Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 22:23 Post subject: D'link DIR-868L Optimum, Need help with flashing.
Hello dd-wrt community, I have found a dir-868L with the optimum branding (Optimum smart router) literally on the side walk about to be thrown away, I took it home with me and Filled Google with bunches of search terms but no dice. This thing will not go into the emergency flash mode. I just keep getting a how to for the dir-6**s. Also I cant even get in the damn thing's menu because of the start screen when I put 192.168.1.1 nagging about not connected to the internet and I was unable to continue because I had fios. This thing is locked tight just like my kindle fire. Any way to flash this thing?
I really find it funny how D-link did not tell us how to go to emergency firmware update and the community did not figure it out for this beast of a router.
The ironic thing is that optimum sales man came to my house today to offer internet.
Please keep in mind that this is Optimum firmware we are talking here. Optimum put OpenRG on it. And any ip will be redirected to this crud, it will not work because I have fios, trust me I tried.
You will need a serial connection in order to flash this. USB TTL cables are cheap. If you don't want to wait weeks for shipping from China, this one is available via Prime at $7: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QT7LQ88
To open the router, you'll need to remove the rubber feet on the bottom to expose 3 screws. Then, you'll need to remove the circular sticker up top (it's a very sturdy piece of plastic and can be removed easily without damage). Underneath is another 3 screws.
Then you can separate the case and find the serial connection between the two LEDs: * ***
Connect the green wire to the first one, the black to the 3rd (in between the cluster of 3), and the white to the rightmost one. Unless you have a high wattage iron, you may have difficulty with the ground (black) one. Feel free to use any ground if necessary. The red wire does not need to be attached.
Use 115200/8/N/1, and keep trying ctrl+c on powerup. You should land at CFE> if successful.
Now, issue: flash -noheader : flash1.trx
Timing is critical and you may need to try a few times to get it. Set your ip static to 192.168.1.2/255.255.255.0 and tftp your firmware of choice.
So far, I've only tried shibby's tomato, and everything seems to work well except for 5ghz.
edit: flashed the stock dlink a1 firmware and still no 5ghz. I downloaded the openrg firmware (.rms file) but don't know how to flash this. Any tips would be appreciated.
update 20160204:
To fix 5ghz on OOL devices (and possibly B1?):
Code:
nvram unset devpath1
nvram commit
reboot
Will survive settings being cleared/restored, but not a full nvram erase.
You will need a serial connection in order to flash this. USB TTL cables are cheap. If you don't want to wait weeks for shipping from China, this one is available via Prime at $7: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QT7LQ88
To open the router, you'll need to remove the rubber feet on the bottom to expose 3 screws. Then, you'll need to remove the circular sticker up top (it's a very sturdy piece of plastic and can be removed easily without damage). Underneath is another 3 screws.
Then you can separate the case and find the serial connection between the two LEDs: * ***
Connect the green wire to the first one, the black to the 3rd (in between the cluster of 3), and the white to the rightmost one. Unless you have a high wattage iron, you may have difficulty with the ground (black) one. Feel free to use any ground if necessary. The red wire does not need to be attached.
Use 115200/8/N/1, and keep trying ctrl+c on powerup. You should land at CFE> if successful.
Now, issue: flash -noheader : flash1.trx
Timing is critical and you may need to try a few times to get it. Set your ip static to 192.168.1.2/255.255.255.0 and tftp your firmware of choice.
So far, I've only tried shibby's tomato, and everything seems to work well except for 5ghz.
edit: flashed the stock dlink a1 firmware and still no 5ghz. I downloaded the openrg firmware (.rms file) but don't know how to flash this. Any tips would be appreciated.
update 20160204:
To fix 5ghz on OOL devices (and possibly B1?):
Code:
nvram unset devpath1
nvram commit
reboot
Will survive settings being cleared/restored, but not a full nvram erase.
Dump not required
Could you please elaborate a little more on this process?
I have the USB TTL cable, and a Windows 7 laptop.
I connected to the points on the router you mentioned and in the windows settings changed it to 115200/8/N/1. I opened the latest version of Putty and selected Serial, COM3 and changed the speed to 115200.
I am unable to get it to show CFE, just stays on a black screen. I have powered the router on and off multiple times mashing on ctrl+c while doing it.
Since timing is critical, what is the exact time everything has to happen? Do I have to open the Putty connection *after* I power on the router? What OS and program(s) did you use? to connect to serial, to tftp etc.
Nevermind, I was able to get it myself with the exact setup I mentioned . I didn't change flow control to none in putty is what turned out to be the issue. Just flashed the advancedtomato.com variant for the dir-868L. Used the linksys tftp2.exe file to send it over.
Going to try the 5G setting now. Will let you know how I make out.
*edit*
5G antenna now available after issuing the nvram commands. Thanks again.
Everything looks OK so far, just can't start ssh on the router for some reason...
Nevermind, I was able to get it myself with the exact setup I mentioned . I didn't change flow control to none in putty is what turned out to be the issue. Just flashed the advancedtomato.com variant for the dir-868L. Used the linksys tftp2.exe file to send it over.
Going to try the 5G setting now. Will let you know how I make out.
*edit*
5G antenna now available after issuing the nvram commands. Thanks again.
Everything looks OK so far, just can't start ssh on the router for some reason...
shibby didn't include ssh for the dir-868l, citing limited nvram capacity (iirc, it's 64kb but there's the risk of corruption if exceeding 32kb). You can setup entware and install ssh that way (usb stick).
Nevermind, I was able to get it myself with the exact setup I mentioned . I didn't change flow control to none in putty is what turned out to be the issue. Just flashed the advancedtomato.com variant for the dir-868L. Used the linksys tftp2.exe file to send it over.
Going to try the 5G setting now. Will let you know how I make out.
*edit*
5G antenna now available after issuing the nvram commands. Thanks again.
Everything looks OK so far, just can't start ssh on the router for some reason...
shibby didn't include ssh for the dir-868l, citing limited nvram capacity (iirc, it's 64kb but there's the risk of corruption if exceeding 32kb). You can setup entware and install ssh that way (usb stick).
Thanks for the info.
I noticed that it also doesn't keep the MAC address info, and just populates the LAN, WAN, and both Wireless radios with generated MACs. Not that it matters, I just cloned the WAN MAC that was printed at the bottom of the router, and changed the router's name & hostname to "openrg". I'm doing this as a precaution since I don't want to receive a bill from Cablevision (for the router) for not using it (even though I technically am).
Would you happen to have a USA CFE from a retail DIR-868L? If so could you please provide it and explain how I would replace the current CFE with it? I would like to convert this completely (if possible), so it has no Cablevision / Optimum code on it. I saw that you had posted one in another thread but it was from a Europe DIR-868L.