ASUS RT-G32

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Contents

Introduction

This is a step by step guide to flashing dd-wrt onto an ASUS RT-G32.

Hardware: ASUS RT-G32 (this is not the Rev B version!)

dd-wrt version: DD-WRT v24-sp2 (11/21/10) std (SVN revision 15778)

OS used to flash: Windows 7

Preparation

  • Download ASUS firmware. I used RT-G32_V3.0.2.1_RU09.bin
  • Download the ASUS Firmware Restoration tool. I used version 1.0.12.0
  • Network settings needed for ASUS flashing tool.
    • IP: 192.168.1.254
    • Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
    • Gateway 192.168.1.1
    • DNS can be left blank.
    • Set these in Control Panel -> Network Connections -> Local Area Connection -> Properties -> TCP/IP -> Properties on Windows XP.
  • Download asus-to-dd-wrt.bin, I used build 15778

Uninstall old ddwrt firmware

If you already have stock ASUS firmware on your G32 skip this step!

You can move on to the next step if you already have stock asus firmware installed.

Requirements for this step

  • A TFTP server. I used Tftpd32
  • A telnet client. I used PuTTY
  • A special config file. I used config originally from the russian blog link listed at the end of this guide. Seems to have issues downloading at times so I mirrored it.

In this step we will get back to stock ASUS firmware and factory settings. This is important as the newer ddwrt firmware can't be installed on the G32 without starting from a good state.

This step is only needed if you had installed ddwrt on the RT-G32 with the old guide. You might also need to do this if your router is non responsive from some mishap.

In order to flash the router, you'll need to access RedBoot on the router via telnet. You also need to have a tftp server running.

Putty settings for telnet (best to save these since it might take more than one try to connect):

  • Host Name: 192.168.1.1
  • Port: 9000
  • Connection Type: telnet
  • close window on exit: never


Uninstall

  1. Start the TFTP server.
    Make sure you place the config file you downloaded earlier in its serving directory.
    I'll refer to this file by the name: config
  2. Connect:
    1. Plug your ethernet cable in to port 4 on the router.
    2. Then plug in the power to the router, wait 2-3 seconds (until you have valid network connection, windows should tell you).
    3. Click "Open" in putty to start your telnet session.
      This may take you a few tries to get it to connect.
    4. This is what the telnet screen shows on connection
      == Executing boot script in 1.920 seconds - enter ^C to abort

      ^C

      RedBoot>
  3. Enter these commands into Redboot (my comments are in parentheses):
    1. fis init
    2. y
    3. ip_address -l 192.168.1.1/24 -h 192.168.1.254
    4. load -r -b %{FREEMEMLO} config
    5. fis create -l 0x00010000 -f 0xBFFD0000 -e 0x00000000 -r 0xBFFD0000 config
    6. fconfig (press enter twice)
    7. fis load -l vmlinux.bin.l7 (you don't have this file but its part of the plan)
    8. exec -c “root=/dev/mtdblock1 of rootfs=squashfs” (press enter 12 times)
    9. y (to the only y or n question)
    10. reset
  4. Close putty and tftpd.
    If you forget to close them you might get socket errors later when you try to use the ASUS Firmware utility.


Stock ASUS Firmware Install

Why

In this step we install a stock firmware using the ASUS Firmware Restoration utility. We do this so in a future step we'll be able to use the ASUS Firmware Restoration utility to install newer versions of ddwrt since for whatever reason the web flash part of the ddwrt doesn't work for the G32.

Install ASUS firmware using ASUS Firmware Restoration utility

  1. Start the ASUS Firmware Restoration utility.
  2. Browse to the RT-G32_V3.0.2.1_RU09.bin (or whatever stock firmware version you downloaded).
  3. Unplug the router.
  4. Press and hold the reset button.
  5. Plug the router back in while still holding the reset button.
  6. In 2 to 3 seconds (as soon as you have a valid network connection) press the "Upload" button.
  7. Release the reset button around 3% complete or so.
  8. The router will reboot after installing the firmware.
  9. After reboot browse to 192.168.1.1 -> administration and reset the router to factory defaults.

Install dd-wrt using ASUS Firmware Restoration utility

This is the method to install future upgrades of dd-wrt

With this new flashing method G32 users are finally able to get newer builds of dd-wrt consistently despite the web interface not allowing upgrades. Using the ASUS tool it's still pretty easy.

Installation

  1. Start the ASUS Firmware Restoration utility.
  2. Browse to the asus-to-dd-wrt.bin.
  3. Unplug the router.
  4. Press and hold the reset button.
  5. Plug the router back in while still holding the reset button.
  6. In 2 to 3 seconds (as soon as you have a valid network connection) press the "Upload" button.
  7. Release the reset button around 3% complete or so.
  8. The router will reboot after installing the firmware.
  9. After reboot browse to 192.168.1.1 -> administration and reset the router to factory defaults. (you should only have to do this coming from ASUS firmware).
  10. Clear your browser cache. If you can browse to dd-wrt web interface and see the updated version but are getting issues with apply.cgi not working you need to clear cookies and cache. After clearing it everything should be working smoothly.


Other Links of Interest

List of newer dd-wrt firmware versions. Just select whatever date or build number you want and then look for the Asus_RTG32 folder in that directory. firmware versions firmware version 15778

The Asus RT-G32 forum: DD-WRT Forum: ASUS RT-G32 Support

Original source of the how to get back to asus firmware. Also the source of the config file. The site is in Russian. ASUS RT-G32 Back to Firmware

Thanks to Tylex, Scythe, and many many others for researching how to flash ddwrt on the RT-G32.