HowTo: unbrick a WL500g Deluxe and a WL500g Premium

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ranjtech
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 24 Aug 2010
Posts: 23

PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 16:59    Post subject: Reply with quote
I don't know the solution to your problem exactly, but as far as I understand, the 30/30/30 reset is ONLY done when you already have DD-WRT on your router. You seem to have done that when you had the ASUS f/w on it. And then you're shorting pins etc. mate, you need to understand what you're trying to do instead of trying all these random things in a haphazard manner. Recovery methods are different for different things and for different f/w. Don't just see what others have done and try everything. I don't think there was any need for the pin shorting for you. Also, make sure that you're waiting sufficient amount of time when you're shutting down the router and then starting it up etc.

So much for the wisecracks...As for the advice, I think u should just unplug the router...wait 30 secs...then hold down the restore button and plug in the power and see what happens...be very observant of everything and report back. Do you have the power light blinking? What about AIR? iS that on? IS your computer connected on the LAN port? If so, then what about the LAN light? is it flickering? Does your computer get an IP address from the DHCP server of the router? If not, then do you get ANY packets from it? etc etc

maybe more detail will help
HTH
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pgabry
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 27 Nov 2010
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 17:28    Post subject: Reply with quote
ranjtech wrote:
I don't know the solution to your problem exactly, but as far as I understand, the 30/30/30 reset is ONLY done when you already have DD-WRT on your router. You seem to have done that when you had the ASUS f/w on it. And then you're shorting pins etc. mate, you need to understand what you're trying to do instead of trying all these random things in a haphazard manner. Recovery methods are different for different things and for different f/w. Don't just see what others have done and try everything. I don't think there was any need for the pin shorting for you. Also, make sure that you're waiting sufficient amount of time when you're shutting down the router and then starting it up etc.

So much for the wisecracks...As for the advice, I think u should just unplug the router...wait 30 secs...then hold down the restore button and plug in the power and see what happens...be very observant of everything and report back. Do you have the power light blinking? What about AIR? iS that on? IS your computer connected on the LAN port? If so, then what about the LAN light? is it flickering? Does your computer get an IP address from the DHCP server of the router? If not, then do you get ANY packets from it? etc etc

maybe more detail will help
HTH


Ok, without any LAN cables:
When the unit is turned off, I press the restore button, then turn it on. The power LED is blinking so the unit entered recovery mode. When I attach the LAN cable, the power LED stops blinking and doesn't light anymore.

I did the same with a LAN cable already attached to the router and then it doesn't boot actually (power LED is on, AIR is off) - no ping.

The LAN LEDs work properly all the time (when a cable is attached) - they're blinking when any data is transfered.

When the unit is booted properly and the cable is attached after turning it on (ping TTL 64), I'm unable to obtain IP address from DHCP - only the manual setting is working. I'm installing wireshark now and will test if anything goes from the router without manual settings.
ranjtech
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 24 Aug 2010
Posts: 23

PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 17:42    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ok, so now it seems like you're in the same boat as I was in. This is when shorting pin 9 on the wl-500w worked for me. But then I wasn't getting any pings but you seem to be getting back PING response when you manually set the computer address to the same subnet as that of the router LAN side? Is that true?

You may be able to get into the web-interface, telnet or SSH but power light not blinking when router is booted with restore pressed and LAN connected is not a good sign.

BTW, you don't need wireshark to see if you're getting anything back from the Router, just look at the status of the NIC on your machine as see if you're "receiving" anything from there
pgabry
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 27 Nov 2010
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 17:55    Post subject: Reply with quote
ranjtech wrote:
but you seem to be getting back PING response when you manually set the computer address to the same subnet as that of the router LAN side? Is that true?

Yes, it's true. I can even get the http://192.168.1.1 and the HTTP login screen - it seems like the firmware is working properly but I cannot log in using standard and my logins (admin/admin etc).

The network icon in Windows is blinking because it's trying to find the DHCP server I think. I'll check it with wireshark and be right back in 5 minutes.

BTW Maybe my PIN9 wasn't done properly since there is no change in router's behaviour and during the pin shorting the LEDs were operating properly. Maybe actually I did nothing with the pin and my needle wasn't electricity conducting?

UPDATE: I've attached a wireshark screenshot - Router tries to assign an IP address but the packets are malformed (checksum error).

UPDATE2: The attachment was pointless since the problem was with the router. I've found many cases on ddwrt and asus forums where the router couldn't boot with LAN cables attached. My problem was that the firmware on the device was not usable and couldn't enter recovery mode with LAN-cables-issue. I tried again the PIN9 trick and now my WL-500W works fine (successfully flashed it with clear-nvram, recovery, ddwrt-mini and finally ddwrt-mega). Thanks!
maor
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 26 Mar 2011
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Sat Mar 26, 2011 16:37    Post subject: Reply with quote
hello,

i bricked my wl-500g p v1 by using it as a router. after running it for months without any problems it crashes someday. first time a simple reboot solved the problem for some days. later the connection breaks feeled every minute - surfing the gui also retrieves page load errors every second page. the leds where on/off/blinking in various combinations - i don't remember.

now... there is just one behavior (with and without reset boot, short PIN9, 30/30/30):
- no feedback on lan or wlan
- all lan LED's ON, wlan LED ON, air LED dimmed ON, power OFF

can anybody help me please?
x10
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 29 Mar 2011
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2011 11:08    Post subject: Asus WL-500Gp-v2 successfully unbrick Reply with quote
Hi,

This post is a confirmation of pin 9 shorting method to unbrick my Asus WL-500Gp-v2 router.

So,
1. I unplugged the router,
2. I shorted the pin 9,
3. I plugged-in the router (the power led started blinking and wireless led lighted again Very Happy ),
4. After 15 seconds, I removed the shorting,
5. I successfully sent a ping to 192.168.1.1,
6. I uploaded the last Asus firmware with Asus rescue tool,
5. I applied the 30/30/30 reset method.

Now everything is OK :)

P.S. I'm sorry for my bad English Embarassed
armorer1984
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 02 Apr 2011
Posts: 7

PostPosted: Sat Apr 02, 2011 13:50    Post subject: Can someone tell me what is wrong? Reply with quote
Here's where I am at, hopefully someone can help??

I had my WL500GP running v24 Mega, however I think my flash wasn't successful because I had almost no nvram available to use OpenVPN or anything else beyond the basic configuration necessary to make my network operate. So I thought I could use jffs to store my keys in there, which was a big mistake. After I enabled jffs my router became inaccessible after a normal bootup. No response from pings, no response on the web interface. However, I do get a response when in recovery mode from both a ping and TFTP. So I have tried flashing back to stock firmware, still inaccessible after regular bootup. I flashed using clearnvram/recovery/mini_asus, same issue. As a last resort, I used the Pin9 reset method. Flashed using stock firmware, same problem. Jumped Pin9 then flashed clearnvram/recover/mini_asus, still same problem.

No matter what I try I cannot access the router after normal bootup. The power light is steady, the AIR light blinks on and off very slowly (maybe one cycle every 10 seconds), the LAN1 line is lit, and I am at my wits end. I have my NIC set to a static 192.168.1.3 and netmask of 255.255.255.0, I have also tried automatically configuring everything to no avail. Using Wireshark I can see the router's MAC sending out broadcasts for Gratuitous ARP for 192.168.1.1, however it will not respond to a ping at that IP. I checked the ARP using the console and it shows the router's MAC assigned to 192.168.1.1, however I can't get a successful ping to come back.

Can anyone explain to this dummy WTF is going on with this router? I would like to get it back running since I have only had it for 3 days. Any help is greatly appreciated.
KRANKRAN
DD-WRT User


Joined: 21 Feb 2007
Posts: 52
Location: Snowierasha

PostPosted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 20:41    Post subject: Reply with quote
bump

Last edited by KRANKRAN on Mon May 07, 2012 15:26; edited 1 time in total
vinnie97
DD-WRT User


Joined: 30 Jan 2009
Posts: 86

PostPosted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 7:34    Post subject: Reply with quote
Bleh, still have a WL-500W from 2004 (or 2005, whichever year it debuted) but I think I'm gonna' call it quits after the latest debacle. I replaced that abysmal power supply a few years ago and things were going relatively well until the sucker just stopped responding this evening (PC lost its assigned IP address while I was away and internet connectivity was naturally gone). Only the LAN, WAN and Power LEDs were lit (AIR was off, so I knew it was "in a state"). I've successfully gone into recovery mode on repeated occasions but neither of my PCs are able to successfully ping or clear the NVRAM using TFTP (by manually assigning the PC IP with 192.168.1.2 and the gateway 192.168.1.1). I've successfully done the pin 9 trick in the past when having similar trouble with the help of a more steady handed and capable friend, but we're no longer on speaking terms.

What's interesting is this actually also happened earlier this year and I was similarly unsuccessful in recovering it using the typical methods (without fiddling with the hardware itself). I threw it on the trash heap out of frustration at the time but came back to it a few weeks later only to find it had revived itself with no intervention necessary on my part (other than keeping all network cables disconnected on bootup, a method that didn't work this time). Perhaps the jolt reseated a bulging capacitor within the router itself? Wink

Given what we know about the quality of capacitors used in these devices (and the fact that my power supply already failed 2 years ago), I wouldn't be surprised if this is related to an internal hardware failure, especially since I have used this router pretty much nonstop since purchasing and it has suffered through some rather record-setting summers (like this one!).
Derek19
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 05 Nov 2011
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 19:44    Post subject: Reply with quote
hi there guys,

i'm having a problem with "the 9 pin" method on my Asus WL-500g premium v1

before using the 9 pin method, I was trying to upgrade my asus firmware v 1.9.7.7 to dd-wrt v24 using TFTP method, and I've stuck at step 19 ... after putting dd-wrt-v24_mini_asus.trx (witch, by the way - is dd-wrt.v24_mini_asus.trx) so, i've rename-it (with "-" instead of ".") and that was a big mistake ... no GUI interface after that ... i was trying to do another reset and the power led won't flash/blink - just stays ON, and no air (wlan) led activity ... no ping, etc ...

now, i've used the 9 pin method ... and after that, on power ON:
- all led's lights up for a second or two (that's normal)
- power led and air (wlan) led is ON (normal)
- if LAN/WAN connected, led's are also ON (normal)
- and the tricky part: power led - keeps turning OFF and ON ... but not kinda "flashing" ... is more like OFF for 3-4 second ... and ON for ~15 second or so (maybe more, or less) ...
- and, just like in the first place: no ping, no firmware restauration tool, no tftp ...

what should I do next? it can be unbricked or ... Sad i'm real dissapointed right now ...

sorry for my bad english, i've been searching for a solution for almost 10 hours today, and the coffe wont help me anymore Sad
RS
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 14 May 2014
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2014 13:04    Post subject: WL 500W pin 9 Reply with quote
Hello,

Unfortunatelly, after about 6 years running an Asus WL 500W, it bricked for the first time! I was using Brainslayer firmware r24118, and after erasing and saving some port forwardings in the web gui, i rebooted the router. It became a brick! After that, i tried everything (by the book) to debrick the unit but no luck. Until i've found this thread! Shortcuting pin 9, although not advised by alot of people, worked for me and solved my problem.

P.S.:I've done this with an 0,8 mmm ethernet wire.
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