Repair or Toss?: Bricked 320N

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f15c
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Joined: 10 Mar 2013
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 4:20    Post subject: Repair or Toss?: Bricked 320N Reply with quote
Hello,

Request your advice answering this question: should I attempt to repair a bricked WRT320N, or toss it and pick up another router?

Other considerations:
1. I am a novice with no router skills beyond flashing firmware. Obviously, I can't even get that right, as I'm the one who bricked my own 320N.
A. Truth be told, I was successfully running DD-WRT on both my WRT54GL and the 320N, but I believe I bricked my 320N by buffoonerously being connected to it wirelessly while simultaneously upgrading my 54GL via a wired connection, with both routers on 192.168.1.1. In other words I think I inadvertantly simultaneously squirted the new 54GL firmware to both the 54GL and the 320N. 54GL works fine, and 320N crashed durin the flash. Stupid me. I was in the process of turning the 54GL into a repeater bridge when I goofed it all up.

2. I'm interested in learning how to fix these things, but I am new to tftp, CFE, NVRAM, JTAG, SSH, etc. More specifically, I don't know anything about this stuff. I'm not afraid to crack open the case and attach a cable from eBay, but I just don't know what I'm doing yet. Can't hurt anything I suppose, it's already bricked.

3. Or, is it a "waste" of time, energy and money to try to fix this thing or pay someone to do it. Some on the forum have "grown tired" of the 320N or never seemed to like it in the first place. Am I better off pitching it in the garbage can and picking up a different model. I figure if I can hawk eBay and pick up a 610N for $25-35, that may be he way to go. I'd like to hear opinions if you care to share.

4. I'm a pretty basic user. Looking for a strog wifi signal throughout the house, stream Netflix and such to devices around the house, run a smart TV (wirelessly), a wired Bluray player, and a wireless Wii. Hoping to eliminate "network congestion" I sometimes see with my 54GL only.

Any advice welcome, I've read through the announcements, stickys, Peacock, and various threads on de-bricking the 320N, and I'm not yet able to determine which way I should go.

Thanks for your time.
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socal87
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Joined: 30 Jun 2009
Posts: 944
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 5:00    Post subject: Reply with quote
Did you already check the wiki? There may be information on recovering your router there.

If it has a bad flash, chances are recovery will be fairly easy. You may not be able to talk to it via ethernet, but serial -might- help. Difficulty is low, you just have to read a lot. Trust me...familiarizing yourself with serial and jtag is one of the best things you can do when you're experimenting with flashing hardware.

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Murrkf
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Joined: 22 Sep 2008
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 16:54    Post subject: Reply with quote
Wiki: Serial recovery. Easy.
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f15c
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 10 Mar 2013
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Sat Mar 30, 2013 4:02    Post subject: Success Reply with quote
Thanks to all for all the posts, stickys, threads, wikis, along with the sage advice of "don't be scared." I went from zero serial/ttl adapter/hyperterminal knowledge to un-bricking my 320N after about $20 in purchases and a few hours of reading.

For the complete novice like me, standard comments--do all the reading. I read as much material as I could find, but had no practical experience or understanding of how to physically do many of the things I was reading about. So, my bricked router wasn't getting any better by itself, and I decided to give it a shot. Here's how I brought it back to life.

1. Read everything. Several times. Then do it again.

2. To open up the router, pull the screws out, then carefully pull the top from the bottom. I think I broke every plastic tab holding the top and bottom halves together. No problem for me. It snapped back together ok, and the scews hold it together just fine. Still be as careful as possible, but...that's the cost of doing business as far as I'm concerned.

3. Time to connect computer to router.
a. I used a HP/Compaq nc6120 with a serial port (COM1).
b. I bought this TTL adapter I read in a post from barryware I think: http://alldav.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=11
c. I trimmed up an old IDE cable to connect the TTL adapter to the router board serial pins, see pic. I soldered the wires to the TTL adapter.
d. I soldered the other end of the wires to the router board. This was one of two mysteries to me. Using this picture (which I don't think is a 320N board, but was close enough)of the router board serial pins, I soldered GND to GND no problem, and Vcc to Vcc, no problem. Many readings talk about "swapping" Rx to Tx and Tx to Rx connections, but that didnt work for me. I probably read it wrong or mis-understood the guidance anyway. I connected the Rx "output" of this TTL adapter to the "Rx" pin on the board as shown in these pics, and it worked fine. Same for Tx to Tx. Also, I interpreted some readings to indicate that you don't need the Vcc connection. I have no idea. I tried without Vcc connections, and it didn't work. I tried with the connection, and it worked. Totally possible/probable I had something else gooned up at the time.
e. Mystery number two for me was PuTTY/Hyper terminal, etc. I know ZERO about how to use either of these programs. I first tried PuTTY, but for some reason couldn't get it to open a connection. Then I tinkered with Hyperterminal, and after multiple attempts at plugging TTL adapter into my serial port, ensuring COM1 port was functioning properly, all solder connections good on both ends, power on the router, Cat 5 connection to router, check check and double check...I still thought nothing was happening until I accidentally scrolled down on the Hyperterminal window and saw evidence of communication between the compter and router, and then I suspected I was in business.

4. Once connected, I powered up the router, hit CTRL-C repeatedly and got the CFE prompt, then followed the directions you find in the readings. I successfully installed the stock firmware FW_WRT320N_1.0.05.002_20110331.bin, and wham-O!, it's alive.

5. I then used the GUI to install firmware dd-wrt.v24-14471_NEWD-2_K2.6_mini_wrt320n.bin, and then upgraded to dd-wrt.v24-14929_NEWD-2_K2.6_big.bin.

None of this is intended to be a substitute for the real readings, just wanted to post a message saying if you have the skills to upgrade firmware, but buffoon it and brick your router, you probably have the skills to set up a serial connection and give it a whirl.

I'm running the 320N as my primary, and a 54GL as my repeater bridge. Older gear but it works fine for me.

Upgrading 320N to E2000 will be my next project.

And I still have no idea how to "JTAG." Maybe some other time.

Thanks again to all for their contributions.



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