Restore possibly bricked WRT54GL (possibly lost IP address)

Recently I tried (and maybe succeeded) to install the DD-WRT open firmware onto my Linksys WRT54GL.

I downloaded dd-wrt.v24_micro_olsrd_generic.bin, placed it in the router's firmware upgrade area, waited 10 minutes, and then restarted the device.

I only have one issue. Right before I installed it I turned off DHCP. Now my computer recognizes a router "dd-wrt", however there is no Internet access and I am unable to access the web based utility.

Using ipconfig, the computer tells me there is no default gateway.

If anyone can help, it would be very much appreciated.

Ask if further information is necessary.

Kevin FeDex

Posted 2018-08-12T05:07:34.680

Reputation: 31

2https://superuser.com/questions/806656/finding-the-ip-address-of-a-walled-in-router really similar - though I went through a lot of effort trying to find its IP address - and the process might help. A reflashed DDWRT instance should have default settings so the fact you turned off DHCP shouldn't matter – Journeyman Geek – 2018-08-12T07:49:02.677

@confetti I have tried a 30/30/30 reset multiple times to not avail – Kevin FeDex – 2018-08-12T13:44:00.803

@JourneymanGeek is right, when I flashed my linksys everything went back to pretty much default, with the default IP being 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1. – confetti – 2018-08-12T13:48:13.307

@confetti neither of those work unfortunately, any other ideas? – Kevin FeDex – 2018-08-12T14:09:27.300

@confetti or maybe you can explain how I can go about flashing the router? – Kevin FeDex – 2018-08-12T15:54:18.637

Follow the instructions here - That's basically what I did for my model and it worked straightforward.

– confetti – 2018-08-12T15:57:03.747

Did the full reset work? – Tim_Stewart – 2018-08-14T16:08:56.753

Answers

Obtaining Router IP

Disconnect all other machines from the router and run arp in a command window to find out what the IP address is:
arp -a
You should receive a response from the router even if it is on a different subnet than your computer. If you've received a response, the output will give you the IP address of the router. Once you have discovered the IP address of the router, change the IP address of your computer to match the subnet of the router.

Source Obtaining Router IP - DD-WRT Wiki

DavidPostill

Posted 2018-08-12T05:07:34.680

Reputation: 118 938

I have tried this however, my results have not been very clear. Interface: 169.254.120.150 --- 0xf Internet Address Physical Address Type 175.255.255.255 ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff static 224.0.0.22 01-00-5e-00-00-16 static 224.0.0.251 01-00-5e-00-00-fb static 224.0.0.252 01-00-5e-00-00-fc static 239.255.255.250 01-00-5e-7f-ff-fa static 255.255.255.255 ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff static ? – Kevin FeDex – 2018-08-12T13:42:19.977

You need to do a 30/30/30 on the wrt54g series after any flash update.

Set a static IP address of 192.168.1.100, 255.255.255.0, default gateway 192.168.1.1

It's probably not "bricked", do the reset then open up a command prompt or terminal window and ping 192.168.1.1 continuously.

The Linux command prompt does it automatically. Windows it's "ping 192.168.1.1 -t".

While watching the command prompt, hold the reset button for about ten seconds, unplug the power while still holding the reset for about another ten. Release the reset with the power plugged in.

If the bootloader is there, you should see a ping response from the router for roughly 5 seconds. During this 5 second period the router will accept a new firmware image via tftp.

Make sure you are flashing a "legacy" or "VINT" mini image for the initial flash. After the successful flash you can put whatever image you want, STD, mega, VoIP etc.

The timing for the tftp transfer can be a little tricky. You want to have another command window open with the tftp command ready, watch for the first ping response as the bootloader starts.

You may have to try it a couple of times before it actually takes.

Don't forget, after any flash, do a full reset on these routers!

Good luck!

Tim_Stewart

Posted 2018-08-12T05:07:34.680

Reputation: 3 983