Motorola WR850G

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Revision as of 19:24, 22 January 2006 by 68.229.134.127 (Talk)
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The Motorola WR850G is based on very similar hardware to the Linksys WRT54G except that it stores the MAC address information in flash memory and it has antennas that are not removeable (one antenna is internal). The way it stores the MAC address requires a special "mini" firmware first to use DD-WRT firmware.

Normal Method

Flashing the Motorola WR850G is a multi-step process to get to the full version or a single step if the mini firmware's options are sufficient. Remember to use a wired (ethernet) connection when flashing firmware.

In the original configuration by Motorola, the MAC address information for the Motorola WR850G is not stored in the same manner as the other routers, so a special "mini" version is necessary to convert the router to work with the full version of DD-WRT. This mini version has many of the features of the full version and may be sufficient for most users.

This method worked from Motorola firmware version 6.14. It is recommended you upgrade your Motorola firmware to this version prior to starting.

First, download the motorola-specific firmware from DD-WRT. The Motorola specific router is dd-wrt.v23_mini_moto.bin

Second, if you want the full version or a specialized full version of the firmware (optional), download the generic version of the full version from DD-WRT. You can download the zip file (which contains more files than you require), or you can download the generic one from the Standard, VoIP, or VPN client directories.

Once you have downloaded the files (and unzipped, if necessary), log onto the Motorola router's homepage. By default, the router's homepage is 192.168.10.1. The default username and password are "admin" and "motorola", respectively.

On the firmware upgrade page (the last tab), upload the motorola-specific mini firmware. This will take several minutes to transfer the file and then several more minutes until the router reboots completely.

Once complete, the router should be operating like a Linksys WRT54G. The unit should still have the IP of 192.168.10.1 (or whatever it was set to before the upgrade, this setting does not seem to be cleared by the upgrade).

The password for your router is now "admin" (the username field is ignored).
NOTE: If you had previously changed the password on your router you may need to use that password, in my case it was not reset by the upgrade.

You should reset the router to factory defaults before proceeding to use the router. In my case it seemed to turn off the firewall and other oddities. I believe this will change the IP address of the router back to 192.168.1.1 and restore the password to "admin".

If you desire to upgrade to one of the full versions, you can upgrade the firmware just like a Linksys WRT54G except that you want to use the generic version (which you happened already to download above...).

Failed upgrade method/Alternate method

If the upgrade above failed, you may find yourself with a bricked router. All is not lost!

The router can be recovered just like the Linksys Recover_from_a_Bad_Flash except that the Motorola router uses an IP address of 192.168.10.1 instead of the Linksys 192.168.1.1.

The starting conditions for this are that the router is unplugged (no power). On my laptop that had a wireless adapter and a wired ethernet connection, this method didn't work. I had to switch to my wired ethernet-only desktop to get this to work; I still don't understand why.

The least intrusive method is to try to "tftp" the firmware to the router. To do this, you'll first need to set a static IP address to your computer's ethernet port. Set your IP address to something in the same subnet, specifically 192.168.10.x (192.168.10.11 is recommended). Set the subnet to 255.255.255.0 and the gateway to 192.168.10.1. Ignore any DNS settings.

Plug the ethernet cord into the router and computer, if not already connected.

Open up two command shells (in windows, run "cmd"). On one shell, run a continuous ping of 192.168.10.1 (the router) by running "ping -t 192.168.10.1". Initially the ping will not reach the router; this is normal.

In the other shell, type in (but do not run) "tftp -i 192.168.10.1 put (path\firmwarename.bin)" (where "(path\firmwarename.bin)" is the path and filename of the mini firmware specific to the motorola router.)

Note! You have a time constraint upon powering up your router. Once you plug it in, be prepared to complete the step following powering the router. Plug in the router (power it) and proceed to the next step.

The ping will soon change to reaching the router by displaying a response time. Once it does, run the tftp program you typed in several lines above. If successful, a delay should occur and then report that a xxx bytes transferred. The router will then store that firmware and start using the firmware. This will take several minutes! You can tell the router is finished after the red power light changes back to green (stays green for more than 15 seconds).

After the router is running again, you'll need to set your computer to obtain an IP address automatically. You'll think the router isn't working when your computer is now just using a different subnet.

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