Flash your WRT54G or WRT54GS v5 series (v5, v5.1, v6)

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Revision as of 02:37, 19 April 2006 by 12.217.27.66 (Talk)
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As of April 3, 2006, there is a "Micro" version of DD-WRT that fits onto a version 5 of the WRT54G or WRT54GS. The process to get the firmware onto the version 5 is complicated, however. Mainly, it involves using a JTAG cable. This linkmay provide some other helpful guidance on performing the procedure below.

The Micro version also works on routers with more than 2MB of flash space. It lacks some functionality of the Mini version (which also lacks some functionality of the full version.). Specifically it leaves out the following: chillispot, nocat, rflow, kaid, samba client, SNMP, IPv6, MMC/SD Card Support, SSH, PPTP/PPTP Client, UPnP and ? (please edit!)

Note: WRT54 v5 routers are not officially supported by DD-WRT. Results are unstable and flashing is not recommended until DD-WRT compatibility improves.

(Expanded directions based on instructions from Piotr Gozdur)

1. If you don't have a JTAG cable and the most recent version (4.5) of the HairyDairyMaid's JTAG tool, STOP HERE!

2. Download the generic micro version of DD-WRT firmware (dd-wrt.v23_micro_generic.bin) from DD-WRT SP1 Beta Page. You should choose the most recent build.

3. Download the cfe.bin file from this directory. Rename CFE.bin to CFE.BIN.

4. Prepare your JTAG flashing environment. Best practices: 1) unplug router between commands. 2) If you're using Linux, you'll probably need to be SU to have rights to the parallel port. 3) Version 4.5 of HDM's JTAG tool will auto-sense the flashchip. Explicit chip parameters like '/fc:01' are usually not necessary. 4) After flashing the CFE.BIN, you may want to perform 'wrt54g -erase:kernel /noreset' and 'wrt54g -erase:nvram /noreset'. This may not be necessary, but will ensure that there's nothing else but :cfe on the chip. 5) Your JTAG tool may freeze. Exit the executable, power cycle your router, and try again.

5. Make a backup of your flash via JTAG with command 'wrt54g -backup:wholeflash'. This will take quite a while. Two hours or more.

6. Erase the flash (you did backup your :wholeflash, right?) with 'wrt54g -erase:wholeflash'.

7. Now your canvas is blank. From here on, you'll need to append '/noreset' to your commands. It's time to flash the CFE.BIN you downloaded earlier (It's originally from a wap54g v3). Use the command 'wrt54g -flash:cfe /noreset'.

8. Ping 192.168.1.245--make sure it's responding. Also, force 10mb/half duplex connection is recommended. Rename the micro firmaware to 'code.bin' and copy to root of c: drive for ease of use.

9. Upload example micro version of DD-WRT firmware via tftp using command (for Windows) 'tftp -i 192.168.1.245 PUT c:\code.bin'. (Path to code.bin will be different if it's not located at the root of your c: drive.)

10. After uploading via TFTP, just WAIT! Keep waiting. After a few minutes it'll come around on its own if you've done it right. The lights will stop blinking and it'll respond to pings on 192.168.1.1.

11. If your newly flashed v5 router is working properly, you may want to correctly set your MAC addresses. Using a command line, enter 'nvram set et0macaddr=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx' where xx is the MAC address printed on the bottom of your router. Follow that with the commands 'nvram commit' and 'reboot'.