Thanks for compiling this info. My recent experience fixing poor wireless performance is below.
On build 16994_big, my router's wireless would fade down to <5.5Mbit in under 10 minutes. I was setup in Client mode, G-only, 10 'TX power', Ch. 6, SNR ~40. A restart would fix it but not for long. This unit is 12 months old so the hardware >should< be healthy! I have cooled the CPU and switch chip to avoid heat issues.
I have beeen using the same firmware on my Asus RT-N16 since I first flashed DD-WRT. I used the one that was linked to on the wiki. I bet there is some new updates since I installed, so witch firmware is recommended atm? Im not very familiar with the different builds so all help is appreciated.
EDIT: Im currently using DD-WRT v24-sp2 (05/08/11) mega
(SVN revision 16994)
I am using the 16214 BIG build for the RT-N16 and the reason being, I could not figure out how to get NTFS to work on the MEGA. Under the BIG build, I plugged in my 2TB USB Fantom Drive, and it came up and worked perfectly. I did not have to do any optware scripts, or bizarre partitioning. It is just one big NTFS partition.
The only problem I have with 16214 is Logging.
I put a post on the main forum, but no replies.
I cannot get any syslog info after the initial boot
to go to Kiwi or Wallwatcher. I know it is putting info out there because I can do a dmesg and see it.
I know the syslogd is running because I see it in TOP. It also shows messages under the Security tab for Outgoing and Incoming, just nothing gets to Kiwi.
As for TX power "setting", I hesitate to put anything above 17 after reading that it may be DB and not MW. This is scary! Another reason why you should always do a erase nvram I guess. This router runs pretty cool using the 17 setting.
I have an N client that connects properly to this 16214 too, that is about all I can report, I don't have a G to test.
UPDATE:
Did a
erase nvram
reboot
Entered back all my settings, and logging works fine now.
Is this plug-and-play? I also want to setup a NAS, but I'm not sure what build to use, and I want to avoid using Optware and bizarre partitioning if at all possible, as I'm not too familiar with Linux systems. Also, how are you accessing the network drive? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I have a RT-N16 flashed with 16994 Mega (May 8 2011) as a primary and set up a WRT54G v6 flashed with a stable mini build as a wireless repeater. So far it seems to work decent, except it suffers from weak or spotty wireless strength. Some earlier posts in this thread have reported waning wireless strength on 16994 as well. This makes me think that 14929 may be a better build, but other posts have reported router lockups using 14929. Any suggestions?
Thanks for compiling this info. My recent experience fixing poor wireless performance is below.
On build 16994_big, my router's wireless would fade down to <5.5Mbit in under 10 minutes. I was setup in Client mode, G-only, 10 'TX power', Ch. 6, SNR ~40. A restart would fix it but not for long. This unit is 12 months old so the hardware >should< be healthy! I have cooled the CPU and switch chip to avoid heat issues.
Hey hautkarl,
Thanks for this post. I tried 15943-snow and it works perfect. Till I downgraded versions, I was having the same issues as you. I have a 25Mb connection and it was dropping to .2-1 Mb after only a day or less. A daily reboot only helped for a few hours. Now my connection holds stead at 20-25 Mb with no reboots and my wireless is always happy.
This firmware fixed everything for me. Tried to use the latest/greatest firmware with no luck. Downgraded to this and see stability. Also using same settings. Thanks coolcup!
coolcup wrote:
review:
I just installed eko built 15943 mini usb nas on my newly purchase,rt-n16. playing on it for a week. I tend to keep the setup menu simple, so only choose the mini built this time. (i have been using 3rd party mod for yeas and was using more feature builds for previous routers).
special modification:
1.Separated a Lan port for a guest network(it will hook up another AP with QOS in place), some iptables involve.
2.under wireless tab, channel width 40mhz, control channel upper, TX power 16,ACK timing 0
other than the above change, my setting is very standard.
The result is really good for my case. I can achieve 300mbps on wireless download with a 2 years old laptop(N), iphone 4,a 3 years old pc(netgear wn1111 N adapter),and 2 wired PC working at the same time. The web page respond is faster and smoother than my retired wl-500gpv2, dd-wrt on it too. This is really a great upgrade for me.
using Asus RT-N16 with virgin media super hub in modem mode
flashed with dd-wrt.v24-18024_NEWD-2_K2.6_mega.bin
and works well but the download speed has dropped from 100MB DOWN TO 30 Max
so why the big drop, is there any settingsa i need to change to get full speed back again.
with the asus firmware i could achieve full speed but now its cut by 2 thirds
I would try a different build. The latest is not always better. I believe the recommended build is 14929 however I am using 15943 as the recommendation a few posts back. Try one or both of those and report back.
Might be stating the obvious, but since a couple of months Asus have made major UI and functional changes. So large that they in fact are calling the fw ASUSWRT now.
As always sources are posted on their download page.
I bought another one of these routers the other day for my father. I flashed it with the new Asus firmware to see what it was all about. It did look nice. My old USB printer worked with it. However the scanner did not. It recognized my USB ext drive but it only transferred data at 1 Mbs.
At the end, i put ddwrt 15943 on it like mine so I could talk thru any problems he had over the phone.
can someone link me to the best firmware, people are saying the latest is not good, why is that?
i usually always run the latest on older routers i have had.
also what mods do you suggest are worth doing? i have just bought a USB notebook cooler to place underneath the router, it's basically 2 small fans which run off 1 of the USB ports, to help cool it down. i have also just bought a 3A, 12V DC, 2.1mm power supply to help additional power to USB ports and keep it stable.
what about using 3rd party antenna's is that worth doing?
what mode is the best to use? 20hz, 20 and 40hz or just 40hz?
if the asus website says it is an open source router, and they have been updating their own firmware regularly, then what are the advantages/disadvantages of dd-wrt compared to their own open source project?
i know the manufacturer states it can handle 300,000 simultaneous connections, does that mean up to 300,000 peers/seeds on utorrent? i know this number is probably an exaggeration but my old router could only handle 200. how many do you think this one can actually handle?
