From DD-WRT Wiki

Revision as of 00:09, 9 January 2007

Identifying Your Version

The first 4 digits in the serial number (look on the box or the underside of the router) represent the hardware revision:

CDF0 = WRT54G v1.0
CDF1 = WRT54G v1.0
CDF2 = WRT54G v1.1
CDF3 = WRT54G v1.1
CDF5 = WRT54G v2.0
CDF7 = WRT54G v2.2
CDF8 = WRT54G v3.0
CDF9 = WRT54G v3.1
CDFA = WRT54G v4.0
CDFB = WRT54G v5.0
CDFC = WRT54G v5.1
CDFD = WRT54G v6.0
CDFE = WRT54G v7.0

CL7A = WRT54GL v1.0
CL7B = WRT54GL v1.1

CGN0 = WRT54GS v1.0
CGN1 = WRT54GS v1.0
CGN2 = WRT54GS v1.1
CGN3 = WRT54GS v2.0
CGN4 = WRT54GS v2.1
CGN5 = WRT54GS v3.0
CGN6 = WRT54GS v4.0
CGN7 = WRT54GS v5.0
CGN8 = WRT54GS v5.1
CGN9 = WRT54GS v6.0

CJK0 = WRTSL54GS v1.0

See more information on the LinksysInfo Autopsy page.

WRT54G

DD-WRT supports versions 1-6 of this router.

v4

WRT54G v4 Installation Tutorial

WARNING: Only DD-WRT v23 and newer will run on this model. If you use an older version, you will need to Recover from a Bad Flash.

The stock firmware from Linksys on the WRT54G v4 won't accept a firmware image over 3MB in size (you will get the error: "Upgrade are failed!" if you try) so you will need to flash the mini version of DD-WRT onto the router BEFORE flashing the std or voip versions. (Remember to hold reset button for 30 sec after flashing mini version.)

v5

Flash Your Version 5 WRT54G

v6

[Comment: I've encountered ver.6 WRT54G (SN:CDFD*) & WRT54GS (SN:CGN9*) in which vxworks_prep_v03.bin is rejected by the "web gui" upgrade, with little/no relevant docs available. Where I have found reference to the problem, there are no sollutions. A perfect example is Sureshot's question, and TheScorpion's answer: "The upgrade fails because you aren't uploading a file that the GS will recognize as a valid firmware file."

[Comment --Thescorpion420 13:26, 2 Dec 2006 (CET): In the particular case above Sureshot was using a GS, and at the time I had only experience with the G because that is what I had. After several people asked about the GS, I revised the tutorial on how to upgrade a GS as well. More or less the same process with 1 different file.

v7

The WRT54Gv7 uses an Atheros chip, runs VxWorks, and has 2MB ROM/8MB RAM. It is not supported by DD-WRT.

WRT54GL

DD-WRT v23 and higher supports this router.

The stock firmware from Linksys on the WRT54GL v1 won't accept a firmware image over 3MB in size (you will get the error: "Upgrade are failed!"(sic) if you try) so you will need to flash the mini version of DD-WRT onto the router BEFORE flashing the std or voip versions. (Remember to hold reset button for 30 sec after flashing mini version.)

The WRT54GL Ver 1.1 stock firmware will accept a firmware image of at least 4MB in size; Flashed the memory with DD-WRT standard version (V23sp2). Did not see any success or fail message, however when completed got a blank page in IE. After rebooting Windows, was able to reach the new DD-WRT screen.

[Comment added 07/08/06 by Wayland] I found it best to start with factory settings before flashing WRT54GL for the first time.

[Comment added 23/09/06 by Ullapra] After flashing my WRT54GL to v23 SP2 I was unable to access the web administration page at first. It turned out that the httpd process was crashing every time I tried to access it. I found this workaround in the forums and it fixed the issue:

nvram set language=english 
nvram commit 
reboot

After the reboot my httpd was back and running. I suspect that the initial error was caused because I hadn't explicitly reset to factory defaults (I assumed that the just-out-of-the-box router would already be at default). The original thread is HTTP device admin not responding

v1.1

[Comment added 24/06/06 by msc_buff]] I ran into serious port forward problems with my GL v1.1. I reread the flash procedure here and used the '30 second reset' with the button instead of the WebGUI and it fixed my problem. Not sure what the difference between a soft reset and a hard reset is but I will stick with what worked for me.

[Comment added 22/09/06 by ITBeast]] I successfully flashed a WRT54GL Ver 1.1 loaded w/stock Linksys firmware with DD-WRT standard version (V23sp2)using the Installation Tutorial above. The only slight difference from my experience than the tutorial was I did not see any success or fail message, It came up with a "continue" button and when clicked got a blank screen in the IE browser. Rebooted the PC to clear the old IP out of PC's DNS and upon completed reboot was able to login to the new DD-WRT screen. The only other devation was I bypassed the "Mini" version and went straight to the "Standard" (by accident) with No problems.

[Comment added 22/09/06 by Jagiboy]] I flashed my WRT54GL Ver 1.1 as per the tutorial. Here are the major steps. (tutorail has detailed steps)

 1. Reset the new router to Factory default
 2. Updated to the standard V23SP2 Firmware, no issues.

I used my laptop to do the update. Windows XP SP2, IE 6.0 SP2.

[Comment added 04/01/07 by Euthenics]]

I flashed my WRT54GL Ver 1.1 with the Standard DD-WRT V23 SP2. Here's a brief steps I perform.

 1. Reset the new router to Factory Default (both Soft and Hard Reset)
 2. Updated to the Standard V23 SP2 Firmware, no failed or success message except the "continue" button, 
    when clicked on it, got the blank screen in my IE 7 browser (Windows XP SP2). 
 3. Rebooted the PC but was not able to see the new DD-WRT screen when trying to login. Showed blank page.
 4. Perform hard reset for 30 seconds and plug off and on again the router's power.
 5. Reaccess the new DD-WRT screen and was successful this time.

WRT54GS

DD-WRT supports versions 1 through 6 of the WRT54GS router. (Note that later versions have less flash memory and may require micro versions of DD-WRT.)

v3

[Comment added 05/03/06 by PhoneBoy] On my WRT54GSv3, I found that the device wouldn't take ANY firmware unless I reset it using the button rather than just factory reset from the web interface. Word of warning.

v4

The stock firmware from Linksys on the WRT54GS v4 won't accept a firmware image over 3MB in size (you will get the error: "Upgrade are failed!"(sic) if you try) so you will need to flash the mini version of DD-WRT onto the router BEFORE flashing the std or voip versions. (Remember to hold reset button for 30 sec after flashing mini version.)

[Comment added 11/01/06 by bigbloke of cownet.org] Today I purchased a 'GS V4 not having read this note previously. It flashed V23 standard perfectly first time from the specific file (dd-wrt.v23_wrt54gsv4.bin) therefore there may be some additional factors influencing this) - I hope this is useful feedback

[Comment added 12/01/06 by Mart] I just purchased a GS V4 too. After reading bigbloke's note, i decided to try skip the warning and directly flash V23 VPN from the (dd-wrt.v23_vpn_generic.bin) file without any problems too. I simply followed the "right way to flash" instructions step by step. Looks like the warning mentioned above does not apply with this version.

[Comment added 18/01/06 by Macks] I can second the above, just flashed a GSv4 from Linksys original and used dd-wrt.v23_vpn_wrt54gsv4.bin without problems, directly without going via the mini.

[Comment added 22/01/06 by JD] I can confirm the statement from Macks. Two days ago I bought also a 'GS v4' and I flashed it with the v23 standard without problems (directly without going via the mini)

[Comment added 19/02/06 by markusk] and i did it that way as well and after that got the weirdest behaviour of a router i've ever seen, mainly giving something like unstable wan-connection by going with high traffic over the router (be it via bittorrent, icq-filetransfers and similar).. unfortunately reflashing with mini and then a "big" one didn't help at all..

[Comment added 28/02/06 by mfb] Like Macks I flashed my 'GS v4' with v23 vpn direct, without mini first - working fine, no problems.

[Comment added 09/04/06 by zonk] I also can confirm the above statements of flashing two fresh bought WRT54GS v4 routers using the vpn version (v23) instead of the mini version. I used Firefox 1.5 and Opera 7.5 without any failed message. Both routers run stable.

[Comment added 04/06/06 by Yusuf Motiwala] I too can confirm that it can be upgraded directly to standard version. Even after reading this, I experimented upgrading my WRT54GSv4 directly with v23 SP1 standard image without any problem. May be stated limitation is firmware version dependent. At the time of upgrade, my linksys stock firmware version was 1.5.2.

v5 and v6

WRT54G(S) v5-v6 series have a vxworks-based firmware, and as such need special preparation before flashing. They are supported in v23 SP1 and above "micro" builds. See Flash Your Version 5 WRT54G

Clock Speed and Overclocking

The standard clock speed of a WRT54G(S) v2-v6 is 200 MHz. DD-WRT allows overclocking the device to up to 300 MHz for v2-v3 and up to 250mhz for v4-v6. It is also possible to underclock, which may be useful for troubleshooting crashes which may be caused by overheating. Newer Linksys firmware overclocks some models of the WRT54GS to 216 MHz, to prevent instability issues inherent in the 2.x versions.

The WRT54G(S) v4-v6 and WRT54GL v1.x have a BCM3302 v0.8 processor instead of a BCM3303 v0.7 with previous models.

For information on running a v4 series greater than the CFE imposed maximum of 250mhz, please see [Increased overclocking through CFE modifications] (technical).

Other Notes

TheScorpion's tutorial (and others) are relevant to WRT54G. On 11/15/06, fixed to include firmware > 1.50.9. There are now links to both G and GS vxworks prep files.