Re: Firmware upgrade

On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 15:07:13 GMT, "DanR" <dhr22@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>In addition to upgrading firmware via "wired" connection I disconnect or turn
>OFF other networked computers so they don't try to talk to the router during the
>firmware upgrade. Jeff, is that a good thing to do or not necessary? If that is
>a good thing... then to be extremely careful (paranoid) might it be good to also
>disable the wireless part of the router?

I've never "bricked" a WRT54G, but I've recovered them for friends and
customers. In one case, it was attempting to upgrade with *BOTH* a
wireless and wired connection to the router. They assumed they were
doing the flash upgrade over the wired LAN, but because they didn't
disable or disconnect the wireless first, the upgrade was accidentally
performed via wireless. It hung at the end and trashed the flash
upgrade. However, I made exactly the same mistake and the wireless
flash upgrade worked just fine. Dunno.

Where I've had the most entertainment value is when switching firmware
from different developers. For example, going from stock Linksys to
Sveasoft Alchemy tended to make a mess of the settings. After the
upgrade, the router appeared to be hung. The parameters were stored
in a different part of memory and what appeared was a mess. I few
power cycles and resets restored everything to reality and defaults.
I suspect that if I had followed instructions and reset the router to
defaults, this would not have been a problem.

One the local hacks like to juggle firmware and do custom compiles.
He had it down to an art when one of his experimental builds "bricked"
his router. So, I built him a JTAG port adapter to make recovery
allegedly easier. He claims he's never needed it after this one
accident. Most of the time, the "boot wait" feature is sufficient to
allow a TFTP upload recovery.

The Sveasoft instructions also suggest returning the router to default
setting before attempting a firmware update. After a bad experience
with a flash update to a desktop PC, I like to run everything from a
UPS just in case the power decides to die in the middle.

Note that I'm not an expert on WRT54G firmware juggling. I've only
recently become involved in trying different firmware builds and
systems. Such a question would best be answered in the numerous
WRT54G firmware support blogs by those with more experience.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
AE6KS 831-336-2558
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Blown firmware
    ... |>Linksys SRX400 wireless router. ... Just ignore the multiple warnings not to do firmware ... It's during this interval that you have to initiate the TFTP ...
    (alt.internet.wireless)
  • RE: Serious flaw in Linksys wireless AP password security
    ... encryption was enabled on my router, but not on my nic, there was no ... Serious flaw in Linksys wireless AP password security ... > It appears that firmware version 4.50.6 for the Linksys WRT54GS ...
    (Bugtraq)
  • Re: Linksys BEFW11S4 ver.4 - Firmware v1.52.02 does not work
    ... I had the same router with the 1.52.02 firmware and I never ... > deciding to upgrade to this firware. ... > I have the Linksys BEFW11S4 version 4 wireless router. ...
    (alt.internet.wireless)
  • Re: Unable to find a repeater on my wireless network
    ... You said you upgraded the router. ... upgrade returns the router's setting back to the factory defaults. ... made custom changes to these settings. ... If you have WEP installed on the router and wireless card, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.network_web)
  • Re: Netgear WGR614v6 issue
    ... to suggest that you purchased garbage, the wrong hardware, don't have ... the latest firmware, or that the product might have a known problem?" ... with the test and reset the router to factory defaults. ... The defaults are not always the optimum configuration for wireless. ...
    (alt.internet.wireless)