TP Link Archer A7v5

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This is a single core router and it will never be a game changer for performance. This router has been tested to about 175mbps using Q.o.S. with HTB and PIE. Anything more in terms of FQ_Codel or HFSC will consume more memory and CPU and cause your speed to decrease. This router with Q.o.S. turned on is only good for ISP plans up to 150mbps. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. This is a single core router and it will never be a game changer for performance. This router has been tested to about 175mbps using Q.o.S. with HTB and PIE. Anything more in terms of FQ_Codel or HFSC will consume more memory and CPU and cause your speed to decrease. This router with Q.o.S. turned on is only good for ISP plans up to 150mbps. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
-You can eek out more if you turn off Q.o.S. and turn on the '''S'''hortcut '''F'''orward '''E'''ngine (SFE) on the main setup tab of dd-wrt. You might be able to get up to 200mbps using dd-wrt and SFE on this router. If you want faster, go back to stock which uses other hardware to improve network translation which DD-wrt cannot take advantage of right now.+You can eek out more if you turn off Q.o.S. and turn on the '''S'''hortcut '''F'''orward '''E'''ngine (SFE) on the main setup tab of dd-wrt. You might be able to get up to 200mbps using dd-wrt and SFE on this router. If you want faster, go back to stock which uses other dedicated hardware inside the A7v5 to improve network translation which DD-wrt cannot take advantage of right now.
My plan tops out at 200, so I don't know if SFE will go faster or not. Send me your results if you have faster speeds. My plan tops out at 200, so I don't know if SFE will go faster or not. Send me your results if you have faster speeds.
 +
 +Iperf3 hardwired between router(client) and lan(server) is around 170mbps right now, so not very fast at all.
==INSTALLING FIRST TIME== ==INSTALLING FIRST TIME==

Revision as of 14:43, 18 March 2020

Contents

INTRODUCTION

This is the placeholder for the A7v5. This is a work in progress by MSOENGINEER, so please be patient while he adds to this device wiki. PM if you want something added here.

This is a single core router and it will never be a game changer for performance. This router has been tested to about 175mbps using Q.o.S. with HTB and PIE. Anything more in terms of FQ_Codel or HFSC will consume more memory and CPU and cause your speed to decrease. This router with Q.o.S. turned on is only good for ISP plans up to 150mbps. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.

You can eek out more if you turn off Q.o.S. and turn on the Shortcut Forward Engine (SFE) on the main setup tab of dd-wrt. You might be able to get up to 200mbps using dd-wrt and SFE on this router. If you want faster, go back to stock which uses other dedicated hardware inside the A7v5 to improve network translation which DD-wrt cannot take advantage of right now.

My plan tops out at 200, so I don't know if SFE will go faster or not. Send me your results if you have faster speeds.

Iperf3 hardwired between router(client) and lan(server) is around 170mbps right now, so not very fast at all.

INSTALLING FIRST TIME

Firmware files can be found here ONLY BRAINSLAYER MAKES BUILDS FOR THE A7v5.

!!!DO NOT PERFORM A 30/30/30 ON ANY QCA CPU/CHIPSET ROUTERS (ESPECIALLY TP-LINK), YOU WILL BRICK IT !!!

!!!DON"T USE ANY BUILD BEFORE 42204, The reset button will not work on older builds and you are F'd!!!

  • Stock TP-Link GUI IP: 192.168.0.1


For first time flash, you'll need to grab the factory-to-ddwrt BIN file and load that from the stock TP-Link web gui on the advanced settings page. It will take several minutes for the firmware to load so please keep an eye on the front panel LED's and watch the power LED. It will be flashing while the A7v5 is loading the new firmware. Once dd-wrt is loaded and running, you will notice that all the LED's have changed from their stock state under tp-link firmware. This is presently normal and a cosmetic issue that will require a future script to be written or for BS to actually change the code for the gpio- again a work in progress. Please don't complain about the LED's...it is what it is for now...


  • Stock DD-WRT GUI IP: 192.168.1.1

When you first load that page, you will need to set a new admin username and password. Write that down somewhere safe!

UPGRADING

If you already have dd-wrt running on the A7v5, simply grab the file named tplink_archer-a7-v5.bin from the latest build folder, save it locally on your computer, and upload it via the gui directly over the existing build on your router. Unless you are upgrading from a build several months old, you should not need to perform a reset using the: After flashing, reset to "reset to default settings" selection on the Admin>firmware gui upgrade page. Some have reported doing a firmware upgrade alongside a reset can lead to issues. This has not been confirmed or denied on the A7v5 yet, but to safely reset the router, telnet in and issue the command "nvram erase && reboot" without the quotes.

BEST WIFI SETTINGS

GO to the QCA wifi wiki and read up

TL:DR-see pictures here

TFTP RECOVERY

This is still a work in progress.

Download this recovery firmware file

NIC must be statically set to 192.168.0.66 and subnet 255.250.255.0 (no other settings in win7/win10 necessary) Router/host will be 192.168.0.86 port 69

Run TFTP server locally on the 192.168.0.66 PC NIC or Laptop NIC (NOT WIFI) using your preferred tftp program (Like Tftp64 or Tftp32) Make sure to allow in firewall rules for both private and public networks or you'll never push the file to the router due to the firewall


Make sure the tftp program has the right folder/directory chosen with the recovery firmware file in that folder ahead of time.

Power off the router. Push in, and hold the reset button, power back on the router (while still holding in the reset button). If all goes as planned you will see a progress bar flash pretty quickly as the recovery bin file is pushed to the router. This happens within 10-15 seconds of powering back on the router with the reset button held in. The power LED will start blinking once it starts copying and upgrading back to stock. Sit back and wait 3-5 minutes as the router does its thing and Viola, you should be back on an early April 2019 stock build.

This revert file should allow you to go back to dd-wrt if you want in the future. I don't know if future builds from TP-Link will lock out upgrading to dd-wrt, and/or, the possibility to not roll back to an older stock build. So be very careful in updating to new stock tp-link builds.