ASUS RT-N16

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ASUS RT-N16 (A1)
Availability: common

Manuf (OEM/ODM): Arcadyan WG7127 F22-LF-ASU

FCC approval date: 27 April 2009
UPC: 610839056583 (UPC DB, On eBay)
Country of manuf.: China

Amazon image

ASIN
B00387G6R8 (Flag of the United States.svg, On Amazon, On CCC)

Type: wireless router

FCC ID: MSQRTN16
IC ID: 3568A-RTN16

Power: 12 VDC, 1.25 A
Connector type: barrel

CPU1: Broadcom BCM4718A1 (480 MHz)
FLA1: 32 MiB33,554,432 B <br />262,144 Kib <br />32,768 KiB <br />256 Mib <br />0.0313 GiB <br /> (Macronix MX29GL256EHTI2I-90Q)
RAM1: 128 MiB134,217,728 B <br />1,048,576 Kib <br />131,072 KiB <br />1,024 Mib <br />0.125 GiB <br /> (Samsung K4N51163QZ-HC25 × 2)

Expansion IFs: Mini PCIe, USB 2.0
Mini PCIe slots: 1
USB ports: 2
JTAG: yes, 12-pin header, unpopulated, J1
Serial: yes, 4-pin header, populated, 3.3V TTL, J2

WI1 chip1: Broadcom BCM4718A1
WI1 802dot11 protocols: bgn
WI1 MIMO config: 2x3:2
WI1 antenna connector: U.FL, RP-SMA

ETH chip1: Broadcom BCM4718A1
Switch: Broadcom BCM53115S
LAN speed: 1GbE
LAN ports: 4
WAN speed: 1GbE
WAN ports: 1

bgn

Additional chips
2.4GHz RF Power Amplifier Module;SiGE;SE2528L;;2;

Stock bootloader: CFE 1.0.37 BCM947XX

Stock FW OS: Linux 2.6.22

TPFirmware supported: DD-WRT • (List), FreshTomato • (List | DLs), HGG (Hugo Gomes) (Merlin Fork), JBF (John Bacho) (Merlin Fork), LEDE Project (obsolete, OpenWrt) • (List), Oleg-ng (wl500g) • (List), OpenWrt • (List | Dev | DLs), TomatoUSB RAF (Victek) • (List | DLs), TomatoUSB • (List | DLs)

Default SSID: ASUS (97 addl. devices)
Default IP address: 192.168.1.1
the IP 192.168.1.1 is used by 1304 additional devices
of which 167 are ASUS devices
Default login user: admin
Default login password: admin
admin:admin credentials used by 1326 additional devices
of which 199 are ASUS devices

802dot11 OUI: 00:26:18 (-, 1 W), 20:CF:30 (4 E, 4 W), 48:5B:39 (1 E, 1 W)
Ethernet OUI: 00:26:18 (-, 1 W), 20:CF:30 (4 E, 4 W), 48:5B:39 (1 E, 1 W)

For a list of all currently documented Broadcom chipsets with specifications, see Broadcom.

Multi-Functional Gigabit Wireless N Router

Product page • Support page

Wikis

Reviews

While the N16 is default clocked at 480MHz, the CPU is 533MHz capable.

Links of Interest

wl500g.info

DD-WRT

Linksys.info

Flashing

Flashing DD-WRT

 • Flashing DD-WRT Guide

  1. Download the firmware located here: dd-wrt.v24-14929_NEWD-2_K2.6_mini_RT-N16.trx
  2. Do a factory reset in the Asus GUI. Let the router reboot. Disconnect all cables (WAN, USB, etc.) and plug the Ethernet cable from your PC into the LAN1 port on the router.
  3. Using Internet Explorer (IMPORTANT), Flash the downloaded firmware file through the router's GUI at http://192.168.1.1/. This process takes about 60 seconds. Asus factory default username/password is admin/admin.
    1. ALTERNATE - I was unable to get the initial firmware flashed on a stock router containing the latest RN-16 firmware. Alternatively you can use the ASUS Firmware Restoration Utility (included on router CD or downloadable from [1]) to flash the initial firmware. Install the application, load up the initial firmware, then unplug the router, and replug it in with the black RESTORE button depressed. The power light should now be blinking slowly, meaning the router is in restore mode and ready for the new firmware. Upload and wait for router reset. This was the only method that allowed me overwrite stock firmware. Follow remainder of instructions normally. - ApatheticNow -
  4. After the reboot from flashing, wait for the device to show the password change screen for DD-WRT. Enter root as the user and anything for the password as you will do the user/pass procedure again after the final flash.
  5. Do a Factory Reset to clear the NVRAM. This is located under Administration -> Factory Defaults in the DD-WRT Web-GUI, or open up a telnet session to your router and type erase nvram followed by the command reboot (This is the preferred method). You will be presented with the password change screen again after this step is complete.
  6. Download and flash the full featured Firmware dd-wrt.v24-14929_NEWD-2_K2.6_big.bin under Administration -> Firmware Upgrade.
    1. NOTE : in the Firmware Upgrade Tab where it says "After flashing, reset to" choose "Reset to Default settings".
    2. NOTE : For the final flash (Upgrade), it is wise to walk away for ~5 minutes while the Mega Firmware is flashing. This ensures all NVRAM variables are successfully loaded by the Kernel before the user configures.
  7. Check for recommended builds.
  8. Enjoy DD-WRT on the RT-N16!
  9. Think about donating to DD-WRT.

Flashing Tomato

 • ASUS Tomato Flash Guide

Source

Note: some people say you need to install DD-WRT first. I do NOT recommend anyone to install DD-WRT first before installing Tomato on Asus routers.

  1. Download a suitable tomato firmware
  2. Install the Asus router utility from the CD that came with the router. Run \Utility\setup.exe from the CD to install it. If you no longer have the CD you can also download it from the Asus website.
  3. Disable Firewall on your computer.
  4. Disable anti-virus on your computer.
  5. Connect your computer to one of the LAN ports of the router with an ethernet cable.
  6. Assign a static IP of 192.168.1.10 and subnet mask 255.255.255.0 to your computer LAN port.
  7. Disconnect the router WAN port if you already have a cable plugged into that port.
  8. From Windows Start menu, run ASUS Utility -> RT-N Wireless Router -> Firmware Restoration.
  9. Click the Browse button and select the file that you downloaded in step #1. Don’t click the upload button yet.
  10. Put the router in recovery mode: Unplug the power cord of the router. Hold down the black Restore button using a pen (not the red button). Plug the power cord back in. Once the power light starts flashing slowing, release the Restore button. The power light should continue to flash. The flashing light means the router is ready to accept the new firmware in recovery mode.
  11. Click the upload button in the Restoration utility. If it warns about incorrect Asus firmware, ignore it. The firmware should now start uploading into the router. Don’t touch anything while the firmware is being uploaded. (Note: these steps worked when I flashed my RT-N16. However, the utility could not find my RT-N12 B1 when I tried to flash the router, although it did work for other people. After failing for more than a dozen times, I tried to perform the upload first before putting the router in recovery mode, then it finally worked. Later I tried a different unit of RT-N12 B1 strangely it could be flashed the first time using the normal procedure. If neither of these procedures work, please see the Addendum in The Wiert Corner, and the tftp method described by Simeon W in the comments section.)
  12. No matter whether the utility says the upload is completed, or it hangs at a certain percent, DO NOT PANIC, and WAIT FOR FIVE MINUTES before you do anything else.
  13. After five minutes, open a browser and go to http://192.168.1.1. Login with user “admin” (or “root”) and password “admin”. You should be logged into Tomato.
  14. Administration -> Configuration -> Restore Default Configuration -> Erase all data in NVRAM memory(thorough) -> OK (Note: there is a forum report saying this reset function does not work properly on RT-N53 – in this case, try the hardware reset button.)
  15. After it is completed, login again, enable DHCP (for Toastman Builds), change admin password, enable WiFi security if you use WiFi, plug in your WAN connection and configure it. Also take a look at the CPU frequency, you may need to manually change it if it is not correct. (Note: overclocking your router is usually not a good idea from my experience.)
  16. Change your computer LAN port back to use DHCP (dynamic address) and dynamic DNS.

Wiert Corner method

  1. pull the power plug on the RT N66U
  2. press and hold the reset button
  3. insert the power plug on the RT N66U
  4. wait for the power led to slowly blink
  5. release the reset button
  6. wait a few minutes for the modem to become stable
  7. in the mean time set your PC to these IPv4 settings: – host = 192.168.1.100 – mask = 255.255.255.0
  8. start your web-browser
  9. point your web-browser to http://192.168.1.1 (it will time out, don’t worry)
  10. press the power button to turn off the router
  11. wait a few seconds
  12. press the power button to turn on the router now your router gets into rescue mode
  13. refresh your browser so it goes to http://192.168.1.1 again
  14. upload your Tomato firmware

–jeroen

TFTP method

Put the router into recovery mode, set a static IP address on the computer then run in the shell: 

tftp 192.168.1.1
binary
put [filename].trx

Wait several minutes while firmware transfers and router updates. Reboot twice, waiting 3 minutes

in between each reboot, and the router should now have tomato installed.

Flashing OpenWrt

  • openwrtwiki: toh/asus/rt-n16

Upgrading

Upgrading DD-WRT

  1. Download the firmware
  2. Do a factory reset in the GUI. Let the router reboot.
  3. Flash the downloaded firmware file through the router's GUI at http://192.168.1.1/
  4. After flashed, wait for the device to show the password change screen for DD-WRT.
  5. Do a Factory Reset to clear the NVRAM.

Reverting

Reverting to OEM Firmware from DD-WRT

  1. Download the latest ASUS firmware from asus's site.
  2. Rename the asus file from .trx to .bin
  3. go into the DD-WRT firmware upgrade page, set it to reset defaults, and select the ASUS firmware you renamed.
  4. After the flash finishes, and you see the ASUS GUI, do a Factory Reset to clear the NVRAM.
  5. Try to enjoy ASUS's firmware, and keep missing DD-WRT. (you can just flash back to dd-wrt if you ever want)

DD-WRT Recovery Mode

This router does have a recovery mode if ever needed for flashing, and to access it, press the reset button, then plug in power, and tftp the firmware you want to flash. Dont forget to do a Factory Reset in the GUI before and after every flash to make sure you dont have any nvram problems or conflicts.

Special thanks to Eko for making this possible!

JTAG-Serial Info

JTAG

JTAG Pinouts

 nTRST | 1o o2 | GND   | 6o | GND
   TDI | 3o o4 | GND   | 5o | ->
   TDO | 5o o6 | GND   | 4o | ->
   TMS | 7o o8 | GND   | 3o | ->
   TCK | 9o o10| GND   | 2o | ->
 nSRST |11o o12| N/C   | 1o | +VCC
 CPU JTAG [J1]          [J5]  Switch
 BCM4718                     BCM53115

Using Universal JTAG Adapter 

 white | 1o o2 | black
   red | 3o o4 | GND
  blue | 5o o6 | GND
 green | 7o o8 | GND
yellow | 9o o10| GND
orange |11o o12| N/C
  • /byte_mode switch required

DD-WRT JTAG Recovery

  1. Backup CFE x2 (Compare the files, they must match exactly or there is something wrong with your JTAG setup)
  2. Erase Wholeflash x2
  3. Flash CFE
  4. Unplug Power
  5. Unplug JTAG Cable

TFTP:

  1. Set Rig ip static 192.168.1.10
  2. Plug network cable from rig to port 1
  3. Get TFTP ready, server ip - 192.168.1.1, Password - blank, file - dd-wrt.v24-13527_NEWD-2_K2.6_mini_RT-N16.trx
  4. Plug in power
  5. As soon as windows says "connected" hit upgrade. May have to use a network hub to make sure windows is always connected.
  6. Hard Reset 30\30\30

Serial

Serial Pinouts
 F | VCC | 1o | R
 R |  RX | 2o | E
 O |  TX | 3o | A
 N | GND | 4o | R
 T |      [J2]
Hyper terminal Setup in Windows XP
In Windows XP, Click Start Button - All Programs - Accessories - 
   Communication - HyperTerminal
Enter a name for the connection, Click ok
Choose com port you adapter is plugged into, Click ok
Set:
 Bits per second = 115200
 Data Bits = 8
 Parity = none
 Stop bits = 1
 Flow control = none
Click ok
Click File - Save As, and select a place to save it to so you 
             don't have to enter the settings again.
Putty Setup in Windows XP
After installing putty, run it
 Serial line = The COM port your using for serial (ie. COM3)
 Speed = 115200
Click on Serial under Connection
 Serial line to connect to = same as above (Serial line)
 Speed (baud) = 115200
 Data bits = 8
 Stop bits = 1
 Parity = none
 Flow control = none
Click Session
 Enter a name for your connection under saved sessions
Click Save
Click Open

DD-WRT Serial Recovery

Modified redhawk0 instructions

  1. Connect Serial cable
  2. Start one of the programs from above
  3. Get TFTP ready with file selected
  4. Use dd-wrt.v24-13527_NEWD-2_K2.6_mini_RT-N16.trx
  5. Connect power to the router
  6. start a rapid fire Cntl-C as you plug the router to power
  7. type "nvram erase" w/o quotes, hit enter
  8. type "flash -noheader : flash1.trx" w/o quotes, this starts the tftp daemon, hit enter
  9. but have tftp.exe ready
  10. Click go or start on TFTP
  11. give it 5 minutes after it finishes
  12. then power cycle....Hard reset or 30/30/30...then config
  13. when it stops spitting out txt....hit the enter key...you should get a login prompt...
at that point, power cycle it, hard reset...then config
  1. you'll see it boot up

USB Info

DD-WRT USB

  • The USB port is where you can connect an external USB hard drive or flash drive.
Which can do a multitude of things. You can use in as a NAS, storage for a FTP
server, use Optware to run external programs like torrent software, samba for
sharing files to network, share a USB printer with network...
The list of possibilities is long, it just takes a little research.
  • ProFTPd is included in most the newer builds of dd-wrt.
Check the features chart to be sure.

Tomato

TomatoUSB comes with file sharing, ftp server and media server built in.

Tutorial: How to set up NAS and Optware on Tomato FOR TOTAL NOOBS


vlan Info

DD-WRT vlan Info

Per fggs, Reference: Routers that will and won't support VLAN

Confirmed working on an Asus RT-N16 using 14929 K2.6 NEWD-2, I had to add the commands..
insmod switch-core
insmod switch-robo

and save as startup, after which 

ls /proc/switch

Showed up, also as jumran mentioned, the webgui works thereafter the ins~ commands are saved to startup.

Edit: almost forgot... 

1 2 3 4 | Case labels
4 3 2 1 | NVRAM ports

Pictures

DarkShadow's RT-N16

  • Asus RT-N16

  • Asus RT-N16

  • Asus RT-N16

  • Asus RT-N16

  • Asus RT-N16

  • Asus RT-N16

FCCID MSQRTN16

  • Asus RT-N16 FCC

  • Asus RT-N16 FCC

  • Asus RT-N16 FCC

  • Asus RT-N16 FCC

  • Asus RT-N16 FCC

  • Asus RT-N16 FCC

  • Asus RT-N16 FCC

  • Asus RT-N16 FCC

  • Asus RT-N16 FCC

  • Asus RT-N16 FCC

  • Asus RT-N16 FCC

  • Asus RT-N16 FCC

Notes

DD-WRT Notes

Build 15407 and later

The devs of dd-wrt have removed the loading of file system drivers from the startup of the firmware.

They are now loaded on demand with automount. Well, this presents a problem for those of us with
USB HDD that automount doesn't detect. In order to load the file system drivers at startup you need
to add the following to save startup in the commands tab.

For K2.6 builds only that have the modules already in place 

insmod /lib/modules/2.6.24.111/kernel/fs/mbcache.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.24.111/kernel/fs/ext2/ext2.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.24.111/kernel/fs/jbd/jbd.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.24.111/kernel/fs/ext3/ext3.ko

This loads the ext2 and ext3 file system drivers.

The mtd flash partitions

The factory firmware and the dd-wrt firmware use different partition schemes.

ASUS has 4 partitions: 

0x00000000-0x00040000 : "boot"
0x00040000-0x01fe0000 : "linux"
0x001dff88-0x01fe0000 : "rootfs"
0x01fe0000-0x02000000 : "nvram"

dd-wrt has 5 : 

0x00000000-0x00040000 : "cfe"
0x00040000-0x01fe0000 : "linux"
0x00187000-0x00720000 : "rootfs"
mtd: partition "rootfs" doesn't start on an erase block boundary – force read-only
0x01fe0000-0x02000000 : "nvram"
0x00720000-0x01fe0000 : "ddwrt"

likely the "linux" partition is not dd-wrt at all, but a remnant of the ASUS fw, as rootfs

overlaps with it. in either case, the asus "boot" is binary identical to dd-wrt "cfe"

what does a functioning OpenWRT partition scheme look like?

Default vlans 

nvram show | grep vlan.ports
vlan0ports=1 2 3 4 5*     <-- Eko says it causes no problems
vlan1ports=4 3 2 1 8*     <-- natted LAN
vlan2ports=0 8            <-- WAN

For newer 802.11n routers the variable vlan1ports equals to the natted LAN side while, vlan2ports refers

to the WAN side. Was told by Eko not to worry about vlan0ports, that it didn't cause any problems.

Overclocking

By factory default the cpu is clocked at 480MHz and the Ram at 240MHz.

Overclocking at CPU 532MHz / Ram 266 MHz can be achieved with these commands:
nvram set clkfreq=532,266
nvram commit
reboot

Note: some users have had overheating issues, so adding a fan may be a good idea if you want to try the overclocking.
Note: other instability issues may also arise from overclocking. Overclocking is NOT a good idea.
Note: See also Overclocking BCM 47xx CPU's for more info.

UPnP fix with swap on

If using SVN13450 (Eko Big) which still has swap enable option, you can

manually enable UPnP with these commands in your start-up script:
nvram set wan0_primary=1
nvram commit

Current Known DD-WRT Issues and Bugs

  • UPNP is currently not working for the RT-N16, so for now leave the feature disabled unless you want a full CPU Load. Fixed with SVN trac Changeset #13527
  • Access Restriction with MAC-Filter doesn't work on Asus RT-N16. trac Ticket #1319(as of 12/18/09)
  • On this router reset button will only bring you to recovery mode. If you wish to restore defaults, use wps button while plugging power in. Post By Eko

Personal Experiences

Dark_Shadow (This information was gathered when support was in its infancy, it's long outdated):

My current USB HDD, dd-wrt's automount doesn't mount. In Tomato USB it automounts fine.

I have a HDD comming for another USB HDD enclosure. It's a Antec MX-1, we'll see how that one fairs.

Currently have 2x Western Digital My Book Essential 2TB.

It detected and automounted the drive, but only the first partition.

Seems way to complicated to get the other partitions mounted.

Using My compiled (This was ages ago and I no longer have the buildand no longer compile) TomatoUSB build 54

seems everything works so far (currentlty using Shibby builds). It also has a superior wireless signal.

Things I've tried thus far: (RT-N16)

Firmware itself - Works
Wireless radio - Works
USB support - Works
File sharing - Works
Media Server - Works
My custom firewall - Works
Automatic script execution - Works
Swap - Works
Custom Theme/Skin for GUI - Works
FernSpider:

With recommended DD-WRT build (14929M) on Asus RT-N16's I experienced the following issues:

  • httpd daemon crashes (100% CPU) when https WAN management option is enabled. This problem has also been reported here and here and a ticket was raised here. However, even though the ticket was closed because the bug was deemed to have been "fixed", no details are given and it is not clear that it has actually been fixed. As the crash may take days to happen it is difficult to diagnose the problem and therefore devise a workaround.
  • Access Restrictions do not work with unbridged virtual wireless interfaces. The problem appears to be due to a bug in the "Add Bridge" GUI code which adds a rule to the iptables FORWARD chain before the lan2wan chain reference which ACCEPT's all packets originating from the new bridge. As a consequence the access restrictions which apply to traffic on this bridge are rendered ineffective. This problem can be fixed via a firewall script which searches for firewall rules targeting packets originating from the added bridges and moving them further down the FORWARD chain.

Features that work well for me:

Wireless Radio
Custom Firewall
Multiple WLAN's
Separate WLAN's
jffs

Hardware Modification

See also


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