Did I Brick It? Help!

kennyb123 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 4

My first post to this forum, but I have to say, the information here has been very helpful.

I think I bricked my Linksys today. I have the WRT54G3G-ST, for use with the PC5750 for Alltel (Pantech PX-500).

Since I couldn't seem to find a firmware version from Linksys that this aircard worked for, I started looking into Openwrt.

I tried an older version of white russian, and it wouldn't work. I read on this forum of the issues certain versions were having with the Alltel card, so I went straight to the openwrt webpage, and got the latest version of white russion for the WRT54G3G. It didn't have -ST on it, and maybe that's significant, because once it loaded, there was no option for an aircard to set up anywhere.

So, I downloaded the latest version of Kamikaze (openwrt-wrt54g3g-2.6-squashfs.bin) and updated it through the web access of openwrt.

After it seemed to finish, I rebooted it, and now I can no longer access the router at 192.168.1.1. Nothing happens.

It may be notable that I read somewhere that you need to wipe openwrt firmware before updating to a later version, or the conflicts may brick it. Is this what happened?

Are there any ideas of things to try? You're help is extremely appreciated!

Thanks,
Ken

billatq · EVDO User Joined: 20 Feb 2006 Posts: 26

Typically, that depends on how badly it has been bricked. Most of the time it is possible to access the RedBoot environment and send a new image onto the router via TFTP, but this is most likely going to require building a serial cable. If the RedBoot environment is broken, it will require a JTAG flash.

Neither of these is necessarily trivial if you have no idea what it means. I'd suggest posting on the OpenWRT forum for help.

Llama · Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:46 am Post subject:

Do any connected computers pick up DHCP? Have you done the 30 sec reset? Have that receipt handy and a store with a liberal return policy? Wink

_________________
--Larry

karlyn · Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:52 am Post subject:

If you get the router to reset, Linksys firmware 2.00.09 works with the Alltel PC5750.

The only issue I experience is the 12-hour Alltel induced disconnect (yes, the Linksys should sense the drop and reconnect but it doesn't). My solution is to reboot the router when I take a break for lunch. Since I have no reason to leave the card connected all night this 60-second lunchtime reboot easily extends the connection to cover my 16-hour day.

khelben · EVDO Newbie Joined: 15 Mar 2008 Posts: 10

There's some really good unbricking destructions at OpenWRT.org and dd-wrt.org

In a nut-shell. Set your PC's ip address to 192.168.1.X with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0

Gateway 192.168.1.1

Set your Speed / Duplex to 10 / Half.

Reboot the router and attempt to FTP the Linksys firmware at approximately the same time. There is a very small window of time where you should be able to dump the image. If the upload is successful, wait about 1-2 mins and the router should reload itself, after the firmware is installed.

Good luck!

kennyb123 · EVDO Newbie Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 4

Thanks for your advice everyone. I didn't brick it... I just didn't know that Kamikaze didn't have a web interface.

I was able to get it back to life by flashing it back to white russian.

dario · Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:59 am Post subject:

Maric117 · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 08 Jan 2009 Posts: 16

does anyone have a .trx version of the linksys firmware? I installed open wrt ony to discover that it doesnt support the 597e card... so now im stuck using my laptop untill i revert the router back to linksys firmware.