since 16 hours, and didn't found problems. I don't know yet if WiFi issue still exist, but there is some advantages. For example built in MiniDLNA server is much better now than before. Finally my TV can play movies from NAS (WD MyBook connected to USB socket in router).
Now I'm planning to install OpenVPN server.
I did try zerotier, but couldn't get it work.
BTW. Somewhere between 33555 and 36808 there were some changes. For example kernel module "tun" is not pre-loaded anymore. It is loaded only if OpenVPN options in WEB-UI are switched on. (It may be confusing if someone want to install VPN outside gui - like zerotier)

[amikot]

Next day, next firmware.
This time its almost newest BS build:
DD-WRT v3.0-r37860 giga (11/27/18)

It runs on WNDR4500v1.
After flashing, router didn't reset as should, so for sure I did second flashing trough terminal:
Uploaded bin file to connected NAS location and in terminal executed command:

[reedster500]

Is the only way to reset these WNDR4500s is serial pinning? They don't TFTP right off without breaking CFE?

Trying to revert back to stock...

[Malachi]

[reedster500]

Had success with V1 and V3 doing that, but two V2s are proving a little more stubborn... thoughts?

[amikot]

Today updated my WNDR4500v1 to r37932.
Firmware downloaded to USB disk by wget.
Flashed also from telnet (not SSH) by:
write <firmware file to flash> linux.
Didn't reset settings, had to reboot router of course.
No problems so far. Everything seems to work, maybe except startup commands from admin section - that what I noticed since r37860 (that I used before).
I had no time to double check it is wrong, but maybe tomorrow.

[gepetto565]

My DD-WRT setup since 2014
Router Model Netgear WNDR4500v2
Firmware Version DD-WRT v24-sp2 (10/06/14) kongac - build 25015M-SP1
Kernel Version Linux 3.10.55-rc1 #84 Mon Oct 6 22:34:21 CEST 2014 mips

I haven't posted here in a while, maybe years, but wanted to share what I've seen with the WNDR4500v2.

I used to travel alot, and wanted a good repeater to use for free wifi, and this was a decent router that I never had issues with while using this kong build. The 2.4G vlan has not failed. I don't have it set on a reboot schedule.
I was looking for a ddns option, and set it up yesterday.
The only problems I had were that the NVRAM is saving an old password, and on the DDNS page under no-ip, this old password persists and will not be saved.
I have hard reset, power cycled, and still not saving. The refreshing of ip and ddns was successful, but still saving that password from years ago. I don't need to flash it again right now, but will eventually try an upgrade. I've seen posts on here about upgrades, and with the working unit the way it is, upgrading is just another project I don't absolutely require at this time.
To clear this old persistent password, I will attempt to set it to null by telnet.
For the newer people that want to use this particular model and version, I will tell you, follow the specific model/version instructions when you initially install DD-WRT. Then, do not use the router database to find a working build.

I have also ran into the 'Unauthorized' and 'This connection is not secure' problem when trying to log back into the router using Chrome after changing a setting. Multiple hard resets, and frustration ensued. This happened yesterday when I set jffs to on, and another time when I thought I could enable https GUI.

UPDATE: The Unauthorized issue is due to Chrome, as well as the DDNS password issue. Clearing the chrome cache still showed that old persistent password.
'that old persistent password' was actually saved in nvram as warn_pass, and I looked at the DDNS password setting using PuTTy, which showed me that the password was actually reset to what I wanted. I saw in a post after all this that a user stated he will only use Internet Explorer from now on in the DD-WRT GUI.

After reading some issues about the 2.4GHz signal problems with builds r28211 up through r33772, I am staying where I'm at for now with 25015M-SP1. Thanks, Kong, for all your hard work ! !

[Aladino]

My device is 4500v2 Firmware: DD-WRT v3.0-r38060 (12/20/1
any one you guys knows how to connect to L2TP server that requiring CHAP (Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol)
in windows VPN profile it works but on the router it won't.

[Aladino]

[st_ty_]