These routers are super cheap on Amazon right now, and can be difficult to get running DD-WRT given the restrictions on firmware uploads in the newest stock firmwares. But it can be done, so I thought I'd document my steps in a way that's easy to find, so other people can take advantage of this router that was $34 refurbished on Amazon when I wrote this. I recommend reading through all the steps below and downloading everything you need BEFORE you start to make things go more smoothly.
1. My router shipped with stock firmware version 1.1.41.183873, which I believe is the most recent. That's the starting place for this guide.
2. Connect your router via Ethernet to your computer and set your IP address manually to 192.168.1.100 with subnet 255.255.255.0. (This is super basic, but important, so I figured I'd mention it.) You may want to plug in the router's power and check what version of the stock firmware you have now by navigating to 192.168.1.1 in your browser.
3. Next you want to upload firmware 1.1.40.160989 (which is available from Linksys) via TFTP. I used TFTP2 from the DD-WRT wiki. Select the file and put admin as the router password. It may be helpful to ping 192.168.1.1 so you can see when the router is ready to receive the firmware, but if you simply unplug/replug the router, count to 5, and press upgrade on TFTP2 you should be fine.
4. The router now has the firmware in it's memory, but it won't be installed yet. Navigate to 192.168.1.1, click manual setup, login with the password admin, and navigate to the Troubleshooting tab. In the Diagnostics submenu, click Restore previous firmware and wait for the router to reboot.
5. Log in to the router again and navigate to the Connectivity tab. Verify that firmware version 1.1.40.160989 is installed. This version will now let us upload a stable build of dd-wrt from the GUI. Click Choose File under the Manual section of the Firmware Update section. Upload BS build 23204 which you can find in step 1 of this install guide for the EA6500v2. Click Start and let the router do it's thing and reboot again.
6. When it's done, navigate to 192.168.1.1 and you should be in the dd-wrt GUI! Success! Next I recommend doing step 8 of the EA6500v2 install guide I linked to in the previous step. Installing that code should help stave off the 32k NVRAM bug that Linksys EA series routers tend to have.
7. Go to Administration -> Management -> Firmware Upgrade and install BS build 34610. For some reason I had trouble flashing to newer builds from 23204 without going to 34610 first. You can find it here in the Router Database.
8. Now install whatever build you want! I like KongAC r37015M which you can find at Kong's website as dd-wrt.v24-K3_AC_ARM_STD.bin.
Configure however you want and enjoy!!
Last edited by Pastorbrendad on Thu Oct 03, 2019 2:03; edited 4 times in total
Looks like it's been discussed in some detail in the past, but always good to have a fresh write-up.
Yeah, the most recent post in that 20 page thread is me detailing this same process when I first discovered it. Before that point, I couldn’t find anyone else detailing how to get around the newer stock firmwares’ restrictions. I just confirmed my process worked with a 2nd EA6700 right out of the box, so I figured I’d make a new thread detailing the process so people wouldn’t have to dig through that 20-page one to find out what works.
Looks like it's been discussed in some detail in the past, but always good to have a fresh write-up.
Yeah, the most recent post in that 20 page thread is me detailing this same process when I first discovered it. Before that point, I couldn’t find anyone else detailing how to get around the newer stock firmwares’ restrictions. I just confirmed my process worked with a 2nd EA6700 right out of the box, so I figured I’d make a new thread detailing the process so people wouldn’t have to dig through that 20-page one to find out what works.
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 20:19 Post subject: Stable?
Hello, does this router run stable without any issues on DD-WRT? I only have a 5mb down and 1mb up connection, so speed is not going to be a big issue, but my old router ( WRT54G v.8 ) is not gonna cut it anymore for me. So long as this will run without crashing or cutting off wifi, that sort of thing, I will get the one from amazon. I am seeing it for $35.95 at the moment.
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2019 23:50 Post subject: Re: Stable?
aPpYe wrote:
Hello, does this router run stable without any issues on DD-WRT?
Sorry, I only saw your post in the other thread at first for some reason. Yeah, I’ve got 3 EA6700s and one EA6500v2 (essentially the same router) all running dd-wrt super smoothly! The EA6500v2 has been going strong for like 4 years now.
