RT-N66U - Which firmware?

[Ralze]

Hey guys,
I've browsed these forums lots of times since I first bought my router well over a year ago. Every time I have some minor issue I look to see if I should update my firmware. However, I've never seen anything that appears solid from what everybody has posted (Granted, I am just casually looking and am not a regular. So there are chance I might have missed something.).

ANYWAY, I have never upgraded the firmware on my router since I bought it. So it is still sporting 3.0.0.4.260. Well, I've noticed lately some slowness when trying to transfer files over the wireless network between devices. Also, my laptop (Samsung RV510) will have issues connecting to the router. Sometimes it will connect but I won't have internet ability, or I get "limited connectivity", or it won't recognize my network, and then sometimes it is just ok. I updated the drivers for my wireless card. However, that didn't 100% correct the issue. So now I am wondering if upping the firmware will help.

Which leads me to this post. I have NO CLUE which firmware to install. I am WAY behind both the official release and Merlin's. So I was curious if you guys could lead me to the most stable release available (whether official or Merlin). Or should I just keep trucking along with what I have. I live in a two story home with the router on the east end of the first floor. So I'm hoping to retain the range in it. I also have two hard-drives plugged into the USB ports for backup and what not, so need to ensure those continue to work. Basically though, I have everything set to default values and haven't modified much over setting up my wireless networks (reg and 5g). Thanks a lot!

 

[wouterv]

Do you have the source file for firmware 3.0.0.4.260?
This would be handy to easily revert back to it when version experiments do not work out well.
General rule is to not change a winning team, or if you do not run into big issues, leave the firmware as it is.

Degradation of wireless connections are not allways related to your equipment, good chance that a neighbor installed wireless equipment and cause interference. Use InSSIDer and check the wireless environment, then manually select the least occupied channel out of 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4 GHz and perferably set the bandwidth for 2.4 GHz to 20 MHz.
5 GHz usually doesnt suffer much neighbor disturbance, and can be left to Auto.

If you want to change firmware, I would suggest Asus version 3.0.0.4.276 first, it brings some enhancements that may help you.
Newer Asus 3.0.0.4.3xx versions do use an updated wireless driver that cause problems for some users, for my self the latest 3.0.0.4.374.979 works well.

Alternatively you can experiment with Merlin builds, although in your case I do not see a real reason.

Another thing to keep in mind is after any firmware change: allways revert to factory defaults (even if after the firmware change everything seems to work normal) and configure the router manual again, do NOT load a configuration backup from an other firmware version.

 

[jlake]

And then after you flash .276 and reset to factory defaults, rename your SSIDs to brand new names. Use something you've never used before. Also make sure 2.4 and 5ghz SSIDs are unique/different.

 

[sinshiva]

if you decide to go with asuswrt-merlin, it looks like the new 38 build is seeing excellent results (with the N66, at least) merlin indicated he's going to recompile it tonight with a minor fix, so i'd wait til tomorrow and install that.

[edit/] merlin has announced 38_1 and 38_1-em

 

[Ralze]

Thanks for the suggestions. As I stated I've come here lots of times whenever something was off, but never updated as it was never too horrible. I didn't want to chance breaking something or ending up with worse results.

I'll give 276 a go at first and then if I am still having issues will experiment with one of Merlin's builds. I'll post back my results after a few days. Thanks for the suggestions!