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 Subject :Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2013-11-24- 02:53:30 
KK4URZ
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Joined: 2013-11-23- 20:24:41
Posts: 23
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Howdy,


Sometime ago before I recently became a amateur radio operator I had a WRT54G. I tried to flash it to DDWRT, but was never successful. I believe that I bricked the unit that I have. I was wondering if anyone has had experience with un-bricking them?


Thanks,

KK4URZ

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 Subject :Re:Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2013-11-24- 03:30:51 
KF5JIM
Future Astronaut
Joined: 2013-07-17- 12:13:36
Posts: 250
Location: Nederland

Take a look at the posts located here: http://www.hsmm-mesh.org/hsmm-mesh-forums/view-postlist/forum-3-firmware/topic-566-wrt54g-firmware-crash.html

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 Subject :Re:Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2013-11-24- 03:36:41 
KK4URZ
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Great thanks I'll give those a try.
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 Subject :Re:Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2013-11-24- 04:21:26 
KK4URZ
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Joined: 2013-11-23- 20:24:41
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Looks like I'm going to have to make a jtag cable to do it. tried some of the other techniques and didn't get it to work. From what I can tell it has a bad bootloader.
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 Subject :Re:Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2013-11-24- 05:27:19 
KF5JIM
Future Astronaut
Joined: 2013-07-17- 12:13:36
Posts: 250
Location: Nederland

Chances are you did not corrupt the bootloader, as that is hard to do. The easier of the three (CFE, NVRAM, and Kernel) is to corrupt the nvram on the flash chip. A simple shorting of the two respective pins and TFTPing the stock linksys firmware back to the device should solve your problems. Also, remember to leave the device powered on for ~5 minutes after flashing to allow it to fully boot up and do it's thing. Only use JTAG if all else fails.

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 Subject :Re:Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2013-11-24- 05:50:47 
AC0LV
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Joined: 2013-10-19- 10:52:49
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I had a bricked 45G and tried all the non-JTAG solutions. Nothing worked. I bought a JTAG cable (yea, yea - it was cheap and I was lazy) and got it to the point where I could at least ping the unit. However, I could never get a TFTP of the stock linksys firmware to load. I eventually used the JTAG to load a micro version of OpenWRT. It took 2 hours to do the write but it worked. With OpenWRT installed I was then able to flash the BBHN firmware. It was a pain, but it was gratifying to bring the unit back from the dead.
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 Subject :Re:Re:Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2013-11-24- 07:30:33 
KK4URZ
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Joined: 2013-11-23- 20:24:41
Posts: 23
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I tried to short the pins, and will have to try it again I didn't leave it up long enough. Will it ping right away or after the 5 minutes?

I tired a lot of these some months back but never  had a real reason to get this up and going now I do :)


Thanks again.



[KF5JIM 2013-11-24- 05:27:19]:

Chances are you did not corrupt the bootloader, as that is hard to do. The easier of the three (CFE, NVRAM, and Kernel) is to corrupt the nvram on the flash chip. A simple shorting of the two respective pins and TFTPing the stock linksys firmware back to the device should solve your problems. Also, remember to leave the device powered on for ~5 minutes after flashing to allow it to fully boot up and do it's thing. Only use JTAG if all else fails.


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 Subject :Re:Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2013-11-24- 11:26:56 
KF5JIM
Future Astronaut
Joined: 2013-07-17- 12:13:36
Posts: 250
Location: Nederland

It should ping right away. Make sure to set your computer as a static IP address and it is in the 192.168.1.x/24 address range. I normally short pins now instead of JTAG due to it being much faster than a 2-hour load. I am by no means condemning the JTAG route. If you do go that route, instead of flashing the flash chip using a JTAG cable, just erase the nvram and kernel, and then the router will automatically go into TFTP mode for flashing upon it's next power cycle.

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 Subject :Re:Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2013-11-26- 14:29:49 
KK4URZ
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Joined: 2013-11-23- 20:24:41
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I wasn't able to get the shorting method to work, but I will try it again. However, that's why I was thinking I'd have to go the JTAG route. As a side question a WRT54G2 isn't going to work with this is it?
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 Subject :Re:Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2013-11-26- 17:35:09 
KF5JIM
Future Astronaut
Joined: 2013-07-17- 12:13:36
Posts: 250
Location: Nederland

Then I'd go with the JTAG route.

There are two I use. The first link is of the USB model (which is tons faster than the parallel port version), and the second one is the parallel port version I use if all else fails. Both gadgets do come with jumper cable.

http://www.diygadget.com/tiao-usb-multi-protocol-adapter-jtag-spi-i2c-serial.html

http://www.diygadget.com/jtag-cables/universal-jtag-adapter-for-routers-modem-fta-and-more.html

Documentation:
http://www.tiaowiki.com/w/Debrick_Wireless_Router_Using_TUMPA_and_zJTAG
http://www.tiaowiki.com/w/TIAO_USB_Multi_Protocol_Adapter_User%27s_Manual

As for the WRT54G2, at the time of writing this, the only supported devices are the WRT54G & WRT54GS v1-4 and WRT54GL's. If you can get it to work though, all the better!

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Last Edited On: 2013-11-26- 17:36:33 By KF5JIM for the Reason
My opinions and views expressed here are solely my own.
 Subject :Re:Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2013-12-16- 21:37:55 
W5LMM
Member
Joined: 2012-02-13- 18:18:04
Posts: 126
Location: Albuquerque, NM
 

I bought a JTAG setup a while back, to use on 3 bricked WRT54GS I had, and after they had been sitting on the shelf for several (5-6) months, they were mysteriously Un-Bricked..... I was able to go ahead and flash them to my surprise, and they now work great.


Never had to go the JTAG route...

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Last Edited On: 2013-12-16- 21:38:43 By W5LMM for the Reason
 Subject :Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2013-12-16- 22:39:05 
wx5u
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Joined: 2013-01-02- 00:30:45
Posts: 188
Location: Austin, TX

You're not the first one to report that removing the power overnight or for a few days unbricked a router.  It's worth a try.





[W5LMM 2013-12-16- 21:37:55]:

I bought a JTAG setup a while back, to use on 3 bricked WRT54GS I had, and after they had been sitting on the shelf for several (5-6) months, they were mysteriously Un-Bricked..... I was able to go ahead and flash them to my surprise, and they now work great.


Never had to go the JTAG route...


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Last Edited On: 2013-12-17- 09:57:02 By wx5u for the Reason
I'm not part of the development team, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I'm also easily confused.

Check out the free Wireless Networking Book
 Subject :Re:Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2013-12-21- 15:04:13 
KK4URZ
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Joined: 2013-11-23- 20:24:41
Posts: 23
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Alrighty, I managed to get a buddy to give me a proper linksys power supply. He actually gave me a WRT54g that he had spare, but it's a V5. :P So I plugged it in and went through the hard reset and all the steps. Right now I can get the link lights to show there is a cat5 cable plugged in, and the power light blinks quickly. Depending on if I try to short the pins on the flash chip the DMZ light will come on and stay on. Any ideas? Unable to ping, or anything no matter what I do... am I back to the JTAG route?
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 Subject :Re:Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2014-04-12- 11:02:38 
K4TFJ
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Joined: 2014-04-12- 12:10:01
Posts: 2
Location: Williamsburg, VA
 
Are you holding your Storm-Trooper helmet right? It could be interfering. GRIN...TJ, K4TFJ
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 Subject :Re:Re:Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2014-05-28- 07:16:29 
KK4URZ
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Joined: 2013-11-23- 20:24:41
Posts: 23
Location


Actually I've upgraded to the correct sized helmet now. hah


So to update where I am on this. I bought a jtag cable, and removed the CFE, NVRAM etc per numberous instructions. Unless I'm missing something I can't get this to flash. The only thing I can think of is I have to edit the CFE with a mac address?

Owen - KK4URZ



[K4TFJ 2014-04-12- 11:02:38]:

Are you holding your Storm-Trooper helmet right? It could be interfering. GRIN...TJ, K4TFJ

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 Subject :Re:Bricked WRT54G what should I do?.. 2014-05-28- 07:26:06 
KF5JIM
Future Astronaut
Joined: 2013-07-17- 12:13:36
Posts: 250
Location: Nederland

You really should not have to erase the whole flash chip in order to get the router working. There is another parameter you can change in the CFE before flashing that back over. You want to enable boot_wait by changing the flag from a 0 to a 1. This will always allow you to easily tftp firmware to the router in case of any bad flash that may occur. Do not forget to put back on the router the same CFE you backed up. Without the CFE, the router is 100% useless.

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