I then get COM4 port for the cable open putty start the session for COM4 and then plug in my router to the ac adapter and then all I get is a bunch of trash text on the screen nothing that is remotely readable. So I switched to my MacBook and the same thing is happening all kinds of gobbled text. So is this maybe an issue with the router or the serial cable?
also
Start pressing CTRL-C until you get the CFE> prompt. This does nothing for me I have tried every combernation that I can think.
Please help me out thanks!
You probably have the serial cable set with the wrong settings or have a poor or incorrect connection. If that isn't perfect you aren't going to be able to do anything.
On the Mac what apps / tools / commands were you using to make the connection via serial? _________________ Routers:
WXR-1900DHP - Active (main) - v3.0-r36070M kongac (05/31/18 )
WZR-N600DHP - Wired AP - v3.0-r33679 BS (11/04/17)
WNDR-3400 - retired to its box for several years
For what it is worth, the settings I use on the mac are:
Code:
# screen /dev/cu.usbserial 115200
If you don't have the right kext installed you will get garbage as well. _________________ Routers:
WXR-1900DHP - Active (main) - v3.0-r36070M kongac (05/31/18 )
WZR-N600DHP - Wired AP - v3.0-r33679 BS (11/04/17)
WNDR-3400 - retired to its box for several years
I guess I'd check connections and maybe you have TX and RX swapped.
You need to connect the TX cable to the RX port on the TTL header and RX on the cable to the TX port on the TTL header. _________________ Routers:
WXR-1900DHP - Active (main) - v3.0-r36070M kongac (05/31/18 )
WZR-N600DHP - Wired AP - v3.0-r33679 BS (11/04/17)
WNDR-3400 - retired to its box for several years
I guess I'd check connections and maybe you have TX and RX swapped.
You need to connect the TX cable to the RX port on the TTL header and RX on the cable to the TX port on the TTL header.
By TTL header you are meaning on the wifi router ?
TX cable to the RX port on the router?
RX cable to the TX port on the router?
the cable is pre made so im guessing this is what you mean.
@ludacrisvp I'm still running my original firmware from when I first flashed this router (page 4 of this thread) DD-WRT v3.0-r27805 std (09/11/15)
I'd like to upgrade now, do you predict I can just upgrade using the web interface to a recent build? Which is the latest you've tried that worked? Just trying to save myself a few hours.
Do you have experience upgrading via the web interface to this build? My plan would be just to download that build and upgrade via the web interface but I'm nervous about the dual images on this router. TIA _________________ Routers:
WXR-1900DHP DDWRT V3.0-r51140 12/31/2022 std (main)
WHR-HP-G54 DDWRT V24-sp2 14896 8/7/2010 std
Do you have experience upgrading via the web interface to this build?
My plan would be just to download that build and upgrade via the web
interface but I'm nervous about the dual images on this router. TIA
As long as you use the BrainSlayer builds you should be ok to update via
the web interface as if you watch the flash process over the serial
connection you can see it write to the 'linux' partition then write to the
'linux2' partition (which is the second image).
The <kong> builds don't seem to update correctly, meaning the partition
layout isn't correct (there is no linux2 partition) which means only one of
the dual images gets updated which soft bricks you until you connect serial
cable and from the CFE you flash the updated image over the recovery
image. I have to do this after every update from the kong builds, this used
to work fine. This appears to have been broken somewhere between kong
build 29440 and kong build 31205.
When fixing this from the CFE, you don't need TFTP setup or anything just
use the flash command to read the new image and write it to the recovery:
Flashing kong from BrainSlayer build works fine once, however, the next
kong flash update or an attempt to update to a 'normal' BrainSlayer build
fails as the partition layout changed.
More info in this thread around this post:
https://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1072429#1072429 _________________ Routers:
WXR-1900DHP - Active (main) - v3.0-r36070M kongac (05/31/18 )
WZR-N600DHP - Wired AP - v3.0-r33679 BS (11/04/17)
WNDR-3400 - retired to its box for several years
Thanks again memerchan and ludacrisvp, I'll give it a try and post back. Soft brick wouldn't be the end of the world but like I said, just trying to save some precious time.
ludacrisvp can you comment on why you prefer the kong builds? _________________ Routers:
WXR-1900DHP DDWRT V3.0-r51140 12/31/2022 std (main)
WHR-HP-G54 DDWRT V24-sp2 14896 8/7/2010 std
The kong builds can have different features.
Sometimes bug fixes are there first or new security vulnerabilities are fixed there first.
IIRC kong was the first one to implement SFE (the module that allows one to see full 1Gbps WAN performance on IPv4 which was previously impossible on any dd-wrt build).
I think there was more differentiation in the versions earlier vs now.
The ability to upgrade from the command line was nice, however doesn't work all that well right now due to the partition issues. _________________ Routers:
WXR-1900DHP - Active (main) - v3.0-r36070M kongac (05/31/18 )
WZR-N600DHP - Wired AP - v3.0-r33679 BS (11/04/17)
WNDR-3400 - retired to its box for several years
For those of you who are getting garbage when connecting the TTL cable, make sure the order is correct. As mentioned, the RX wire needs to be connected to the TX pin on the board, but what isn't mentioned is that you'll likely not want to connect the +5V wire. (Every time, I did, the whole unit would go down, and all the Ethernet activity lights would stay stuck on).
For those who are visual learners, here's what worked for me:
