Merlin Asus WRT on R6400v1

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tweakradje
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Merlin Asus WRT on R6400v1

Hi board,

Anyone tried the Merlin Asus WRT firmware already on the R6400v1?

I am using dd-wrt for a year now but now saw that this firmware is available too.

I will try it tomorrow and report back. Looks promissing.

https://upsangel.com/home-security/shadowsocks-vpn-server-on-merlin-r6400-guide/

https://firmware.koolshare.cn/merlin_8wan_firmware/R6400/

 

Cheers

tweakradje
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Wow. After one day messing

Wow. After one day messing around with this Merlin firmware I must say: never back to dd-wrt again. Sorry. Everyting is in there.

I highly recommend the V7.6 firmware. 

Install:

flash initial from dd-wrt or stock: https://firmware.koolshare.cn/merlin_8wan_firmware/R6400/Netgear%20R-series%20initial%20files/R6400_380.63_2_X7.2.1.chk

telnet (putty) to 192.168.1.1

login admin/admin

nvram clear + reboot

again login

nvram set NOASUS=0
nvram commit
reboot
 
flash 7.6 firmware
 
Enjoy!
tweakradje
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Back to OFW and then dd-wrt

Back to OFW and then dd-wrt again. My son experienced xbox connection lost with Rainbow Six Siege servers. Pitty. 

 

tweakradje
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More info about this fw in

More info about this fw in this chinese forum: http://koolshare.cn/thread-72576-1-1.html

tweakradje
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Did another try with this

Did another try with this firmware. Now on version 7.5 and that is stable. My advise is to use version 7.5.

https://firmware.koolshare.cn/merlin_8wan_firmware/R6400/X7.5/R6400_380.66_4-X7.5-610.trx

Cheers

TechnicalMarvel
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very intrigued by this,

very intrigued by this, however its all a bit confusing with the translations google is providing.  could you post a quick step by step here so i can do this successfully

tweakradje
tweakradje's picture
Well it is very easy to

Well it is very easy to install if you have dd-wrt already running. First make a proper backup of your current dd-wrt configuration!

Install Asus Merlin

flash initial from dd-wrt or stock: https://firmware.koolshare.cn/merlin_8wan_firmware/R6400/Netgear%20R-series%20initial%20files/R6400_380.63_2_X7.2.1.chk (note this is CHK file, flash with "clear settings" checked!)

wait for 3-5 minutes and connect to open "NETGEAR" wifi

telnet (putty.exe) to 192.168.1.1

login admin/admin

nvram clear + reboot

again login

nvram set NOASUS=0
nvram commit
reboot
 
 
That is it. Now configure it.There are plenty sites with tutorials about Merlin. Wiki: https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/wiki
One tip: enable /jffs for scripts and other features!
 
 
Back to stock
 
If you want to go back to Asus stock (OFW) just flash this from Asus Merlin: https://firmware.koolshare.cn/merlin_8wan_firmware/R6400/Merlin%20to%20OFW/R6400_to_OFW.trx
 
 
TechnicalMarvel
TechnicalMarvel's picture
didnt need to do any

didnt need to do any telnetting, it just worked once i entered my isp's login details  didnt need to do any nvram setting either! win!

tweakradje
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Well you don't understand the

Well you don't understand the meaning of the NOASUS setting. Try and see what happens after reboot :)

TechnicalMarvel
TechnicalMarvel's picture
why dont you just tell me

why dont you just tell me what it does, so i can decide its worth it or not?

tweakradje
tweakradje's picture
I have registered a free ddns

I have registered a free ddns with changeip.com and added this script to update my wan ip to my registered domain.

/jffs/scripts/ddns-start

#!/bin/sh
USERNAME="a user name" # Your username
PASSWORD="a password" # Your password
HOSTNAME="someting.freeddns.com" # Your DNS hostname
IP=$(wget -O - -q http://myip.dnsomatic.com/)
sleep 3
curl -fs -o /dev/null "https://nic.changeip.com/nic/update?u=${USERNAME}&p=${PASSWORD}&hostname=${HOSTNAME}&myip=${IP}"
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
  /sbin/ddns_custom_updated 1
else
  /sbin/ddns_custom_updated 0
fi
 
Enable DDNS in WAN > DDNS, select custom, this will run the ddns-start script.
 
 
For performance and ad blocking some other changes to the /jffs/scripts/wan-start script:
 
#!/bin/sh
dbus fire onwanstart
/usr/bin/plugin.sh start
 
### Tweakradje below added lines ###
# get ad blocking hosts file and overwrite system's hosts, restart dnsmasq
sleep 5
wget -qO- http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt|grep "^0.0.0.0" >> /tmp/etc/hosts
killall -HUP dnsmasq
 
# tweak RAM management, we have plenty of it so use it for caching
echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/vfs_cache_pressure
echo 1000 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_low_latency
echo 16384 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_max_tw_buckets #4096
 
for f in /sys/block/mtd*/queue/nr_requests ; do echo 256 > $f ; done
for f in /sys/block/mtd*/queue/read_ahead_kb ; do echo 256 > $f ; done
for f in /sys/block/mtd*/queue/rq_affinity ; do echo 1 > $f ; done
for f in /sys/block/mtd*/queue/scheduler ; do echo cfq > $f ; done
 
And many more things but maybe later...
NovaChild
NovaChild's picture
I'm trying this now, but it

I'm trying this now, but it looks like the back_to_ofw.trx file isn't downloading for me? Would the one provided by shibby for Tomato work?

tweakradje
tweakradje's picture
When you are on this Merlin

When you are on this Merlin based R6400 firmware the back_to_ofw.trx should work. I have tried it already.

You get stock Netgear fw again.

tweakradje
tweakradje's picture
More nice features!

More nice features!

tweakradje
tweakradje's picture
To enabled LEDS read this in

To enabled LEDS read this in the wiki. Ik works. https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/wiki/Scheduled-LED-control

In short:

nvram set led_disable=0
nvram commit
service restart_leds
 
Cheers
tweakradje
tweakradje's picture
My /jffs/scripts/ddns-start

My /jffs/scripts/ddns-start script:

#!/bin/sh
 
USERNAME="a username" # Your username
PASSWORD="a password" # Your password
HOSTNAME="register ddns at changeip.com" # Your DNS hostname
 
IP=$(wget -O - -q http://myip.dnsomatic.com/)
sleep 3
 
curl -fs -o /dev/null "https://nic.changeip.com/nic/update?u=${USERNAME}&p=${PASSWORD}&hostname=${HOSTNAME}&myip=${IP}"
 
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
  /sbin/ddns_custom_updated 1
else
  /sbin/ddns_custom_updated 0
fi
 
 
DDNS is needed for proper OpenVPN connection to your Router. I use OpenVPN with tcp on port 443.
This will get me through any firewall, on any wifi network, and connect my phone with my home network.
 
Cheers
 
yecarrillo
yecarrillo's picture
Somebody here tested this

Somebody here tested this chinese Leap_ahead build on R6400 version 2? I´m afraid to brick my router.

tweakradje
tweakradje's picture
There is a little risk.

There is a little risk. Although soc is newer revision at higher freq. In worst case you need to use tftp and ethernet cable to roll back to stock firmware.

You cannot completely brick it with flashing wrong firmware. But that depends on your skills to revive it with tftp.

More about tftp recovery: https://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Tftp_flash

 

shr3nron
shr3nron's picture
Hi.

Hi.

Is anybody using version 7.7 ?

​Is ther a big difrence between 7.5 or 7.6 ? I dont know chinese so cant tell what changed in this builds.

tweakradje
tweakradje's picture
New firmware V 7.8 download

New firmware V 7.8 download link here:  http://firmware.koolshare.cn/merlin_8wan_firmware/R6400/X7.8/R6400_380.69_2-X7.8-ks.trx

Changelog: https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/blob/master/Changelog.txt#L4-L107

Have not tried it myself. I am still stable on 7.5 !!!

 

tweakradje
tweakradje's picture
New Firmware V 7.9 is out.

New Firmware V 7.9 is out. Download link:

https://firmware.koolshare.cn/Koolshare_Merlin_Legacy_380/Netgear/R6400/...

Last in the 380. Now focus on 384. May take a while.

https://firmware.koolshare.cn/Koolshare_Merlin_New_Gen_384/

Cheers

pilotdog68
pilotdog68's picture
I would like to try the 7.5

I would like to try the 7.5 since it is stable, but the chk file link is just a 404 for me. Any new links/mirrors?

Tarnak
Tarnak's picture
Seems links were repositioned

Seems links were repositioned, new links are in

https://firmware.koolshare.cn/Koolshare_Merlin_Legacy_380/Netgear/

Mentioned ithis in other topic.

 

jspace
jspace's picture
Thank you "tweakradje" for

Thank you "tweakradje" for your posts!

I'm using the version 7.9 already for a week and is working everything fine smiley

On version 7.9 don't works and don't need telnet commands to enable the Asus features (nvram set NOASUS=0).
To enable Asus features is now more easy, from router web gui: Tools -> Other settings -> Asus Features (at the bottom of the page) -> Enable BWDPI: Yes / Enable AiCloud: Yes -> Apply -> Reboot

Haldi
Haldi's picture
How is the 2.4ghz performance

How is the 2.4ghz performance?

I read somewhere that on the R6400v1 Wlan drivers are somewhat closed source and only kong mod has managed to fully utilize 2.4ghz, even Tomato has bad performance.

In my case with advanced tomato i reach a maximum of 100mbit/s with iperf.

firespamtrap
firespamtrap's picture
I wonder if anyone can help

I wonder if anyone can help me.  I had DD-wrt (Kong) and wanted to try Merlin.  I have R6400v1.

I used https://firmware.koolshare.cn/merlin_8wan_firmware/R6400/Netgear%20R-series%20initial%20files/R6400_380.63_2_X7.2.1.chk to flash first.  This seemed to go OK but I am unable to go any furthersad

My old SSID is still working even though I asked to reset defaults in flash page on dd-wrt.  The router has rebooted and when I connect to wireless SSID I can get out to the internet.

I have tried connecting via browser and via putty on address.  I know this address is OK as arp shows the MAC adress on the IP to 10DA43 which is a netgear MAC.  I can ping and get a response from the router.  I can telnet OK to the router and can use the old username/password combo to get in.

I have an nvram backup of DD-wrt taken prior to flashing first chk file.  As I have a working INternet connection, I want to check what others think the possibilities are before continuing.

Thanks in advance

firespamtrap
firespamtrap's picture
Had to do a hard reset and I

Had to do a hard reset and I now have 7.5 working.  I tried 7.9 but it failed.  Tried to do firmware upload from 7.5 as well and it says unsuccessful.

I have checked the MD5/SHA1 has and they check out so the file has downloaded ok.

Will keep trying to see what happens.

jspace
jspace's picture
"R6400_380.70_0-X7.9.chk"

"R6400_380.70_0-X7.9.chk" (file extension .chk) is to upload the Merlin firmware direcly fom the original Netgear's stock firmware. If you have already the Merlin firmware installed on your R6400 you should use the file with .trx extension:

https://firmware.koolshare.cn/Koolshare_Merlin_Legacy_380/Netgear/R6400/...

jspace
jspace's picture
Updated link "R6400_380.70_0

Updated link "R6400_380.70_0-X7.9-koolshare.trx"

https://firmware.koolshare.cn/Koolshare_Merlin_Legacy_380/Netgear/R6400/...

jspace
jspace's picture
V 7.9.1 download links:
tweakradje
tweakradje's picture
Thx for the update notice.

Thx for the update notice. Checngelog here: http://koolshare.cn/thread-139324-1-1.html

Only change from 7.9 is the Koolshare store part. Backup your /jffs, update to 7.9.1, format /jffs and restore /jffs if you want to update. I don't use that part so no update for me. Happy with 7.9 :)

 

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