SV-Recovering Firmware

Recovering Linksys from a bad Firmware Flash.

Q U E S T I O N

My router's red Diag light (or Power light) is blinking. How do I fix this?

A N S W E R

This is caused by the firmware not loading correctly. Follow the steps below to fix this:

Note: This process must be done on a computer plugged into the router directly.

1. You first need to establish a connection to the Internet and download firmware for your router. To get online, bypass the router and plug directly into your Cable or DSL modem.
2. Download the latest firmware upgrade for your router from http://www.linksys.com/download. Be sure to select the WRT54G and the correct version number that matches your router. Look on the bottom of the router to verify the model and version (no version number means version 1.0).
3. Click on Downloads for this Product. When the Downloads page loads, click on the Firmware button.
4. Download the firmware Auto Upgrade Utility .exe file from this page.
5. Before performing the upgrade, we recommend that you do the following:

• Assign your computer a static IP address. For more information, please see Article KB10934010 for information on setting up a static IP address in Windows.
• If using a 10/100 network adapter, change its speed to 10Mb, half duplex. Please see the instructions below on how to do this.

Windows 95/98/ME

1. At the Windows desktop, click on Start then choose Settings and click on Control Panel.
2. Double click the Network icon. This will bring up the “Network Configuration” window.
3. Locate and highlight the icon with the green logo for your network adapter and click Properties.
4. This will display the network adapter's Properties
5. Select the Advanced tab and click Connection Type (this may also appear as Media Type, Connection Speed, Mode, Link Speed, etc). The current Default value should be set to "Auto sense" or "Auto".
6. Change the value of this option to 10Base-t, half duplex mode (usually the lowest possible option). The wording of this value may also vary, depending upon the make and model of the Network Adapter. Other possibilities include 10T half, 10Mb half duplex, 10Mbps half, etc.
7. Once this has been changed, click OK to return to the Network configuration screen
8. Click OK again and Windows will ask to restart your computer. Click “Yes” to restart.

Windows 2000/XP

1. Go to Start click on Run and type in control ncpa.cpl
2. Double click on the Local Area Connection that controls your network card.
3. Click Properties under Local Area connection status.
4. Click the Configure button. Then, click on the Advanced Tab.
5. Click Connection Type (this may also appear as Media Type, Connection Speed, Mode, Link Speed, etc). The current default value should be set to "Auto sense" or "Auto".
6. Change the value of this option to 10Base-t, half duplex mode (usually the lowest possible option). The wording of this value may also vary, depending upon the make and model of the Network Adapter. Other possibilities include 10T half, 10Mb half duplex, 10Mbps half, etc.
7. Click OK after you made the change then click Close.

Reloading the firmware

1. First, hold the reset button located on the back of the router for 30 seconds.
2. Next, to test communication between the Router and the network card: Go to Start, and select Run. Type in command and press (Enter). This will bring up the MS-DOS prompt window.
3. Type ping 192.168.1.1 and press (Enter)
4. You should get the following results:

• Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:
• Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
• Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
• Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128
• Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=128

1. Once you get these replies, close out of the command prompt by typing in exit and pressing (Enter).
2. Double click on the firmware file that you downloaded in Step 2. The “Firmware Upgrade Utility” will open.
3. Click Next and type in the routers “IP Address” (192.168.1.1 is the default address of the router) and type in the “Router’s Password” (admin is the default password for the router).
4. Once you confirm the settings (click Next), click Upgrade to start the firmware upgrade process. The upgrade will take about 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Once the upgrade is complete, the router's Diag light (or Power light) should no longer be blinking.

Note: Be sure to go back to your network card settings (from the steps above) and change the speed of the link back to “Auto sense” or “Auto” (the original default setting) to restore full speed to the adapter.

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Sveasoft wrote in the Customer Support forums:
FOR COMPLETELY DEAD WRT54G's ONLY!!!

Apparently you can force a dead unit to reset itself and accept a tftp upload by shorting pins 15-16 on the Intel flash chip when powering up.

These pins are the ones near the LED with the white stencil marks on a WRT54G V2 unit.

On a 1.1 unit you need to count the pins.

PLEASE TRY ALL OTHER MEANS BEFORE OPENING YOUR BOX AND VOIDING THE WARRANTY!
References:
http://www.sveasoft.com/modules/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=853
http://www.sveasoft.com/modules/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=964

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Alternative Flashing

Some members have reported success reflashing a dead router with this technique.

1. Get a copy of the tftp.exe flash program
2. Point it to an older firmware version bin file
3. Enter the address 192.1.168.1.1 and the password--which will likely be back to "admin" after the bad flash. Mine was, but I suppose there is a chance it retained your previous password.
4. Try to flash the router at exactly the same time as you plug it in. This took me about 40 tries to get the synchronization right, but eventually it worked. Needless to say, I was ecstatic because I thought my router was fried.

For about a half second your router will be identifying itself to the network as 192.168.1.1 after being plugged in. When the tftp program and the router are in synch at that moment a flash should start and it should get your router back into working order.

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