TP-Link TL-WDR4300

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Contents

TL-WDR4300 hardware info

Image:wdr43001.jpg Image:wdr4300bk.jpg

CPU Atheros AR9344
CPU Speed 560 MHz
Flash ROM 8 MB
RAM 128 MB
Radios 1x 2.4 GHz / 1x 5Ghz
WLAN Support A/B/G/N
WLAN Max Speed 300mbps on 2.4Ghz and 450mpbs on 5Ghz
Antenna Location 3x removable external
Switch 4x Gigabit ethernet + 1 Gigabit ethernet WAN
USB 2x USB 2.0


How to Flash

  1. Download factory-to-ddwrt.bin and tl-wdr4300-webflash.bin from the router database.
  2. Optional: Download tl-wdr4300v1-webrevert.rar in case you need to restore to stock firmware.
  3. Remove Ethernet cable from the WAN port on the router.
  4. Perform a 30/30/30 reset.
  5. Using Internet Explorer and a PC connected via Ethernet, flash factory_to_dd-wrt.bin using the web interface.
  6. Confirm the router has rebooted by visiting http://192.168.1.1
  7. Perform a 30/30/30 reset.
  8. Visit http://192.168.1.1 and flash the tl-wdr4300-webflash.bin file.
  9. After the router has finished rebooting, do another 30/30/30 reset.
  10. Plug the Ethernet cable into the WAN port, and visit http://192.168.1.1 to setup your preferences.


Multiple VLAN and SSID Configuration

Interfaces and VLAN names
Interfaces and VLAN names

To properly configure multiple bridges and multiple VLANs it's necessary to get the interfaces names and port IDs right. The confusing thing is that there are three different naming schemes present:

  • 1st the printed labels on the chassis
  • 2nd the labels used in the web frontend
  • 3rd the names used on the CLI

Since most of the Layer 2 (switching and bridging) features are only configurable through the CLI the diagram and the following descriptions refer to the names used in the CLI. Once configured properly though the CLI the names appear in the WEB frontend as well.

The 4300 has a powerful 5 Port Switch which is capable to use the ports in tagged mode (802.1Q) as well as port based VLAN mode. Even mixed mode is possible.

The default configuration as seen in the diagram shows the following interfaces:

ath0
the radio for 2,4 GHz - is not used as layer 3 interface (has no ip-address).
ath1
the radio for 5 GHz - is not used as layer 3 interface (has no ip-address).
eth0
the interface on which the switch is connected - is not used as layer 3 interface (has no ip-address). This interface is also used to configure the switch using the swconfig command.
vlan1
the logical interface that represents the LAN - is not used as layer 3 interface (has no ip-address).
vlan2
the logical interface that represents the WAN
br0
the logical interface for the complete LAN. This is the interface has the LAN-IP-Address.

If you configure additional SSIDs they will be named ath0.1 or ath1.1 depending of the radio. If you decided to "add the WAN Port to the LAN Switch" the vlan2 interface will be added to the bridge br0.

to properly configure the Layer 2 environment you will need the following commands:

ifconfig
to view or alter interface settings (up/down) as well as IP-Adress Configuration
swconfig
to configure the built-in switch.
vconfig
to add additional vlans
brctl
to configure the logical switch (or bridge)


Howto/Example: Additional SSID bridged to a tagged VLAN

Let's say you want to use your TL-WDR4300 as a multi SSID parallel band access point. You've already got two IP-Networks (Internal and Guest) up and running. Internal network has no VLAN-ID (is untagged) and the guest network has the VLAN ID 6. Both networks arrive on a cable that are connected to the port labelled "Port 1" on the Chassis.

  • you add an additional SSID on both radios. This will give you two additional interfaces ath0.1 and ath1.1
  • Next you configure the built-in switch to accept a vlan 6:
swconfig dev eth0 set enable_vlan 6
  • Next you tell the switch to add the ports to the cpu (0) and the "Port1" (2) to vlan6 in tagged mode:
swconfig dev eth0 vlan 6 set ports "0t 2t"
swconfig dev eth0 set apply
  • Next you crate a "Vlan 6" on the eth0 Interface
vconfig add eth0 6
  • Next you need to connect all the interfaces together in one new bridge:
brctl addbr br1
brctl addif br1 vlan6
brctl addif br1 ath0.1
brctl addif br1 ath1.1
  • just to make sure eveything is up:
ifconfig br1 up
ifconfig ath0.1 up
ifconfig ath1.1 up
ifconfig vlan6 up

Since this configuration is based on the CLI you have to use the "Administration->Commands" Tab in the web GUI to save your script as a startup script.


How to replace OpenWrt with DD-WRT

  1. Set up an HTTP server.
  2. Download the firmware file "/tplink_tl-wdr4300v1/factory-to-ddwrt.bin" from the build folder, and save the firmware file to the root of the public web server folder. You must use the "factory-to-ddwrt.bin" file when writing with mtd. Do not use the "tl-wdr4300-webflash.bin" file, which will brick your router.
  3. Login by SSH.
  4. View the partitions.
    cat /proc/mtd
  5. Verify that you have a "firmware" partition for mtd to write.
  6. You must download the firmware file in the "/tmp" directory.
    cd /tmp
    wget http://192.168.1.100/factory-to-ddwrt.bin
  7. Write the firmware.
    mtd -r write /tmp/factory-to-ddwrt.bin firmware


Restoring Stock Firmware

  1. Download tl-wdr4300v1-webrevert.rar from the router database.
  2. Download latest stock firmware
  3. Browse to http://192.168.1.1
  4. Browse to Administration -> Firmware Upgrade.
  5. Select the extracted tl-wdr4300v1-webrevert.bin and click the Upgrade button.
  6. After the router reboots, browse to http://192.168.0.1 and login with admin/admin.
  7. Browse to System Tools -> Firmware Upgrade.
  8. Select the firmware file you chose in step 2 and click Upgrade.
  9. Browse to System Tools -> Factory Defaults and click the Restore button.


Useful Links

How to unbrick the TL-WDR4300

General support forum thread