Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 13049 Location: Behind The Reset Button
Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 21:26 Post subject:
Thanks.. Everyone knows I fix routers for fun, not for money. This is exactly why I ask:
1). What bricked the router?
2). Did you take the router apart?
3). If yes, did you pin short?
If the answer to # 3 is yes, I won't even look at the router.
What typically takes on a couple of beers to fix, this one took two cases of beer. I should'a just sent it back but the owner explained that they had never been inside the router and they had purchased it as I received it from e-bay.
I'm not saying I do not enjoy a couple of head scratchers from time to time, I just get emotional when I see needless damage caused by stupidity.
Then I started to feel bad and decided to give it a lash plus I like the challenge.
Here is the pisser... Not only do I have 6+ hours into this thing and two cases of beer I got the return postage paypal'd to me and PP charged me a fee. They have never done that before.
So this one cost me two cases of beer, 6 hours, and 53 cents to fix. _________________ [Moderator Deleted]
Joined: 04 Jan 2007 Posts: 11564 Location: Wherever the wind blows- North America
Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 21:48 Post subject:
barryware wrote:
Here is the pisser... Not only do I have 6+ hours into this thing and two cases of beer I got the return postage paypal'd to me and PP charged me a fee. They have never done that before.
So this one cost me two cases of beer, 6 hours, and 53 cents to fix.
Yeah...they just started this with me too...I was charged $1.11 for the last deposit....this just started the end of July...they must not be making enough money to stay in business otherwise :lol:
redhawk _________________ The only stupid question....is the unasked one.
Ok I admin. I'm sorry. I'm dumb. I'm terrible. I was having boot problems on my fairly new WL-500W that I couldn't seem to repair using any of the many methods found here and in the wiki. So I resorted to the pin shorting after seeing some success by others. I followed the recommendations of using a needle, ensuring system is off and, just plain being careful.
It seemed to fix it (very very lucky) and I don't see any visible damages or faulty connections (via multimeter) around the board's area that was used. But I now REALLY worry that although the software works, the hardware may be botched somewhere else.
Are there any consistent hardware issues that are known as a result of the shorting that I can watch out for?
Thank you. And again, I am SORRY for not taking the patience to read more into safer methods such as serial and JTAG!
Joined: 24 Aug 2009 Posts: 2070 Location: South Florida
Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 23:40 Post subject:
I pin shorted my WL500W about 2 months ago...No noticeable problems.... Been through several build upgrades, and I whore my bandwidth with it...
Still, it should only be used as a LAST ditch method.. _________________ Optware, the Right Way
Asus RT-AC68U
Asus RT-N66U
Asus RT-N10
Asus RT-N12
Asus RT-N16 x5
Asus WL520gU
Engenious ECB350
Linksys WRT600Nv1.1
Linksys WRT610Nv1
Linksys E2000
Netgear WNDR3300
SonicWall NSA220W
SonicWall TZ215W
SonicWall TZ205W
SonicWall TZ105W
I have had to pin short a few of my routers, tho I used alot more "delicate" touch then what was ever showed in those pic's. They are all still running good guess this is the route when your to damn lazy to make a jtag.
What is pin-shorting supposed to do - is on the address or data lines? Is the idea to fail the nvram read so it just resets to defaults and sits on the CFE waiting for tftp?
The Asus RT-N16 CFE checks the reset or WPS button before reading the nvram - couldn't we get CFEs for other routers that are equally robust? Of course over-writing the CFE without JTAG is risky...
Actually, I did get by with doing the pin shorting on an old bricked WRT300N, but after reading this topic, I wouldn't do it again. Had it been a router that I actually cared about, I probably wouldn't have done it. I agree, if you don't care whether you fry one or not, what the heck, go ahead and do it; I just happened to get lucky lol.
Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 15:41 Post subject: PIN short, not PINS.
It's worth being very clear on this: proper pin shorting is not the problem. Careless pin shorting is the problem. I realize anecdotal evidence only goes so far, but I have a WRT54GSv2 with the "sdram_init" value problem, causing it to brick when 30-30-30'd or when it tries to reset settings. I've pin shorted 15-16 over a dozen times to get it to take a firmware, with zero problems. I've found that a small jeweler's screwdriver, placed between the contact pads and angled just a bit, works just dandy.
Since everybody always rails against pin shorting, though, I finally decided to update the cfe, since that's the recommended fix. Now the router is truly bricked, and even a pin short won't help, so I'm relegated to installing a JTAG. Yes, careless pin shorting can cause permanent damage, whereas careless cfe editing can be fixed--with a soldering iron (as if THAT can't do any damage!).