Which firmware for Rt-ac66u and Xbox 360

[Lethasniper007]

I just bought the asus RT-AC66U and it came with a old stock firmware of 3004 376 2524. Now should I upgrade to a newer firmware from asus.com or from asuswrt Merlin ? What I need is the best performance for online gaming on the 360 and the Xbox one with open NAT. Any help would be great thanks.

 

[john9527]

I just bought the asus RT-AC66U and it came with a old stock firmware of 3004 376 2524. Now should I upgrade to a newer firmware from asus.com or from asuswrt Merlin ? What I need is the best performance for online gaming on the 360 and the Xbox one with open NAT. Any help would be great thanks.

I would definitely recommend to move to the current Merlin based build. Asus OEM FW is still using miniupnpd 1.4 vs the release 1.9 included by Merlin. The later release does better at handling the Xbox port forwarding, and it has been reported to help if there are multiple Xbox all asking for the same ports.

 

[Lethasniper007]

Where do I download the firmware from? Is it from the asus website?

 

[john9527]

In the Asuswrt-Merlin forum....

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=21483

And I'll mention, if you have problems on the latest level, you could also try my fork which also has the latest miniupnpd.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=18914

 

[Lethasniper007]

Can these firmwares be flashed back to original asus stock firmware if needed or will it mess up the warranty

 

[john9527]

Yes, you can flash back to Asus OEM from either firmware (they are both essentially the Asus firmware with some extra features/fixes). You need to do a 'Reset to factory defaults' and re-enter any custom configurations you have done after you load the new firmware.

 

[Lethasniper007]

How do I do a factory reset? And will I need the latest firmware before I use the Merlin one?

 

[john9527]

You can load either of the firmware levels directly from where you are now.

To do a factory reset, got to the 'Administration - Restore/Save/Upload Setting' page on the router and you will see the button for a factory default - restore.

The interface will look just like what you have now, since the Merlin code is built off of the OEM code.

 

[Lethasniper007]

I'm sorry but if your saying this firmware is almost like the one from asus how will the Merlin firmware be better for online gaming ?

 

[john9527]

I'm sorry but if your saying this firmware is almost like the one from asus how will the Merlin firmware be better for online gaming ?

See post #2 for an example.....the user interface is the same.....under the covers there are additional fixes.

If you have concerns moving off of the official ASUS code stream, maybe you would be best served by staying with the ASUS code initially and seeing how things perform for you. Then decide if you would like to try something different.

 

[Lethasniper007]

Okay you said somthing regarding the Merlin based build that you would recommend for the Xbox 360 would you have the direct link for that firmware please. Sorry I'm a noob when it comes to things like this.