WRT54G v 1.0, can't get it up and running

M

mset

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 16, 2005
Messages
131
Guys, I hope someone can help me out. I checked a few threads here and elsewhere, like this one

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=36&threadid=1773709&enterthread=y

but it went over my head pretty fast.

Hopefully I'm not the typical 'help me' n00b. Bought the router (v 1.0 - was this a mistake?? - I checked the linksysinfo.org site first and there wasn't a huge group shouting 'don't do it' over there). Get it home and try to connect my PC to the net through it, DSL connection. No luck - DIAG light is flashing. Manual says update the firmware to thlatest. I try pressing reset button for 30 seconds (both powered down and powered up), nothing. So I go here

http://www.linksysinfo.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=4410

I follow all the steps, dowload the latest firmware update for my specific unit from Linksys, reconfigure my Networking settings, and then I get to this line at the end

6. You may now proceed to upgrade the router’s firmware with the files that were downloaded.
7. Once the upgrade is complete, the router's red Diag light should no longer be blinking.
Click to expand...

Everything smooth up to this point, but... how do I go about doing that? Hmmm.. ok, in the actual upgrade files that I downloaded, there is a Read Me. Aha!

1) Before you start, be sure you are using a PC that is connected to the WRT54G
via a wired (Ethernet) connection.
2) Open your web browser (e.g., Internet Explorer, Netscape, etc.)
3) In the Address bar, type in the IP address of your router. The default IP
address is 192.168.1.1.
4) Leave the username blank and enter your password. The default password is "admin",
all lower case.
5) Click on the Administration tab.
6) Click on Firmware Upgrade.
7) Browse for the firmware file that you have just extracted. The file name should end
in .bin
8) Click the Upgrade button.
9) The router will begin its upgrade routine. Do not power off or unplug the router until
the process is completed. This process may take up to 5 minutes to complete.
Click to expand...

Ok! So I connect my machine to the router via the ethernet cable. Try to enter that 192.168.1.1. in the browser address bar.. nothing. Try http://192.168.1.1., try it without that last period, i.e. 192.168.1.1

Of course I am not connected to the net... I can't connect to the net and have the router connected to my computer at the same time. That's why I am doing this whole procedure.

I unplug the router from my PC and try connecting to the net just to see if that 192.168.1.1 in a browser address bar does something when I am connected. Nope. My internet connection is perfect by the way, working fine this whole time.

Ok... So I go here...

http://www.linksysinfo.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=4428

This tells you how to update your routers firmware. I think that #1 is the way I am trying to do it now. So I decide to try # 2 on this page. I get the tftp program and I install it, connect my router to my computer and run it and it asks me to enter the login and password which I do and then... it tells me that it is not connected to the net!! Login Failed!!

Now... If you read the instructions on this page it says that you must run this app and then it asks you tell it where (in which folder) the firmware update is located and then it will do the rest. But it can't possibly do this unless the router is ethernetted to my PC. And I can't connect to the net while my router is ethernetted to my PC!!

So my problems are

1) Router throws blinking DIAG light, pressing reset for 30 seconds doesn't do anything.

2) Cannot connect to internet through router.

3) Downloaded firmware upgrade but can't get it into the router - entering 192.168.1.1. into a browser address bar does nothing, either connected or disconnected from the net.

Other things. The 'Link' light is not lit on the router, and never has been. However, I can plug the router into my PC and ping it just fine, even though the response times are nothing like the member at Linksysinfo said they should be - he said the pings should be <10 ms and mine are like 750 ms.

The Internet light on the router is solid when I plug it into my DSL modem. I did a search here before posting and there are vague references to problems with older versions of this router and DSL. Anything to that? My cables are known to be working.

Any help is appreciated. Will check in after 2:00 pm EST Saturday.
 
bump for this

Hope someone can help me get this router working.
 
if your connected to the router and the router is not connected to the dsl modem, are you then able to access the router interface? If so, then the router and the dsl modem run in the same IP range and this can cause a conflict. Change the ip of the router to something like 192.168.2.1

Then you will probably have to connect the pc directly into the dsl router and get into its interface menu and change it to bridged mode (you do this if the modem is a router/modem, as most seem to be).

Once you do this, then you should be able to connect the router to the dsl modem and have no issues with connectivity. You should be able to get on the net and also be able to access the routers interface.
 
My setup procedure for my WRT54G:
1.) log on to the ISP provided gateway, and change it to transparent bridge (as kdheads said)
2.) connect 1st port of old ISP gateway to WAN port of the WRT
3.) log on to WRT with web browser (it will ignore requests from wireless clients AND from machines that do not have the same first 3 parts of the IP (ie your computer must have an IP of 192.168.1.somethign to connect to the router) and configure it to log on to ISP network (probably using PPPoE). Call your ISP if you aren't sure how to log on.
4.) set all machines on the network to get an IP via DHCP, you can also do DNS via dhcp if you want
5.) I had to flash my router to the hyperWRT firmware because bittorrent caused it to crash.
 
shadowwyvern said:
My setup procedure for my WRT54G:
1.) log on to the ISP provided gateway, and change it to transparent bridge (as kdheads said)
2.) connect 1st port of old ISP gateway to WAN port of the WRT
3.) log on to WRT with web browser (it will ignore requests from wireless clients AND from machines that do not have the same first 3 parts of the IP (ie your computer must have an IP of 192.168.1.somethign to connect to the router) and configure it to log on to ISP network (probably using PPPoE). Call your ISP if you aren't sure how to log on.
4.) set all machines on the network to get an IP via DHCP, you can also do DNS via dhcp if you want
5.) I had to flash my router to the hyperWRT firmware because bittorrent caused it to crash.
Click to expand...

Hi guys

Thanks a lot for these replies, sorry for the delay in responding. I called Linksys support and they tried to help me but for some reason, even though I went through the steps at linksysinfo.org for solving a blinking DIAG light, steps which included a successful pinging of my router, we could not ping the router after the Linksys guy took me thorugh the hard reset procedure. He then said it was toast and that I would have to take it back to the guy I bought it from.

I don't believe it's toast - I still think I can get it running. I will be able to try the procedures you guys mentioned in a day or two and I will let both of you know how it turns out. Once again, thanks for repsonding. FYI, these are the other two threads I have going to try to fix this problem. There are some interesting comments near the bottom of the linksysinfo.org thread, about the possibility that these version 1.0 units will not take the full firmware upgrade available at the Linksys website and that I have to use a smaller version. I had tried this tftp approach to solving the problem, without success. Here is the quote

I have a WRT54G V1.0 and I am using firmware version 4.20.7. If you are using the tftp technique, you have to do a manual reset of the router to factory defaults by pressing the reset button for at least thirty seconds. If you are using the tftp you are going to have to get one of the older versions, since the tftp approach requires you to use one of the smaller versions of the firmware. I believe it has to be less than 3.0MB. If it is a zip version you have to unzip it. You only have about thirty seconds to power cycle your router and start the tftp process. You have to be connected by a wired connection and the router has to be pingable at the default address of 192.168.1.1.
Click to expand...

http://www.linksysinfo.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=58088#58088

Here is the Anandtech thread

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=36&threadid=1811255&enterthread=y

I am including these just in case someone else does a search for WRT54G because of problems they are having - they may be able to get some info at these threads.
 
In order for the192.168.1.1 address to be reachable, your computer needs an address on the same subnet (e.g. 192.168.1.2). Try setting it manually and see if that helps.
 
It sounds like the router is bricked. As the above poster said, check out the dd-wrt pages on trying to recover from it, but you might be screwed.

Also, v1.0 of the WRT54G only had a 125MHz CPU, and later revisions have a 200MHz CPU, so you generally want to avoid them.
 
HHunt said:
In order for the192.168.1.1 address to be reachable, your computer needs an address on the same subnet (e.g. 192.168.1.2). Try setting it manually and see if that helps.
Click to expand...

Hi guys

Ok, I'll check out the DD-WRT link this weekend.

Re: setting the static IP... yeah, I did that as a part of the first DIAG light fix posted above. At that time I was apparently able to ping my router. But after doing a proper hard reset with the guy from Linksys on the phone, I was suddenly unable to ping the router at all. That was very weird. I am going to do the whole operation again this weekend but really, at some point there is a question as to how much time to spend. I enjoy figuring things out but... on the +ve side the guy who sold me this (high heatware, thank God) sent me my money back and told me to keep the router and try to RMA or fix it!

I have also realized that the 'Login failed' message I got during the tftp procedure was likely because my computer had stopped 'seeing' my router, even though I had that apparently successful ping. This was before the Linksys guy hard reset it and was subsequently unable to ping it on 192.168.1.1 (he did make sure that my static IP was set properly).

btw... if anyone has a working rev 2.0 - 4.0 WRT54G for shipment to Canada, let me know. Only high heatware please.
 
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