[GrayOne]

I setup two TL-WR841N V9s with WDS following this guide:

https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/WDS#Qualcomm_Atheros_Based_Devices

I'm running the most recent build (Jan 31) on both routers and reset before starting this process.

WDS seems to work fine if I just ping or browse the web, but as soon as I do something bandwidth intensive, like Netflix, YouTube, downloading a large file, the station will crash within 1-3 minutes.

I've tried several Jan 2018 builds, resetting each time, and everyone crashes.

The base is fine and doesn't crash.

Is there some sort of limitation, like I can't use WPA2/AES or I can't use Wide HT40 or something like that, making this crash?

[the_laughing_man]

I think you are correct in that you are hitting some sort of limit client side. I read that with those routers that you can manage and allocate bandwidth on a per device basis so maybe dig into your settings and see if you can adjust that value? Sorry I'm not much help but I am a DD-WRT n00b as well.

[msoengineer]

This is a very low horse power router that only has a 10/100 switch and the cpu handles Wan, Lan, & WiFi at the same time (Stresses the CPU). While it can support HT40, Phones & tablets won't be able to take advantage of HT40 in 2.4ghz; so that it plays nice with neighbors WiFi. Only laptops will be able to use HT40 and it will need to be an Intel chipset or QCA chipset; broadcom will cause flakiness too (iOS/Apple). This means the best you'll get is 144.4Mbps under HT20. But you're not going to win any speed contests with that QCA9533 cpu for WAN to LAN/Wifi.

Try to switch to HT20 and follow my recommended wifi settings link in my signature. Your router only has 2.4ghz, so ignore the 5ghz section. Also, I doubt there will be a turboqam 256 option, but if there is, turn it off on this router.


This is a $20 router...don't expect any high performance out of it... I'm not surprised if the thing crashes from stressing the CPU. I wouldn't expect this router to be able to hit anything over 50-60Mbps for DL speed. I would say this router is ok up to 30 Mbps service.

EDIT-
IF you're doing WDS you're going to cut bandwith in half, This is leaving you with like 15Mbps DL WAN side, at best, for throughput....depending on what you're streaming/quality, its no wonder if things are crashing. Again, these don't have enough oomph for today's real broadband speeds...

[ian5142]

Most likely it is running out of RAM which would cause a reboot. As the post above suggested, get a better router.

Don't worry about the half bandwidth issue. WDS is the next best thing short of getting a dual-band router (one band for WDS, the other for AP) or running an ethernet cable. I know, in the summer I use a fairly extended WDS network, with a Archer C7 v2 acting as the main (no NAT, just WDS AP mode). Most of my routers will be stable for at least a week uptime, even my low-powered 841ND v8. Just don't expect a low powered router like that to handle a ton of clients or a ton of bandwidth.

5GHz band is not the be all and end all that some people make it out to be. Range is really limited, about half of what 2.4GHz band is for most routers. I use 5GHz for devices that support it but the limited range means I can't really use it for the WDS link. In my location, it would literally mean putting a router every ~50-75ft, that is not reasonable. Currently, most of my routers are ~150ft apart.