Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 1:12 Post subject: [SOLVED] WRT54G V6 - Can't access after DD-WRT install.
So, after a few years this old WRT54G V6 up and quit on me a few weeks ago. I shelved it in favor of a newer Netgear Nighthawk AC1900, but wanted to give this DD-WRT firmware a try just for giggles.
I managed to get the old router talking again and then started reading. I went through the peacock thread, the router data base, the install Wiki for this router and downloaded the firmware from the Wiki link for the V5/V6 units.
I followed the Wiki to the letter and was supposedly successful at each step, but after flashing the last binary, (dd-wrt.v24-12548_NEWD_micro.bin at step 20) I can't access the router any longer.
Attempts to connect to 192.168.1.1 time out. Computer is set to 192.168.1.77 and nothing else is connected between the two devices. If I start a ping session and power up the router, I'll get a few "Hardware error" messages, then 4 replies from 192.168.1.1 with a 100ms response time before the returns stop and I cancel the ping.
I got to wondering if I had an incorrect firmware build so started reading some more. I found this thread:
and going through that thread, found a post by Murrkf that said,
Quote:
You must follow the wiki for initial flashing. See also notes 3 and 4 of the peacock thread. That unit can only use micro. Not mini. Micro. K24 only.
I would use 12548 on that router.
Any ideas on how to regain access? It's not a huge deal if this router is junk and ends up at the electronic recycler, but I thought this might be an interesting evening project...
Thx!
Last edited by Skiddz on Mon Aug 22, 2016 5:52; edited 1 time in total
Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
Packets: Sent = 12, Received = 4, Lost = 8 (66% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 5ms, Average = 2ms
Control-C
Do a 30/30/30 reset.
If still have nothing get the 14929 micro generic build and TFTP it to the wrt54g.
Get TFTP setup and start when powerup router.
If TFTP goes ok then give it a good 5 minutes before trying anything.
Tried a 30/30/30 reset and then tried the dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin FW. TFTP said flash was successful and I waited a good 7-8 minutes before trying to access the router.
No joy. Still times out. Ping results are the same as above.
If you're getting TTLs of 100, you should be able to successfully TFTP a binary to the unit.
It will likely take a few 30/30/30 resets and multiple attempts to get the tftp flash to succeed, but it should be doable. You might want to tftp an older version though that is known working, and then do a web upgrade to a more recent version. That's what I generally do.
The main thread for this model is located at http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3056&highlight=wrt54gv6 and you'll see my post at the very end from a few days ago on where I upgraded to 30082. I did end up pulling the power cable when it looked like it was locked up and not going to reboot itself after a successful flash. But that was like 8-10 minutes after... _________________ Testing 2x TP-Link Archer C7 v2 with 38326
Netgear WNR3500 v2/U/L v1 v3.0-r29519 big (04/25/16)
OLD units: Belkin F5D8235-4v3 [29816 mega - AP, ethernet switch & DHCP Forwarder]
Netgear WNR2000v3 [29837 testing] Netgear WNR2000v2 [29621 mini testing] TP-Link TL-WR841NDv9 [29816 std -primary router]
WAP54Gv3.1 [30082 micro -AP & DHCP Forwarder] WRT54Gv6 [30082 micro - testing] WRT54Gv8 [30082 micro - AP & DHCP Forwarder] WRT54GSv1 [29816 mega generic - AP, ethernet switch & DHCP Forwarder]
I actually did read that thread and have since tried some other builds. Interestingly, last night I tried the 14929 micro and TFTP gave me an "erasing flash (This could take a long time)" message. I hadn't seen that one before so I let it grind away until all 99 retries had expired. No success.
I let it sit for several hours and still no access so I upped the retries to 255 and tried again before I went to sleep. Same deal when I woke up. I'm still able to ping the router during its start up so it's not completely dead...
Wondering if trying to go back to stock would get it responding and then I can try the entire process again.. Its now become a "battle of wills".
i bet you still have vxworks on the router. You can't fix it with serial if the boot lander is wrong. You might try flashing Oem linksys firmware tif the router, although doing so will brick it and require a jtag cable to fix if the bootloader was changed to the one ddwrt needs. It might work if the bootloader is stil vxworks. Do not use any other build except the proper 12548 micro build if you flash ddwrt, until you get it working.. So try 12548 micro, or Oem linksys. _________________ SIG:
I'm trying to teach you to fish, not give you a fish. If you just want a fish, wait for a fisherman who hands them out. I'm more of a fishing instructor.
LOM: "If you show that you have not bothered to read the forum announcements or to follow the advices in them then the level of help available for you will drop substantially, also known as Murrkf's law.."
Can't flash anything.. Still stuck in that "Erasing flash...." bit. I've been trying with OEM binaries I had saved locally from when I bought this thing...
Dunno what changed. Like I said in the OP, things were going fine until step 21....
Go back to,the last step you think worked and try to repeat the process from there. If you can't flash nothing, get a jtag cable and. Computer with a serial,port. _________________ SIG:
I'm trying to teach you to fish, not give you a fish. If you just want a fish, wait for a fisherman who hands them out. I'm more of a fishing instructor.
LOM: "If you show that you have not bothered to read the forum announcements or to follow the advices in them then the level of help available for you will drop substantially, also known as Murrkf's law.."
Found a couple resources for debricking via serial and one mentions a USB to Serial adapter won't work. Is this the case? I use one to "talk" to my home automation system and the Cisco switch in my network rack here at the house just fine.
If not, I've got a couple Arduinos I can task. I recall seeing a thread/post here about building an Arduino based wiggler (I think that's the term) but now can't find it.
Was putting together the pieces for an Arduiggler and browsing the folder where I've been collecting all the tools etc and came across CFE.bin in the vxtoolsgui folder. Just for giggles, I opened a command prompt (I don't have any Linux machines running any longer so I'm on Windows XP on my notebook) and started a ping session with the -t switch so it wouldn't quit after 4 attempts.
Fired up TFTP and pointed it to the aforementioned CFE.bin file. Powered up the router and waited for ping responses before I clicked the Upgrade button.
Writing flash.... Success.
Look at the ping window and after about a minute, it's pinging away with TTL of 100...
For giggles, I started all over. Ran the vxtoolsgui to set my MAC address. flashed the vxware_prep, waiting 5 earth minutes, flashed the .bin I created with the gui tool, waited 5 mins, flashed the micro firmware and waited 5 mins again.
Router wasn't' responding after the 5 mins, but after a power reset, the router is still pingable, still with the TTL=100. We interface still doesn't respond and eventually times out.
Spent the evening cobbling up the Arduino (Uno) and loading all the tools. (Running the patched Windows version of tjtag 3.0.1 I found in the Arduino wiggler thread..) Double checked all my connections and turned everything on.
I issue the command "tjtag3 -probeonly /wiggler /noemw and my CPU is not identified. According to the router database's info on the CPU in this router, it is supported by the tjtag3 software.
I opened up the Arduino sketch and double checked the I/O pin assignments and made sure my connections were correct again. They appear to be correct per multiple JTAG port pinout diagrams I found online.
I uploaded the sketch to the Arduino again just to be sure it compiled and loaded ok. No errors.
Tried again. Still doesn't ID the router's CPU.
Starting to get a little frustrated (As is the wife as I've had router guts all over the kitchen table for several days.. hehehe) and my eyes hurt from all the reading I've been doing.
Suggestions or whiskey would be appreciated at this time.
Can someone verify I've got this wired up correctly?
Signal names on left are from the Arduino sketch source and the ones on the right are per a couple JTAG port descriptions I found for the WRT54G V6.
I'm not making any progress and I don't see any TX/RX activity on the Arduino when I try to probe the processor. Not sure if I'm supposed to see anything on the Arduino, but it would be nice to get some idea of what may (or may not) be happening when I execute commands.
