[Octo8591]

I've spent the past few weeks working on this router off and off and there is surely a hole in my wall where I've hit my head several times. The Wiki is in dire need of update and I can only hope someone finds this post and it saves you some time:

If you haven't seen it, this is the Wiki post: https://wiki.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Netgear_WNR3500L

My router is the WNR3500L v1

For years I ran the dd-wrt.v24-21061_NEWD-2_K2.6_mini version with success for basic routing. On the mini builds VPN doesn't work and neither does SSH...I think is documented somewhere on these forums.


What I wanted to do with this router:
-SSH
-USB
-NAS
-Maybe some custom scripting at some point

Here's some of the lessons learned for me:
1. None of the K3X builds worked for me even the ones listed on the Wiki (K3X 33555 Mega and K3X 47033 Mega). These "work" as in they load. I could not get the lan ports working at all.

2. The reset button on the back doesn't work and has never worked for this router. Holding down the WPS button instead did work (same 30/30/30 procedure but with the WPS button). This is strange because I thought this was only something for ARM chips and I know this is Broadcom/MIPS? Right? The reset button has NEVER been disabled in any DDWRT config on this router. The best way I found to do a reset is using a USB-TTL cable and using the "nvram erase" command in the CFE boot prompt. https://www.myopenrouter.com/article/how-debrick-your-netgear-wnr3500l-using-ubuntu-1004-lucid-lynx

3. The Vlan problem is across dozens and dozens of builds spanning years. Yes I tried that many. On most builds it is easy to fix. However, the wiki doesn't spell it out nicely and the fix doesn't work on ALL builds. For me it didn't work on any K3X I tried but it seems to have worked for others in the forum. Here's the solution: connect via wifi, Settings > VLans then make sure nothing is in VLan0. Check all the lan boxes on Vlan2 and set the dropdown to LAN. In advanced make sure the WAN settings match. Various permutations seem to work (as mentioned in other posts) but I think this needs to be added to the wiki not just linked.

4. Many of the newer builds (2015+) do not work as well on this router. They tend to be slower and buggier on this hardware. On most newer builds the NAS setup page hangs httpd which requires telnetting in to reset. I never could get NAS working on newer builds. I ended up going with a really old 2010 build to get NAS working.

5. For me the USB port would not stay powered on after boot. It was clear in dmesg logs that the USB drive was being detected and loaded but then disconnected. Subsequently there wasn't even power on the port. If your USB port isn't working and you've confirmed it's at least being detected on boot (modules are loading etc.) then here's the fix:

[kernel-panic69]

Your WAN port should be on vlan2, lan ports on vlan1. This issue was fixed in more recent builds of this year, or at least part of it should've been. Usable firmware image size is around 7654605 bytes. The wiki doesn't state nv60k or nv64k for upgrade .bin files for k26 builds, and all the latest "big" are larger than that. The current K3x build is within the image size constraints: dd-wrt.v24-47474_NEWD-2_K3.x_mega-WNR3500L.chk. I'm not entirely sure what I've missed in the last updates I did, outside of the USB drive issue and fix, but your post is going to take a few reads...

[kernel-panic69]

Probably because I had recently edited the linked wiki, and they actually provided linked and useful information, to some degree. And we don't know if they're going to question my response yet, like you did. I gave you a specific firmware version info and you asked why that was the newest you could flash to stock firmware. Obvious answer to anyone who understands their hardware. You're hijacking threads and trolling.

[Octo8591]

WAN port should be on vlan2 but from my testing it doesn't HAVE to be as long as you make sure everything under the advanced tab aligns. I found it did also work for me (builds from Sept 4th '21 and back) where WAN was Vlan1, LANs Vlan2 and Vlan0 empty.

To be fair I have not tried that latest build you referenced. I'm going to take a break and enjoy it just working for a bit. Many of my early testing issues probably surround the reset button just not working at all.

explorerv had success upgrading to K3x 47033 without resetting here: https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=329570 BUT I had a different upgrade path.

[kernel-panic69]

I'm familiar with that thread (I don't know why?); in fact, that is how the wiki got updated the last time it was updated... lol. The big thing, as I mentioned in that thread, is flashing and reporting in the build threads. Orphan reports get lost much easier than the ones in the build threads...