Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H Post 20025 Firmware Solution

[JacobD84]

Does r26081 address the timezone issue?

Sadly i've never been able to replicate the timezone issue, only report that some people have had it, so it doesn't appear on my US/UK/EU routers; if you are willing to try r26081 (with the usual disclaimers) can you please report back here?

Many thanks
JCB

[JacobD84]

Hi All,

Over 350 revisions later i finally have a release that appears stable on the G450H, r26446 can be found here:

r26446 ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/2015/03-05-2015-r26446/buffalo_wzr_hp_g450h/

As usual don't upgrade unless you need to, reset to factory defaults on upgrade and reboot, apply your settings, reboot again and please report back with any problems

JCB

[zita212]

Thanks a lot, Jacob for all your effort documenting and tryying all those firmware revisions.
I have a Buffalo WZR-HP-G450H US version with DD-WRT 20025b official alpha firmware (released sept2014 to address specific OpenSSL vulnerabilities). I live in Europe (Low Countries) and while I use rather basic features of the router (an extra access point), I would like to be able to set Wireless Compliance to Benelux rather than one of the countries in North, Central or South America and to be able to occasionally use a 3G modem (the US firmware is missing 3G support which is present in European and Japanese version, probably something patent related ?)
would you recommend me to try one of the  community versions and if yes which one ?

Julia

[JacobD84]

Hi Julia, thank-you for your message.

It's probably best to start with one of the two following builds; whichever one works for you, just stick with that and only upgrade if needed

BEST ALL-ROUND DD-WRT FIRMWARE(S) for G450H
r23919 ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/2014/04-18-2014-r23919/buffalo_wzr_hp_g450h/    START WITH THIS - Stable as a rock!
r24461 ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/2014/06-23-2014-r24461/buffalo_wzr_hp_g450h/    !!NOTE: TimeZone Issues reported with this build!!

[Eng.shadymohsen85]

Please help me I tried all the firmwares in this topic,my wifi signal became very weak I tried all the firmwares now I can't revert back to buffalo ddwrt and I don't know if there are any settings to change in wifi section to increase my wifi signal I tried changing the tx power which is in dbm not mw  but even if I get higher than 20 it shows 20 only  please help me

[JustMeHere]

FWIW.... I had 24461 running for approx 250 days without a single reboot.  It finally went down due to a prolonged power failure that my UPS couldn't mitigate.

[JustMeHere]

Please help me I tried all the firmwares in this topic,my wifi signal became very weak I tried all the firmwares now I can't revert back to buffalo ddwrt and I don't know if there are any settings to change in wifi section to increase my wifi signal I tried changing the tx power which is in dbm not mw  but even if I get higher than 20 it shows 20 only  please help me

Here's the best info I use: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/QCA_wireless_settings

You should also use a Wifi Stumbler tool to see if your WiFi is using the same channel as your neighbor.

Also, make sure TKIP is not enabled in any way.  Some clients, such as my G5, can cause the WiFi to drop out of MIMO mode.

[JacobD84]

Hi all,

Long time and no update im afraid; i recently tried r27413 from here:
ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/2015/06-22-2015-r27413/buffalo_wzr_hp_g450h/

It promptly bricked my UK, EU and US routers (So only try if you are prepared for things to stop working) and to be honest, im fed up with un-bricking the things so until i post again treat everything as me having made no-progress on getting new firmwares to work with the G450H.

For now and until i post otherwise the BEST ALL-ROUND DD-WRT FIRMWARE(S) for G450H remain as follows:

r23919 ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/2014/04-18-2014-r23919/buffalo_wzr_hp_g450h/    START WITH THIS - Stable as a rock!
r24461 ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/2014/06-23-2014-r24461/buffalo_wzr_hp_g450h/    !!NOTE: TimeZone Issues reported with this build!!

[seb555]

Please help me I tried all the firmwares in this topic,my wifi signal became very weak I tried all the firmwares now I can't revert back to buffalo ddwrt and I don't know if there are any settings to change in wifi section to increase my wifi signal I tried changing the tx power which is in dbm not mw  but even if I get higher than 20 it shows 20 only  please help me

Here's the best info I use: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/QCA_wireless_settings

You should also use a Wifi Stumbler tool to see if your WiFi is using the same channel as your neighbor.

Also, make sure TKIP is not enabled in any way.  Some clients, such as my G5, can cause the WiFi to drop out of MIMO mode.

I have the exact same issue as Eng.shadymohsen85 since I have upgraded from 20025. I have tried ALL releases tested by JacobD84 from 22118 to 26653 without any change. I have read and tried different things from http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/QCA_wireless_settings without much success either. My Wifi is on WAP2-AES only (no TKIP) and I have tried all frequencies and different regulatory domain too. I'm currently using channel 11 because I'm the only one in my neighbor to us it, but again I don't see any improvement. I can't set anything higher than 20dbm. Being just 20 feet away line of sight from my router I can get only around -70dB RSSI. With 20025, I used to get about -55db at same distance. Wifi connection drops very often too. Any idea or suggestion on how to fix it? I'm about to downgrade back to 20025 (is it possible?) or simply buy a new router... thanks.

[JacobD84]

I have the exact same issue as Eng.shadymohsen85 since I have upgraded from 20025. I have tried ALL releases tested by JacobD84 from 22118 to 26653 without any change. I have read and tried different things from http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/QCA_wireless_settings without much success either. My Wifi is on WAP2-AES only (no TKIP) and I have tried all frequencies and different regulatory domain too. I'm currently using channel 11 because I'm the only one in my neighbor to us it, but again I don't see any improvement. I can't set anything higher than 20dbm. Being just 20 feet away line of sight from my router I can get only around -70dB RSSI. With 20025, I used to get about -55db at same distance. Wifi connection drops very often too. Any idea or suggestion on how to fix it? I'm about to downgrade back to 20025 (is it possible?) or simply buy a new router... thanks.

Have you ensured the antennae gain is no more than +5db under advanced wireless settings? Any higher you shorten the radio life, set it too high you can damage the radio amp.

Also, try dropping the other dbm settings to their lowest values and increase 1-5dbm at a time, rebooting the router each time before testing; 9/10 when people complain of poor signal or lots of drop outs it's because their signal is TOO STRONG, they've changed something electrical in their house or they have a neighbour with noisy kit. Carefully starting from scratch and increasing the dbm values until you get the results you want usually fixes this. Also, don't forget aerial positioning.

Finally, set ACK timer to 0 (Auto) and see if this helps

As to changing firmwares or unbricking the G450H, there's a great tutorial here:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1331611/guide-recovering-a-bricked-buffalo-airstation-n450-router-wzr-hp-g450h

NOTE: I've not posted this till now because i can see a wave of people permanently damaging their router; however, if you have a soldering iron, a USB-SerialTTL converter and you have a bricked router or one you want to revert to an older firmware with, this is how you do it

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE recognise this is a risky process and only do it if you need to. If you destroy things with this process it's basically game over.
But it gives you some idea of why im sick of unbricking my G450H routers i have to do this on each one, everytime i encounter a firmware that causes problems and also explains why i only post firmwares to this thread that pass some serious testing on a UK, EU and US router first.

Jacob

[harlekin]

@JacobD84:

I would like to thank you for the ongoing work you've put into this thread. I used it to reactivate a G450H to be a samba NAS yesterday, which wouldnt have been possible without this resource.

Because - of course - I got suckered into flashing the most recent release you confirmed as working (r26446), I'm now left wondering what "Slightly Slower Data Performance" means in numbers. I dont plan on flashing a lower version as r26446 is stable so far - it's just... I have to know.

Of course everyones milage may vary - but if you could state a percentage, or a transferspeed value. It would calm my sense of wonder...

[JacobD84]

Hi all,

I'm currently testing r27506 on the G450h and have added it to the testing dialogue on the FP.

This hasn't bricked any of the three routers in my possession and appears bug-free, however i would appreciate some more testers willing to potentially brick their routers before i put in down on the FP as a stable release.

The version can be found here: r27506 ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/2015/07-09-2015-r27506/buffalo_wzr_hp_g450h/

As usual; please DO NOT UPDATE unless you are trying to fix a problem in an earlier firmware (If it isn't broke don't fix it).
If you do update, please report any bugs or issues so i can note them appropriately and report them to the DD-WRT community.
ALWAYS reset to factory defaults on update - For the sake of a pen and some paper to remember settings it solves so many issues

@harlekin Thank-you for your words.

The "Slightly Slower Data Performance" is simply a description of the fact that on the r25xxx r26xxx and some of the r27xxx releases i've noticed a decrease in the PEAK/BURST AVERAGE data rates for the routers with this firmware. In other words, where once i was achieving a ~300Mb/s (~37.5MB/s) average peak on the G450H, i'm now only getting a ~275Mb/s (~34.375MB/s) maximum. This seems to be related to the firmware; if i downgrade to the best r24xxx releases i immediately return to the ~300Mb/s peaks. This is why i've kept r24461 and r23919 as the best all round firmwares as, unless you need r25xxx, r26xxx or r27xxx features the issues that most care about, data transfer speeds and samba are already working without issue in these earlier revisions.

[gn02033417]

Hi,Thank you for the hard effort.

I have a question that if I want to use r23919 for my WZR-HP-G450H.
Which bin should I setup ?
wzr_hp_g450h-dd-wrt-webupgrade-MULTI.bin
OR
wzr_hp_g450h-dd-wrt-factory-to-ddwrt.bin

Thanks again!

[davo]

Hi,Thank you for the hard effort.

I have a question that if I want to use r23919 for my WZR-HP-G450H.
Which bin should I setup ?
wzr_hp_g450h-dd-wrt-webupgrade-MULTI.bin
OR
wzr_hp_g450h-dd-wrt-factory-to-ddwrt.bin

Thanks again!

What firmware is currently installed? have you read the DDWRT wiki page?!!

[harlekin]

Bricked while installing r27506 on a european G450H - without resetting settings (during the update process). 30/30/30 doesnt work, because reset doesnt respond.

I have another model of the same router running - but would make it a project to get the first one functioning again.

@JacobD84: May I ask some details on debricking via the serial port and how you do it?
Setup as described in: http://www.overclock.net/t/1331611/guide-recovering-a-bricked-buffalo-airstation-n450-router-wzr-hp-g450h
And debricking process as described in: http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=155253

Or do you have a different approach?

I already have an unencrypted copy of the firmware from my second router as a mtd1.dump file on my harddrive (starts with 27 05 19 56) - and am asking, because I see the tutorials diverge in how the ip is associated (to a mac address) and I am a bit weary of the "setenv region EU" command.

Any pointers would be appreciated.

edit: Messed around with some of the steps and understand the process a bit better now. The usb serial dongle is used to troubleshoot the connection to the router (ping! ) and catch the tftp time window in those versions of uboot where you cant prevent it from closing.

You might also need to buy a switch - because Windows might not be fast enough to establish (or not drop) a connection, when it detects the router being connected.

Then there are several options to initialize the tftp transfer (tftp via commandline, tcp -i via commandline - followed by a putty command on the router side, pushing via a program called PumpKIN, or letting the router start the transfer and flash via another putty command).

@JacobD84: If you could write down the debricking method you use, I'd still appreciate it - I still have some time until the Serial > USB dongle arrives, and I am open to learn more about the process beforehand.

edit2: Already managed to successfully transfer the (unencrypted, 30mb) firmware image into the routers ram, by using the IP mapping process described in the overclock.net tutorial from within Windows 7, having another router with dhcp disabled in between the PC and the g450h, acting as a switch - and pushing (put) the file using PumpKIN from the PC, whilst catching the time window by plugging in the g450h and then counting to 12. Pumpkin shows the file transfering and indicates successfully pushed - then nothing happens.

I presume - because I still need the serial > usb dongle to get a command line on the router to start the flashing script (run u_fw).

Fun times.