DG834GV4 New Connection - Which Firmware UG Netgear or DGTeam?

[sunny]

Hello
I have just signed up with IDNET.
After looking at this Forum I have purchase Netgear DG834G V4 (Broadcom) Router.

Again reading info on this Forum I understand the basic speed of the "line" is established in the 1st 10days after connecting the Router. So I wanted to get everything "right 1st time".

Currently firmware is V5.01.01.

-->On the Netgear site v 5.01.14 is available.

--> Or I could use  "DGTeam" v 8.50.

Not sure what the most reliable option is - any advice welcome;

Thanks for your help

[Simon]

I can't give any advice, Sunny, but until someone more technical comes along...  

[Steve]

 

Gary will probably know best re the firmware however I would suggest you stay clear of DGteam at present as its unsupported by Netgear, so if you brick it your on your own. I am trialing DGteam on the DG834N as I have DHCP server issues.

As far as I am aware you are in a 10 day line training period so probably best to leave as is and try to maintain a stable connection

[Gary]

The latest firmware cures a whole host of sins with the V4, I would use that as it helped make the V4 more stable and less prone to quirky behaviour an connection loss, I would do as Glenn says and avoid the DGteam firmware at this stage, it adds a whole host of features but is unsupported and if you brick your router you may have issues, the router recovery software only works on XP, an do not upgrade using Firefox either. You should be fine with that update, not all firmware updates are good things but with the V4 its worth using it  Have a  once updated let your line settle and do not play with the router, you want stability, at a future point if you do not already have one get a filtered faceplate if you have an NTE5 master socket, and try to use cat5 cabling not the doorbell wire. you can find a list of helpful hints on the forum here http://www.idnetters.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=1904.0 If you have any questions there are loads of great people here who can help you with any issues.

[sunny]

Dear Simon, Steve, Gary

Brilliant - Many thanks for the advice.

I am off to upgrade to Netgear V5.01.14.

Great Forum.

Best Regards

[Steve]

What's the issue re FF for the flash upgrade Gary or have I just been lucky?

[Sebby]

Glad you like the forum.

[Gary]

What's the issue re FF for the flash upgrade Gary or have I just been lucky?

You have been lucky Steve, its possible to brick your router using FF because of Java issues when updating, you should turn Java off but its safer I think to use IE see the link here http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=26854, hope that helps. 

[Rik]

Hi Sunny

Welcome to the forum.

It's perhaps worth mentioning that the only thing which is fixed during the 10 day training period is the maximum stable rate - the fastest speed at which BT believe the line can be run and, from that, the derived fault threshold rate, set at 70% of MSR. As far as BT are concerned, if your line is operating at or above FTR, it's not faulty. The actual speed and throughput is monitored at all times and will adjust as line conditions change, it could go faster or slower.

[Steve]

You have been lucky Steve, its possible to brick your router using FF because of Java issues when updating, you should turn Java off but its safer I think to use IE see the link here http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=26854, hope that helps. 

I was using the Mac  so must remember to turn java off next time

[Gary]

I was using the Mac  so must remember to turn java off next time

Forgot about that Doh!    Just turn off the Java 

[Steve]

I have got IE8 running via Virtualbox on XP pro but I am not sure whether that's even more complicated.

[Gary]

I have got IE8 running via Virtualbox on XP pro but I am not sure whether that's even more complicated.

Not sure about that Steve I imagine in compatibility mode it should be ok but I wouldn't want to try as when viewing the router it shows as broken in IE8  Nice one Netgear for patching that, I have an old router that's dead but still boots (I discovered when this when my 834N died  ) A Netgear DG834G V4, I'll try with that sometime over the weekend and see what happens to it, for now using FF without Java though is probably safer

[Steve]

Presumably the "without Java on" would also apply to Safari as well.Its fortunate that having flashed that router about 5 times now,always using FF with java enabled and the only issue I've had is the need to reboot after a DGTeam update as the web interface becomes unresponsive.Trying to remember to disable it next time is the real problem

[Rik]

Tell me when you're going to do it, Steve, and I'll remind you.

[Steve]

Remind of what?

[Rik]

 

[Sebby]

You have been lucky Steve, its possible to brick your router using FF because of Java issues when updating, you should turn Java off but its safer I think to use IE see the link here http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=26854, hope that helps. 

I'd like to brick Internet Explorer.

[Rik]

I'm sure we could arrange something, Seb.

[Gary]

I'd like to brick Internet Explorer.

Macs are square-ish, like a Brick, just saying   

[drummer]

Purely out of curiosity, does anyone know why the firmware for my DG834G v4 shows as A2pB023b.d20e and what the equivalent would be in the traditional format ie, v5.0x.xx?

It's how it came out of the box and I haven't had any problems with the router, so it's just idle curiosity (not wishing to hijack the thread an' all that).

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[Gary]

Purely out of curiosity, does anyone know why the firmware for my DG834G v4 shows as A2pB023b.d20e and what the equivalent would be in the traditional format ie, v5.0x.xx?

It's how it came out of the box and I haven't had any problems with the router, so it's just idle curiosity (not wishing to hijack the thread an' all that).

The firmware code A2pB023b.d20e is the Broadcom ADSL chipset driver version, each Broadcom chipset has a code like that which varies according to what broadcom chipset it is, and what the driver is of course, pre V4 Netgear DG834G routers used theTR7 chipset made by Texas Instruments, which used a numerical ADSL firmware code. The Broadcom chipset drivers are not shown in a numerical format. Hope that helps, Drummer 

[drummer]

The firmware code A2pB023b.d20e is the Broadcom ADSL chipset driver version, each Broadcom chipset has a code like that which varies according to what broadcom chipset it is, and what the driver is of course, pre V4 Netgear DG834G routers used theTR7 chipset made by Texas Instruments, which used a numerical ADSL firmware code. The Broadcom chipset drivers are not shown in a numerical format. Hope that helps, Drummer 

Thanks for the reply Gary but I'm none the wiser as it's the same router and chipset as the OP.

No worries though, cos it ain't broke...

[Gary]

Thanks for the reply Gary but I'm none the wiser as it's the same router and chipset as the OP.

No worries though, cos it ain't broke...

If You look at the top of the main log in page, it says account name and firmware version, it says there what the current firmware version is, I thought you wanted the Broadcom ADSL driver expressed numerically, I have a DG834N my driver version is A2pB023b.d20e but my firmware version as written on the top of the page is V1.02.08. Sorry about the confusion

[Steve]

My ADSL driver version again DG834N is the newer beta one exactly the same letters except an o instead of a b before the .extension