Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2025 20:54 Post subject: Linksys MX5300 flashing issues
Hi,
Could anyone help me with whats going wrong, I flashed my MX4300V2 with very few issues
I have tried flashing linksys-mx5300/factory-to-ddwrt.img r60276 & r59346
I've tried through the 192.168.1.1/fwupdate.html and the CA firmware update
All say they update ok, however they always return to the linksys firmware.
I do have it disassembled at the moment as I thought I bricked it earlier on.
Look back and find a smaller sized factory-to-ddwrt.img firmware for 1st flash, then upgrade to the latest version is what I would try if that router v2 is supported. _________________ Main Router: Dynalink WRX36, PPPoE, Gateway Mode, Network IPV4 - Isolated Vlan's. Unifi AC-Pro x 3 AP's, Router Wi-Fi Disabled. Paid Commercial Wireguard Client's & WG server, DNSMasq, Static Leases with Quad9 SmartDNS, DNSMasq Adblocking thanks to egc script.
No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life!
I'll get a serial lead attached to it later on and see whats going on
But I did go through the firmware list last night and found since r59302 when it appeared
dd-wrt-webflash.bin minus 28 bytes is what factory-to-ddwrt.img file size is
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2025 19:10 Post subject: Linksys MX5300 flashing issues
Have you managed to get dd-wrt loaded onto the MX5300? I recently acquired one and am running into what sounds like the same issue. Not having tried literally every single firmware but it looks like the ones from Jan 22nd (r59302) to Feb 9th (r59582) result in the router hanging in some way. The way to get back to the Linksys firmware is to power cycle the router 3 times to trigger a boot from the other partition. The firmware from Feb 14th (r59661) to Aug 4th (r62032) appear to result in a few boot loops then the device automatically switches back to the Linksys firmware.
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 17032 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2025 21:58 Post subject:
foz111 wrote:
Look back and find a smaller sized factory-to-ddwrt.img firmware for 1st flash
No such animal exists. While all the other devices (may) have a smaller factory-to-ddwrt.img file, I can't seem to find one for this one. This is the initial release, but it may not flash:
Joined: 08 May 2018 Posts: 17032 Location: Texas, USA
Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2025 22:57 Post subject:
Going to take a chance on getting scolded. Zip file contains factory-to-ddwrt-r62035.img and ddwrt-webflash-r62035.bin for MX5300. Please test and report. You must flash the webflash.bin to get full DD-WRT installation after factory-to-ddwrt.img. FYI, these may be included in the next beta release (if the build run is successful). Thanks!
I flashed the factory-to-ddwrt-r62035.img file from the Linksys webgui. Upon reboot the device appears to go through the same cycle as the more recent builds. From a visual perspective, the device reboots after the flash, the led goes from blue to red to green. Normally when everything is okay it would stay green (that is what my MX8500s do), but the device goes back to red then green. Then it most likely reboots and goes to the blue, then red, then green cycle. After a handful of cycles, you can tell the device switches back to the other Linksys partition due to the led going to the turquoise color and you are back to square one.
You can remove that test build from your post for safety. I surmise that this rules out that the file size of the factory-to-ddwrt file is an issue. I ordered a USB to serial cable and some solderless pressfit header pins. Hopefully I can provide the info you requested in your previous post in a few days when I get everything. The device doesn't have a properly finished serial port so hopefully I can get the serial readout.
I don't have any previous experience with serial readouts for these devices so hopefully everything goes smoothly and I can provide what is needed to make some progress. I appreciate the attempt to assist.
Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2025 19:43 Post subject: Linksys MX5300 flashing issues
Attached is the serial log for the MX5300. It is from initial bootup in the linksys firmware, flashing and rebooting to the factory-to-ddwrt firmware (08-08-2025-r62036), the subsequent 3 reboots that occur, then back to the linksys firmware on the other partition.
Please let me know if I can be of more assistance.
I haven't tried the latest firmware released a few days ago but I imagine it would produce the same results as the previous ones (boot loop 3 times then switch to the other partition). On the positive side, I have been able to load openwrt on the device so I still hold out hope that dd-wrt could one day work. I have been able to get all the functionality I'm looking for from openwrt that I would have wanted from dd-wrt so it has been a decent compromise for me.
The device works well and my only "gripe" about it is the 2nd 5GHz radio operates on the wifi 5 (ac) standard rather than wifi 6 (ax).
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2026 9:10 Post subject: Linksys MX5300
Just tried to install dd-wrt on my MX5300 with the latest versions. Still not possible, unfortunately still ending up in a boot loop. What a pity for such nice piece of hardware
