Its dead easy to do. Just be 100% certain that it is the correct model of unit before you flash the firmware as it will either not apply or brick the device. Model labels normally on the bottom / back of the device or in the standard UI.
Anyhow. You have a choice of firmware, Brainslayer's or Kong's. They converge as both are core developers, but generally Kong's will be a bit further ahead and gets more testing, but may not have some of the features compiled in.
Either way, the first job is to escape from the stock firmware, so in the BS site, get the two files listed. (factory-to-dd-wrt.chk and netgear-r8500-webflash.bin). The factory-to-dd-wrt.chk is the one you must flash first. From then on, you use are the netgear-r8500-webflash.bin or latest Kong build. Note that historically on older routers, it was a two stage upgrade, the first one just did a mini version that escaped the factory firmware and allowed you to then write the full image.
You can find the newer builds by starting further up the FTP tree at
ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/ and work your way down to the newest available build as required.
To upgrade, go into the Netgear firmware, use the firmware upgrade function, point at the factory-to-dd-wrt.chk file and let it upload.
The important thing when upgrading - be patient, wait for the process to complete - so go and make a cup of tea after the flash has completed, it takes a couple of minutes to complete the initial startup. Once its all available, go into the web interface at http://192.168.1.1 and set the default password and you are done. Your second task is generally to secure the Wi-Fi as it defaults to open.
I suggest getting a USB stick and using that for /jffs and putting any scripts (firewall, startup, etc on that). Also take regular backups of the config from the GUI so that if you do screw up, its less time to recover as you learn.
You also need to read up on the following :
1. How to do a 30-30-30 reset, since you will at some point need to do this !. Details are here http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Hard_reset_or_30/30/30.
- This is another reason to stick your config on the USB stick.
You will probably not need this, but if for any reason you decide you to go back to Netgear firmware, you can just firmware upgrade within dd-wrt, but point it at the standard Netgear download.
I just bought an R8500, and I've tried just about everything I could find on the internet to flash this damn router with DD-WRT. Could someone please help me out, I can't stand the stock firmware, thank you!
Joined: 30 Jan 2015 Posts: 676 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2016 12:59 Post subject:
@phoenix127,
I bought mine few weeks back(new egg) and bricked the router. There are several other folks
who bought recently (best buy) and another guy from UK are all seeing the same issue.
So all the fairly new ones are now not compatible.
phoenix127 wrote:
@labo.
The problem @frossie had was he got a used device off e-bay, it wasn't a new device. He details this further down in the thread you linked to.
There are no compatibility problems with the R8500 build as far as I know.
phoenix127 or Kong: do you know (can you test?) if the 'et' command exists in the BS builds for the R8500? I'm currently using it to tell the built-in switch to pass STP packets (for some reason it blocks them in its default state).
Kong – if et isn't in the BS builds, is it possible to have the switch enable STP as part of the DD-WRT startup process?
I'm quite happy with using the Kong builds on my R8500, I just worry if there's ever a reason I have to switch to BS... paving the way for a smooth future.
Last edited by DaveTheNerd on Tue Dec 13, 2016 15:07; edited 1 time in total
@labo. Is there a forum link for that ? The one you had before was a completely different issue.
@Foaley's issue is different - as can't apply the firmware from stock which is not the same as bricking the router. Double check that you are uploading the factory-to-dd-wrt.chk file as I detailed previously.
Even if you do brick it, de-bricking these is simple as long as you have the stock firmware image (from the netgear site) and a tftp program such as Pumpkin which you can get from here
http://kin.klever.net/pumpkin/
So go fetch those before you start, then you can recover if you have a problem.
De-bricking is as follows:
Configure PC as 192.168.1.10 with a mask of 255.255.255.0 (/24), install Pumpkin. Put the netgear binary in the folder configured in pumpkin in its options. Hit the "Put File" option, browse to the downloaded netgear file (which btw must not be a zip or anything, unzip if if you need to first).
remote file = "firmware.bin"
Remote host 192.168.1.1
Now open a command prompt and do "ping -t 192.168.1.1". Power off the router, wait a couple of seconds then power it back on. After a short time, you should get a small number of replies from the router, this is when the CFE is active. You can see this as the ttl=100, rather than the usual ttl=64.
When you first see the response with a ttl=100, press OK in Pumpkin, this uploads the firmware back to the router and it will then restart with NetGear firmware. You will see the byte count increase rapidly and get a donk sound when it completes.
Alternately, I understand that you can use the standard Netgear tool re-program the device, the tool is either on the CD or on the NetGear web site for the router.
As to returning the router, its definitely a very good router and has plenty of power. Mine has been rock solid, so even if at worst case you were affected by the issue @labo knows about, then you only have to wait until the devs fix the issue.
BS build 30880 doesn't have et in the stock firmware.
So, what's et supposed to do (don't say phone home !)
Thanks!
'et' lets you control some of the hardware switches in the switch (and perhaps other elements?). I use 'et -i eth0 robowr 0x4 0x4 0' to enable the STP passthrough (don't ask me why some gigabit switches actually have a default filter for those packets... it's crazy!). I don't understand what that command actually does, mind you. Kong hand-crafted it for me and it works brilliantly. Kept me from continuing to tear my hair out!
Joined: 30 Jan 2015 Posts: 676 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2016 16:32 Post subject:
Thanks @Phoenix127!
When I said mine is bricked, I meant that when I update the router using usb-ttl cable via CFE to dd-wrt firmware it goes to boot loop
after kernel panic, the error message is same as what you have posted in this thread:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=286232&start=60
---
Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000000
pgd = 84db8000
[00000000] *pgd=04db0831, *pte=00000000, *ppte=00000000
Internal error: Oops - BUG: 17 [#1] SMP ARM
Modules linked in: wl(P+) dhd igs(P) emf(P) switch_robo switch_core et(P)
---
The only firmware I can successfully update is the stock initial netgear firmware
All other firmwares including BS and Kong end up with kernel panic boot loop.
Original issue was that from GUI, the firmwares were not updatable. but, I was using USB-TTL cable to update the firmware from CFE.
Thanks,
phoenix127 wrote:
@labo. Is there a forum link for that ? The one you had before was a completely different issue.
@Foaley's issue is different - as can't apply the firmware from stock which is not the same as bricking the router. Double check that you are uploading the factory-to-dd-wrt.chk file as I detailed previously.
Even if you do brick it, de-bricking these is simple as long as you have the stock firmware image (from the netgear site) and a tftp program such as Pumpkin which you can get from here
http://kin.klever.net/pumpkin/
So go fetch those before you start, then you can recover if you have a problem.
De-bricking is as follows:
Configure PC as 192.168.1.10 with a mask of 255.255.255.0 (/24), install Pumpkin. Put the netgear binary in the folder configured in pumpkin in its options. Hit the "Put File" option, browse to the downloaded netgear file (which btw must not be a zip or anything, unzip if if you need to first).
remote file = "firmware.bin"
Remote host 192.168.1.1
Now open a command prompt and do "ping -t 192.168.1.1". Power off the router, wait a couple of seconds then power it back on. After a short time, you should get a small number of replies from the router, this is when the CFE is active. You can see this as the ttl=100, rather than the usual ttl=64.
When you first see the response with a ttl=100, press OK in Pumpkin, this uploads the firmware back to the router and it will then restart with NetGear firmware. You will see the byte count increase rapidly and get a donk sound when it completes.
Alternately, I understand that you can use the standard Netgear tool re-program the device, the tool is either on the CD or on the NetGear web site for the router.
As to returning the router, its definitely a very good router and has plenty of power. Mine has been rock solid, so even if at worst case you were affected by the issue @labo knows about, then you only have to wait until the devs fix the issue.
The issue I had was specific for 65K and above of NVRAM. Only when NVRAM usage exceeded the first 64K did the router crash on boot. A 30-30-30 reset allowed you to recover from this as the initial NVRAM is quite small, hence the bug didn't trigger.
This was tracked by Kong to a bug in his 128K NVRAM upgrade. He fixed that problem, I believe it was Kong build 30465 on the 24/8/2016. The bug fix then got rolled into the full source code that BS uses. Somehow the issue got re-introduced in a later BS build and then re-fixed. I'm not experiencing that in the BS 30880 build that I'm currently running.
Clearly this is different if you are getting this on the first application of the firmware. If there are a number of people having the issue, then I suggest that they summarise all their details in one new thread and someone PM's Kong with the thread details to ask for his help. Can you also post that thread's link here just for completeness ?
My guess is that Netgear changed something in the router to fix an issue or replace a component and the boot code is not handling that correctly.
I've not taken a look at compiling from source yet, but there are a number of things that are sparking my interest, such as :
1. Secure wireless by default;
2. Understanding the code base particularly around mounting /jffs on external storage which seems a bit flaky as sometimes internal gets mounted, sometimes external gets mounted (R8000 issue)
3. Getting the frequently updated stuff out to external storage since this is a lot simpler for most to replace than internal FLASH. Some is simpler such as message logs, but some content such as TRAFF goes to NVRAM rather than a file, which seems very odd to me as its just another type of log data.
4. Understanding the incorrect port mappings from the UI to hardware, such as on the R8000.
So I might over xmas have a go at doing a custom build and dropping it on an old e4200 I've got kicking around - just for kicks and if that goes well, I might get a second R8500 to play with more seriously.
I'm really impressed by the R8500 - so hang in there, it will be worth it in the end !! I also had success last week on a R8000 I helped a friend install.
Joined: 30 Jan 2015 Posts: 676 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2016 23:05 Post subject:
Here the sequence of events:
1.
My new R8500 router came with netgear firmware: R8500-V1.0.2.80_1.0.71.chk
2. Did direct update to Kong's build: dd-wrt.K3_R8500.chk r30880 version 11/14.
3. Worked fine for a week.
4.
Did ddup to latest build 12/02.
nvram reset.
From then onwards I started having the boot loop issue.
Was able to restore to any firmware using CFE/USB-TTL cable but all firmwares result in bootloop kernel panic, except the following two builds
- tathagata release: K3_R8500_17-Feb-2016.chk
Link:
https://www.myopenrouter.com/download/dd-wrt-r8500-tathagata-release-revision-28813
- Netgear initial base release: R8500-V1.0.0.28_1.0.15.chk
Other users are not even able to any dd-wrt firmwares
Related threads:
Did anyone provide the boot up sequence info to Kong as he requested ?
The serial pinout in case you need it is per my earlier posting. R = RX (Receive) Data, T=TX (Transmit) Data, G=Ground (0V), V=VCC (do not connect or you will release the magic smoke !!)
You can capture the console startup text in most terminal programs. I use Putty (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html) Go into the Session, Logging options and set a filename.
Do you know if anyone is working on a Firmware for the R8500's that were manufactured in Vietnam? I really don't want to send my router back, as I really do like the possibilities with this router.
