Flash or not to flash

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Dutchable
Dutchable's picture
Flash or not to flash

Hi,

I am looking at upgrading my wifi router for something that should cover my whole house and more reliable and faster connection.

From the reviews it seems that this R8000 tops the routers as well as it would set me up for a few years to come, would that be fair to assume?

The question is whether to buy one and flash it myself or pay the premium of having it sent to me me already flashed.

Could any one advice which way to go? How hard/easy is it to do it myself? I have always flashed my bios on laptops and routerm but with the manufacturers firmware.

Cheers, Dutchable

Yukon721
Yukon721's picture
If I were you and you want to

If I were you and you want to avoid problems I would stick with the stock firmware on your router.  I learned my lesson after flashing my Netgear R7500 last year with DD WRT. It hasn't worked right since.  Do yourself a favor and DON'T flash it.

bigjohn
bigjohn's picture
flashing is not hard, but do

flashing is not hard, but do try the stock first. Are there reasons you believe you'll want a custom firmware?

tal69
tal69's picture
I agree with both Yukon721

I agree with both Yukon721 and bigjohn.

Thus far the flashing process being utilized here is very simple and reliable. 

Unfortunately there are still lots of issues with the DD-WRT radio management on R8000.  DD-WRT brings many other powerful networking capabilities to these routers but if the Radios are not working right for WiFi then their utility as an AP pointless.

I hope the developers are able to get some support and incentives to get the R8000 working optimally as a DD-WRT device.  However, at this time all three available builds for R8000 are not working well for WiFi.

 

 

Tal69

Mojolacerator2
Mojolacerator2's picture
I have just tried Tathagata

I have just tried Tathagata DD-WRT 27XX build. All I can say to anyone is, in my recent experience, be VERY careful. Radios are quite Wonky. I have gone back to the March 7 - KONG build for my R8000. It is the main gateway and It runs very well(all 3 radios). One of my ap's is an R7000 running mainline DD-WRT, it's two radios are running the same ssid's as the 2.4ghz radio and one of the 5ghz radios on the R8000, and they work together very well.

My personal suggestion is that if you want to run alternative firmware on your R8000, stay with the latest Kong build, it works flawlessly.

tal69
tal69's picture
The latest Kong build here on

The latest Kong build here on Myopenrouter is good but it certainly is not flawless...

 

The Radio management settings for the second 5Ghz radio are problematic and any settings change does not get applied.  There are a few other issues as well but overall it is progressing.

I hope he can find the support to continue his efforts.

Paint
Paint's picture
I recommend flashing. DDWRT

I recommend flashing. DDWRT works really well on this router if you set it up correctly. I wrote up a how-to for the latest Tathagata rev27261

Mojolacerator2
Mojolacerator2's picture
Just an FYI, it doesn't

Just an FYI, it doesn't always work. Tried again, and still have trouble with my browser reaching the internet when connected to any of the 3 radios on the R8000. KONG's build of March 7 works much better.

Paint
Paint's picture
unfortunately nothing is

unfortunately nothing is certain in life. I'm glad kong's build is working for you! I hope he releases a new build soon. 

Mojolacerator2
Mojolacerator2's picture
I'm going to try again in a

I'm going to try again in a bit with an older pc. I'll use your tuitorial again, and see what happens. 

Paint
Paint's picture
let me know your results! 

let me know your results! 

Mojolacerator2
Mojolacerator2's picture
zero success.  

zero success.  

 

back on KONG build 26450, works flawlessly.

sanju_cy
sanju_cy's picture
Earlier I used DD-WRT

Earlier I used DD-WRT Tathagata build revision 25344 and now have been using DD-WRT Tathagata build revision 27261 for the last few weeks and haven't encountered any sort of Radio issues.

The Firmware is quite stable as far as RADIO MANAGEMENT is concerned.

If you have any sort of radio issues, please be specific and let others know the detailed settings and configurations you are using. That would help others to find out the root cause of the problem.

serowoon
serowoon's picture
It hasn't worked right since.

Do you mean that some sort of residue effects of flashing these firmwares can be permanent even when reverted back to its original firmware?

Dutchable
Dutchable's picture
Hi,

Hi,

 

Thanks all for the responses.

I have finally flashed the router with

DD-WRT v24-sp2 (02/26/15) kongac
(SVN revision 26365M)

It is working well for the last few days, however I have now noticed that the ipad, iphone, etc. do not connect to the smart TV, a LG 55LA6230. In other words, with my modem router (no dd-wrt) I can send say a youtube video to the tv without hasle as long as the tv and the ipad are connected to the same network.

I have searched the internet and found the following two answers as to setting up dd-wrt:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=716936

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=161963&postdays=0&postorder...

Would anyone be able to help me out as to how to setup dd-wrt to work? I do not quite understand what they are refering to in the above links and how the setup works?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Regards, Dutchable

 

888sydney
888sydney's picture
Looking for advice on this...

Looking for advice on this....

I have been using stock firmware but wifi on the 5GHz has not been so good....

- Initially, had both 5Ghz using same ssid with smartconnect... after about 1-2+ weeks, notice very bad slow down via wifi (no issue for wired devices)...

Downloads.... ~2Mbps.... instead of ~90Mbps...

- Disabled smartconnect and also disabled 2nd 5Ghz... using only 1st 5GHz (low range) and issue still there....

 

I saw previous posts about possible issues on non-stock firmware wifi but mostly as an AP.

It seems that the latest Kong's firmware is the more stable...

 

My requirements are simple:-

- R8000 as gateway

- SSH & OpenVPN would be a bonus

- No file shares needed

- No DLNA

- Stable 5GHz (both 5GHz would be great)

- 2.5GHz also needed.

- IPoE

- DHCP server

- NAT

 

Thanks