[lug] tips on upgrading a WRT54G

[Ken MacFerrin]

Michael J. Hammel wrote:
> I've got one of these at home, it's about 2 years old now I think, that
> is giving us some problems (seems to lock up loading pages with lots of
> thumbnails from my wife's website).  I want to upgrade it - never done
> it before.  Not sure which model I have since I'm at work but I'll check
> it when I go home for lunch.  Looking for tips on doing an upgrade
> without turning it into a doorstop.
> 
> I found the following sites related to this box.  Anyone got any others
> they can recommend?  Anyone have a recommended firmware distribution?  I
> see OpenWRT and DD-WRT, not to mention the commercial Sveasoft option.
> I'm sure there are others.
> 
> http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3562391
> http://wiki.openwrt.org/
> http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/index.php
> http://www.linksysinfo.org/index.php
> http://www.wrt54g.net/
> 
> Thanks.

We actually just had a similar question on the CLUE list recently and I
would recommend DD-WRT.  Here's a copy of my earlier response:

I've installed dd-wrt on wrt54g versions v2, v2.2 and v3 by doing the
following..

1) Visit http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/downloads.php and click on the
"dd-wrt.v23 SP2" folder.  In that folder, go to the subfolder "mini" and
download "dd-wrt.v23_mini_generic.bin".  Also go into the "standard"
folder and download "dd-wrt.v23_generic.bin".  Don't be temped to grab
the non-generic versions, they are not meant to be used with ethernet
cable installs.

You will need to first flash the router with the "mini" version when
converting from the stock Linksys firmware.  Once converted to the
dd-wrt mini version you can use the web gui to upgrade to the standard,
vpn or voip versions.

2) Make sure you have a direct (not through a switch) ethernet cable
connection from your PC to a LAN port on the router (wifi can't be used
for the install).

3) Follow the detailed instructions for "Flashing with Web GUI" from the
 following link:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Installation#Precautions_for_Flashing

Remember that after reseting your stock firmware to the factory defaults
that you will have to refresh the network settings on your PC to be able
to connect if you were previously using 192.168.0.x or 10.x addresses.

I've also had success installing the mini firmware on a wrt54g v5
version but it involves a more in-depth process of having to "kill" the
VxWorks firmware before you can upload a linux based version.

-Ken