Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2023 16:22 Post subject: Unable to flash DD WRT to XR500 (followed the guide)
I picked up a XR500 second hand for cheap. Since it is a well supported router, I decided to "upgrade" from my wrt1900AC to the xr500. I followed the guide by egc. On stock firmware everything works as it should.
I downgraded to the stock firmware version 2.1.0.4 prior to attempting to go to DDWRT. Tried built 47256, 47618, and 49792 (based on a reddit thread). Followed all steps on the guide and used a fresh install of Waterfox. However, after attempting each of the above mentioned firmware the router just goes into a bootloop.
After each bootloop, I returned to stock firmware 2.1.0.4 via TFTPD.
I was able to use the serial number to see that the router was originally bought in 2019.
Any idea why I cannot flash DDWRT? Any help would be really appreciated. TIA.
Joined: 16 Nov 2015 Posts: 6447 Location: UK, London, just across the river..
Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2023 17:27 Post subject:
If you tried the steps from the egc guide (factory-to-ddwrt.img for first flash)...and it didn't work...than it has a bad blocks in the nvram flash chip and goes into a bootloop it has been discussed many many times...must be in the guide too...
as you also may know all Netgears have TFTP interface for direct flash..and if you did this step and went to boot loop, than this is it..your best bet is to either return the router or keep using it with Duma OS...so far there are not know other solutions to me...
Thank you for your response. Too bad. I thought I had gotten lucky with this xr500
Alozaros wrote:
If you tried the steps from the egc guide (factory-to-ddwrt.img for first flash)...and it didn't work...than it has a bad blocks in the nvram flash chip and goes into a bootloop it has been discussed many many times...must be in the guide too...
as you also may know all Netgears have TFTP interface for direct flash..and if you did this step and went to boot loop, than this is it..your best bet is to either return the router or keep using it with Duma OS...so far there are not know other solutions to me...
Thank you for the advice. During the holidays I might give it a try. But I'm hesitant as I know enough to just get myself in trouble and totally brick the device. At the moment it's perfectly working with the stock DumasOS so I would hate to break a working router. I hate creating electronic waste.
egc wrote:
You can try OpenWRT, there are instructions to circumvent bad blocks by moving the start point of rootfs but I think that requires some pretty low level hacks and recompiling
I too recently bought a used XR500.
It had the latest Netgear firmware installed.
I was aware of the guide and had read it, but chose to ignore it, like a reckless fool.
I flashed the r54095 .img file from the GUI of DumaOS.
In fact, once it came up with DD-WRT I flashed it a second time in error - I came from a Linksys EA8500 with dual partitions and incorrectly thought the XR500 was similar.
In any case, my XR500 has been running well - now updated to r54109.
Given that these latter 6.1 kernel builds are quite different, I would try flashing the latest .img file and see how you go.
You seem capable of recovering from issues - more so than me.
But I also hate creating e-waste - already done so this year - your choice, your risk.
DumaOS 3.1 on my XR1000 seems quite ok - not that there's much choice on the XR1000! _________________ ------------------------------------
Linksys WRT3200ACM DD-WRT r56029 (Gateway)
Linksys EA8500 OpenWrt-23.05.3 (Wired AP)
Netgear WNDR3700v4 DD-WRT r55819 (spare Gateway)
Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nickant44/albums
I originally tried flashing the latest beta that's is available, I believe it was the one released on 2023-11-24 but just did the bootloop.
Idk if I should just run DumasOS or try to get a dynalink dl-wrx36 since it's newer and might get ddwrt support/already has openwrt support. @egc I saw one of your posts that says you are currently running the wrx36 with openwrt. Did you permanently convert the USB to be able to restore from a USB stick? If so, can I still use the one USB port to attack a ext4 external HDD?
nickant wrote:
I too recently bought a used XR500.
It had the latest Netgear firmware installed.
I was aware of the guide and had read it, but chose to ignore it, like a reckless fool.
I flashed the r54095 .img file from the GUI of DumaOS.
In fact, once it came up with DD-WRT I flashed it a second time in error - I came from a Linksys EA8500 with dual partitions and incorrectly thought the XR500 was similar.
In any case, my XR500 has been running well - now updated to r54109.
Given that these latter 6.1 kernel builds are quite different, I would try flashing the latest .img file and see how you go.
You seem capable of recovering from issues - more so than me.
But I also hate creating e-waste - already done so this year - your choice, your risk.
DumaOS 3.1 on my XR1000 seems quite ok - not that there's much choice on the XR1000!
When researching the XR500 + XR1000 DumaOS, I see that the XR500 - which has not been updated in >2 years! - is scheduled to be a Beta platform for the new version of DumaOS.
They are taking registrations for volunteer beta testers at present.
If you are stuck with DumaOS, you may as well update to the latest version and sign up for the Beta.
Or - give OpenWRT a shot.
I ran a Snapshop version of OpenWRT on my WRT3200ACM for a while - worked well.
Changed over to DD-WRT for consistancy of interface between routers. _________________ ------------------------------------
Linksys WRT3200ACM DD-WRT r56029 (Gateway)
Linksys EA8500 OpenWrt-23.05.3 (Wired AP)
Netgear WNDR3700v4 DD-WRT r55819 (spare Gateway)
Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nickant44/albums
