Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:45 Post subject: Flashing instructions for the E3000 are ambiguous
I've read carefully through the instructions and even as a programmer myself I find them quite ambiguous. Would you be so kind as to explain a couple of issues?
Here's the sequence:
1. Read all required reading sections of the peacock announcement: http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=51486
2. Disconnect all cables and wireless clients.
3. Do a Hard reset or 30/30/30 on router.
4. Connect 1 Lan cable to pc doing the flash.
5. Log into Web Interface and flash the firmware E3000 Trailed Initial Flash Build
6. Wait AT LEAST 5 minutes until WAN light turns on.
7. Power cycle by unplugging E3000 for 30 secs.
8. Plug E3000 back in and wait about 5 minutes until it finishes booting.
9. Do a 30/30/30 reset on router.
10. Wait 3 minutes and log into web interface.
* You may have to clear your browser cache before the web login will display.
11. Download this file:ftp://dd-wrt.com/others/eko/BrainSlayer-V24-preSP2/2010/08-12-10-r14929/broadcom_K26/dd-wrt.v24-14929_NEWD-2_K2.6_big-e2k-e3k.bin
12. Do another hard reset on your router
13. Login to the router at 192.168.1.1. Go to the administration/firmware upgrade page
14. Flash the 14929_NEWD-2_K2.6_big-e2k-e3k.bin file that you downloaded.
15. Wait AT LEAST 5 minutes until the WAN light turn on.
16. Plug E3000 back in and wait about 5 minutes until it finishes booting.
17. Do a 30/30/30 reset on router.
18. Wait 3 minutes and log into web interface.
* You may have to clear your browser cache before the web login will display.
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5. Log into Web Interface and flash the firmware E3000 Trailed Initial Flash Build
.....
9. Do a 30/30/30 reset on router.
Am I supposed to disconnect the LAN cable at some point between these steps just like you disconnect it in step 2 before doing the first hard reset?
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9. Do a 30/30/30 reset on router.
10. Wait 3 minutes and log into web interface.
* You may have to clear your browser cache before the web login will display.
11. Download this file:ftp://dd-wrt.com/others/eko/BrainSlayer-V24-preSP2/2010/08-12-10-r14929/broadcom_K26/dd-wrt.v24-14929_NEWD-2_K2.6_big-e2k-e3k.bin
12. Do another hard reset on your router
Why do you do the 3rd hard reset in step 12 after having done it the 2nd time in step 9 if NOTHING has happened to the router betweeen these steps? You only logged into the web interface but then you did NOTHING there. What was the point of login anyway? In step 11 it says to download the firmware but you do it on your PC which has nothing to do with the router. So why you do two hard resets in a sequence?
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16. Plug E3000 back in and wait about 5 minutes until it finishes booting.
"Plug in" means plug the power cable in or plug the LAN cable in?
If it means to plug the power in then at what point exactly did we disconnect the power? We just flashed the firmware in step 14 and obviously it required power, just like the step 15. And now in step 16 it says to plug it back. But we didn't plug it out?
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Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 13049 Location: Behind The Reset Button
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 13:15 Post subject:
Interesting... those instructions are wrong but the "wrongness" can do no harm. They are a bit over complicated.
1st thing I see is that they are telling you to wait for the WAN light to light.. that would mean that the router is booted.. It should actually be the WLAN (wireless) light. The wan light will not light if no cable is plugged into it.
Unplugging "All" cables from the router is not necessary.. In the past in trying to help users figure out what the problem(s) are with the install, it came to light that there were other devices connected to the network and they were flashing the wrong device or accessing the wrong device.
In reality, it is recommended to have nothing attached to the router or the pc except each other via a lan port on the router.. The instructions say that sort'of.
All the resets are not necessary.. Personally, I just use the gui of the router whether running stock or dd-wrt to reset the router by selecting to "reset to factory defaults". However, a hard reset will do no harm.
If you are running dd-wrt and you flash another build, just select "reset to defaults" after the flash from the drop down on the upgrade page.
Anyone can edit the wiki. Users are just trying to make it idiot proof as many have bricked their routers but it seems that the instructions may get over complicated. As said, no harm will be done and it is better safe than sorry.
Assuming you have the router connected properly and the proper files downloaded and you are running stock linksys firmware do the following:
Reset the router to factory defaults (via 30/30/30 or gui)
flash the proper trailed firmware.
wait for the WLAN (wireless) light to light. Once it lights, give it another minute or so.
access the gui. You should now be running dd-wrt and be greeted with the change password screen. If you are greeted with the status page and not the change password screen, reset the router again using the reset button (30/30/30).
One way or another, you will be greeted with the change password screen.
Change the user name & password. If I am going to flash the router again, I change to "root" and "admin"
Now access the admin page. Use the firmware upgrade tab, select your firmware file, and select to reset the router to defaults after the flash from the drop down, then click the upgrade button.
That is all there is to it. _________________ [Moderator Deleted]
Thank you, I've read it. It did clarify the things a bit.
barryware wrote:
Interesting... those instructions are wrong but the "wrongness" can do no harm. They are a bit over complicated.
I personally feel it's just another apparent case of programmers doing great coding job but utterly failing to explain it to "non-humans", to put themselves in the shoes of their users. Never mind, I'm a programmer myself, seen it many times.
The things that bothers me: even if I eventually figure out when to pull in/pull out the plug, many non-technical people will not. So they will misunderstand the instructions and damage the router.
barryware wrote:
All the resets are not necessary.. Personally, I just use the gui of the router whether running stock or dd-wrt to reset the router by selecting to "reset to factory defaults". However, a hard reset will do no harm.
If you are running dd-wrt and you flash another build, just select "reset to defaults" after the flash from the drop down on the upgrade page.
That's good to know. I assume you have tried the soft-reset yourself and it worked? I'd prefer this way, I think doing the hard reset should be reserved for ultimate cases.
Thank you very much for explanations. I'm now less scared to try.
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Btw, I'm thinking of getting a build, changing a tiny bit the source code (need add a USB 3G modem support) and then building it again. Is it doable for an outsider who has not lived the last years hacking routers?
Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 13049 Location: Behind The Reset Button
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 14:15 Post subject:
fobo wrote:
That's good to know. I assume you have tried the soft-reset yourself and it worked?
Well.. No, but I have seen it on TV
This has been debated back & forth for as long as I can remember.
The fact is, nvram should be cleared before & after flashing. How you go about it is the debate.
You need to clear nvram before flashing so when the router boots after flashing, it will not read a bad or non compatable nvram variable.
You need to clear nvram after flashing because even though you reset the router prior to the flash, nvram still gets built with default variables when it boots. The router must boot to access the gui to flash firmware.
When I flash my devices, I just flash via gui and use the drop down to select to reset the router after the flash.
Watching the serial output, the router flashes the firmware, then when done before it reboots it issues an "nvram erase" command (if you select it from the drop down).
Using the reset button, does the same thing with two exceptions that come to mind.
the wrt600n.. If using the gui or cli to clear nvram, the radios do not initialize properly. A power cycle takes care of that.. Or... use the reset button.
the wrt320n.. the reset button does not work due to a cfe bug provided by linksys. If running dd-wrt, the wps button has been programmed to act like the reset button. _________________ [Moderator Deleted]
Using the reset button, does the same thing with two exceptions that come to mind.
the wrt600n.. If using the gui or cli to clear nvram, the radios do not initialize properly. A power cycle takes care of that.. Or... use the reset button.
the wrt320n.. the reset button does not work due to a cfe bug provided by linksys. If running dd-wrt, the wps button has been programmed to act like the reset button.
Thank you again for these explanations. Quite intriguing.
Have you by any chance heard about any exceptions in this subject with regard to the routers Linksys E3000, E4200 and Netgear WNDR3700? Should I be okay using soft-reset with them?
Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 13049 Location: Behind The Reset Button
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 20:36 Post subject:
autobot wrote:
FlyHigh wrote:
Hi,
I flashed successfully my E3000 (and also my WRT54G in the past), only using a simple push on the reset button, before and after...
I'm not sure at all it is better to do a 30/30/30 because more risky...
It's fine, until a rogue nvram variable creates a soft brick.
Actually.... you (we) read about it all the time.. some pita problem that comes & goes.. or never goes, gets cured by a hard reset (clear nvram via 30/30/30 or gui) _________________ [Moderator Deleted]
