Firmware upgrade

G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

I have a new WRT54G. Checked linksys and noticed there is a firmware
upgrade.

Looking at the notes it doesn't appear to be something critical but I don't
really know how important it is.

As a general rule should you keep the driver and firmware upgraded with each
new addition or follow some other guideline?
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

General Rule# 1: If not broken, do not fix.

"jcgc50" <jcgc50@cox.net> wrote in message
news:cduNe.453$rp.250@lakeread08...
>I have a new WRT54G. Checked linksys and noticed there is a firmware
>upgrade.
>
> Looking at the notes it doesn't appear to be something critical but I
> don't really know how important it is.
>
> As a general rule should you keep the driver and firmware upgraded with
> each new addition or follow some other guideline?
>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 18:48:16 -0500, "jcgc50" <jcgc50@cox.net> wrote:

>I have a new WRT54G. Checked linksys and noticed there is a firmware
>upgrade.
>
>Looking at the notes it doesn't appear to be something critical but I don't
>really know how important it is.
>
>As a general rule should you keep the driver and firmware upgraded with each
>new addition or follow some other guideline?

Well, if it's entertainment value that you're lacking, may I suggest
an alternative to the official Linksys firmware:
> http://www.sveasoft.com/content/view/3/1/
More features and goodies. If you don't like it, just put the Linksys
firmware back. If that's insufficient entertainment value, there are
other firmware incantations:
> http://www.linksysinfo.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=21
> http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/LinksysWRT54GS
some custom compiles:
> http://wrt54g.thermoman.de

Be careful when you're doing the firmware update. Do it over a wired,
not wireless link. Be sure to reset to defaults after the upgrade.

Should you upgrade?
If it's not broken, you're not trying hard enough.
No guts, no gain.
Learn by Destroying(tm).
If it were easy, it would be no fun.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
AE6KS 831-336-2558
 

danr

Distinguished
Nov 16, 2003
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Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 18:48:16 -0500, "jcgc50" <jcgc50@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> I have a new WRT54G. Checked linksys and noticed there is a firmware
>> upgrade.
>>
>> Looking at the notes it doesn't appear to be something critical but I don't
>> really know how important it is.
>>
>> As a general rule should you keep the driver and firmware upgraded with each
>> new addition or follow some other guideline?
>
> Well, if it's entertainment value that you're lacking, may I suggest
> an alternative to the official Linksys firmware:
>> http://www.sveasoft.com/content/view/3/1/
> More features and goodies. If you don't like it, just put the Linksys
> firmware back. If that's insufficient entertainment value, there are
> other firmware incantations:
>> http://www.linksysinfo.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=21
>> http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/LinksysWRT54GS
> some custom compiles:
>> http://wrt54g.thermoman.de
>
> Be careful when you're doing the firmware update. Do it over a wired,
> not wireless link. Be sure to reset to defaults after the upgrade.

In addition to upgrading firmware via "wired" connection I disconnect or turn
OFF other networked computers so they don't try to talk to the router during the
firmware upgrade. Jeff, is that a good thing to do or not necessary? If that is
a good thing... then to be extremely careful (paranoid) might it be good to also
disable the wireless part of the router?

>
> Should you upgrade?
> If it's not broken, you're not trying hard enough.
> No guts, no gain.
> Learn by Destroying(tm).
> If it were easy, it would be no fun.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 15:07:13 GMT, "DanR" <dhr22@sorrynospm.com> wrote:

>In addition to upgrading firmware via "wired" connection I disconnect or turn
>OFF other networked computers so they don't try to talk to the router during the
>firmware upgrade. Jeff, is that a good thing to do or not necessary? If that is
>a good thing... then to be extremely careful (paranoid) might it be good to also
>disable the wireless part of the router?

I've never "bricked" a WRT54G, but I've recovered them for friends and
customers. In one case, it was attempting to upgrade with *BOTH* a
wireless and wired connection to the router. They assumed they were
doing the flash upgrade over the wired LAN, but because they didn't
disable or disconnect the wireless first, the upgrade was accidentally
performed via wireless. It hung at the end and trashed the flash
upgrade. However, I made exactly the same mistake and the wireless
flash upgrade worked just fine. Dunno.

Where I've had the most entertainment value is when switching firmware
from different developers. For example, going from stock Linksys to
Sveasoft Alchemy tended to make a mess of the settings. After the
upgrade, the router appeared to be hung. The parameters were stored
in a different part of memory and what appeared was a mess. I few
power cycles and resets restored everything to reality and defaults.
I suspect that if I had followed instructions and reset the router to
defaults, this would not have been a problem.

One the local hacks like to juggle firmware and do custom compiles.
He had it down to an art when one of his experimental builds "bricked"
his router. So, I built him a JTAG port adapter to make recovery
allegedly easier. He claims he's never needed it after this one
accident. Most of the time, the "boot wait" feature is sufficient to
allow a TFTP upload recovery.

The Sveasoft instructions also suggest returning the router to default
setting before attempting a firmware update. After a bad experience
with a flash update to a desktop PC, I like to run everything from a
UPS just in case the power decides to die in the middle.

Note that I'm not an expert on WRT54G firmware juggling. I've only
recently become involved in trying different firmware builds and
systems. Such a question would best be answered in the numerous
WRT54G firmware support blogs by those with more experience.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
AE6KS 831-336-2558
 

Dan

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2007
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0
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Archived from groups: alt.internet.wireless (More info?)

On 8/20/2005 11:48 AM, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 15:07:13 GMT, "DanR" <dhr22@sorrynospm.com> wrote:
>
>
>>In addition to upgrading firmware via "wired" connection I disconnect or turn
>>OFF other networked computers so they don't try to talk to the router during the
>>firmware upgrade. Jeff, is that a good thing to do or not necessary? If that is
>>a good thing... then to be extremely careful (paranoid) might it be good to also
>>disable the wireless part of the router?
>
>
> I've never "bricked" a WRT54G, but I've recovered them for friends and
> customers. In one case, it was attempting to upgrade with *BOTH* a
> wireless and wired connection to the router. They assumed they were
> doing the flash upgrade over the wired LAN, but because they didn't
> disable or disconnect the wireless first, the upgrade was accidentally
> performed via wireless. It hung at the end and trashed the flash
> upgrade. However, I made exactly the same mistake and the wireless
> flash upgrade worked just fine. Dunno.
>
> Where I've had the most entertainment value is when switching firmware
> from different developers. For example, going from stock Linksys to
> Sveasoft Alchemy tended to make a mess of the settings. After the
> upgrade, the router appeared to be hung. The parameters were stored
> in a different part of memory and what appeared was a mess. I few
> power cycles and resets restored everything to reality and defaults.
> I suspect that if I had followed instructions and reset the router to
> defaults, this would not have been a problem.
>
> One the local hacks like to juggle firmware and do custom compiles.
> He had it down to an art when one of his experimental builds "bricked"
> his router. So, I built him a JTAG port adapter to make recovery
> allegedly easier. He claims he's never needed it after this one
> accident. Most of the time, the "boot wait" feature is sufficient to
> allow a TFTP upload recovery.
>
> The Sveasoft instructions also suggest returning the router to default
> setting before attempting a firmware update. After a bad experience
> with a flash update to a desktop PC, I like to run everything from a
> UPS just in case the power decides to die in the middle.
>
> Note that I'm not an expert on WRT54G firmware juggling. I've only
> recently become involved in trying different firmware builds and
> systems. Such a question would best be answered in the numerous
> WRT54G firmware support blogs by those with more experience.
>

Sveasoft Talisman is well worth the $20 if doing WDS or need a more
flexible firewall.