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This guide is a tool to help you, if you choose to, flash a supported Linksys router with a third party firmware, DD-WRT.   testmy.net and the MODs are not responsible for any damage to the hardware, systems, or personal injury if you do attempt this!  ONLY ATTEMPT IF YOU ARE CONFIDENT IN YOUR SKILLS!

So you have a Linksys router and either are not happy about the performance or you want to put firmware that will turn it into, pretty much, a modern business class router.  (The functions are the same the hardware is different)  The developers of DD-WRT have just the solution for you.  It is a third party firmware that will turn it into one of the most advanced consumer level routers available.  However, there are some catches!  If you do decide to flash your router you will effectively end any type of warranty on the hardware.  There is also a possibility that the router can "brick", freeze not allowing you to boot the router.  This can be a serious problem, but if you follow the steps in this guide you should be able to avoid "bricking". 

What is this DD-WRT firmware you speak of?

Basically the Linksys router that you have in front of you is a small computer.  In fact it even uses Linux as its os. (This is a heavily modified version of Linux)   Due to some hardware hackers they were able to create firmware that can improve the performance and add some additional features that are not available from Linksys.  This is great if you want to link two wi-fi network together, need to have QoS on a smaller scale, and the transmit power adjustment.

Here is a list of some of the features that are included on this firmware:
        * 13 languages
        * 802.1x (EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) encapsulation over LANs)
        * Access Restrictions
        * Adhoc Mode
        * Afterburner
        * Client Isolation Mode
        * Client Mode (supports multiple connected clients)
        * Client Mode WPA
        * DHCP Forwarder (udhcp)
        * DHCP Server (udhcp or Dnsmasq)
        * DNS forwarder (Dnsmasq)
        * DMZ
        * Dynamic DNS (DynDNS, TZO, ZoneEdit)
        * Hotspot Portal (Chillispot)
        * IPv6 Support
        * JFFS2
        * MMC/SD Card Support
        * NTP client in a client-server basis
        * Port Triggering
        * Port Forwarding (max. 30 entries)
        * QoS Bandwidth Management (Optimize for Gaming and Services / Netmask / MAC / Ethernet Port Priority)
        * QoS L7 Packet Classifier l7-filter
        * PPTP VPN Server & Client
        * Ntop Remote Statistic
        * Syslog to remote server
        * RFlow/MACupd
        * Routing: Static entries and Gateway, BGP, OSPF & RIP2 via (BIRD)
        * Samba FS Automount
        * Rx/Tx Antenna (Select or Auto)
        * Show Status of Wireless Clients and WDS with System Uptime/Processor Utilization
        * Site Survey
        * SNMP
        * SSH server & client (dropbear)
        * Startup, Firewall, and Shutdown scripts
        * Static DHCP Assignment
        * Style (Changeable GUI; v.23)
        * Supports New Devices (WRT54G V3, V3.1, V4 and WRT54GS V2.1, V3, V4), however not WRT54G V5 as this uses another OS and has less memory.
        * Telnet server & client
        * Transmit Power Adjustment (0-251mW, default is 28mW)
        * UPnP
        * VLAN
        * Wake On Lan client (WOL)
        * WDS Connection Watchdog
        * WDS Repeater Mode
        * Wireless MAC Addresses Cloning
        * Wireless MAC filter
        * WMM (Wi-Fi MultiMedia QoS)
        * WPA over WDS
        * WPA/TKIP with AES
        * WPA2
        * Xbox Kaid (Kai Engine)

As you can see this is quite a long list. 

What do I have to have to do this?

You need one of these following routers. 
    *  Linksys WRT54G v1.0, v1.1, v2.0, v2.2, v3.0, v3.1, v4.0
          o NOT WRT54G v5.0
    * Linksys WRT54GL v1.0 (since the 2005-11-24 release of v23beta2)
    * Linksys WRT54GS v1.0, v1.1, v2.0, v2.1, v3.0, v4.0
          o NOT WRT54GS v5.0
    * Asus WL-500G deluxe (since the 2005-11-01 release of v23beta2)
    * Siemens SE505
    * Motorola WR850G (since the 2005-11-07 release of v23beta2)
    * Buffalo WHR-G54S
    * Buffalo WZR-RS-G54
    * Allnet all0277
    * Buffalo WBR-G54
    * Buffalo WLA-G54

As you can see there are other non-Linksys routers supported but for the most part this firmware is intended to be used on Linksys hardware.   As you can see there are some versions of the routers that are not supported.  Wonder why?  Linksys didn’t like the fact that people were flashing these routers with third party firmware and so they changed the hardware used in the router.  For the WRT54G v5 they reduced the onboard memory to 2mb.  The DD-WRT firmware requires 4MB of onboard storage.

How to do this:

The first step is to choose your flavor of the firmware.  There are currently 4 different versions; Standard, VPN, Mini, and VoIP.  Each contains different features. For this guide we are going to install the Standard version.23 on a Linksys WRT54G v3.1.  This will give you just about everything that you really should need and it is what I would recommend for the first time user.  The standard version contains everything execpt for the VoIP server. 

Now that you know what flavor you want you are going to have to download it from dd-wrt.org.  Make sure that you get the most up todate version!  I would stay away from untested Alpha versions as they are not 100% stable. 

One you download the .zip file you are going to need to extract it and open the folder and open the file called hwsupport.txt.  Make sure that your router is listed and that there are no other notes for install.  At this point it is extremely important that you select the correct version of the .bin file!  Failure to do so could brick the router.  Since I am installing on a WRT54G v3.1 I have selected the dd-wrt.v23_wrt54g.bin.  Remove it from the folder!  That way you don’t upload the wrong one. Also, EXTREMELY IMPORTANT you flash over a WIRED, Ethernet, CONNETION!!!!!
That is so important it isn’t even funny.  If you do it over wireless you can kiss your router good bye!   Also as a safety precaution unplug your wan connection, your Ethernet cable running into the WAN port on the router, and disable your virus scanner.

Now some notes for those of you using the WRT54Gv4 and WRT54GL:

Linksys tried to not allow users to flash with different firmwares so they limited the upload to 3MB.  There for you need to flash with the Mini version first then you can flash again with the standard version! 

Lets Flash!

Alright so we are set to go.  You have your computer on an Ethernet connection, that is stable, and you have selected the version of the firmware you want. 

Step #1: Return the router to the original factory conditions.  This means pressing the reset button.  You will know when it works because all of your setting will go away and the user name/password will be reset to the original setting.  You need to hold the reset button for about 30 seconds!

Step #2: Now log on to the router, http://192.168.1.1 .  This should bring up the Web Console.  Click on the "Administration" tab, then the "Firmware Upgrade", Browse to the DD-WRT firmware you selected and click Upgrade.

It is extremely important that you do not turn the computer off, close the web browser, or turn the router off!  This will cause problems!!!!!  Just sit there and don’t touch anything.  It is going to take about 3 minutes to upgrade the firmware.  Once it is complete there will be a "Continue" page that pops-up.  WAIT 5 MINUTES before you click continue!

Step #3: Repeat Step #1 again.

Step #4 Have fun and finish the configuration.  This means setting a new password, turning on WPA/WEP, and setting up the firewall.

Here are some screens from my router:

Configuration Page: (I disabled this for security reasons.  If you hit the router via an external address the pages comes up with the details of your network)



Wireless Page:


Services Page:



This article was written by testmy.net member Swimmer
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