Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 17:52 Post subject: WRT54G2 v1.0 - Unable to get WIFI up on any build post 13064
Hello, I have pulled this rather ancient piece of hardware out of a dusty draw for the purposes of using as a wireless repeater bridge.
This works perfectly under build 13064 10/10/09 (what the DD-WRT router database recommends) but on attempting to update to any build since then, I am unable to get the WiFi on.
What I find is that under Wireless -> Basic Settings, even though everything is set to be on, under Status -> Wireless, the section for Radio says "Radio is Off". If I attempt to run a Site Survey under Status -> Wireless, I am greeted with the popup error "Not available! Please enable Wireless Network". I find I'm not broadcasting an SSD either when set to AP mode for testing.
Under Wireless -> Basic Settings, I notice that I'm unable to select a proper "Wireless Network Mode". Instead of having the options to select B-Only, G-Only or Mixed, I can only see "Mixed" by itself as an option, while under normal working circumstances as I can get under build 13064, I can see all these options as you'd expect.
I've checked under Services to make sure that the WPS button is not set to turn the WiFi off, and tried enabling/disabling this option with no effect.
I know that the actual wiki recommends build 14929, tried that, same issue.
Tried all beta Broadcom micro generic builds released this year from the FTP, same issue.
Tried Broadcom micro builds at random from previous years, same issue.
Have attempted 30/30/30ing before and after applying the updates, same issue.
Tried restoring to factory defaults many times, same issue.
Many reboots and power cycles have taken place, same issue.
Tried enabling and disabling the WiFi under Wireless -> Basic Settings -> Wireless Network Mode, same issue. Also tried changing from Client to AP etc, same issue.
I suppose my general question is, has anyone seen this type of issue before or perhaps know of any commands I can run under Administration -> Commands that might help me diagnose the problem? Maybe I'm screwing up the firmware upgrade itself? I'm able to flash back to 13064 and get the WiFi running with no issues so I don't think my process is the problem, but you never know I guess.
Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 18:56 Post subject: Re: WRT54G2 v1.0 - Unable to get WIFI up on any build post 1
Plebeian wrote:
Hello, I have pulled this rather ancient piece of hardware out of a dusty draw for the purposes of using as a wireless repeater bridge.
This works perfectly under build 13064 10/10/09 (what the DD-WRT router database recommends) but on attempting to update to any build since then, I am unable to get the WiFi on.
Side note: the Router Database does not have recommended builds, only minimum supported versions. And some are specifically not recommended (in the Peacock announcement) like 14896. Anyway... That is a perplexing one. I wonder if maybe it was converted w/ an older vxworks killer method? I recall one of the old wiki's stated to be sure that the latest killer tool was reused, but I don't recall why. Wouldn't hurt to try I guess, however, perusing the router thread, it sounds like this device never had very good wireless, and many said to revert it to VxWorks OS:
ultraman wrote:
micro - build 13064. After read this build caused poor wireless performance (in fact it has) I decided to revert to original firmware.
juampi83 wrote:
Remember this is the ONLY way to recover wireless performance: WRT54G2 wireless rate drops to 2 Mbps or 1 Mbps with DDWRT. Many people (including me) have tried different settings to solve this problem with no success.
Don't waste your time and revert to VXWorks. That's the best you can do with this router.
Guessing it will be better all-around to find a good deal on a thrift shop DD-capable router. _________________ #NAT/SFE/CTF: limited speed w/ DD#Repeater issues#DD-WRT info: FAQ, Builds, Types, Modes, Changes, Demo#
OPNsense x64 5050e ITX|DD: DIR-810L, 2*EA6900@1GHz, R6300v1, RT-N66U@663, WNDR4000@533, E1500@353,
WRT54G{Lv1.1,Sv6}@250|FreshTomato: F7D8302@532|OpenWRT: F9K1119v1, RT-ACRH13, R6220, WNDR3700v4
Update: After a sleep and a fresh brain, I 30/30/30'd the router, then upgraded directly from 13064 to 35531 as d0ug suggested and have managed to get the WiFi back online!
Since it's now working with a near 10 year newer build I'm just going to leave it for now and see how it goes, rather than attempt to test the newest release straight away.
Only logical explanation is that previously when I first attempted to upgrade, I picked a build newer than 35531 and this somehow borked the WiFi good and proper that only a downgrade back to 13064 would resolve. I then needed to go straight from that to a build with working WiFi, but then again this could be completely false and misleading.
Only logical explanation is that previously when I first attempted to upgrade, I picked a build newer than 35531 and this somehow borked the WiFi good and proper that only a downgrade back to 13064 would resolve.
Lol...I thought you said that you'd tried 14929 though? Otherwise I would have mentioned the known issue w/ post-35531 builds.
Of course, you have to be careful on the old WRT devices; sometimes it appears to upgrade fine, but then reboots back to the previous version. Perhaps that is what created this mess... _________________ #NAT/SFE/CTF: limited speed w/ DD#Repeater issues#DD-WRT info: FAQ, Builds, Types, Modes, Changes, Demo#
OPNsense x64 5050e ITX|DD: DIR-810L, 2*EA6900@1GHz, R6300v1, RT-N66U@663, WNDR4000@533, E1500@353,
WRT54G{Lv1.1,Sv6}@250|FreshTomato: F7D8302@532|OpenWRT: F9K1119v1, RT-ACRH13, R6220, WNDR3700v4
Well yeah, I went through every 2018 beta build on the site systematically at one point and didn't have it running even with 35531 and the older 14929 when I tried them the first time, which made me think it was some other issue.
I confess that I may not have been 30/30/30ing each and every time tho, fault may have been between the keyboard and the seat.
Not brave enough yet to try anything newer than 35531 tho, happy that it's working in it's current form.
ie use of build r33531 =works and is safe to install? If not what is the newest build that can be used?
And does that build get the K2 patches etc covered?
Sam _________________ multi-tier router stack
wrt 3200's for speed & cpu power, NG R6300v2's for WiFi AP's,
wrt 1200v2 for one of my secure subnets.
wrt54GLs for ad'l 3rd tier machines.
Thanks for your reply. Hadn't recognized the nomenclature your sig uses to show which build for each router. How do you like your R6300v2's?
This would seem to make the build r35531 almost my "go to" build for all my routers except for the wrt3200.
I take it build r35531 does not exhibit the ntp issue and one can get good syslogd logs from it to let me monitor the router firewall & NAT activity? (ie thru something like WallWatcher or SyslogWatcher? = lists & simple graphs like WW can do.)
Thanks
Sam _________________ multi-tier router stack
wrt 3200's for speed & cpu power, NG R6300v2's for WiFi AP's,
wrt 1200v2 for one of my secure subnets.
wrt54GLs for ad'l 3rd tier machines.
This would seem to make the build r35531 almost my "go to" build for all my routers except for the wrt3200.
I take it build r35531 does not exhibit the ntp issue and one can get good syslogd logs from it to let me monitor the router firewall & NAT activity?
I wish I had two R6300v2's instead of the 2 E2500's...I just have a R6300v1 (non-ARM). :'-(
Which ntp issue? There have been several in the past months; and I think something was recently fixed in post-35531 builds; may only affect k4.4 bcm though? Btw, the pre-k4.4 wireless issue is fixed for the next build now though. The only ntp issue I have currently is that it doesn't work at boot in CB mode (maybe others, GW/AP works) without manually running `ntpclient {server}`. I'm trying to get BS to fix it now, actually.
[edit: mixed up the bad ntp modes w/ other issues]
Workaround; use a startup command e.g.: sleep 5; ntpclient us.pool.ntp.org _________________ #NAT/SFE/CTF: limited speed w/ DD#Repeater issues#DD-WRT info: FAQ, Builds, Types, Modes, Changes, Demo#
OPNsense x64 5050e ITX|DD: DIR-810L, 2*EA6900@1GHz, R6300v1, RT-N66U@663, WNDR4000@533, E1500@353,
WRT54G{Lv1.1,Sv6}@250|FreshTomato: F7D8302@532|OpenWRT: F9K1119v1, RT-ACRH13, R6220, WNDR3700v4
Last edited by jwh7 on Fri May 11, 2018 14:15; edited 1 time in total
I wish I had two R6300v2's instead of the 2 E2500's...I just have a R6300v1 (non-ARM). :'-(
Which ntp issue? There have been several in the past months; and I think something was recently fixed in post-35531 builds; may only affect k4.4 bcm though? Btw, the pre-k4.4 wireless issue is fixed for the next build now though. The only ntp issue I have currently is that it doesn't work at boot in non-gateway modes without manually running `ntpclient {server}`. I'm trying to get BS to fix it now, actually.
Workaround; use a startup command e.g.: sleep 5; ntpclient us.pool.ntp.org
jwh7,
Interesting the way it's harder to keep track of where fixes have been made and then new issues arising.
I was referring to an ntp issue where dd-wrt was refusing to use the user specified time server. = thus not reliably keeping the correct time. In the near future I'm want to set up a Raspberry Pi to get the time from the Naval ntp time servers and serve time locally for my routers and PC's. (As well as handle the logs for each router in my router stack. has Nothing like more projects, right?
On the NG r6300v2's: I currently have just one. And I am really pleased with the area coverage it is giving me. At this time I am looking to upgrade the routers in my main router stack. And I now need full house WiFi coverage also. So am looking at getting 2-4 more r6300v2's. = using the R6300 as my main WiFi router and as wired & wireless remote access points; & to replace my now ancient wrt54GL's. So some of these r6300's will only be for wired ethernet and some for my extended coverage WiFi.
In case it's useful for you I am using refurbished R6300v2's that I've found for sale on Amazon = prices around $40(US) or less. It is a Carrier version which the refurbisher has loaded the regular NG firmware on. I can send you the link if you're interested. I'll soon be putting dd-wrt on the one I have, but think I'll order at least one more right now even if I might run into issues getting dd-wrt onto these. The wiki on the r6300 seems to cover the dd-wrt install pretty thoroughly.
I've got more questions I'd like to go over. And if you'd rather we can move this to a new thread, just let me know.
Sam _________________ multi-tier router stack
wrt 3200's for speed & cpu power, NG R6300v2's for WiFi AP's,
wrt 1200v2 for one of my secure subnets.
wrt54GLs for ad'l 3rd tier machines.
Also, I edited my previous post. I mixed up the bad ntp modes w/ other issues; AP works fine too, along w/ GW. Issue is that process_monitor doesn't start for CB; BS is looking at why. _________________ #NAT/SFE/CTF: limited speed w/ DD#Repeater issues#DD-WRT info: FAQ, Builds, Types, Modes, Changes, Demo#
OPNsense x64 5050e ITX|DD: DIR-810L, 2*EA6900@1GHz, R6300v1, RT-N66U@663, WNDR4000@533, E1500@353,
WRT54G{Lv1.1,Sv6}@250|FreshTomato: F7D8302@532|OpenWRT: F9K1119v1, RT-ACRH13, R6220, WNDR3700v4
That is a perplexing one. I wonder if maybe it was converted w/ an older vxworks killer method? I recall one of the old wiki's stated to be sure that the latest killer tool was reused, but I don't recall why. Wouldn't hurt to try I guess, however, perusing the 