Archer C7 v4 support

For Developers
66

ah, ok, I had it completely wrong! thanks for the clarification!

67

Hi! Thank you all for the great advances you've done here. It's much appreciated. I have some questions, if you don't mind... So, I've given a look at the C7 V4 PCB images here:

https://fccid.io/pdf.php?id=3184919

I understand the external antennas are used for the 5GHz radio, yet I don't see any PCB antennas for the 2.4GHz radio, or internal antennas like in the C7 v2? Are the antennas shared between both radios in this revision?

How would you rate 2.4GHz radio range and wall penetration on this unit? I have a >5 yr old 1043ND v1.8 that I'd like to replace while of course adding 5GHz n+ac support. (The one with the buggy radio, as much magic *wrt/LEDE have done for this thing can't stand the ocassional wifi crash anymore)

Would you say these initial snapshots are ok for configuring this revision as a simple WDS AP+router+firewall out of the box until the next 18.x official images are out?

Thanks.

69

You mean 5.0 ghz band is not working properly yet?

70

does anyone having problem on 802.11s with radio0? 2.4 works fine though.

71

My 5Ghz 802.11ac works, but I'm not impressed with the throughput or the lag. Something is not set quite right.

72

If Archer C7 v4 supports Qualcomm Fast Path (as my Archer C7 v2 does), the router will improve a lot concerning speed/lag... I think v4 should be supported by Fast Path, but I'm not an expert.

Take a look here: Qualcomm Fast Path For LEDE

73

Current build missed some local id's (my RU version for example).
I am not familiar with Git, so please add full bunch of local id's to tplink-safeloader.c

.id = "ARCHER-C7-V4",
		.support_list =
			"SupportList:\n"
			"{product_name:Archer C7,product_ver:4.0.0,special_id:00000000}\n"
			"{product_name:Archer C7,product_ver:4.0.0,special_id:41550000}\n"
			"{product_name:Archer C7,product_ver:4.0.0,special_id:45550000}\n"
			"{product_name:Archer C7,product_ver:4.0.0,special_id:4B520000}\n"
			"{product_name:Archer C7,product_ver:4.0.0,special_id:42520000}\n"
			"{product_name:Archer C7,product_ver:4.0.0,special_id:4A500000}\n"
			"{product_name:Archer C7,product_ver:4.0.0,special_id:52550000}\n"
			"{product_name:Archer C7,product_ver:4.0.0,special_id:54570000}\n"
			"{product_name:Archer C7,product_ver:4.0.0,special_id:55530000}\n"
			"{product_name:Archer C7,product_ver:4.0.0,special_id:43410000}\n",
		.support_trail = '\x00',
		.soft_ver = "soft_ver:1.0.0\n",
74

Where did you get this id list?

75

So, my RU router don't accept current snapshot, but allows to flash dd-wrt & I searched string "Archer" in firmware file. As result: my original RU firmware has codes: special_id:00000000, special_id:52550000; current Lede snapshot 45550000&55530000&43410000. Original KR version has 4B520000.

And current DD-wrt has all list that above.

I edited tplink-safeloader.c, rebuild image. and finally flashed Lede. All this because even in recover mode router not accept firmware with wrong regional id.

76

These are simply ASCII codes for the country code (4B 52 = "KR", 52 55 = "RU", 43 41 = "CA", etc). I suppose one could put all the two-letter country codes into the build so that it wouldn't matter where they sell them next.

77

Someone needs to make a patch.

78

I can make a pull request.

79

Here we go https://github.com/lede-project/source/pull/1490

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80

My router kept hanging, anyone got this issue?

81

No problems here. Have you tried a newer snapshot? I'm using r5296-645b163, it's a few days old.

82

I am using r5329-769e1ba
Did you install any addon?

83

None. Only luci. My C7 V4 is a US version. Flashed said snapshot over the first official firmware (170301) as soon as I took it out of the box, didn't update it to the latest (170901) before flashing.

I'm using mine as a WDS AP on the 2.4GHz radio, PPPoE connection to a 20/5 fiber service, and firewall. 5GHz radio seems to work fine, too. Longest uptime so far was one week, interrupted by a power cut.

Previously I had a 1043ND V2 on 17.01.4 doing these tasks.

84

It usually hang when there are high download speed or numerous connections like 10mbps or running bit torrent. It doesn't hang immediately but it hang eventually. Is it because router faulty? But I only got this a few months ago, erm.

85

hi guys, just a quick update on 802.11s with ath10k (plain qca988x). was able to make it work by adding 'option macaddr' for mesh network. highest performance would be with no encryption. both c7 here.

86

Jrambo99... to your question on where's the 2.4Ghz antennas... I would have to guess it s similar to the v3, where the external "rabbit ears" handle both bands. There it's easier to figure out, you can see cables from one (2.4Ghz) chip going to the plug in card handling 5Ghz that has a diplexing section that allows a single connected dual band antenna to handle both. I'd guess both radios and diplexer circuit are on the mainboard on the v4, inside the shielding can.

1 Like