Thanks a lot!
Hi,
I've bought this router recently (in part because of OpenWrt support); thanks to this thread and some luck (I did automatic firmware update but luckily it updated to the v1.1.00.015, not something newer) I was able to install OpenWrt on it.
However I have a gigabit connection (download) -- and it's a honest gigabit. By connecting to the provider's router directly I was able to get something like ~945 mbit download.
With Linksys E7350 on the stock v1.1.00.015 I am also able to get ~945 mbit download (i.e. ethernet connection to Linksys router which is in turn connected to provider's router with another ethernet cable).
With OpenWrt, however, I was only getting ~600mbit download. I wasn't willing to sacrifice that much speed and so I reverted back to the stock Linksys firmware (and the speed went back to ~945mbit).
The tests above were done by speedtest.net using the same browser. I'm also able to get over 90MB/sec downloading games in Steam, for example (using the stock firmware, didn't really test OpenWrt with that as I reverted pretty quickly).
Is something like that expected for OpenWrt firmware? Is there perhaps some options / tuning that can help with that? I'm not 100% sure I'm up for trying OpenWrt again, but I might as the stock firmware seems fairly limited.
I was thinking also about adding a speed warning to the router's OpenWrt page ( https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/linksys/linksys_e7350_v1 ) but I need to know if this is possibly a 'me' problem, not a general problem.
Thanks!
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Yeah that's a general issue with OpenWRT. It's slower than the stock firmware for various reasons on most routers. I think it has to do with hardware vs software offloading and sometimes CPU frequency settings on specific routers.
I've switched my routing to pfSense on x86 just recently due to this.
My experience was exactly the opposite of yours. I had been running BSD/OPNsense on my APU2 for a couple years and got a big lift in throughput when I switched to Linux/OpenWrt about three years ago. BSD had that single-thread issue going on at the time, I don't recall details, but maybe it was with offloads???
Sorry not enough information to test this, what version of Openwrt did you use, was Luci installed, were you logged into the GUI while running the speedtest, what type of ethernet cables did you use?
Sorry, it's been months, by now I can't vouch that I remember things properly.
Based on the files I still have around, looks like this was what I tried: openwrt-23.05.0-rc4-ramips-mt7621-linksys_e7350-squashfs-factory.bin
I'm not sure what do you mean by the type of ethernet cables, but those were the same ones that gave me full gigabit speed on the stock firmware. They also give me full gigabit on my current setup (which involves opnSense). I will admit that those are crappy cables though -- including several point-to-point connections on the way to my desktop that I use for speed testing.
The GUI thing I can't answer (I don't remember) and I'm also not sure I understand the question properly. I was running speedtest on the desktop computer (not on the router if it even supports that) if that's what you're asking.
I believe Luci was installed -- I do seem to remember using some kind of web-interface.
What @Maniac said above rings true to me -- I do think this router is likely underpowered (in terms of CPU/processing power) -- based on e.g. how sluggish its web interface is. So it seems reasonable to suspect that OpenWRT just can't route full gigabit on it because it's probably not as optimized for specific hardware as the OEM Linksys firmware is.
I'll just point you over here:
The e7350 has this patch, and on my e7350/rt1800 running 23.05.2 or snapshot, I can achieve the max my 1 Gbps line can offer.
I use cat5e or cat6 cables.
I cannot recommend making a judgement on what a chipset is capable of based on your experience of a release candidate.
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That should be nice-to-know to whoever might stumble on this thread later on, thanks!
In my case it's too late now, at some point I upgraded OEM firmware because I wrongly assumed from their website description that I will be able to downgrade. Turned out to be not the case, so I'm stuck now, purely using E7350 as AP now (and not amazing one either as it cannot be forced to always use 80MHz on 5GHz band).
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I got rid of my E7350 with 23.05.2 because I didn't see results above 300Mbps.
Unlike the WR1200JS, supported by Padavan and getting 800Mbps, the E7350
was unsupported by Padavan.
Anyone got a link to official 1.1.00.024 firmware?
never mind, i just deduced from the old path and release notes, and then run about 40 combinations 
https://downloads.linksys.com/support/assets/firmware/FW_E7350_V1.1.00.024_Prod_20220329_code.bin
and 1.0.00024 if anyone ever needs it
https://downloads.linksys.com/support/assets/firmware/FW_E7350_V1.0.00.024_Prod_20200923_code.bin
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I get full gigabit speeds up and down when wired into this device configured as an access point running OpenWRT 23.05.3
Speeds are consistent in internet speed tests, iperf3 benchmarking and real-world use.
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Just got another one of these as a donation. It came running stock firmware version 1.1.00.032
No luck flashing 23.05.5 or 24.10.0rc-6 factory firmwares. Tried downgrading to stock firmware version 1.1.00.015 but it errors out also.
Is anyone flashing this unit from stock GUI or only over UART? If so, what image works for GUI flashing stock irmware version 1.1.00.032?
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Because you are on 1.1.00.032, I think you'll be able to downgrade to 1.1.00.015 (which does accept OpenWrt installations from the GUI).
See my earlier comments in this thread:
I've tried to downgrade to 1.1.00.015 several times. It always fails at 42% and reboots. It doesn't matter if it's connected over ethernet or wifi. Also tried 1.1.00.024 version which fails at the same percent.
Does anyone have the stock 1.1.00.10 firmware?
I'm not sure that this will help you....
(but what I can't tell is if I was at 1.0.00.010 or 1.1.00.10 (i.e. a typo on my part earlier)
Are you using serial?
I will when I get a chance to crack it open. Busy with other things at the moment.
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I'm having trouble on this router. My E7350 started with the 1.1.00.015 firmware. I tried the Linksys web UI and flashing the OpenWRT factory.bin, but it booted back to stock. I flashing the .032 Linksys firmware and that was successful. I tried flashing to factory.bin, but still it boots back to stock UI. I tried SSHing to the router by IP, but that's blocked. How do you select or switch the active partition?
I've tried following the detailed guide on connecting by UART serial, but I can't seem to get it working. I only get garbled output from PuTTY. I think I'm not getting the timing right of exactly when to connect the Rx & Tx connections and then when to connect the ground. The power light never seems to change in intensity.
When do you connect the UART wires to the router for a serial connection?
Was able to flash no problem once I got UART acess to Uboot. I even put the firmware.bin file on the dedicated tftp server on my network, plugged port 1 of the device into a switch on the network and it loaded the firmware just fine; no direct connection to PC required.
Used a CH340G serial to USB adapter and I cannot recommend these enough. This thing is a workhorse and never met a UART it didn't like. Used Minicom on Linux instead of Putty with same terminal settings.
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The key here for me was to wire everything up first, start minicom, remove USB to serial adapter from USB port, power up the device and wait until the blue LED for port 4 flickered. Once you see the flicker, plug the USB to serial adapter back in and the console text should show up. I used a CH340G serial to USB adapter. Photo attached shows the EXACT wiring from UART to adapter...the silkscreen on the adapter has the pins labeled.
