Reboot RT-N66U=No Internet

[MoInSTL]

Charter cable, Cisco DPC3208 modem. Running gigabit for NAS, desktop to the router mixed in with other wired devices. Small Asus switch for wired TV and Xbox One. No AC devices. Installed 3.0.0.4.374.43_0 Now, whenever I reboot the router I lose my Internet. I have to unplug the modem, unplug the router, then unscrew the coax on the modem. Prior to this I did not experience this problem. Not sure what is wrong or what to check.

Not ready to try 376. I do recall being very confused by all the iterations when I went to download 374. If someone could point me to the exact latest stable version of 374 on Merlin's github I would greatly appreciate it.

I use a lot of wireless devices and found the router refresh button slow to work, so I reboot to clear the other devices left behind when turned off for example my laptop, tablet, etc.

I play Destiny everyday and while their servers are a mess, I don't experience nearly the amount of problems many players do. I don't use most of the features of my router such as any USB applications. So I am not doing anything fancy.

In the past I have gone a long time without needing to reboot my router but the mess with the Bungie servers led to start rebooting to clear everything and reset my Xbox.

EDIT: The firmware in my sig is what I was using before.

 

[4Leaf]

Charter cable, Cisco DPC3208 modem. Running gigabit for NAS, desktop to the router mixed in with other wired devices. Small Asus switch for wired TV and Xbox One. No AC devices. Installed 3.0.0.4.374.43_0 Now, whenever I reboot the router I lose my Internet. I have to unplug the modem, unplug the router, then unscrew the coax on the modem. Prior to this I did not experience this problem. Not sure what is wrong or what to check.

Not ready to try 376. I do recall being very confused by all the iterations when I went to download 374. If someone could point me to the exact latest stable version of 374 on Merlin's github I would greatly appreciate it.

I use a lot of wireless devices and found the router refresh button slow to work, so I reboot to clear the other devices left behind when turned off for example my laptop, tablet, etc.

I play Destiny everyday and while their servers are a mess, I don't experience nearly the amount of problems many players do. I don't use most of the features of my router such as any USB applications. So I am not doing anything fancy.

In the past I have gone a long time without needing to reboot my router but the mess with the Bungie servers led to start rebooting to clear everything and reset my Xbox.

EDIT: The firmware in my sig is what I was using before.

To me the best firmware build for the rt-n66u is the 35_4-sdk5 merlin build. I find it to be the most stable and overall reliable build for this particular router that I have used. It uses the original sdk5 wireless driver intended for the rt-n66u, so make sure to clear your nvram afterwards if coming from an sdk6 driver build. Just to be safe, you probably should just clear the nvram anyways for optimal performance after switching from any firmware build.

 

[MoInSTL]

To me the best firmware build for the rt-n66u is the 35_4-sdk5 merlin build. I find it to be the most stable and overall reliable build for this particular router that I have used. It uses the original sdk5 wireless driver intended for the rt-n66u, so make sure to clear your nvram afterwards if coming from an sdk6 driver build. Just to be safe, you probably should just clear the nvram anyways for optimal performance after switching from any firmware build.

Thanks for the reply. No idea which sdk I am using.

 

[KevTech]

Thanks for the reply. No idea which sdk I am using.

3.0.0.4.374.43_0 and 374.41 are both sdk6 driver.

I also use 374.35_4-sdk5 but I think you should know that this firmware lacks all of the security fixes that have been applied since 374.35_4-sdk5 was built which was November 2013.

I have everything except the wireless disabled in the router so I will take the risk as 374.35_4-sdk5 (or any sdk5 firmware for that matter) run perfectly for me. Any sdk6 build I try to use has connection issues on one or more of my wifi devices.

 

[ScottW]

DHCP Query Frequency

Since you are using Charter, be sure the "DHCP query frequency" on the WAN page is set to "Normal" and NOT "Aggressive." Having it set to "Aggressive" could definitely cause the exact problem you describe.

If your firmware version doesn't have the "Normal" and "Aggressive" DHCP query options, then upgrade to a newer version. RMerlin firmwares have had this option for quite a while, and I *think* the more recent stock firmwares incorporated it as well.

For more background, search the forum for "Charter DHCP Aggressive" and you'll find a bunch of discussions on people losing WAN if Charter sees "too many DHCP requests in too short a period". The "Normal" setting reduces DHCP query frequency and avoids the issue.

 

[MoInSTL]

Thanks. DHCP query has been set to Normal for quite sometime. I don't know if it matters, but before I was using Uverse and had the gateway set to close as could be done bridge mode. Since the St. Louis market can get 100 down from Charter for about the same price, I switched. I actually pull 108 down according to speedtest.net

I guess I will go back to 374.35_4-sdk5. I was reading the forum on a regular basis before Destiny. My phone and tablet both got the Lollipop upgrade on top of learning a new job which I was promoted to so I am on information overload. KeyTech, thanks for including November. That helped a lot. Since I am not using any USB application and other settings disabled, I am not worried.

EDIT: I downloaded from the readme this: Asuswrt-Merlin - build 3.0.0.4.374.35_4 (30-Nov-2013). Cleared NVRAM and have everything re-configured. Reboot worked! Not sure if it was the prior firmware or clearing the NVRAM but it worked! Thanks to everyone who replied.