Big Dude
@adc.com
1 edit | Thw problem will be.....
The problem will be when users corrupt their flash. Then what? You either have a dead WRT54G or you return it to the store where you bought it and get another one.
That might mess up the RMA chain. |
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yabos
join:2003-02-16
Ingersoll, ON | Then reflash it.. |
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Automate
join:2001-06-26
Atlanta, GA
 ·Comcast
1 edit | reply to Big Dude
The other side of the coin is that once you flash a 3rd party firmware into the unit Linksys longer has to support it. The Linux community supports it. Support cost can be a big percentage of product cost. They may be able to sell a unit at a lower price with no firmware and no software support. |
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Linksys Fan
@bellsouth.net
| reply to yabos
Do you think that's possible if it's been totally corrupted? Does it have enough smarts left to do that?
When downloading user modified firmwares, it's possible that you might toast it.
Linksys might have some features that don't work in each release, but hopefully they at least try to flash their firmware. |
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SuperFerrell
@bellsouth.net
| we actually just studied flash ROM in my computer architecture class... from what I can tell, I'm fairly certain that the flash utility used here (and on most things besides a computer's BIOS) is completely independent of the router's chip... the reason you can mess up when flashing a computer's BIOS is that you need that BIOS to boot into the flash utility; thus it HAS to work the first time, or you won't be booting again |
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dda
Premium
join:2003-12-29
Bolton, MA
| said by SuperFerrell:
w\ the reason you can mess up when flashing a computer's BIOS is that you need that BIOS to boot into the flash utility; thus it HAS to work the first time, or you won't be booting again
The same is true for router firmware, unless (like my Netgear RT314) it has some other hardwired way to flash the ROM. I had a Gateway 802.11b router that I flashed; for whatever reason, the firmware didn't "take" and now the router is useless, since it cannot boot up to the point I could try to reflash it.
Most mass-market routers aren't made with serial ports or alternative ways to flash the BIOS any longer.  |
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BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs:
·Comcast
| said by dda  :
said by SuperFerrell:
w\ the reason you can mess up when flashing a computer's BIOS is that you need that BIOS to boot into the flash utility; thus it HAS to work the first time, or you won't be booting again
The same is true for router firmware, unless (like my Netgear RT314) it has some other hardwired way to flash the ROM. I had a Gateway 802.11b router that I flashed; for whatever reason, the firmware didn't "take" and now the router is useless, since it cannot boot up to the point I could try to reflash it.
Most mass-market routers aren't made with serial ports or alternative ways to flash the BIOS any longer.
Eeprom/flashrom combo used.... the cpu handles instructions completly without the need of the actual flashrom / eeprom it looks to the eep / flash after boot up the actual cpu has enuff of the start up routines to boot the system and make the system available for flash read/write.
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This package does not contain a winner... |
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digiblur
Got Sipura?
Premium
join:2002-06-03
Louisiana
| reply to dda
said by dda :
said by SuperFerrell:
w\ the reason you can mess up when flashing a computer's BIOS is that you need that BIOS to boot into the flash utility; thus it HAS to work the first time, or you won't be booting again
The same is true for router firmware, unless (like my Netgear RT314) it has some other hardwired way to flash the ROM. I had a Gateway 802.11b router that I flashed; for whatever reason, the firmware didn't "take" and now the router is useless, since it cannot boot up to the point I could try to reflash it.
Most mass-market routers aren't made with serial ports or alternative ways to flash the BIOS any longer.
This is not true of the way the linksys WRT54G is designed. If you flash a bad flash to the router the router still has enough "smarts" left in it for you to TFTP a good flash to it. |
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divoid
@swbell.ne
| he is correct, if you screw up the firmware, you can still fix it. when the router boots up, the bootloader will accept a tftp'd firmware for a brief moment, when you can upload a good firmware.
additionally, it is possible to put a serial port on the wrt54g, it just requires a little bit of soldering. and the router does support using the serial port as a console. |
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