Re: Firmware upgrade

On 8/20/2005 11:48 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote: 
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.


Sveasoft Talisman is well worth the $20 if doing WDS or need a more flexible firewall.
.

Relevant Pages

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