I'm considering an open source firmware in the hopes that it will solve a problem I've had with my R6400 since day 1.
The 5GHz signal keeps disappearing. I can't connect even when it's up, but if I use a WiFi monitor utility, I can see the signal pop up to -60db or -70db, and then drop to zero. It seems to do this within seconds sometimes. In the online support at Netgear, there doesn't seem to be a solution that has been confirmed. One possibility is to downgrade the firmware to the oldest available online. I haven't tried that yet.
The other solution appears to be to flash DD-WRT. That leads me to a few questions before I spend an afternoon testing possible solutions.
1) If I flash an open source firmware, how do I revert to a factory version if I don't like the open source package?
2) Has anyone experienced bad behaviour with the 5GHz band, and did DD-WRT resolve the issue?
3) DD-WRT or Tomato?
TIA
Michael
I can only speak about Tomato, but quite a few people have reported bad range on the R6400 while on the Tomato firmware. As for going back to stock from DD-WRT, you need to flash a "back to stock" image. I don't know if DD-WRT provides that as I've never used it myself, but Tomato provides it
Original firmware is available here...
http://downloadcenter.netgear.com/en/product/R6400#searchResults
To switch to netgear firmware from dd-wrt you just have to upload the netgear fw through the dd-wrt webif, it is as simple as flashing an update. After you flashed back you have to use the reset button in order to clear dd-wrt settings.
I tried the tomatoe firmware for the R6400 and it's not working out for me. No internet connection at all.
Trying to flash back to Original firmware 1.0.1.6 from Netgear site but get /tmp/flashQeG6sO: Bad trx header.
What am I missing here?
Tomato cannot flash directly back to Netgear firmware. You must instead do it indirectly, by first flashing a DD-WRT image from Tomato, and then flashing the Netgear firmware from DD-WRT. Do a factory-reset from the menu before/after each of those steps.