Joined: 01 Jan 2011 Posts: 17 Location: Medford, Oregon
Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 12:34 Post subject:
buddee you are the best! Got my router upgraded to the E2000 cfe and I have the DD-WRT v24-sp2 (12/24/10) big - build 15962 running on it. No major problems so far. Got IPv6 working with some minor issues.
Seems faster and stable. _________________ Jonathan Martinez
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 18:02 Post subject: Re: There had to be one: EU WRT320N E2000 conversion => b
frankiegom wrote:
buddee wrote:
Not sure where you went wrong in this.. Most i can tell you now is you may try to tftp a dd-wrt e2000 image to it and see if it works, if the CFE upload was good, then the build should take, if not, you'll have to get a serial connection or jtag and stop the CFE (it is now in an endless loop)
Thanks, buddee!
At first sight, the cfe scp copy went fine, the file had the correct size in the router and the mtd commands to replace the original cfe produced no error either. So it must have been flashing the modified FW that was the issue (I am not suggesting that FW is at fault there, since so many people had no issues, but just that my router got bricked while flashing it).
As it is, LAN is dead and no TFTP possible until I can regain access somehow, so I'm investigating serial and JTAG but would prefer to avoid sodering to the board if I can avoid it. I have until next monday to get up to speed on the various steps needed but would appreciate any quick pointers to proven procedures for both JTAG and serial.
I have a JTAG device at work for a prototype cellphone that I've yet to use but don't see how I can put that to use on the Linksys without soldering a connector on the board... So unless I'm told differently I'll check serial first.
As for serial, I may be able to find a DKU-5 at work and I understand this includes the logic needed to enable a PC to talk to the Linksys over a COM port, but am not clear on what driver to load for it so the COM port comes up on the PC. Is this a Nokia driver? I also understand it connects to the terminal inside the WAN port and will try that first. Anyway, are there any alternate workable options to get serial on the wrt320n that I could try?
One more thing... Being the fool I am, I found out that the cfe backup I thought I made prior to converting this router is nowhere to be found! It might be on a USB stick somewhere or another PC but I'm not hopeful. Anyway, I have other wrt320n that I've been fooling around with and dd-wrt on them so I got to one and backup up the cfe. Lo and behold! Offset 3E098 and following bytes is all FF!!! What gives? I have more 320n at work, including some from the same batch to cross check but this is really weird.
This is a great forum! Lots of information and links. Maybe a bit too much for me at the moment?
Hello again (I'm leaving all of the above post in there for context)!
Finally got around to getting a DKU-5 cable on ebay, stripped it to find only 3 wires which I identified as RX, TX and GND according to the pin out of the Nokia connector.
Attached the stripped cable to the serial connectors on the mainboard and when I start my terminal program (I have tried putty, hyperterminal and termite so far) with 115200bps, 8N1 and no handshake, all I get is garbage.
Should I be seeing the CFE boot process scrolling in the terminal window when I power on the wrt320n, or do I need first to break in the CFE boot process through a CTRL-C at the right time before it settles in something readable?
I'm a bit miffed because I even get garbage when just the DKU-5 cable is connected...
I have another, working, router around but do not feel like breaking it open just to test my cable is working...
Joined: 06 Feb 2010 Posts: 7401 Location: Little Rock
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 18:06 Post subject: Re: There had to be one: EU WRT320N E2000 conversion => b
frankiegom wrote:
frankiegom wrote:
buddee wrote:
Not sure where you went wrong in this.. Most i can tell you now is you may try to tftp a dd-wrt e2000 image to it and see if it works, if the CFE upload was good, then the build should take, if not, you'll have to get a serial connection or jtag and stop the CFE (it is now in an endless loop)
Thanks, buddee!
At first sight, the cfe scp copy went fine, the file had the correct size in the router and the mtd commands to replace the original cfe produced no error either. So it must have been flashing the modified FW that was the issue (I am not suggesting that FW is at fault there, since so many people had no issues, but just that my router got bricked while flashing it).
As it is, LAN is dead and no TFTP possible until I can regain access somehow, so I'm investigating serial and JTAG but would prefer to avoid sodering to the board if I can avoid it. I have until next monday to get up to speed on the various steps needed but would appreciate any quick pointers to proven procedures for both JTAG and serial.
I have a JTAG device at work for a prototype cellphone that I've yet to use but don't see how I can put that to use on the Linksys without soldering a connector on the board... So unless I'm told differently I'll check serial first.
As for serial, I may be able to find a DKU-5 at work and I understand this includes the logic needed to enable a PC to talk to the Linksys over a COM port, but am not clear on what driver to load for it so the COM port comes up on the PC. Is this a Nokia driver? I also understand it connects to the terminal inside the WAN port and will try that first. Anyway, are there any alternate workable options to get serial on the wrt320n that I could try?
One more thing... Being the fool I am, I found out that the cfe backup I thought I made prior to converting this router is nowhere to be found! It might be on a USB stick somewhere or another PC but I'm not hopeful. Anyway, I have other wrt320n that I've been fooling around with and dd-wrt on them so I got to one and backup up the cfe. Lo and behold! Offset 3E098 and following bytes is all FF!!! What gives? I have more 320n at work, including some from the same batch to cross check but this is really weird.
This is a great forum! Lots of information and links. Maybe a bit too much for me at the moment?
Hello again (I'm leaving all of the above post in there for context)!
Finally got around to getting a DKU-5 cable on ebay, stripped it to find only 3 wires which I identified as RX, TX and GND according to the pin out of the Nokia connector.
Attached the stripped cable to the serial connectors on the mainboard and when I start my terminal program (I have tried putty, hyperterminal and termite so far) with 115200bps, 8N1 and no handshake, all I get is garbage.
Should I be seeing the CFE boot process scrolling in the terminal window when I power on the wrt320n, or do I need first to break in the CFE boot process through a CTRL-C at the right time before it settles in something readable?
I'm a bit miffed because I even get garbage when just the DKU-5 cable is connected...
I have another, working, router around but do not feel like breaking it open just to test my cable is working...
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 18:47 Post subject: Re: There had to be one: EU WRT320N E2000 conversion => b
buddee wrote:
The garbage output is most likely you have tx and rx reversed hooked onto the router, switch them around and see what it outputs then.
I thought I tested correctly which was RX and TX, but gave it another try. Actually, I just tested all 6 possibilities for TX, RX and GND and all give me garbage!
And since I even get garbage when the router is powered off or the DKU-5 not attached to it, I'm starting to wonder whether that cable is a dude!
If only I had an old Nokia phone to test it...
So you do confirm that as soon as a serial cable is properly connected and the Linksys is powered on, I should see meaningful output from the CFE even before I stop it, right?
So long as you start ctrl-c as soon as you power the unit and the wires are connected properly you should be able to get into cfe>
Albeit a little tricky, but yes out put should happen.
Hrm the cable.. yes, hook the tx/rx wires together while you have a terminal open and type something and see if it echo the return output to the terminal.
I definitely get nothing but garbage, and I kept ctrl-c down for all of 10 minutes the last time I tried with no result.
I will try your suggestion on the cable tomorrow and see what happens.
Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 13049 Location: Behind The Reset Button
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 20:28 Post subject:
frankiegom wrote:
buddee wrote:
So long as you start ctrl-c as soon as you power the unit and the wires are connected properly you should be able to get into cfe>
Albeit a little tricky, but yes out put should happen.
Hrm the cable.. yes, hook the tx/rx wires together while you have a terminal open and type something and see if it echo the return output to the terminal.
I definitely get nothing but garbage, and I kept ctrl-c down for all of 10 minutes the last time I tried with no result.
I will try your suggestion on the cable tomorrow and see what happens.
Thanks
Don't wanna step on any toes but you have less than one second from powering up the router to stopping the boot.. Start banging ctrl-c (do not just hold it), then power up the router.
garbage all over the place is no good. If you see garbage with the router not even being powered on or the adapter not even connected to the router, you have a problem. Try a diff usb port on your computer. _________________ [Moderator Deleted]
Don't wanna step on any toes but you have less than one second from powering up the router to stopping the boot.. Start banging ctrl-c (do not just hold it), then power up the router.
garbage all over the place is no good. If you see garbage with the router not even being powered on or the adapter not even connected to the router, you have a problem. Try a diff usb port on your computer.
No worries with my toes as they are ironclad!
I thought I read you could hit ctrl-c for up to 3' or more before seing a difference! Was I mistaken?
OK, I will try that as well (even though I did try hitting ctrl-c from before powering on the router, I held it continuously, though), and I will try another port for the cable as well as I agree it does not seem right that I would get garbage with nothing hooked into the cable as this may point to a disfunction in the cable.
Joined: 06 Feb 2010 Posts: 7401 Location: Little Rock
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 20:44 Post subject:
I would also suggest if you order another cable, get a cheap CA-42 from amazon or ebay, not dk-5u, the dk-5u works but i have had best luck with ca-42 cable (AFAIK they are a little different), the first ca-42 i got worked with no probs from ebay, i still use it. _________________ Wireless N Config | Linking Routers | DD-WRT Wiki | DD-WRT Builds | Peacock - Broadcom FAQ
I would also suggest if you order another cable, get a cheap CA-42 from amazon or ebay, not dk-5u, the dk-5u works but i have had best luck with ca-42 cable (AFAIK they are a little different), the first ca-42 i got worked with no probs from ebay, i still use it.
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll keep that in mind.
As a matter of fact, as I actually already have a USB/RS232 cable that does work I am also looking at RS232-TTL adaptors like the one barryware mentioned in another post. Whichever is simplest for me to get.
But not before I make sure my DKU-5 cable is crapware!
Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 13049 Location: Behind The Reset Button
Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 21:08 Post subject:
frankiegom wrote:
buddee wrote:
I would also suggest if you order another cable, get a cheap CA-42 from amazon or ebay, not dk-5u, the dk-5u works but i have had best luck with ca-42 cable (AFAIK they are a little different), the first ca-42 i got worked with no probs from ebay, i still use it.
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll keep that in mind.
As a matter of fact, as I actually already have a USB/RS232 cable that does work I am also looking at RS232-TTL adaptors like the one barryware mentioned in another post. Whichever is simplest for me to get.
But not before I make sure my DKU-5 cable is crapware!
r u using the serial connections in the wan port or on the pcb?
wan port... left to right when looking at it in the port vcc, tx, tx, ground. You did state your adaptor is 3 wire right? The pcb has 5 connection pads.. vcc, tx, rx, n/c, ground. Can't say the orientation off the top of my head atm but that is the pinout. _________________ [Moderator Deleted]
r u using the serial connections in the wan port or on the pcb?
wan port... left to right when looking at it in the port vcc, tx, tx, ground. You did state your adaptor is 3 wire right? The pcb has 5 connection pads.. vcc, tx, rx, n/c, ground. Can't say the orientation off the top of my head atm but that is the pinout.
I'm using the one on the PCB, I'm too lazy to get a nice adapter to plug in the WAN port!
And yes, my cable has only three wires, and I have seen pictures labelling the ports as you state, from top to bottom when they are on the left hand side looking from the bottom of the PCB.
I'll try buddee's suggestion to test the cable in loopback mode tomorrow, then I'll hopefully know where I stay...
Hrm the cable.. yes, hook the tx/rx wires together while you have a terminal open and type something and see if it echo the return output to the terminal.
Did just that, and using putty I can confirm I get what I type echoed to the terminal (once if no local echo, and twice with local echo), so that part of the cable seems to work fine and that confirms I have the RX & TX properly identified, meaning my GND is the correct one and leaving only two options for hooking to the Linksys.
But I still get no response and no meaningful output from the router, even if I start punching CTRL-C even before I power it up! :(
Can we clarify when I should start seeing readable output from the Linksys: from power on in any case, or not until it sees a ctrl-c?
Can we clarify when I should start seeing readable output from the Linksys: from power on in any case, or not until it sees a ctrl-c?
You'll see output from the boot immediately, ctrl-c is only needed to stop it booting and to get access to the boot loader command line.
Your router bricked after a cfe update and that together with no terminal output is clear evidence for a faulty cfe.
You can only debrick it now with jtag. _________________ Kernel panic: Aiee, killing interrupt handler!