[chalkos]

[SloJoe]

Was the wzr-hp-g300nh folder removed from the brainslayer folder?

[chalkos]

true. the only direct link we have is this one (which still works... strange) http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/other-downloads?path=others%2Feko%2FBrainSlayer-V24-preSP2%2F12-28-09-r13525%2Fbuffalo_wzrg300nh%2F

but it must have been removed for a reason. I suppose we just have to wait longer

[sonicsteve]

Sorry for jumping in,

I just bought one of these routers also. However aren't those direct links for the wzrg300nh and not the wzr-hp-g300nh?

I would love to try this out but I don't want to brick a router.

[chalkos]

[essele]

Hi,

I've just bought one of these (wzrhpg300nh) specifically to run either dd-wrt or OpenWRT, I never want to run the stock firmware so I'm not worried about breaking it.

That's good, because I have broken it but I have learnt quite a few things in the process.

1. The router seems to be particularly bad at responding to arp requests during the early boot phase, this is probably why people are having problems getting tftp to work.

2. It never responds to ping during the boot, so you can't use that for timing.

I have been able to consistently get a new firmware image onto the device using tftp following the below:

1. Add a manual arp entry (you can boot the stock firmware, eventually you'll get an arp entry, but it's easier to add a manual one.) The MAC address is on the label (it's the same as the SSID)

arp -s 192.168.11.1 00:1d:73:xx:xx:xx

2. Count exactly 16 seconds from the time you plug the power in until pressing return on the tftp command. You may want to try 14/15/16/17/18 as I'm sure my seconds are a different length to everyone elses.

So that's the good bit ... now what do I flash onto the thing?

As per above the dd-wrt firmware seems to have dissapeared?
I can build from source, but can't figure out how to build anything other than the bcrm2.4 stuff.
I've tried an AP83 and a PB42 build of OpenWRT, the first didn't achieve anything (booted back into stock firmware), the second has semi-bricked the router -- TFTP still works, so I'm not worried.

My next task is to figure out how to get a serial console on the device ... but if there's an easier way I'd love to hear it!

I really want to get this going, these are sub £60 now and are quite powerful little devices if you can get a flexible OS on them!

Lee.

[sonicsteve]

[essele]

[chalkos]

[Gingernut]

This thread should be moved to the Atheros section. It would be easier to keep track of.

[jessenj]

Can someone just say whether or not the flash of DD-WRT is good on the WZR-HP-G300NH? I really would like to read just one persons experiences and features they've seen.

[ERamseth]

I can confirm that the firmwares here: http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/other-downloads?path=others%2Feko%2FBrainSlayer-V24-preSP2%2F02-03-10-r13832%2Fbuffalo_wzrg300nh%2F work on the buffalo wzr-hp-g300nh

this is v24-sp2 (02/03/10) - build 13832

NOTE THE FIRMWARE ABOVE IS WIP AND PROBABLY NOT AS STABLE AS THE LATEST STABLE RELEASE. PLEASE DONT HOLD ME OR ANYONE ELSE RESPONSIBLE IF YOUR SHINY NEW DRAFT N ROUTER BECOMES A SHINY NEW PAPERWEIGHT.

I will post more details about how I flashed it (really easy actually) and I suppose a report on whether or not it remains stable overnight.

EDIT: FIXED THE LINK TO THE FIRMWARE DIRECTORY ABOVE

[ERamseth]

OK so there's more interest in this router than i thought. I'll put up the basics of how i got it to work.

I am using ubuntu (a flavor of debian gnu/linux). If you use windows, you need to somehow adapt these steps. I'm not responsible if something gets lost in translation and something breaks along the way.

first, get the dd-wrt files here: http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/other-downloads?path=others%2Feko%2FBrainSlayer-V24-preSP2%2F02-03-10-r13832%2Fbuffalo_wzrg300nh%2F

(this is v24-sp2 (02/03/10) std - build 13832)

you'll want the file ending in ".tftp"

1) Prep your router: unplug all ethernet cables and power cable. Connect your computer directly to your router but leave the router turned off.

2) Disable NetworkManager (or any other automatic network management utilities... in windows I think you need to make sure DHCP is off). To disble NetworkManager in Ubuntu 9.10, run "sudo service network-manager stop"

3) set ip of ethernet interface to "192.168.11.2". Not sure how exactly to do this in windows. In Ubuntu, run "sudo ifconfig eth0 192.168.11.2" (if eth0 is your ethernet interface)

4) set netmask to "255.255.255.0" I think this is default but just to be safe, run "sudo ifconfig netmask 255.255.255.0". Again, not sure how to do this in windows.

5) make entry in the arp table corresponding to the router. run "sudo arp -s 192.168.11.1 [MAC ADDRESS OF ROUTER]"

The MAC address of router is the ssid printed on the sticker, but every second digit/letter is followed by a ":"

so you end up with something like "00:1D:73:8C:8D:D5" (THIS IS AN EXAMPLE DO NOT USE THIS NUMBER... I ACTUALLY JUST MADE IT UP)

ok so I guess what this really does is tell the network that 192.168.11.1 (the ip address that the router will take for itself) corresponds with the MAC address of the router.

(I'm not sure the arp table business is entirely necessary but it cannot hurt... also this is the one step i have absolutely no idea how to do in windows...)

***at this point you basically have a 1 computer network set up and your computer will be expecting the router (defined by its MAC address) to show up on 192.168.11.1 (which is the address the router will ask for/respond on when it is turned on)***

6) run tftp and set verbose mode on (so we know what's going on), binary mode on (because we are uploading a binary file), trace on (so we get feedback on our commands), rexmt 1 (to retry the upload on failure every 1 second), and timeout to 60 (repeatedly retry the upload for 60 seconds before giving up)

to do this on the regular tftp client, enter the following commands (in the text below, "tftp>" is just the prompt that tftp gives you, not something you need to type)

tftp> verbose
Verbose mode on.
tftp> binary
mode set to octet
tftp> trace
Packet tracing on.
tftp> rexmt 1
tftp> timeout 60

7) in tftp connect to 192.168.11.1 (does not matter that router is still turned off)

tftp> connect 192.168.11.1

at this point you aren't really "connected" in the sense that your computer requires any feedback from the router. tftp is basically just prepped to send the correct file to the correct address, as long as all the other pieces of the equation (the router) end up in the right place at the right time.

***now get ready to plug in your router, but don't do it yet. also, make sure your computer is connected to one of the LAN ports of the router, not the WAN port (the WAN port is outlined in blue)***

8) in tftp put [firmware]

tftp> put wzrg300nh-firmware.tftp

at this point tftp will keep trying to send the firmware to the router and when it fails (because the router isn't yet on or hasn't yet brought up it's tftp interface) it will wait 1 second and retry, up to 60 times (because that's how we set up the tftp client in step 6

9) plug in the power cord to the router

the router will start up and now and you will see some lights blinking (possibly)

10) about 10-20 seconds in, you should notice that tftp is sending the file. instead of the retry message over and over you will see some progress scrolling down the screen and at the end it will tell you how many blocks or bytes were transferred in how many seconds

11) after the transfer is complete, wait about 5-10 minutes (more like 6 minutes I think) during this wait the red light on front of the router will blink and then go off, eventually the wireless led comes on. (wireless led looks like a radar thing... don't know how to describe it really)

12) when the wireless led is on, you are ready to go.

at this point, in linux, you want to just re-enable network manager with "sudo service network-manager start". you will see a notification icon that says you are connected. you should click it, disconnect, then re-connect. you should recieve an IP of something like 192.168.1.105. NOTE that this is not in the 192.168.11.X subnet. if you get something like 192.168.11.2 or 192.168.11.100 then something didnt work. also, if you don't get an IP address assigned, something didnt work. as a last ditch effort, you could restart your computer to see if it works later.

also, per dd-wrt defaults, your router should now be broadcasting a wifi network on the ssid of "dd-wrt".

if you get an ip on the 192.168.1.X network, then congratulations, you are good to go. open up a web browser (USE FIREFOX FOR THIS... SEE BELOW) and get to http://192.168.1.1/ to begin setting up your router.

NOTE: for some reason chrome/chromium wasnt working on the web interface. I had to use firefox. I actually spent hours trying to figure out why web interface wasnt working then more hours trying to figure out how to at least get WPA2 enabled via telnet or at the very least hide my ssid. USE FIREFOX FOR THE WEB INTERFACE PEOPLE! (or else you will try to re-flash several times, try unsuccessfully to flash openwrt, re-flash dd-wrt, pull your hair out, and have a very angry girlfriend)

NOTE2: I know the 60 seconds of retries at 1 second intervals in tftp isn't the most elegant way to get the timing right for tftp uploads, but its easier than counting out loud or using a stop watch or closing your eyes and making a wish and pressing enter and pasting commands while plugging in and unplugging your router... also i think its a safe solution... if not, please post a reply or something.

And that's it for now! I cannot provide full instructions for windows, sorry. Hopefully the additional details above will guide windows users.

[ERamseth]

[chalkos]

Thank you very much, ERamseth.

Can you tell if USB works? and which version did you install on your buffalo?