Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 2:05 Post subject: Reviving an OLD Linksys WRT54G v1.1
Hello,
I have an old Linksys WRT54G v1.1 which I have not used for a while now. It had tomato 1.28 firmware but I just reverted back to the Linksys firmware. I am planning on giving it to my sister to extend her wifi signal at her house. So it will act more like a dump AP more than anything.
Figured I try DD-WRT but a bit confused and wondering if it is worth the trouble at all vs just leaving the stock image.
- The DD-WRT router database recommends DD-WRT v24 SP1 VINT
- V24 Final and SP1 versions of dd-wrt are VERY buggy and problematic on Broadcom units, according to https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=52043
- This procedure says to use v23sp2_mini_generic and then move to standard
https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys_WRT54G_v1.0_%26_1.1
All firmware images I found so far are not in development anymore, the most recent would be the stock firmware from 2012 (Tomato 2010, DD-WRT 2008, OpenWRT 2008).
Does anyone know if any others exist out there? Any suggestions?
I know it is very old and might end up buying something newer in the end, still curious to see what the options would be or what people are doing with old hardware such as this
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 14243 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 2:44 Post subject:
!) Check my signature
2) There is a sticky at the top of this forum for "recommendations" posted by feliciano.
3) You'll want 43192 or newer, most likely
I can attest that the 54GL works great on 43516. No reason not to run ddwrt on it. The Linksys firmware is several years old. If you use the Mini version, you can save a little bit of ram... _________________ ASUS RT-AC3100 AP Merlin 386.12_4
ASUS RT-AC68U Media Bridge/Merlin 386.12_4 (x2)
ASUS RT-AC68U AP r54604
ASUS RT-AC68U Gateway/AP r54604
Edgerouter-4, v2.0.9-hotfix7
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 14243 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2020 11:48 Post subject:
You should be looking in the broadcom folder. There's a dd-wrt.v24_mini_wrt54g.bin, dd-wrt.v24_mini_generic.bin, and a dd-wrt.v24_std_generic.bin in the folder, among other files. That wiki has not been updated in 6 years, but I'm sure the VINT files are no longer required as VINT support was likely merged at some point. Hopefully, someone can verify, but I think the wrt54g file is the one you want for initial flash
Micro and mini generic found on these dirs as described by kp69, should be just fine. Just check it for less than 4000000bits per file.
Today can´t, but I can test it tomorrow, my trunk is full of these blue gremlins
@arssant, do not get them wet!!!
And yes, if you can test it, let me know.
Thank you both!
No way, vodka is secure, can´t drop on it
About wrt54g 1.1, sorry. Found 8 units, but 5 wrt54GL 1.1, and 3 wrt54G 2.2.
I only tested over wrt54g 2.2
Code:
DD-WRT
Router Model
Linksys WRT54G/GL/GS
Firmware Version
DD-WRT v24-sp2 (11/02/09) std - build 13064M VINT Eko
As you can see, very, very, very old build. I think this one only got ddwrt to test it.
now:
Code:
DD-WRT
Router Model
Linksys WRT54G/GL/GS
Firmware Version
DD-WRT v3.0-r43516 std (06/25/20)
Kernel Version
Linux 2.4.37 #60857 Thu Jun 25 08:04:25 +04 2020 mips
And as @MysticGold04 said, v43516 running fine. I'm in fact using it right now to post this.
That wiki has not been updated in 6 years, but I'm sure the VINT files are no longer required as VINT support was likely merged at some point. Hopefully, someone can verify, but I think the wrt54g file is the one you want for initial flash
Yup, somewhere in a wiki/ticket far, far away I mentioned/linked that BS confirmed that new builds support the old 'VINT' routers. Esp based on shabuboy's reports, I'll check that old wiki at some point; I'm on vacation.
arssant wrote:
Just check it for less than 4000000bits per file.
Not quite; see the Peacock, but one can check dmesg/mtd partitions for the exact limit.
arssant wrote:
No way, vodka is secure, can´t drop on it
Ironic, I'm having a true mule right now. Rare as I usually make Lynchburg mules. _________________ #NAT/SFE/CTF: limited speed w/ DD#Repeater issues#DD-WRT info: FAQ, Builds, Types, Modes, Changes, Demo#
OPNsense x64 5050e ITX|DD: DIR-810L, 2*EA6900@1GHz, R6300v1, RT-N66U@663, WNDR4000@533, E1500@353,
WRT54G{Lv1.1,Sv6}@250|FreshTomato: F7D8302@532|OpenWRT: F9K1119v1, RT-ACRH13, R6220, WNDR3700v4
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 14243 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2020 3:35 Post subject:
I knew I wasn't losing my mind. P.S. The Peacock is linked in one of the Announcements at the top, and in the References sticky now. Trying to keep people from taking the Peacock as law on all Broadcom routers and mucking it up. Slowly working my way through the forums and cleaning things up still _________________ "Life is but a fleeting moment, a vapor that vanishes quickly; All is vanity"
Contribute To DD-WRT Pogo - A minimal level of ability is expected and needed... DD-WRT Releases 2023 (PolitePol)
DD-WRT Releases 2023 (RSS Everything)
----------------------
Linux User #377467 counter.li.org / linuxcounter.net
I managed to go from stock -> dd-wrt.v24-9517_VINT_mini.bin -> dd-wrt.v24-9517_VINT_std -> 05-19-2020-r43192-dd-wrt.v24_mini_wrt54g.bin
Firmware: DD-WRT v3.0-r43192 mini (05/19/20)
Time: 01:06:21 up 6 min, load average: 0.00, 0.08, 0.05
WAN IP: 0.0.0.0
I made the necessary changes to be just an AP as instructed here https://x3mtek.com/how-to-convert-a-dd-wrt-router-into-an-access-point/, saving every step of the way and when done, I rebooted the unit.
It did come up and everything was working just fine. However, the webserver part for DD-WRT kept crashing in the middle of viewing the menu options with:
This site can’t be reached
The connection was reset.
Try:
Checking the connection
Checking the proxy and the firewall
ERR_CONNECTION_RESET
I attempted 30/30/30 with no luck, actually, the device does not reboot at all within the first 30s. I then noticed I had telnet access and attempted a:
erase nvram [enter]
reboot [enter]
Afterward, no luck, cannot ping it, cannot telnet, cannot get into the web management part, 30/30/30 does not work. The funny, thing, it is working as expected. I am writing this from it. LAN ports have two cables, one to the main router and another one to this PC.
Have an IP from the main router DHCP pool range, have LAN/WAN access, speeds are fine. Unfortunately, changes are necessary to move it to another location where a different network/SSID is needed.
It was so close...
This was my first time playing with DD-WRT, sadly no positive outcome. I had only used Tomato and Open-WRT before on other devices.
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 14243 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2020 5:01 Post subject:
All you had to do was flash 43192 or 43516, preferably the latter. You might be able to TFTP recover it. Then again, it could've been sitting so long with bad filter caps on the board... but it's still salvageable with a little work. _________________ "Life is but a fleeting moment, a vapor that vanishes quickly; All is vanity"
Contribute To DD-WRT Pogo - A minimal level of ability is expected and needed... DD-WRT Releases 2023 (PolitePol)
DD-WRT Releases 2023 (RSS Everything)
----------------------
Linux User #377467 counter.li.org / linuxcounter.net
The reset button had worked earlier to restore tomato to defaults. Within the first 30s I did notice it booted about twice. After the upgrade at some point stopped working.
Right now can hold indefinitely and nothing will happen at all.
So I decided to unplug the uplink cable, set a static IP and found out I can ping the device, it is somehow responding with about 40% loss and seems to have a pattern after a while:
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=238 ttl=64 time=0.512 ms--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---
304 packets transmitted, 178 packets received, 41.4% packet loss
Still cannot connect to GUI/telnet still though.
nmap could not find any TCP/UDP ports open, it was the right device:
All 1000 scanned ports on 192.168.1.1 are open|filtered
MAC Address: 00:0C:41:##:##:## (Cisco-Linksys)
Taking into consideration the less than 3mb size limitation, I managed to get the Tomato firmware to it and from there back to stock. Tried dd-wrt.v24-9517_VINT_mini.bin as well as stock but somehow, Tomato is the one that took.
This weekend will try directly to 43516 and post results.
These little devices are hard to kill!
Just too interesting how I ended up with a perfectly working dump AP but could not get to the management GUI/telnet.
Results: WRT54G v1.1 will not work with r43516. Web services keep crashing.
The process now was from stock firmware to r43516 dd-wrt.v24_mini_wrt54g.bin. Also executed a 30/30/30 and erase nvram. Web GUI kept crashing and when it did, it also terminated the telnet connection.
So in order to avoid a weird router state (which probably happened the 1st time), I scp firmware dd-wrt.v24-9517_VINT_mini.bin and downgraded via the command line. Attempting the stock firmware with the write command kept giving me "Bad trx header" errors. Once in VINT reverted back to stock via GUI.
This time there was a weird issue with the switch physical ports, luckily wifi worked and ended up restoring from a saved config file and all is good now.
So if anyone is thinking of going this route on your device, make sure you have a saved cfg file beforehand, and may the force be with you!
