New Belkin Routers (04/2010)

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chucklesjh
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 15 Apr 2010
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:15    Post subject: New Belkin Routers (04/2010) Reply with quote
This month, Belkin released a new series of routers, the "Surf", "Share", "Play", and "Play Max". All of the details can be found at their website. I did a little research and found this info:

Quote:
The Play Max is a Broadcom-based dual-radio design using a BCM4718 Intensi-fi XLR 802.11n Simultaneous Dual-Band (2.4/5 GHz) Router SoC Wireless Network Processor, which includes the processor, BB/MAC and radios. The radio in this device appears to be used for the 2.4 GHz radio only, while a Broadcom BCM43224 Integrated 802.11a/b/g/n is used for the 5 GHz radio.
Broadcom BCM53115 switch provides the Gigabit WAN and LAN ports without jumbo frame support and 64 MB of RAM and 8 MB of flash round out the design.

The Play Max also has two USB 2.0 ports that can share a printer and have a USB drive attached. The attached drive can be used with the Vuze BitTorrent download app, for general networked file storage and apps for UPnP / DLNA media serving and client backup via a bundled client.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/31116-new-to-the-charts-belkin-play-max-wireless-router

If it's running these apps, I am assuming it's running some sort of Linux. So maybe it has a future with dd-wrt :D

I bought a Play Max from Amazon and got it today. So far, it's a heck of a lot better than some of those notorious routers that lock up frequently.

(This is my first post here, but I am not new to dd-wrt. I have a Fonera running dd-wrt that I use as an AP in my dorm room, or as a wireless bridge when I'm at home for my 360)
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TheUSMarshall
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 19 Apr 2010
Posts: 15

PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 15:14    Post subject: Belkin Play Reply with quote
I actually just picked up a Belkin Play myself - definitely a solid router and awesome price considering it has a similar chipset to the Linksys 620N. I cracked it open and took pictures, which I will upload later. It definitely has a BCM4718 in it, which I know the Play Max has as well.
TheUSMarshall
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 19 Apr 2010
Posts: 15

PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 16:42    Post subject: Belkin Play F7D4302 v1000 Reply with quote
Attached are pics from the guts of my 4302. The two things that stood out from a chipset standpoint:

BCM4718: Intensi-fi XLR 802.11n Simultaneous Dual-Band (2.4/5 GHz) Router System-on-a-Chip

BCM5325E: Integrated 10/100BASE-T/TX 5/6 Port-Managed Switch

I'll admit that I don't know a whole lot about JTAG, although it looks like there are pins for it here. There are also a few other headers on the board, one of which is for the second USB port that's found on the Play Max (model 4301).

I'd love to know more about what I have here, so any comments are welcome. Also, considering that the chipsets are similar to the Linksys 610/620N, i'm wondering if that process for flashing would work?



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Dark_Shadow
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 31 Aug 2009
Posts: 2448
Location: Third Rock from the Sun

PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 17:37    Post subject: Reply with quote
Lower the resolution of your pics.
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phuzi0n
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 10141

PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 19:40    Post subject: Reply with quote
Dark_Shadow wrote:
Lower the resolution of your pics.

Done.

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Read the forum announcements thoroughly! Be cautious if you're inexperienced.
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Looking for bricks and spare routers to expand my collection. (not interested in G spec models)
TheUSMarshall
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 19 Apr 2010
Posts: 15

PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 23:29    Post subject: Reply with quote
Apologies for the overly high-res pics - wasn't on my usual comp and didn't have a good grasp on how big they were. I'll make sure the additional pics are the right size.
TheUSMarshall
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 19 Apr 2010
Posts: 15

PostPosted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 23:35    Post subject: Some More Shots of the 4302 Reply with quote
Here are a few more pics of the inside...


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TheUSMarshall
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 19 Apr 2010
Posts: 15

PostPosted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 22:55    Post subject: Definitely Linux Reply with quote
It's definitely Linux - it even shows up under my shared network resources as an independent device named "ROUTER". I ran the Belarc advisor test (which is great, btw) and it shows it as a Linux device.

Now the question is how to go about flashing the firmware. I've successfully implemented DD-WRT on a Linksys WRT54Gv2, so I do have some experience with flashing and subsequently configuring, but I don't claim to be an expert.

I attempted to flash using TFTP and the subscribed method, including the 30-30-30 reset, but didn't have any success. In fact, I found that doing the 30-30-30 actually did *NOT* clear any of the router's settings. I'm not sure why, but would be curious to find out. I also noticed during my "infinite ping" loop that, once the reset button is held down, the TTL is 100, whereas it's 64 when the router is active (green light on, not in reset mode). Not sure what this indicates/means, either.

Definitely open to any advice/questions. Thanks in advance!
TheUSMarshall
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 19 Apr 2010
Posts: 15

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 2:32    Post subject: More Linux Proof Reply with quote
This just in...
Belkin released firmware update 1.0.0.15 to my router through the automatic update feature (it was not available on their website... not sure why).

Well, prior to that, nothing had been showing up in the security logs section.

Now, there are things populated there. Of particular note was this:

Apr 22 01:34:29 router daemon.info dnsmasq[316]: reading /etc/hosts
Apr 22 01:34:29 router daemon.info dnsmasq[316]: reading /tmp/resolv.conf
Apr 22 01:34:29 router daemon.info dnsmasq[316]: using nameserver XX.XX.XX.XXX
Apr 22 01:34:29 router daemon.info dnsmasq[316]: using nameserver XX.XX.XX.XXX

*where X's are replacing the IP address

Using dnsmasq, eh?
I did some configuring in DD-WRT on my Linksys that included using dnsmasq to pass out IPv6 addresses to my connected devices. It looks like the underlying Linux distro used in this firmware might be more robust than i'd thought. I'd like to figure out how to start issuing command line requests to the OS... would this be something that can be done via telnet? (I'm not a telnet expert, but I know there are some people on here that are)

Also of particular note is the fact that this firmware is not available in the open source section of Belkin's website, whereas a bunch of their other router firmware sources are. I wonder if this falls under the GPL or not. (Hopefully)
chucklesjh
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 15 Apr 2010
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 14:48    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'm glad there's finally some activity in here. Smile Thanks for tearing apart your Play, I've had nothing but problems with routers in the past 2 years so I figured I'd wait a month before deciding whether or not I wanted to return it. So far, so good. I knew it ran Linux, we just need to figure out how to get into it now.
TheUSMarshall
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 19 Apr 2010
Posts: 15

PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2010 17:34    Post subject: Reply with quote
Totally agreed!
I've used a ton of different routers in the past, and the DD-WRT firmware is by far the most robust, to the point where other manufacturer firmware is just awful in comparison.
Spec-wise this Belkin router (the Play - and yours, the Play Max) is fantastic. It has the same chipsets as the high-end Linksys routers for half the price. Once we can get DD-WRT on them, they'll be really awesome.
I have to say that i'm not a big fan of the Belkin firmware, but then again I never have been, and I bought this router for the guts, not the firmware.
So far i've tried to load DD-WRT using the methodologies listed in the posts for the Linksys WRT-620N but haven't had much success. I think the problem is that I keep missing the "window" for the firmware to flash properly. One thing I do know is that i'm not comfortable trying to flash this thing in any way other than TFTP (what i've been trying) or by putting together a JTAG cable - which i've never done before, but would be willing to try.
It's a shame we can break into the Belkin firmware, as it appears that it's running a lot of the underlying components that are found in things like DD-WRT, an example being DNSMasq.
I'll keep fighting the good fight in trying to find out more info across the web - let me know if you find anything as well!
deadlyquirk
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 07 Oct 2009
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Sat May 29, 2010 1:26    Post subject: Reply with quote
First I would like a moment of silence for my WHR-125G, he died valiantly with his wife the cable modem during a thunderstorm Tuesday. He will be missed...

I got the play last night as it was the cheapest dual radio router that was available at the store, I checked on a laptop they had on display to see if the play was listed as compatible, I saw that it was WIP and brought it home.

So far, I have tried flashing it with tftp like TheUSMarshell above. I have not had any luck, my next thought is to perhaps edit the latest SVNs header to match that of the Belkin firmware.

update: I think I might have made a breakthrough!



2.png
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Look What I found! First, start with the router unplugged, then hold the reset button down, while holding the button plug in the power and hold the power button for another 10 or so seconds.
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6.png
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Immediately I tried the obvious and tried to upload several different dd-wrt firmwares, each was met by this screen. when I uploaded the belkin firmware, the router rebooted itself in several minutes and came back to itself.
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6.png




Last edited by deadlyquirk on Sat May 29, 2010 8:27; edited 1 time in total
deadlyquirk
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 07 Oct 2009
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Sat May 29, 2010 8:23    Post subject: Reply with quote
Additionally, I played around with the links to restore the firmware and reboot the router. It's actually fairly interesting.. the reboot link is 192.168.2.1/do.htm?cmd=reboot the link to restore the default nvram is 192.168.2.1/do.htm?cmd=nvram+erase My assumption is that anything that you pass to do.htm will be run. My next assumption was that the router was running busybox(as most embebed linux systems do) I haven't found anything one way or the other to prove it, but if busy box is there, it doesn't have telnet compiled into it.


1.png
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This is what is returned when I resored the nvram. Notice the command as a variable. I'm going to assume that we are dealing with some sort of embebed linux.
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3.png
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I tried several commands(ls,busybox +telnetd,etc) but was unable to get any output on [b]do.htm[/b] I think that the page is static and would say Command complete no matter what.
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3.png



5.png
 Description:
After following my assumption that the system was running busybox, I ran a full port scan in nmap. The only open port was the webserver.

I did not try to start dropbear(which is the usual mini ssh server), or tftp so there might still be hope for those,
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bschellva
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 25 Oct 2008
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Sat May 29, 2010 17:14    Post subject: Reply with quote
I would love to get dd-wrt on this thing. It's good to see people way smarter than me are on the case!
chucklesjh
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 15 Apr 2010
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Mon May 31, 2010 2:24    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'm really glad things are off to a good start. The default firmware is kind of buggy, wireless speeds drop to crap after about a week of uptime.
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