EDIT: Ok guys. I have some success with different Asus Firmware versions. You should try to rollback to some old firmares on your router. Explanations will make more sense
Roll back to which old firmware? I currently have 20202 (for 64k CFE) installed and neither WAN not 5Ghz seem to be working. I read WAN was fixed in 18946, but I just got segfaults on boot with that version and it always said it was booting a Linksys WRT54G instead of the N66U. I've tried a lot of different firmware versions (and updated my CFE the 64K one off the newer N66U's) and this is the only one so far that will even boot. What version is the best known to work with the N66U and are any manual nvram changed necessary after updating to it?
Alright, so even with old firmwares I only managed to install the initial 18702 version. And in fact the problem was not coming from here...
The trick was to install tomato and then upgrade to DDWRT
Here are the full steps that worked for me (I wrote those steps at the same time I was installing DDWRT, so I didn't missed anything ):
--- FIRST OF ALL ALWAYS USE FIREFOX, NOT CHROME (causing caching issues) ---
Step #0:
- Use a static IP adress. 192.168.1.12 for example.
- From the latest Asus Firmware installed on your router: Upgrade CFE 1.0.3!!! TO BE DONE ONLY ONCE... NO WAY BACK!!!
Step #1:
- Reset NVRAM: just press the WPS button 5 seconds while your router boots. (yep no need to do the 30/30/30 old trick...). Then wait till the router reboot.
- Put the router in recovery mode: Press the reset button 10 seconds while your router boots.
- Go to http://192.168.1.1/ YES GUYS, THIS IS REAL, YOU NOW HAVE A WEB INTERFACE IN RECOVERY MODE ON NEW ROUTERS XD... You need to be fast to access this web interface... most of the time you'll miss it (yeah there's an access timing delay or unique session protection, whatever, dunno exactly, but you have to rush). If you do not have access to this page... then repeat this step again... and again... and again... (YEAH sometimes you'll have to repeat it 5 times till it works, 'cause you're fucking too slow).
- Now that you have access to the http://192.168.1.1/ page (WOoOW CONGRATULATION YOU MADE IT!!!!)... restore to RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_260.trx (this step is not required, but just in case... follow it).
- Put the router in recovery mode: Press the reset button 10 seconds while your router boots.
- Go to http://192.168.1.1/ and restore to tomato-K26USB-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-097-Tor-VPN-64K.trx.
NOW WAIT FOR THIS MESSAGE:
Receive file size=8081473
Upload completed. System is going to reboot.
Please wait a few moments.
The button power button will stop blinking when the upload is finished... Then you need to wait till the router reboots by itself... between 3 and 10 minutes (yeah that sucks)... just in case you don't want to wait starring at the router's leds: ping 192.168.1.1, if you got a reply then the router has rebooted and is up and running .
I noticed that the router's reboot is very sneaking and quick...
Once the router has rebooted, it will have some more configuration work to do, so be patient (this step should take 25 seconds...).
The router will then reboot once again (all leds will flash at the same time), this time the WiFi leds (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz) will be on... and if you scan your WiFi network you'll see Tomato24 and Tomato50 access points.
NOTE: I had troubles accessing the Tomato router via Ethernet, so I decided to access the router configuration via WiFi.
Step #2:
- Go to Tomato admin panel.
- Verify that we have 64KB of NVRAM:
Status -> Overview :
Total / Free NVRAM: 64.00 KB / 22.36 KB (34.94%)
YAY \o/
- Go to Administration --> Upgrade
- Tick the box "After flashing, erase all data in NVRAM memory"
- Upload dd-wrt.v24-20202_NEWD_2_K2.6_mega-RT-N66_64K.trx (from Fractal)
- Wait... the timer should stop at about 0:56.
- The router will reboot by itself... and the router will not ping anymore (Ethernet).
- Wait for the router to reboot, you'll see in your Wireless network list "ddwrt" \o/. All WiFi router's leds will be on.
Step #3:
- Reboot in recovery mode
- Do a NVRAM commit from the http://192.168.1.1/ panel (yeah that fucking web panel again...)
- Reboot the router USING THE http://192.168.1.1/ panel.
Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 19:40 Post subject: Works!!!
Thireus wrote:
Alright, so even with old firmwares I only managed to install the initial 18702 version. And in fact the problem was not coming from here...
The trick was to install tomato and then upgrade to DDWRT
Here are the full steps that worked for me (I wrote those steps at the same time I was installing DDWRT, so I didn't missed anything ):
--- FIRST OF ALL ALWAYS USE FIREFOX, NOT CHROME (causing caching issues) ---
Step #0:
- Use a static IP adress. 192.168.1.12 for example.
- From the latest Asus Firmware installed on your router: Upgrade CFE 1.0.3!!! TO BE DONE ONLY ONCE... NO WAY BACK!!!
Step #1:
- Reset NVRAM: just press the WPS button 5 seconds while your router boots. (yep no need to do the 30/30/30 old trick...). Then wait till the router reboot.
- Put the router in recovery mode: Press the reset button 10 seconds while your router boots.
- Go to http://192.168.1.1/ YES GUYS, THIS IS REAL, YOU NOW HAVE A WEB INTERFACE IN RECOVERY MODE ON NEW ROUTERS XD... You need to be fast to access this web interface... most of the time you'll miss it (yeah there's an access timing delay or unique session protection, whatever, dunno exactly, but you have to rush). If you do not have access to this page... then repeat this step again... and again... and again... (YEAH sometimes you'll have to repeat it 5 times till it works, 'cause you're fucking too slow).
- Now that you have access to the http://192.168.1.1/ page (WOoOW CONGRATULATION YOU MADE IT!!!!)... restore to RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_260.trx (this step is not required, but just in case... follow it).
- Put the router in recovery mode: Press the reset button 10 seconds while your router boots.
- Go to http://192.168.1.1/ and restore to tomato-K26USB-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-097-Tor-VPN-64K.trx.
NOW WAIT FOR THIS MESSAGE:
Receive file size=8081473
Upload completed. System is going to reboot.
Please wait a few moments.
The button power button will stop blinking when the upload is finished... Then you need to wait till the router reboots by itself... between 3 and 10 minutes (yeah that sucks)... just in case you don't want to wait starring at the router's leds: ping 192.168.1.1, if you got a reply then the router has rebooted and is up and running .
I noticed that the router's reboot is very sneaking and quick...
Once the router has rebooted, it will have some more configuration work to do, so be patient (this step should take 25 seconds...).
The router will then reboot once again (all leds will flash at the same time), this time the WiFi leds (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz) will be on... and if you scan your WiFi network you'll see Tomato24 and Tomato50 access points.
NOTE: I had troubles accessing the Tomato router via Ethernet, so I decided to access the router configuration via WiFi.
Step #2:
- Go to Tomato admin panel.
- Verify that we have 64KB of NVRAM:
Status -> Overview :
Total / Free NVRAM: 64.00 KB / 22.36 KB (34.94%)
YAY \o/
- Go to Administration --> Upgrade
- Tick the box "After flashing, erase all data in NVRAM memory"
- Upload dd-wrt.v24-20202_NEWD_2_K2.6_mega-RT-N66_64K.trx (from Fractal)
- Wait... the timer should stop at about 0:56.
- The router will reboot by itself... and the router will not ping anymore (Ethernet).
- Wait for the router to reboot, you'll see in your Wireless network list "ddwrt" \o/. All WiFi router's leds will be on.
Step #3:
- Reboot in recovery mode
- Do a NVRAM commit from the http://192.168.1.1/ panel (yeah that fucking web panel again...)
- Reboot the router USING THE http://192.168.1.1/ panel.
Step #4:
ENJOY YOUR DDWRT ROUTER
It works, it works.
Just selected the ip on my pc, update the CFE on the latest asus build (it's the only way to work, earlier i have tried with the CFE 1.0.1.2, but it just doesn't work)
The rest is already described above. the only problem that i felt was the speed on torrents that wasn't as fast as the original router.
And now how can i put a torrent client on the n66u?
Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2012 19:51 Post subject: Re: Works!!!
Gf1 wrote:
And now how can i put a torrent client on the n66u?
Good question, have you tried to search the wiki or this forum for that? Or maybe google 'client torrent ddwrt'? I guess some other people already did this. Report back your findings please. _________________ www.DareYourMind.net
I've successfully (AFAIK) flashed dd-wrt many times on the n66u. What I always wonder, especially with this router is, is it really necessary to wait the minimum 10 minutes that the wiki recommends? I've seen other posts that touch on this, but no definite answer.
After I flash a build (via the Asus Recovery Console), I start pinging the router. After about 3 minutes, I finally get responses and I can then connect to the Web UI. Since dd-wrt appears functional at that point, am I free to boot back into the recovery console and erase/commit the nvram settings? Or is it still building layers, even after I get ping responses and can connect to Web UI?
Hi guys, I got the nt16 not 66 model. The ddwrt put me off as apparently has install/reliability issues for these routers?
So I put on shibby tomato and I am of the opinion I probably prefer ddwrt.
The traffic monitoring, tally system I think is superior on tomato but ddwrt's is good enough.
Everything else tho seems better on ddwrt. eg. on tomato if I change wireless settings it restarts the internet connection, why? on my dd-wrt router I can change wireless settings without the internet going offline.
QoS on dd-wrt seems more stable and works better.
Merlin is something I have been considering but that lacks a snmp daemon for external data graphing and doesnt tally daily usage graphs etc. on the router.
I wish I tried out the stock firmware so I had a baseline to compare against, because as it stands now tomato is my baseline for this router, the ddwrt I am comparing to is on my dir615.
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 6:36 Post subject: What is "CFE" and how upgrade it to 1.0.3?
Thireus wrote:
Alright, so even with old firmwares I only managed to install the initial 18702 version. And in fact the problem was not coming from here...
The trick was to install tomato and then upgrade to DDWRT
Here are the full steps that worked for me (I wrote those steps at the same time I was installing DDWRT, so I didn't missed anything ):
--- FIRST OF ALL ALWAYS USE FIREFOX, NOT CHROME (causing caching issues) ---
Step #0:
- Use a static IP adress. 192.168.1.12 for example.
- From the latest Asus Firmware installed on your router: Upgrade CFE 1.0.3!!! TO BE DONE ONLY ONCE... NO WAY BACK!!!
Step #1:
- Reset NVRAM: just press the WPS button 5 seconds while your router boots. (yep no need to do the 30/30/30 old trick...). Then wait till the router reboot.
- Put the router in recovery mode: Press the reset button 10 seconds while your router boots.
- Go to http://192.168.1.1/ YES GUYS, THIS IS REAL, YOU NOW HAVE A WEB INTERFACE IN RECOVERY MODE ON NEW ROUTERS XD... You need to be fast to access this web interface... most of the time you'll miss it (yeah there's an access timing delay or unique session protection, whatever, dunno exactly, but you have to rush). If you do not have access to this page... then repeat this step again... and again... and again... (YEAH sometimes you'll have to repeat it 5 times till it works, 'cause you're fucking too slow).
- Now that you have access to the http://192.168.1.1/ page (WOoOW CONGRATULATION YOU MADE IT!!!!)... restore to RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_260.trx (this step is not required, but just in case... follow it).
- Put the router in recovery mode: Press the reset button 10 seconds while your router boots.
- Go to http://192.168.1.1/ and restore to tomato-K26USB-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-097-Tor-VPN-64K.trx.
NOW WAIT FOR THIS MESSAGE:
Receive file size=8081473
Upload completed. System is going to reboot.
Please wait a few moments.
The button power button will stop blinking when the upload is finished... Then you need to wait till the router reboots by itself... between 3 and 10 minutes (yeah that sucks)... just in case you don't want to wait starring at the router's leds: ping 192.168.1.1, if you got a reply then the router has rebooted and is up and running .
I noticed that the router's reboot is very sneaking and quick...
Once the router has rebooted, it will have some more configuration work to do, so be patient (this step should take 25 seconds...).
The router will then reboot once again (all leds will flash at the same time), this time the WiFi leds (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz) will be on... and if you scan your WiFi network you'll see Tomato24 and Tomato50 access points.
NOTE: I had troubles accessing the Tomato router via Ethernet, so I decided to access the router configuration via WiFi.
Step #2:
- Go to Tomato admin panel.
- Verify that we have 64KB of NVRAM:
Status -> Overview :
Total / Free NVRAM: 64.00 KB / 22.36 KB (34.94%)
YAY \o/
- Go to Administration --> Upgrade
- Tick the box "After flashing, erase all data in NVRAM memory"
- Upload dd-wrt.v24-20202_NEWD_2_K2.6_mega-RT-N66_64K.trx (from Fractal)
- Wait... the timer should stop at about 0:56.
- The router will reboot by itself... and the router will not ping anymore (Ethernet).
- Wait for the router to reboot, you'll see in your Wireless network list "ddwrt" \o/. All WiFi router's leds will be on.
Step #3:
- Reboot in recovery mode
- Do a NVRAM commit from the http://192.168.1.1/ panel (yeah that fucking web panel again...)
- Reboot the router USING THE http://192.168.1.1/ panel.
Step #4:
ENJOY YOUR DDWRT ROUTER
First of all many thanks for your information. I followed all the procedure as you describe it , but at the final step my rt-n66u cannot be recognized either from ethernet or wireless. I managed to install succesfully the tomato-K26USB-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-097-Tor-VPN-64K.trx , but when I tried to install dd-wrt , for a moment i saw the wireless signal "dd-wrt" but after a few seconds dissapeared.
The only thing i cant understand about the procedure, is the "STEP #0". I dont understand what is the "CFE" and how upgrade it to 1.0.3.
If you could give me some more information about how to upgrade CFE , it would be very helpful..
Thanks
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 17:32 Post subject: Re: What is "CFE" and how upgrade it to 1.0.3?
anargiros wrote:
First of all many thanks for your information. I followed all the procedure as you describe it , but at the final step my rt-n66u cannot be recognized either from ethernet or wireless. I managed to install succesfully the tomato-K26USB-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-097-Tor-VPN-64K.trx , but when I tried to install dd-wrt , for a moment i saw the wireless signal "dd-wrt" but after a few seconds dissapeared.
The only thing i cant understand about the procedure, is the "STEP #0". I dont understand what is the "CFE" and how upgrade it to 1.0.3.
If you could give me some more information about how to upgrade CFE , it would be very helpful..
Thanks
new bins are up with fix's on barrywares ftp including 64k cfe updated bins, they are in the normal directory and labeled correctly.. I will try to put the 64k in the separate directory once the roll finishes uploading.
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2013 19:03 Post subject: Re: What is "CFE" and how upgrade it to 1.0.3?
anargiros wrote:
Thireus wrote:
Alright, so even with old firmwares I only managed to install the initial 18702 version. And in fact the problem was not coming from here...
The trick was to install tomato and then upgrade to DDWRT
Here are the full steps that worked for me (I wrote those steps at the same time I was installing DDWRT, so I didn't missed anything ):
--- FIRST OF ALL ALWAYS USE FIREFOX, NOT CHROME (causing caching issues) ---
Step #0:
- Use a static IP adress. 192.168.1.12 for example.
- From the latest Asus Firmware installed on your router: Upgrade CFE 1.0.3!!! TO BE DONE ONLY ONCE... NO WAY BACK!!!
Step #1:
- Reset NVRAM: just press the WPS button 5 seconds while your router boots. (yep no need to do the 30/30/30 old trick...). Then wait till the router reboot.
- Put the router in recovery mode: Press the reset button 10 seconds while your router boots.
- Go to http://192.168.1.1/ YES GUYS, THIS IS REAL, YOU NOW HAVE A WEB INTERFACE IN RECOVERY MODE ON NEW ROUTERS XD... You need to be fast to access this web interface... most of the time you'll miss it (yeah there's an access timing delay or unique session protection, whatever, dunno exactly, but you have to rush). If you do not have access to this page... then repeat this step again... and again... and again... (YEAH sometimes you'll have to repeat it 5 times till it works, 'cause you're fucking too slow).
- Now that you have access to the http://192.168.1.1/ page (WOoOW CONGRATULATION YOU MADE IT!!!!)... restore to RT-N66U_3.0.0.4_260.trx (this step is not required, but just in case... follow it).
- Put the router in recovery mode: Press the reset button 10 seconds while your router boots.
- Go to http://192.168.1.1/ and restore to tomato-K26USB-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-097-Tor-VPN-64K.trx.
NOW WAIT FOR THIS MESSAGE:
Receive file size=8081473
Upload completed. System is going to reboot.
Please wait a few moments.
The button power button will stop blinking when the upload is finished... Then you need to wait till the router reboots by itself... between 3 and 10 minutes (yeah that sucks)... just in case you don't want to wait starring at the router's leds: ping 192.168.1.1, if you got a reply then the router has rebooted and is up and running .
I noticed that the router's reboot is very sneaking and quick...
Once the router has rebooted, it will have some more configuration work to do, so be patient (this step should take 25 seconds...).
The router will then reboot once again (all leds will flash at the same time), this time the WiFi leds (2.4Ghz and 5Ghz) will be on... and if you scan your WiFi network you'll see Tomato24 and Tomato50 access points.
NOTE: I had troubles accessing the Tomato router via Ethernet, so I decided to access the router configuration via WiFi.
Step #2:
- Go to Tomato admin panel.
- Verify that we have 64KB of NVRAM:
Status -> Overview :
Total / Free NVRAM: 64.00 KB / 22.36 KB (34.94%)
YAY \o/
- Go to Administration --> Upgrade
- Tick the box "After flashing, erase all data in NVRAM memory"
- Upload dd-wrt.v24-20202_NEWD_2_K2.6_mega-RT-N66_64K.trx (from Fractal)
- Wait... the timer should stop at about 0:56.
- The router will reboot by itself... and the router will not ping anymore (Ethernet).
- Wait for the router to reboot, you'll see in your Wireless network list "ddwrt" \o/. All WiFi router's leds will be on.
Step #3:
- Reboot in recovery mode
- Do a NVRAM commit from the http://192.168.1.1/ panel (yeah that fucking web panel again...)
- Reboot the router USING THE http://192.168.1.1/ panel.
Step #4:
ENJOY YOUR DDWRT ROUTER
First of all many thanks for your information. I followed all the procedure as you describe it , but at the final step my rt-n66u cannot be recognized either from ethernet or wireless. I managed to install succesfully the tomato-K26USB-1.28.RT-N5x-MIPSR2-097-Tor-VPN-64K.trx , but when I tried to install dd-wrt , for a moment i saw the wireless signal "dd-wrt" but after a few seconds dissapeared.
The only thing i cant understand about the procedure, is the "STEP #0". I dont understand what is the "CFE" and how upgrade it to 1.0.3.
If you could give me some more information about how to upgrade CFE , it would be very helpful..
Thanks
To upgrade CFE from 32 to 64 visit this site, it has step by step and I can help you with this if you need it.
I have a stock RT-N66U here and I'd like to upgrade to the latest DD-WRT. Following the steps here, it says I should download Merlin and upgrade to CFE v.1.0.1.3. It is at that step I am lost as it redirects you to smallnetbuilder, and it involves doing some telnet/SSH. I've only down telnet once thanks to Fractal, and I have no clue where to do it or how to do it again..
Right now, I have both the latest stock firmware, Merlin firmware, and DD-WRT firmware downloaded. Am I reading it right that I don't need to follow charleswilkinson, and I can just upgrade to latest stock ASUS firmware, then latest DD-WRT with 64k CFE from here? _________________ ASUS RT-N66U
Build 21402 mega 64K CFE
I have a stock RT-N66U here and I'd like to upgrade to the latest DD-WRT. Following the steps here, it says I should download Merlin and upgrade to CFE v.1.0.1.3. It is at that step I am lost as it redirects you to smallnetbuilder, and it involves doing some telnet/SSH. I've only down telnet once thanks to Fractal, and I have no clue where to do it or how to do it again..
Right now, I have both the latest stock firmware, Merlin firmware, and DD-WRT firmware downloaded. Am I reading it right that I don't need to follow charleswilkinson, and I can just upgrade to latest stock ASUS firmware, then latest DD-WRT with 64k CFE from here?
That's wrong. If you don't do the cfe conversion and you flash a dd-wrt 64k build you will brick the router.
new bins are up with fix's on barrywares ftp including 64k cfe updated bins, they are in the normal directory and labeled correctly.. I will try to put the 64k in the separate directory once the roll finishes uploading.
-Fractal
I'm about to upload your new build to my router that I've been running Tomato 1.28 by Shibby. Do you know if the USB issues have been resolved? I remember I didn't go the dd-wrt route because there was issue with the USB connection.
\o/. All WiFi router's leds will be on.