Amazon Gargoyle Router

[benni]

I tried to identify a gargoyle Router on Amazon but don't got really around with it! There's no Archer C7 with V2 and I get also no other routers and be fully lost in space.
What is the best Amazon Gargoyle Router?
Maybe 5ghz, Reset Button and installation friendly??
Thanks

[ispyisail]

Its getting tough to find routers these days that you know that you aren't going to have problems with..

This works
https://shop.gargoyle-router.com/

[mojolacerator]

Any "WRT" router from Linksys works really well with Gargoyle.

[Volaris]

Not sure how fast of a router you need, but you can get the WD My Net N600 or N750 pretty cheap, especially used. I like that it has emergency firmware/recovery mode so it's pretty hard to brick --- and there's only one hardware model of each.

[joelm335]

I'm new to Gargoyle and also struggling to find a suitable router for a rental chalet running Satellite broadband. Two Amazon suppliers advertising TL-WR1043ND ver2 - both arrived as ver4.0 and have had to go back.

There's a used 1043ND ver 1 advertised on ebay which might be suitable. I can also see various adverts for Archer C7 ver 2 routers but some posts on here suggest that not all will work.

@Volaris suggests WD N750 - this is available from Amazon, but I cannot see the router on Gargoyle's list of suitable routers. Which firmware files would I need? Or any other recommendations? I would not describe myself as "expert" so want something where firmware upgrade is straightforward.

[Volaris]

@Volaris suggests WD N750 - this is available from Amazon, but I cannot see the router on Gargoyle's list of suitable routers. Which firmware files would I need? Or any other recommendations? I would not describe myself as "expert" so want something where firmware upgrade is straightforward.

Both the WD N600 and N750 have Gargoyle firmwares in the Download page. Look for mynet n600 and mynet n750.

Installation instructions from OpenWRT are:
https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/wd/n600

1) Download the factory.bin file
2) Configure your computers IP address to 192.168.1.10 and connect to a LAN port in the router.
3) Turn the router off.
4) Using a paperclip, press and hold the reset button on the bottom of the router and turn it on. Hold the reset button for at least 15 seconds. Wait until the power light on the front is slowly flashing on and off.
5) On your computer, visit http://192.168.1.1 NOTE: You will not be able to ping this address.
6) Upload the factory.bin file as downloaded earlier.
7) The router will now flash Gargoyle. This will take a couple of minutes to achieve.

[porkypete]

I have done a few Archer C7 V2 EU upgrades, both V2 variants. the older V2 is a bit easier than the current model - the newer model takes a few hours of Google when things go wrong (or just don't go), but once done they work fine. Mine are on a slow satellite 2Mbits link and a 20M Fibre link. On the satellite link I use quotas to manage a capped 20Gig cap. On the fibre link I am uncapped so no quotas, just QOS to make sure TV stream is not hampered, and the more-equal (parents) have less "issues" than the less-equal (teenage children).

When running in final setup this box is perfect... when trying different things and upgrading in between all this (ignoring warnings about not preserving config), you will get a lot of weird stuff happening (this forum is full of these)...

Once I found the best setup I did a complete factory reset and set up step by step again. One is running perfectly on V1.91 for close to a year. The other is on the very latest June 13th 1.9x and has been upgraded from 1.9.2 about 5 times preserving settings each time. I have had some long hours of recovery time back in Jan and Feb variants. The latest are a lot more stable. The June one upgraded with keeping config, but I did a second clean install and started from scratch, and this one is looking pretty bullet-proof.... As you will find trawling the forum, the guys have done a sterling job of stabilising the current v1.9x, especially on the C7v2. For now, I recon this is the one to get - enough processor and memory. Perhaps you need to spend double on the WRT1900ACS if you have a 100MBis fibre link... The C7 tops out soon after my 20Mbis link when configured to be busy....

[joelm335]

Both the WD N600 and N750 have Gargoyle firmwares in the Download page. Look for mynet n600 and mynet n750.

Thanks, that's really helpful, I can see the files for the N750 in version 1.8 (stable). Any particular advantage in terms of installation or performance over the WR1043ND ver 1.x ? I realize that the WD N750 is a dual band router, but this is for a rental chalet so I am not too bothered about marginal performance gains. I just need to get it installed ASAP and although the TP Link is on an ebay auction (with zero interest so far), seller is not interested in buy-it-now and would have to wait for auction to end.

[joelm335]

Just checked the download instructions from the link to openWRT - I assume same method for the N750

Method 3
1) Follow method 1, but instead of uploading OpenWRT use Gargoyle. Download gargoyle_1.9.0-ar71xx-generic-mynet-n600-squashfs-factory.bin from the Gargoyle downloads page.
2) Once Gargoyle is flashed and the router is rebooted, go to 192.168.1.1 and update the firmware with openwrt-15.05.1-ar71xx-generic-mynet-n600-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin from OpenWRT downloads.
3) After OpenWRT is finished flashing, log into the router by SSHing into root@192.168.1.1

Does this mean I have to update the firmware with the Gargoyle Factory.bin file and then update that with the sysupgrade file from openWRT as described in (2)? I just want to use the Gargoyle software to control and limit downloads by renters. Seems like the TP Link is simpler as (if I understand correctly) there's only the Gargoyle Factory.bin file to upload.

Also, how do I log into root@192.168.1.1 using SSH? With the TP link it just seems like a matter of using the default password and then resetting it.

Thanks again.

Joel

[joelm335]

Problem solved I found someone selling a Netgear WND3700v4 on Ebay for a fair price. It's a more up-to-date router, is already flashed for OpenWRT and he has installed Gargoyle for me as a favour before sending it.

Thanks everyone.