Comments on: Bricked Linksys WRT54G repair instructions

By: Josh Lemark

Josh Lemark — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:19:16 +0000

Do you short the pins to each other or both to ground and do you short then power up or while power is on ?

By: Hack

Hack — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:24:20 +0000

sewing needle worked shorting WRT54GS V2 pins 15 16

By: hsan

hsan — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 07:03:09 +0000

I was successful (thanks for the advice!) with a WRT54g V1.1 resetting via pins 15&16, then loading DD-WRT V24 mini. Advice seems to be use a jeweller’s screwdriver to short the pins…. no wonder success rate is only 20%!!
The board has lacquer on it and most screwdrivers are too large to ensure you short the right pins.
Use a magnifying glass and sharp sewing needle, and make sure you short the pins close to the flash chip to miss the lacquer.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 22:30:19 +0000

I was able to use this same method to recover a dead BEFW11S4v4.

The data sheet for the flash (29LV800, TSOP package) indicates that pins 16 and 17 are A18 and A17, the topmost address lines – so there’s no point in shorting them.

However, pin 15 is the ready/!busy signal, while pin 16 is A18, the top address line. Shorting these together pulls the ready signal down, indicating the device is busy with a program or erase operation, and cannot be read – so the broken firmware cannot be loaded. The device can then be recovered as described.

However, while the firmware was broken, the NVRAM was not – and it wouldn’t let me tftp the new firmware without a password – until I did “put firmwarefile.bin /” – ie, with a / (meaning, in the root directory).

Then, without powering off, I was able to load http://192.168.1.1 and recover all the settings.

Thanks for the tip!

By: GlaDiaC

GlaDiaC — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:45:05 +0000

No sorry

By: Knute

Knute — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 14:56:12 +0000

My WRT54g is almost 4 years old and, appears to have fritzed. Happened during the nite. Only the “diag” lite appears-and that is dim..I tested the power adapter and it is in “OK” shape.. Not having much luck with my search for a repair shop..Can you help with any suggestions?

Thanks,

Knute.