Netgear DG834N v1

[Steve]

If its any help to users of this router there are newer firmware available both unofficial but may offer more stability for those experiencing frequent wired(myself) and/or wireless droputs.The versions are 1.02.13 by netgear and the DGTeam 1.02.13 v0850  I have tried both recently, both work and do offer upto 4 SSIDs in a variety of speeds and security. Some users have reported that stabilty has improved. I myself need to wait awhile before commenting further. If anyone wants these versions and can't find them send me a PM.

[Sebby]

Thanks, Steve.

Do you like the router? I've heard quite good things about it.

[Gary]

If its any help to users of this router there are newer firmware available both unofficial but may offer more stability for those experiencing frequent wired(myself) and/or wireless droputs.The versions are 1.02.13 by netgear and the DGTeam 1.02.13 v0850  I have tried both recently, both work and do offer upto 4 SSIDs in a variety of speeds and security. Some users have reported that stabilty has improved. I myself need to wait awhile before commenting further. If anyone wants these versions and can't find them send me a PM.

There were reports that 850 caused wireless to fail? Also the beta Netgear software is a bit buggy and the wifi light no longer flickers to show its in use.

I have given up using Draft N here, I have no drop outs though, but do know some do, there is a new router coming to release soon, the DGND3300 that is dual band 2.4ghz and 5ghz which eliminates the interference for streaming HD streams etc by using the less cluttered 5ghz spectrum, to get decent speeds out of the DG834N using wifi you need to turn on channel bonding on your wifi card, turn 20mhz to auto if you have a draft N card in your Laptop, you can get about 135mbps then without using the Netgear dongles or cards, but the router seems not to like it my first one just died operating at that speed after a couple of months maybe because of all the 2.4 interference . If you do use the DGteam Firmware doing a reset of the router afterwards seems to be the general advice, also there are two downloads, one has an updated broadcom adsl driver that's meant to be better its labled 023o. You can download the DGteam software here http://dgteam.ilbello.com/ but use at your own risk. Also the new firmware does not sort out the DG,s wifi issues sadly, but make the router more stable if you are having adsl wired issues. Telnet is enabled by default as well.

Edit the DG834N V2 never came to manufacture, to be honest its a good router with fantastic security but better things are coming this year from many manufacturers, and home plugs seem the way to go, I would not be with out mine now.

[Steve]

Do you like the router? I've heard quite good things about it.

The wireless side of things I find rock solid with excellent range if I use it in "g" and "b" modes only. I suffered frequent dropouts in the N modes presumably due to interference. The modem side of things I find is excellent on my line performing up to profile when BT allows

There were reports that 850 caused wireless to fail? Also the beta Netgear software is a bit buggy and the wifi light no longer flickers to show its in use.

Good summary Gary.I am not worried about the wifi light as its stuck in a cupboard. My desire is to try and resolve the irritating crop of wired dropouts, it will be fine for days and then there will be several in one day,strangely wireless will still be available when this happens. It may have something to do with interference on the homeplug side of things?? All IP address are reserved by the dhcp server so conflict is unlikely.

The Macbook  connects to a Time capsule (wired in bridged mode) access point using 5Ghz.

If this attempt fails a DG834G in combination with the Time capsule is possibly my next option although the cheapest option is just to power cycle the router.

[Gary]

The wireless side of things I find rock solid with excellent range if I use it in "g" and "b" modes only. I suffered frequent dropouts in the N modes presumably due to interference. The modem side of things I find is excellent on my line performing up to profile when BT allows

Good summary Gary.I am not worried about the wifi light as its stuck in a cupboard. My desire is to try and resolve the irritating crop of wired dropouts, it will be fine for days and then there will be several in one day,strangely wireless will still be available when this happens. It may have something to do with interference on the homeplug side of things?? All IP address are reserved by the dhcp server so conflict is unlikely.

The Macbook  connects to a Time capsule (wired in bridged mode) access point using 5Ghz.

If this attempt fails a DG834G in combination with the Time capsule is possibly my next option although the cheapest option is just to power cycle the router.

The throughput of the DG834N is better than the DG834G, its much more powerful, from what I have read the version with the latest adsl driver seems rock solid and people have not had drop outs, saying that I have not noticed any since my last one died and was replaced I have been now up for 337 hours, the fact I am not on the thing all the time like I used to be might mean I dont notice drop outs, but when I had it wired I cant really remember  that's bad. The beta Netgear firmware should have been released, it would have made the router stunning with the option for 4 SSID's etc, I always wonder how good DGteam firmware is, it gets good reviews but I feel odd about it if that makes sense, the latest 850 for the 834N was built off the beta and I'm not sure that's a great Idea.

I agree that b & g is the most stable, I think dual band N routers will be the way forward until the 5ghz frequency fills up, the thing is 5ghz does not have the range of 2.4ghz so its all a bit dodgy till draft N is finally ratified.

I really like the DG834N, the  Denial of Service (DoS) attack prevention and  Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDS) is great and beats what the DG834G offers, I have not had any DOS attacks listed or been knocked off the net by any since using this router at all unlike the older smaller version, looking at the DG834G v5 latest firmware update it corrected a lot of bugs with WPS but all new Netgear routers are now one year warranty and that puts me right off to be honest. Most routers right now seem buggy from the fast Linskys WRT610N and its cousin the WRT160N. Dragor's get good reviews but seem to have some issues, but what router does not, they are expensive and as I live in a house aesthetics ar important, having the Ethernet ports on the front just looks ugly, ok in an office I guess, which its really meant for. D-link do a great cable router the DIR-855 which can be used with adsl but you will need a separate modem and at £174 its far to expensive I think.

I think you should be ok with the router on the new firmware but the DG834N does need a good airflow from bottom to top so having it in a cupboard may mean it overheats a little which cold cause drop outs as it gets to hot maybe? The 2700's that are loved on this forum for longer lines seem to have issues with reboots, or short shelf life's unless you get a good one, but on my line it would not make much difference as I have full sync at 8128 kbps as I am living so close to the exchange. I think sometimes simpler is better.

Oh the DGN2000 has a slower throughput than the DG834N, better wireless but overheats as it sits horizontally, awkward to get it vertical with twin aerials and it does not come with those little stands that the DG834G does either, all in all you are probably better off with what you have now, to many variables out there 

[Steve]

Gary you said
"from what I have read the version with the latest adsl driver seems rock solid and people have not had drop outs,"

Which version is this?

I am currently using the dgteam 0850 with o adsl driver. I have the Netgear beta 1.02.13 to hand.The firmware I have issues with is 1.02.08 (wired dropouts) I have never tried 1.02.06.

I am reluctant to change router as the performance in g and b mode really is the best I've ever had!

[Gary]

Gary you said
"from what I have read the version with the latest adsl driver seems rock solid and people have not had drop outs,"

Which version is this?

I am currently using the dgteam 0850 with o adsl driver. I have the Netgear beta 1.02.13 to hand.The firmware I have issues with is 1.02.08 (wired dropouts) I have never tried 1.02.06.

I am reluctant to change router as the performance in g and b mode really is the best I've ever had!

The 1.02.13_DGteam_0850_23o.img is the one to have which sounds like the one you have already got, version 1.0.2.06 was also meant to be good, it was version 1.0.2.08 that introduced the issues, also with the SNR slider in the DGteam firmware you can have a playful tweak to get the most from your line should you need to

[Steve]

Thanks Gary

That's the one I am using. The speedtest with this firmware was performed on a wireless mac so no AV/firewall software errors

[Gary]

Thanks Gary

That's the one I am using. The speedtest with this firmware was performed on a wireless mac so no AV/firewall software errors

Can you do a BT speedtest? I would love to see the figures and your line stats for comparison to mine, keep me posted on what you think of that version over the others, hopefully you should be ok now and that adsl driver brought in some nice features like the  phyRe technology & impulse noise reduction support, Netgear could not be bothered to add that themselves with the later broadcom adsl drivers, after all if you make a product to good who will upgrade? 

[Steve]

As requested

Test1 comprises of Best Effort Test:  -provides background information.
    Your DSL connection rate: 8128 kbps(DOWN-STREAM),  448 kbps(UP-STREAM)
    IP profile for your line is - 7150 kbps
    Actual IP throughput achieved during the test was - 6676 kbps

Obviously not as good as the speedtest.net earlier but not bad for me at this time of day as the exchange starts to get busier


Router stats: which with the dgteam firmware you can get from menu listings

/usr/sbin/adslctl: ADSL driver and PHY status
Status: ShowtimeRetrain Reason:   0
Channel: FAST, Upstream rate = 448 Kbps, Downstream rate = 8128 Kbps
Link Power State: L0
Mode:         G.DMT
Channel:      Fast
Trellis:      ON
Line Status:      No Defect
Training Status:   Showtime
      Down      Up
SNR (dB):   14.5      30.0
Attn(dB):   22.0      13.5
Pwr(dBm):   19.8      11.9
Max(Kbps):   10080      1300
Rate (Kbps):   8128      448

PING www.idnet.net (212.69.36.10): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 212.69.36.10: icmp_seq=0 ttl=59 time=16.477 ms
64 bytes from 212.69.36.10: icmp_seq=1 ttl=59 time=26.683 ms
64 bytes from 212.69.36.10: icmp_seq=2 ttl=59 time=19.115 ms
64 bytes from 212.69.36.10: icmp_seq=3 ttl=59 time=19.835 ms
64 bytes from 212.69.36.10: icmp_seq=4 ttl=59 time=20.206 ms
64 bytes from 212.69.36.10: icmp_seq=5 ttl=59 time=21.350 ms
64 bytes from 212.69.36.10: icmp_seq=6 ttl=59 time=26.195 ms
64 bytes from 212.69.36.10: icmp_seq=7 ttl=59 time=18.245 ms
64 bytes from 212.69.36.10: icmp_seq=8 ttl=59 time=20.531 ms
64 bytes from 212.69.36.10: icmp_seq=9 ttl=59 time=29.302 ms

So at present its working fine I will report back on any instability issues as they arise.

[Gary]

Cheers Steve I'll keep an eye on mine and see how it goes, thanks and have  for being so helpful  your line is almost identical to mine, so it will be useful to see how it goes

[Steve]

Cheers Gary! Have a karma for yourself too for your help, I now know which version to persist with. Should you be tempted? post flash it needed a power cycle which was an initial worry as the Netgear version simply upgraded and reconnected. Configurations were maintained as before. By the way the router is in a walk-in cupboard and with teenagers in the house airflow is really never an issue

[Steve]

Having been using the DGTeam 0850 firmware on the above now for over 2 weeks I am impressed by how stable things have become. No DHCP server issues or wireless dropouts and throughput is good. The wireless indicator light no longer flickers when active but since I can't see he router during normal use its not an issue. I like the additional WOL feature which seems to work well.

[Lance]

Sounds good Steve. I use customer firmware on on of my Linksys routers and that seems better than stock as well!

[Dealz]

Having been using the DGTeam 0850 firmware on the above now for over 2 weeks I am impressed by how stable things have become. No DHCP server issues or wireless dropouts and throughput is good. The wireless indicator light no longer flickers when active but since I can't see he router during normal use its not an issue. I like the additional WOL feature which seems to work well.

Hi, am new here:)
Recently installed this firmware and i have been having wifi drop-outs, I lose wifi connection (still lit on router) when i try to reconnect my wifi signal isn't visible till i restart my router.
Hows people having stable connections/solid wifi and mines dropping out on me.
I have tried changing channels still drops (however the time it takes to drop will vary depending on channel picked)
There's only one other wifi signal am picking up and thats on channel 11, i thought if i picked channel 1 i'd be golden but it still drops

Can anyone advice me further on how i can stabilize my wifi connection.

I have a Netgear DG834N v1 on (v1.02.13 v0850)

[Gary]

Hi, am new here:)
Recently installed this firmware and i have been having wifi drop-outs, I lose wifi connection (still lit on router) when i try to reconnect my wifi signal isn't visible till i restart my router.
Hows people having stable connections/solid wifi and mines dropping out on me.
I have tried changing channels still drops (however the time it takes to drop will vary depending on channel picked)
There's only one other wifi signal am picking up and thats on channel 11, i thought if i picked channel 1 i'd be golden but it still drops

Can anyone advice me further on how i can stabilize my wifi connection.

I have a Netgear DG834N v1 on (v1.02.13 v0850)

Sorry I have moved on to a a DGND3300, maybe Steve will be able to help. And welcome to the forum,  You could try flashing to the latest Stable Netgear firmware for that router 1.02.15

[Dealz]

I have found the older version i was running before, v1.01.06 "rev.743".. Downloaded and installed that and my wifi has stopped dropping out after a few minutes and is now stable again

[Ray]

 

Dealz.

[Steve]

Welcome I've not used this router for about 8 months but I reverted back to the official Netgear firmware for UPNP if memory serves me right it also seemed to perform much better with N turned off. I don't recall drop outs being an issue except in Vistas early days although this may have been due to selecting Auto Channel in N mode which seemed to conflict with neighbouring networks.

[Dealz]

Thanks for the  its nice to be part of the community.. Yeah it was more stable when switched to "b and g" "g only" but unfortunately it did still drop-out after like 5 hours and when on "N" it would drop-out after a few minutes, I wouldn't be able to reconnect as the wifi signal won't show on the scan.. I would need to restart the router to be able to re establish a connection.

I read this while trying to find a fix for my drop-outs.

The DG834N is a flawed product. This processor and other chips inside are overheating. I think the later versions had heat sinks attached - but the earlier ones start to malfunction after a while as the chips start getting so hot.

Sometimes a forced power down, or accidental disconnection means you have to wait for the unit to cool down before you can actually use it again. This usually means a 10 minute+ wait before you can power it on again. Trying to power it on before that means you'll see this red lights and nothing happens.

I've noticed our american counterparts have been using a similar model with the same problems.

The WRN854T.

There's a guy at this site, who modded his and attached heatsinks and a fan:

http://www.cheshil.com/tech1.php

I've just done the mod myself.

I didn't bother with the heat sinks. I just cut a hole in the side, and jammed an 8cm 12v 0.1a DC fan in the side. I soldered it to the mainboard inside to where the power comes in.

Works fine now. No overheating, no crashes, and anytime I unplug it, there is no longer the dreaded wait.

NETGEAR are a farce for allowing this to occur in the first place.

It makes you wonder what sort of quality control and customer service offering they provide on their products.

It's shameful that I've had to mod the thing in order to get it to operate as it should.

Just thought I'd share my experience.

Cheers.

Maybe its time i think about a upgrade

[Steve]

I suppose it has been a tad warm lately so if cooling is an issue it will show now although I don't recall any issues with the wireless last summer in the modes described. I did ensure every device got the same IP address every connect.

[Dealz]

I suppose it has been a tad warm lately so if cooling is an issue it will show now although I don't recall any issues with the wireless last summer in the modes described. I did ensure every device got the same IP address every connect.

Oh i didn't post that quote as a reason for the wifi dropping out, but more as i mentioned the upgrade.. I haven't experienced overheating myself to the point where my router locks up, but the 10min wait mentioned is something i have to deal with, I wouldn't want my router to just conk out on me randomly cause of its flaws plus i have had my DG834N a long while time.. Same i have fixed IP's on the devices that use my internet.

[Dealz]

Hello all,

I thought it might help others if i share my experience and also help others avoid bricking there router as it can be a pain if you haven't got XP to unbrick it.

I have a DG834N.

V1.01.06 - DGTeam Rev. 0743

Has ran flawlessly for me since day one, even now it works without no issues. No dropout, No disconnections etc.

V1.02.08 - DGTeam Rev. 0848

Haven't tired this one ( I gave up testing firmware cause of all the issues so i never tested this one)

V1.02.13 - DGTeam Rev. 0850

023b = Was constantly getting wifi drop outs, it took a reboot to fix it but then it would drop out again 10-15min's later.

023o = This one bricked my router (it was unresponsive after the update)

V1.02.15 - DGTeam Rev. 1018

After x amount of time (a few hours) it would completely lose connection to the internet and all devices connected to the router would cut out.. Reboot of the router brings back the connection but it will then lose connection again

V1.02.15 - DGTeam Rev. 1022

This one bricked my router (it was unresponsive after the update)

There we have it, From the research i have done others who have tested and used the versions i've had issues with have not had a problem again from research i have done others are in the same boat as me and have always gone back to 743.. I'd have thought that with all the updates the DG Team have made there would be at least one that is stable for everyone .

Would have been nice to be able to use the new adsl drivers 023o as i had a slightly higher sync speed with it but apart from 848 which has 023o which i haven't tested the versions with the new drivers have issues.

Anyways hope my feedback helps others who still have DG834N

[Rik]

Thanks for that.

[Dealz]

Update:

I went and tried 0848 as it was the only one i hadn't tested, There are a few people that i have read haven't had a problem with 0848 and it was stable for them and one person that said they had connection drop outs.

My result of using 0848 is this.. It ran fine for around 2 hours or so then i got the same connection drop out i had with 1018.. I'd lose connection to the internet on all devices PC, PS3 etc but all lights on the router would still be on. Back to 0743 for me