Author Topic: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution  (Read 162617 times)

JacobD84

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #15 on: March 31, 2014, 08:34:45 AM »
Another update r23838 is now available at...

If you find r23720 stable there is probably no point in upgrading though ;)

ftp://dd-wrt.com/betas/2014/03-29-2014-r23838/buffalo_wzr_hp_g450h/

Eastmarch

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #16 on: April 03, 2014, 02:21:06 PM »
Biggest thing to remember about 'official Buffalo' DD-WRT firmware is that it is certified to not brick your router. All development was done by the DD-WRT community, and any bugs that may exist were both created by that community and will be resolved by that community. That flexibility and ultimately responsibility is one of the beauties of DD-WRT.

DD-WRT isn't really a commoditized router platform that goes through the niceties of exhaustive QA and is given to you at nice regular intervals all ready to install at the click of an .exe. New builds could possibly introduce new bugs, and installation isn't always simple.

You guys have the right idea - if there is a community build that works better for you than the one that came with the router, then it is your choice whether to try it out or not. Without it being thoroughly tested, it has the possibility of causing issues, but it could also be just what you wanted.
**A single copy of data, even on a RAID array, is NOT a backup! Hard drive failure is not a question of IF, but WHEN! Don't take my word for it, take Google's!**

davisdmg2

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #17 on: April 04, 2014, 08:31:15 AM »
Biggest thing to remember about 'official Buffalo' DD-WRT firmware is that it is certified to not brick your router. All development was done by the DD-WRT community, and any bugs that may exist were both created by that community and will be resolved by that community. That flexibility and ultimately responsibility is one of the beauties of DD-WRT.

DD-WRT isn't really a commoditized router platform that goes through the niceties of exhaustive QA and is given to you at nice regular intervals all ready to install at the click of an .exe. New builds could possibly introduce new bugs, and installation isn't always simple.

You guys have the right idea - if there is a community build that works better for you than the one that came with the router, then it is your choice whether to try it out or not. Without it being thoroughly tested, it has the possibility of causing issues, but it could also be just what you wanted.

You are right.

The problem here is that Buffalo stopped the support in our router model. I bought this router for 80€ thinking that buffalo was a good company that gives full support to its products. but I found a TOTALLY outdated firmware and the new that they wont update it nevermore.

I'm a developer and I know that it is not so hard to keep the firmware updated with the updates from ddwrt...

bohdee

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #18 on: April 24, 2014, 07:42:34 AM »
Great topic, very useful!

JacobD84

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #19 on: April 24, 2014, 01:57:51 PM »
Thanks BohDee, i'm glad people are finding it useful  :D

Latest release is now r23919.

As usual, please only update if you actually need to, i haven't found any issues so far though  ;)

r23919 ftp://dd-wrt.com/betas/2014/04-18-2014-r23919/buffalo_wzr_hp_g450h/

bohdee

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #20 on: April 24, 2014, 02:52:54 PM »
Thanks BohDee, i'm glad people are finding it useful  :D

Latest release is now r23919.

As usual, please only update if you actually need to, i haven't found any issues so far though  ;)

r23919 ftp://dd-wrt.com/betas/2014/04-18-2014-r23919/buffalo_wzr_hp_g450h/

A doubt, I can use a configuration file 20025 firmware in one of the latest alternative releases ? Or will I have to reconfigure it?

JaniN83

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #21 on: April 24, 2014, 11:12:01 PM »
A doubt, I can use a configuration file 20025 firmware in one of the latest alternative releases ? Or will I have to reconfigure it?

I'd also like to know this. Also, is it recommended to use this firmware and what are the benefits of it? Better performance..?

JacobD84

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #22 on: April 25, 2014, 08:55:13 AM »
Sorry guys, !!DO NOT USE OLD CONFIG FILES WITH NEW VERSIONS!! whilst they may appear to work there can be hidden problems that wont manifest until after some use, also, old configs can brick the router.

For example, DD-WRT services change occasionally, if you have set a configuration for something that is later removed, or has its behaviour changed, then it can confuse things... A LOT of changes have been modified since r20025... It's nearly 4,000 revisions out of date!

If you want to risk it, you're welcome to try, but i personally would resort to pen and paper for remembering config version to version and updating ONLY when you need to fix a problem.

The post r20025 firmwares fix a lot of issues with the Buffalo version and i have improved performance drastically simply by updating, but if everything works for you, please do not update... Sometimes reliability is better than burst or maximum throughput...

As to features, there are several service improvements and config additions to the standard Buffalo firmware, some may be useful to you, others may not... Biggest fixes for me were for SAMBA and the NAS features... I also have more options under Wireless Advanced settings and some nice ad-blocking and filtering functions under services too...
« Last Edit: April 25, 2014, 09:01:24 AM by JacobD84 »

bohdee

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #23 on: April 25, 2014, 09:28:49 AM »
Thanks buddy, in terms of power signal will have no gain then? Moreover the 20025 is serving me well, I do not use Samba or NAS, you do not recommend me update in this case?

JacobD84

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #24 on: April 25, 2014, 11:35:37 AM »
What kind of power gain you are trying to achieve depends on your settings; for example, are you trying to increase the routers connective range, or increase it's stability across a short range?

Also bear in mind something as simple as carefully planning the three external antenna's direction and orientation can affect the units effectiveness and range tremendously. For example, two of the three antennae on my unit are angled to cover a noisy spot that the central heating combi-boiler and power supply create in the house more efficiently... The third antennae is angled and rotated to point in the opposite direction and across the garden!

I posted my "best" all-round settings a page back, but here they are again under r23838. All are under Wireless-->Advanced Settings.

Setup this way i can quite happily reach my G450H from a distance of 46M with no drop in connection and through four internal 4" thick walls, 1 external dual-brick insulated wall and across an open garden... I'm lucky to live in an area with little or no background noise (from power-lines or industrial/urban build up) though...

If everything works for you under 20025 i really would take the "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" approach and not update.

However, if you see something in the 4,000+ revisions since 20025 by browsing the DD-WRT changelog on their development site then i highly recommend any one of the past three builds (r23720, r23838, r23919) as they have all been incredibly stable for me and connections have been perfect across aforementioned distance with no dropped packets!

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« Last Edit: April 25, 2014, 11:38:28 AM by JacobD84 »

JaniN83

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #25 on: April 26, 2014, 01:59:08 AM »
So when upgrading, it's best to reset to factory defaults first? Or is there an option to do so when starting the flashing?

JackBell

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #26 on: April 26, 2014, 03:12:26 AM »
Here are the steps I just took:
reset router (hard 30/30/30)
logged into default UI, initialized
reset again (30/30/30)
logged into default UI
select initialize
...during the reboot, tftp r23919...
and then problem: attempt 1 turns into attempt 2 and eventually around attempt 5 or 6, the reboot is finished. Not getting the vanilla DDWRT UI.

Did I miss something?

JacobD84

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #27 on: April 28, 2014, 10:08:57 AM »
@JaniN83 There is an option to reset to factory defaults via a dropdown menu under the firmware ugrade tab of the Administration Settings "After flashing, reset to..."

If you really want to try to keep your settings between updates obviously leave it alone, but i really recommend resetting between updates as only the Older Buffalo DD-WRT versions are guaranteed not to brick your router by keeping the same settings between updates...

@JackBell If you are moving from the buffalo firmware to use vanilla DD-WRT for the first time use the factory-to-ddwrt version of the chosen revision; for example ftp://dd-wrt.com/betas/2014/04-18-2014-r23919/buffalo_wzr_hp_g450h/wzr_hp_g450h-factory-to-ddwrt.bin and NOT the webupgrade_MULTI version... Also, unless you are 100% confident using telnet/tftp to upgrade, use the built in upgrade dialogue as mentioned in my message to JaniN83 above... IIRC all the upgrade functions are at the same location under the old Buffalo DD-WRT revisions as they are in current Vanillla DD-WRT builds...

JaniN83

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #28 on: April 28, 2014, 11:27:31 AM »
Thank you for the info. If for some reason I'd like to revert back to 20025 version, can I?

JacobD84

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Re: Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution
« Reply #29 on: April 28, 2014, 11:47:35 AM »
@JaniN83 Yes, you can do, simply obtain the 20025 firmware bin and "upgrade" using that file, the unit should revert... It's unlikely you'll need to do that though ;)
(I've only done it to test it out)

You can also use Wendell Pinegar's decrypted Buffalo 20025 firmware on this SkyDrive... http://sdrv.ms/11qGrlG that will allow you to go forwards again to Vanilla DD-WRT in the future without having to use the factory-to-ddwrt versions from the link in my previous post... As usual, whilst this may be a "Buffalo" firmware, it's been modified by another DD-WRT user, so it DOES NOT have any Buffalo guarantee or support... It just gives you 20025 without being bound to Buffalo firmwares again...