Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

[bgavin]

I have a v6 router that bricked after installing the current firmware.
The power LED blinks steadily, and the LAN port #1 is lit.

The router is dead other than this.

Q: does anybody know a magic technique to reflash or otherwise revive a brick?

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

Just out of curiosity, were you flashing stock firmware? Or DD-WRT?

Either way, the DD-WRT wiki has a ton of great info on recovering from a bad flash: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php...om_a_Bad_Flash

[ratdude747]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

oops! somebody made another piece of silicon masonry.

damn it, those are nice. hope you fix it

[NxB]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

You have to make a JTAG cable. Its useful for other stuff. You have to solder a connector to the router. I used one off of a dead motherboard. The cable is parallel and just needs wire and resistors.

[Topcat]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

I've never bricked a WRT54G, but this is good info!

[Junk Parts]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

Well I use a Westel DSL modem/router and the thing has aways been a turd. There is a firmware update for it but I'm not going to worry with doing it. I'm just going to hit it with my hammer after I get a new one.

[kc8adu]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

all the wrt54xx units i have unbricked were flashed while they had bad caps.
not by me though.
these were freebies i got out of junkboxes and were donated to the shop for recycling.
its trivial to build a jtag and unbrick them.
why folks think a firmware/bios upgrade will fix something that slowly went sick is a mystery to me.

[Topcat]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

^ Seen people hose motherboards the same way.... Have had to hotflash many.

[Junk Parts]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

Maybe I'll look at the caps in my Westel before I show it how well my hammer works. A few dollars in caps is better than buying a new one. My junk also has a strang habbit of resetting its self for no reason. After it does this I have to get on the phone with verizon and do tricks to get it working again. They also aways say that I had to have pushed the reset button on the unit for it to have done this hard reset. I say Bullshit! The unit sits in my desk in such a way as nothing can touch the back of it, and I never turn it off.

[NxB]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

I have a V5. It can't run DD-WRT (except micro). It overheats like a motherfucker. I just recapped it to see if it would stop and it only got slightly better. At least it stopped locking up.

[weirdlookinguy]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

I have a WRT54GL, which is essentially a re-issue of v4 (the last version that can run the full version of DD-WRT). The thing is rock solid on DD-WRT v24sp1.

[ratdude747]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

hey jp, those are dead-on bad caps symptoms. open it up and look...

if not, i might take it as a spare.

[gg1978]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

That's a bummer.. I remember when i flashed my WRT54GL, i bricked the firmware on it, i forget the exact symptoms, but it wouldn't boot..

I didn't have to use a JTAG cable to fix mine..


There was another flash method using TFTP to do it.. I believe i had to TFTP the stock firmware back onto it, then reflash DD-WRT afterward.. Though that may not work with stock firmware, as i had already had DD-WRT on the 54GL, and i was upgrading.

[shadow]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

I messed up the firmware on my WRT54GS by just resetting it using the standard reset method (button on the back of the router). I was running a 3rd party firmware, apparently it will happen with most 3rd party firmware's but it will not with the original Linksys firmware.

The TFTP method did not work for me. I made a cheapo short JTAG cable connected through the PC parallel port. I then had to clear the NVRAM and the Kernel before I could use the TFTP method to flash firmware again.

You can flash the firmware through the JTAG connection, however it is extremely slow. Apparently it will take several hours.

I love these routers. They do everything I need with a 3rd party firmware. They are reliable and work well. If a particular feature you need is not present, you can code it yourself (if it is feasible) because the firmware is completely open source and runs Linux.

The bad caps is a bit of a bummer, however it is an easy fix for us here on the forum.

[NxB]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

JTAG flash on 2mb takes about 40 minutes.

[bgavin]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

My brick is WRT54G v6. He calls that one of the Neutered ones.

I'm game to try the JTAG trick to see if it works.
Mine is completely dark except a constantly flashing power LED.
The hard 30-30-30 reset procedure did not revive it.

Thanks for posting the tips.
Good stuff.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

Maybe I'll look at the caps in my Westel before I show it how well my hammer works. A few dollars in caps is better than buying a new one. My junk also has a strang habbit of resetting its self for no reason. After it does this I have to get on the phone with verizon and do tricks to get it working again. They also aways say that I had to have pushed the reset button on the unit for it to have done this hard reset. I say Bullshit! The unit sits in my desk in such a way as nothing can touch the back of it, and I never turn it off.

I have a Westel 327W I used for 3 years with no problems in the actual modem. [My lines suck here. They even ran a new line to the house [underground phone lines here] trying to get a clean signal and that only fixed things for a few months.]
I did mount it so that the side vents were high and low to promote natural air circulation. It's Verizon unit but the last 2 of those 3 years I tricked it into working on Qwest. [Don't remember how but I only had to do it once.] I only switched because Qwest gave me a new 2-Wire unit. [I sweet talked a tech out of one. He was a Gulf War Vet too.] It was free and it has a heck of a lot more info and configuration options than the old Westel.

I [just] opened the Westel up for a peak since it was brought up.
Two big Nichicon HE and 4 Nichicon SMD.

[golemmaster]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

A few days ago I flashed my WRT54Gv5 with DD-WRT v24-sp1 (07/27/08) micro.
First I checked the caps and replaced one that was slightly out-of-spec.
The flash went well. I was a little nervous. After the process some of it's pages would go white after applying a change. Reset it by button fixed that. Now it's working very nicely. LOTS more options and configurations.

In case I bricked it I had a spare Netgear WNR834Bv2.

[NxB]

Re: Linksys WRT54G Bricked after Firmware

I heard the micro will still cut out on torrents. I will try it since this router is still acting funky.