WNDR3700 - Best Alternative Firmware?

ZzBloopzZ

[H]ard|Gawd
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Hello,

Was wondering if anyone is using the Netgear WNDR3700 with an alternative firmware? The official Netgear FW has not been updated in years and I still have an annoying quirk with wi-fi disconnections on mobile Apple devices. I read on another forum that updating to OpenWRT resolved the issue for several users.

What flavor of OpenWRT do you guys recommend for my specific router? I am thinking about trying the latest build of Gargoyle.

Appreciate any feedback!
 
I have had a great experience with DD-WRT on my WNDR 3700v1. I have not tried OpenWRT but see no reason to try it when everything is working so well now.
 
As long as you have a v1 or v2 Gargoyle can't be beat for its performance and simplicity. However Gargoyle does not support IPv6 and the devs elude to it not being supported for a while.
 
I think I read somewhere that OpenWRT has faster wireless speeds, especially on the Ghz antenna compared to DD-WRT. Granted I think those posts were from 2011-2012 so possibly different now.

Should I be fine with the latest build of Gargoyle? Also, what are the disadvantages of no IPv6 support in a home environment?
 
Gargoyle looks really interesting. I have been wanting to try OpenWRT, but i was not satisfied with the QoS settings they offered. It was all way too manual. Gargoyle seems to have very extensive QoS settiings that should be easy enough to figure out.

My QoS has been working pretty well on DD-WRT, but I have always wanted a more granular control over it and it looks like this might be able to do that for me.

Might have to give this a try soon.
 
Should I be fine with the latest build of Gargoyle? Also, what are the disadvantages of no IPv6 support in a home environment?

The latest build should be fine. The most significant disadvantage is not having an opportunity to familiarize yourself with the addressing. Going with a precompiled distro of OpenWRT with the LuCI interface is another option.
 
OpenWRT is top notch. Use the trunk version, there's a lot of wireless fixes and such in there. It's really quite stable. I use it on an alix 2D13 for my main router and also on a WNDR3800 acting as an AP. There's a full featured community build for the 3700 here:

https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=27722
 
OpenWRT is top notch. Use the trunk version, there's a lot of wireless fixes and such in there. It's really quite stable. I use it on an alix 2D13 for my main router and also on a WNDR3800 acting as an AP. There's a full featured community build for the 3700 here:

https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=27722

Just checked out the link, however it appears the latest build is from November 2012. Also, several people are complaining about wireless cutting out after 6-12 days and need to reboot router. An issue I used to have with my current WNDR3700 until I went to the latest and last official Netgear beta BIOS 2 years ago.

Those with the v1 WNDR3700 and have stable config, what exact firmware version of OpenWRT are you using?
 
I read this first page and the last 2 pages, and the only latest version was some "Overclocked" one by that author. I want a stock version that was more recent.

Aweomse, will give the NA one a shot, I assume it's for North American routers?

How exactly do I install LuCI?

Thanks!
 
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The latest build should be fine. The most significant disadvantage is not having an opportunity to familiarize yourself with the addressing. Going with a precompiled distro of OpenWRT with the LuCI interface is another option.

What are you personally using and on what router?
 
How exactly do I install LuCI?

Thanks!

The default image comes with CLI interface only. To install Luci:

1. telnet to the router, 192.168.1.1. There's no password initially.

2. opkg update

3. opkg install luci-ssl

4. /etc/init.d/uhttpd enable

5. reboot

When it comes back up you should be able to get the webUI via 192.168.1.1. Continue with your setup from there.
 
Just checked out the link, however it appears the latest build is from November 2012. Also, several people are complaining about wireless cutting out after 6-12 days and need to reboot router. An issue I used to have with my current WNDR3700 until I went to the latest and last official Netgear beta BIOS 2 years ago.

Those with the v1 WNDR3700 and have stable config, what exact firmware version of OpenWRT are you using?

Attitude Adjustment 12.09. Considered the trunk but would rather not have to keep updating all the time.
 
The trunk rarely, if ever, has show stopping bugs. I've been running it for months and months. There's also several important improvements in there. Stick with the trunk version.
 
The trunk rarely, if ever, has show stopping bugs. I've been running it for months and months. There's also several important improvements in there. Stick with the trunk version.

Also, thanks for this post. I was going to install Gargoyle since it has the latest stable version, but you have convinced me to try latest trunk.

Once I have latest trunk installed with Luci, let's say a new version comes out in few weeks. Do I have to flash entire router or is there a built in update tool that will do it automatically?

Plan on upgrading this weekend. Have two members in the house that work from home so want to be available in case of serious issues.
 
It won't automatically upgrade. You'd need to download a new image and upload it yourself. Upgrades will keep your settings though. Use the "sysupgrade" images if you do an upgrade. The "factory" image is only for going from the Netgear firmware to OpenWRT.

If you're savvy you can compile your own images with all the features and such you want baked in. That's what I do.
 
Successfully on OpenWRT (trunk) with LuCI. Had a bit of a issue in beginning since default WAN is DHCP, and CLI. Naturally, could not install Luci without internet connection. Luckily, had internet access on my phone and quick google showed how to do it.

I have configured the wireless network, and tested firewall with GRC. Everything seems to be running smooth so far. I tested wi-fi with my iPad's and iPhones and it is running better then ever. Will have to wait 3 days to see if I still need to disconnect and reconnect the Apple devices.

Is there any other settings/packages you guys recommend? How can I enable WAN network traffic data logging?

Thanks!
 
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Hey guys,

I have a WNDR3700v1 that I've been running DD-WRT on for some time. While I am happy with DD-WRT, it lacks GPT support, so I can't use my new 3TB external drive. OpenWRT - particularly this version https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=27722, does have GPT support.

Currently, I have a 1TB external drive full with data formatted in Ext3. Unfortunately, I can't get the damn thing to mount in LuCI or via a Telnet command. Has anyone else had issues mounting Ext3 formatted drives with this build? I've tried mounting both as Ext3 and Ext4, as indicated by this thread https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=37329, but it didn't work either. Oddly enough, when I format the new 3TB drive as Ext4, it mounts.

I've been trying to get this damn thing working for the past two days *bangs head on desk*. I'd prefer to just stick with Ext3 if at all possible, in case I move back to DD-WRT, which doesn't support Ext4 in the WNDR3700 builds.
 
All recent versions of OpenWRT (trunk) supports GPT but there are no utils for partitioning in OpenWRT from what I understand.
//Danne
 
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