Broadband provider
ISP/package: UniFi VIP10
Location: Ampang, Selangor
Have you called your ISP's helpline?: Yes

Personal equipment
Modem: Silver TM Modem (New version, replaced black Huawei unit)
Router: TP-Link WR1043ND V1 w/ OpenWRT
Firewall used: N/A

Problem details

Annoying...,

So I flashed my 1043ND with OpenWRT Backfire. I followed instructions set out here:

http://klseet.com/index.php/tl-wr1043nd-ve...unifi-10031-rc6

I don't use HyppTV, since I don't own a TV, so I don't have any way to test if IPTV works. Either way, my problem is with the Internet PPPoE service itself.

It just refuses to connect. In fact, the LAN1 light on the modem doesn't even light up once everything is connected.

Reflashed back to factory, and it works again. But I really want the flexibility (and QoS) of OpenWRT, so I'd like to run it.

Any clues as to what the problem may be? I suspect something changed with the VLAN settings when it comes to the new TM modem (silver square unit, a lot larger than the original black one).

Have you managed yo get your TP-Link TL-WR1043ND with OpenWrt to work with UNiFi?
If you're having problems, do ask. I may be able to help.

I've succesfully flashed OpenWrt Attitude Adjustment 12.09 Final on my WR1043ND (hardware version v1.10).
UNiFi & IPTV is working perfectly.

By the way, my BTU is also the silver unit with white LEDs. I believe it's the same unit as yours.

My WR1043ND on OpenWrt Attitude Adjustment 12.09 Final working with UNiFi.


This post has been edited by sHawTY: Dec 21 2013, 03:50 AM

hello ... wuts the pros and cons using openwrt on unifi ..??

Pros:
* Much more stable firmware compared to the stock TP-Link firmware.
* You can also make the router download torrents directly into your external harddrive, no longer need to use PC or laptop to download torrent.
* The capability of running the router anyway you want.
* More: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/what-is-openw...-for-my-router/

Cons:
* Nothing.

As stable as it is, wireless still drops with openwrt firmware (although I compile my own, might be that). It's even worse on stock firmware IIRC though. That said, cronjob of restarting wireless every 1 hour works, and is not long enough to drop other ppls' connections. At least, nobody in the house notices .

That said.. my uptime, IDK.. about 3 months I think as long as TNB hasn't cut off the power.

I kinda wanna get back into the forums.

The WR1043ND in my shop locks up every 24 ~ 48 hours when it's on stock firmware.

Now with AA 12.09 Final, everything has been smooth for the past few months, no disconnection nor lockups.
By the way, what version is your WR1043ND? Mine is v1.10.
Bought a WDR4300 to upgrade my 2 years old WR1043ND few months ago, but it's even worse than the old WR1043ND.
Even OpenWrt couldn't help save the WDR4300.

I forgot to say, yay, an openwrt user among us. I disappeared after I posted a small guide on using openwrt with unifi (without IPTV support). I now have IPTV support but I never updated the guide.

You just got lucky (and probably unlucky for WRD4300). The current drivers for atheros (the chip used in openwrt for wireless) has intermittent issues. In some WR1043ND wireless works flawlessly. While others, you have intermittent issues. That said, I haven't tried the stable versions, only stuck with the nightlies. Might try it one day but eh... I'm kinda satisfied now.

https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/11862 This link is the issue I'm talking about.

My WR1043ND (I have 3) is 1.3, 1.4 and 1.6 respectively I believe. They're old, and not among the newer versions. I should have had 4, but lol, let's just say it went missing one day .

My recommendations is that anyone using openwrt, login to your openwrt screen > system > scheduled task > add the following line and press submit:

0 0,2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20,22 * * * wifi down; sleep 1; wifi up

OR

0 * * * * wifi down; sleep 1; wifi up

First line restarts wifi every 2 hours. second line restarts wifi every 1 hour. One of my router is so unstable, it needs an hourly restart. My other two router, one lasts forever, and another one lasts half a day before wifi starts going haywire. Just read a bit on crontab so that you can adjust it to your needs. That said, the router that lasts half a day with wifi usually have ~30 clients connected to it over wifi. That dhcp table always freaks me out when I looked at the logs, haha.


WR1043ND is a beast. The best entry-level openwrt router so far with 8 MB flash and a USB port. So is OpenWRT. Takes so much punishment, oh man.

As for torrents, I'm going to recommend having a dedicated server regardless if anyone intend to go that way. Even my current rig had just finished 3 TB in ~1 year. Gonna die at this rate, I don't have anymore SATA ports nor slots for this PC to put more hard disks.


I'll see if I can start a quick guide for openwrt one of these days. It's not that hard, and I could just abuse the backup feature to upload a default settings for anyone.

This post has been edited by blindbox: Jan 11 2014, 06:43 PM

You should move to ASUS bro, like me.
Using RT-AC68U now.
That's the best router I've ever use.

Previously was using RT-N16, also a very good router.
Have been using RT-N16 for nearly a year before I upgrade.
The first 4 months without any electricity blackout, the router never had any lock ups, intermittent WiFi & UniFi disconnection. I'm on VDSL, not Fibre. Using stock firmware.

ASUS also has their own tech support guy in this forum, so any problem can just ask him.

I have too many custom stuff running on my openwrt. Mostly it's for extended monitoring but there's QoS and custom firewall rules among other things. I also have wifi bridging to increase make wifi work over my whole house so there's that, too. There is really no point for me to buy a more expensive router, either. I can deal with my wifi restarting every 1 hour, hell, my users don't notice it. I haven't tested gaming with it though, and see if it's affected or if the delay is small enough to just accept it as a lag spike. My main reason to go openwrt is to save money anyway, heh. Cheap router but extremely good software.

That said, here's a good openwrt guide.


http://myjowenunifi.blogspot.com/2013/01/i...ng-openwrt.html For setting up unifi
http://myjowenunifi.blogspot.com/2013/01/s...ink-mr3420.html For setting up hypptv.

This post has been edited by blindbox: Jan 11 2014, 06:49 PM

Been using my trusty ol WR941ND since my first unifi install with hypptv support. Never had to restart, ever. I can't even remember the last time I login to webadmin

thanks ..more to lyn than kopitiam i guess lol

RT-AC68U cost rm799.
Not many people can afford it.
WR1043ND is only rm159. (5 times cheaper)
Best bang for bucks, happy user here.

RM680 from Lelong.
You get what you pay for.

I wouldn't mind paying extra as long as it's reliable.
Also, if RM700 is too expensive for you, you still have a choice of RT-N16. It's around RM3**, but you still get a hardware that's much more stable than the TL-WR1043ND.

And if Gigabit Lan is not important to you, ASUS still have other models that's less than RM200.

Gigabit Lan is the main reason for me to get 1043.
None of Asus sub rm200 router had Gigabit LAN.
In fact, no other brand / model can beat the price.

To each his own.

If your WR1043ND is working fine for you, then good.
To me, I am never going to buy TP-Link again.

Hello all,

Great discussion you guys had, above.
Very informative.

I am looking for a Cheap/Used OpenWRT-able Router, with VLAN ability.
Would you mind recommend a model? I am looking for below RM100 for USED, and not more than RM150 for NEW.

I do not need WLAN/Wifi, either a Gigabit Port. I just wish to trial a solution of creating a seperate Network (VLAN) in an exisiting Home Network, with limited internet speed (QOS).

I had personally try DD-WRT and managed to trial it with a TM-Dlink DIR615 G2 (which I bought USED from Lowyat Forumer). However, DD-WRT does not have the VLAN Capability of DIR 615 G2. And, I couldn't manage to successfully flash the DIR 615 G2 to OpenWRT.

Thanks you,

Get WR1043ND.
If possible, get revision V1, not the V2.

Attitude Adjustment 12.09 Final is only available for V1.
V2 is still under Barrier Breaker.

V1:


V2:

TM's DIR-615 G2 can be flashed to OpenWRT. For details check klseet.com. On OpenWRT Wiki page, it says VLAN config is supported since OpenWRT r33299, i.e. the latest stabil OpenWRT - Attitude Adjustment 12.09 final.

Alternatively can consider TP-Link's models such as MR3420 v1 or v2 (dual antenna), MR3220, WR841ND, WR741ND, etc and flash Gargoyle firmware - an OpenWrt variant, which provides a very nice Web GUI to the QoS functions. These TP-Link models comes pretty low price these days, you can even get new with prices below RM100. Sometimes even as low as 60+ only, new! (On lelong.com.my)

PS: Alternative resource for Gargoyle firmware with more supported devices (Atheros ar71xx only).

Thanks,
Currently scouting for the right version.

I had tried from your suggested Link, as what KLSeet's Guide.
Still, no luck though. Nevertheless, I will try again.

While also, I will be checking those TP-Link model you mentioned.

Thanks you very much,

This post has been edited by weirdguy: Apr 6 2014, 09:20 PM

Yeah, I think better not wasting time on that TM's 615 model. Even you can get it running OpenWRT, the main chip inside Ralink RT3052F (which many think its a low-end chip) tends to run hot (and so it's less stable, random restart...), with less than average performance (384 MHz MIPS 24Kc CPU)...

I suggest buying MR3420 v2, which comes with an Atheros AR9341 SoC running on 535 MHz CPU (MIPS 74Kc). On lelong there's someone selling it with only RM6x.xx! (Usual price > RM80). The price-to-performance ratio is just unbeatable. So go grab one...

This post has been edited by iOnicStorm: Apr 6 2014, 09:43 PM