WRT54G

edited March 2010 in Hardware
It is my dads old WRT54 G that was at his house. One day I tried to update the firmware on it. The update for some reason failed. I have got to ask my dad if he needs it back it belonged to the company he works for. If he tells me he does not need it I may try to fix it maybe use the linux dd-wrt? My dad now has a belkin N router. But no longer uses his office at home. My old WRT54G is still running good. I am not going to mess with it. The only difference in mine and his old one is mine has the removable antennas. His does not and his is a little newer version than mine.

Comments

  • If it is an older revision (upto v4), I'd recommend flashing it with Tomato.

    It's a lightweight, stable firmware and works great on my WRT54GS 2.1.

    http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato
  • Have you tried firmware reset?
  • Josh wrote:
    Have you tried firmware reset?

    If that is resetting the router then yes I have tried it.
  • I'm not suggesting its better or worse, but DD-WRT (one of the "development" builds from the site, I can't give you an exact build number right now) has worked fine on my WRT54GL for ages now. Its all a matter of opinion.
  • Duff wrote:
    If it is an older revision (upto v4), I'd recommend flashing it with Tomato.

    It's a lightweight, stable firmware and works great on my WRT54GS 2.1.

    http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato

    It is version 8. And I plugged it up this morning. The power light only blinks. And I plugged the ethernet cable from the router to the laptop so I can try and access the router. I disabled the wireless on my laptop and I have been trying to get it to work. There is a ethernet light on the router but the power light only blinks. Defalt Gateway has no ip address. The only way for me to recover it is if there is a exe from linksys that will run and detect the router.
    Maybe the router is no good now or maybe it can be fixed and I hope it can.
  • On some routers, you have to actually hold the reset button in for about 20-30 seconds in order for the router to do a firmware reload.
  • XpUser, sounds like it's bricked to me. Either that or it's underpowered, Rioter's had some experience with that.

    If it is bricked, resetting it or trying to access it via ethernet is going to be pointless. You'd have to connect to it with JTAG or something to reload the firmware yourself.
  • BlueSun wrote:
    XpUser, sounds like it's bricked to me. Either that or it's underpowered, Rioter's had some experience with that.

    If it is bricked, resetting it or trying to access it via ethernet is going to be pointless. You'd have to connect to it with JTAG or something to reload the firmware yourself.

    But at that point the effort for someone like him (even myself) is beyond what its worth to just go out and pay for a new one. He may as well see if he can wedge it underneath a door to hold it open this summer so a nice breeze can blow through.
  • Yes, I would say it's not worth it given that he already has a functional router. But if he wanted the learning experience and wanted to spend the time on it, there's no reason not to. Also, not everyone can shell out $60 for a new router, although I'm not sure how much any of the JTAG stuff is. If it's more than $60, it's definitely not worth it.

    When are these routers going to have like, dual firmware or something like gigabyte motherboards with DualBIOS?
  • Haha, I couldn't afford to buy a new one. But then... I wouldn't be the one replacing it anyway. Ahh the joys of free WiFi...
  • I actually bought a WRT54GS (one of the new revisions with VxWorks) from Staples, then traded a guy for his older WRT54GS 2.1, which has the most RAM out of all the WRT54s.
  • Actually I have a new wireless N router. I am not using it yet because it will not reach my sisters house. She has a G card. But I have even tested the range on both they were sitting side by side one was on channel 1 and the other on 11. That way there was no interference. The WRT54G got a signal and the wireless N didn't. The wireless N is a Netgear. The model number is WNR-1000 I got it with a dell gift card I could not really find anything else on dell's site so I got the router.The thing on the range is the WRT54G has 2 antennas. And the Netgear has built in antennas. I believe the external antennas are better.
  • XpUser wrote:
    The wireless N is a Netgear. The model number is WNR-1000...

    lol, same one as my neighbors... >_>
  • I wish there was a way to increase the transmitting power. I bet I could find someone who can but would it be legal? I still like the WRT54G it has been a good one has giving me a little trouble but I was able to fix it. I have thought about getting an outside antenna so my sister could get a better signal but not sure how much life it has. It could do live my dads and go crazy anytime. And as for his I have tried everything except the JTAG thing. Dumb question is there anything like dd-wrt for the netgear?
  • That depends, dd-wrt supports a number of other routers, not just WRT54G's... Go to their website and look up the list of supported routers to find if yours is there.
  • XpUser wrote:
    Dumb question is there anything like dd-wrt for the netgear?

    Not dumb at all, you could very well be supported. Like BlueSun mentioned, check out their site and punch your router model into the compatibility database. You may be surprised.
  • I just looked, doesn't look like WNR1000 is on the list. Quite a few other netgear's though. I'm not very familiar with the WNR1000's hardware, it could still be possible and it's just that no one has tested it or maybe they're working on supporting it. Check back later, you never know.
  • BlueSun wrote:
    I just looked, doesn't look like WNR1000 is on the list. Quite a few other netgear's though. I'm not very familiar with the WNR1000's hardware, it could still be possible and it's just that no one has tested it or maybe they're working on supporting it. Check back later, you never know.

    Upon further investigation, the hardware inside this is damn near identical to the D-Link DIR-615 C1. Atheros AR9130 CPU, 4MB flash. I can't find a surefire way of finding out of whether its supported or not. Apparently OpenWRT boots on it? https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=18314

    I'd ask someone on the OpenWRT or DD-WRT forums before flashing anything though. Wouldn't want to end up with a bricked router.
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