Asus TFTP Flash

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For the Asus WL-500 series a few extra steps are available/needed when you do the initial flashing of your Asus WL-500 series router, compared to the general TFTP flash procedure.

To avoid confusing the general TFTP flashing procedure of some other routers - which have fewer steps than for the Asus WL-500 series - this Asus specific TFTP Flashing page has been made.


Contents

TFTP tools

With TFTP, all of the information about the transfer is specified during the initial command/setup; there is very little client/server interaction compared with standard FTP.

Windows

  • WinXP Command Line TFTP: tftp client is by default enabled
  • Vista Command Line TFTP: You need to enable it in Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Windows Features -> check mark : TFTP Client
  • Windows GUI TFTP Utilities:
- The Server/IP address is that of the router being flashed.
- Leave the Password blank.
- Navigate and select the firmware you wish to flash.
- Set retries to 10.
  • No-nonsens open source TFTP tool, Tftpd32 includes TFTP client as well as DHCP, TFTP, SNTP and Syslog servers

Linux

  • Ubuntu: install TFTP client with command sudo apt-get install tftp

Mac OS X

  • OS X ships with a command-line TFTP client.


Commandline - Asus WL-500 series example

These steps are the same for :

  • WL-500g Deluxe
  • WL-500g Premium v1 & v2
  • WL-500W


Requirements:


Principle steps:

a) set PC to static IP: 192.168.1.2
b) set router in recover-mode and load wl500g-clear-nvram.trx
c) set router in recover-mode and load wl500g-recover.trx
d) set router in recover-mode and load dd-wrt-v24_mini_asus.trx file
e) from with-in dd-wrt-mini web-GUI load any suitable dd-wrt-v24_xxxx.bin file shown on Supported Hardware list


Detailed step-by-step guide:

Preparations

  • Step 1: Copy the four files mentioned above to a folder on your pc. Could be c:\dd-wrt
  • Step 2: Make sure you have a TFTP client available on you pc.
  • Step 3: Connect your computer via Ethernet cable to a LAN port on the router
  • Step 4: Set your PC to static IP 192.168.1.2
  • Step 5: Turn off the firewall on your PC - you need the TFTP program to be able to connect out through the firewall area to the router.
  • Step 6: Open a command prompt window, and go to the folder with the four files. Command could be cd \dd-wrt


Set router in recover-mode and load wl500g-clear-nvram.trx

  • Step 7: Unplug the power cord from the router
  • Step 8: Wait 20 seconds
  • Step 9: Press and hold the reset button on the back of the router - Note that the reset button is recessed and you need a pen or paper clip to press it in. The button protruding from the back is the EZ Setup, which is not what you want to press.
  • Step 10: While holding the reset button, plug the power cord into the router. Continue to hold the reset button until the power light starts flashing. Let go of the reset button
  • Step 11: Use tftp to transfer wl500g-clear-nvram.trx to the router. The commands are as follows:
in Windows:
tftp -i 192.168.1.1 put wl500g-clear-nvram.trx 
on a Linux box:
user@box:$ tftp 192.168.1.1
> mode binary
> put wl500g-clear-nvram.trx
  • Step 12: Tftp should report a successful file transfer in 7-15 seconds. This means the file is transfered to RAM.
  • Step 13: Wait 5 minutes for the file to be stored to FlashRAM. Then unplug the power from the router. Saving from RAM to FlashRAM takes 2-3 minutes, but if you unplug the power from your router too soon, its likely that you will brick your router. So give it the 5 minutes!


Set router in recover-mode and load wl500g-recover.trx

  • Step 14: Unplug the router, wait 20 seconds. Hold the reset button and plug the power cord into the router, continuing to hold the reset button until the power light flashes. Release the reset button.
  • Step 15: Use tftp to transfer wl500g-recover.trx to the router. Same method as above, just change the file name.
tftp -i 192.168.1.1 put wl500g-recover.trx 
  • Step 16: Wait 5 minutes after tftp reports a successful file transfer before unplugging the router.


Set router in recover-mode and load dd-wrt-v24_mini_asus.trx file

  • Step 17: Unplug the router, wait 20 seconds. Hold the reset button and plug the power cord into the router, continuing to hold the reset button until the power light flashes. Release the reset button.
  • Step 18: Use tftp to transfer the DD-WRT firmware .trx file to the router. MAKE SURE YOU USE THE CORRECT FILE. It should be called something like dd-wrt.v**_asus.trx - Do not upload a .bin file yet.
tftp -i 192.168.1.1 put dd-wrt-v24_mini_asus.trx 
  • Step 19: Wait 5 minutes after tftp reports a successful file transfer before unplugging the router. Unplug the power cord from the router, wait 20 seconds, and plug the power cord back into the router.


Load any suitable dd-wrt-v24_xxxx.bin file

  • Step 20: From with-in DD-WRT Mini web-GUI load the dd-wrt-v24_xxxx.bin file
Open a web browser to 192.168.1.1 (set your preferred root user name and password)
Click tab Administration -> Firmware Upgrade 
at "After flashing, reset to" select "Reset to Default settings"
at "Please select a file to upgrade" point to the  dd-wrt-v24_xxxx.bin file
Click Upgrade
Wait until the router reboots on it own. Recommended: DO NOT TOUCH YOUR COMPUTER UNTIL ROUTER HAS REBOOTED. And under NO circumstances move the web browser away from the upgrade process, or you could brick your router. This whole process takes some five minutes, so go get some coffee - or go kiss your girlfriend/wife.

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