Bricked WGR614L while updating dd-wrt

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marc_with_a_c
marc_with_a_c's picture
Bricked WGR614L while updating dd-wrt

Bought the WGR614L yesterday after finding out two WGR614v7
can't do client bridging.  Downloaded DD-WRT files from this sight. 
After failing with Firefox I was able to successfully flash with IE using file
dd-wrt.v24-11205_WGR614v8-L_mini.chk.  Booted into DD-WRT, logged in and
proceeded to flash using the dd-wrt.v24-11205_WGR614v8-L_std_small.bin
file.  I probably should have reset to defaults first before moving to the
new version because it has seemed to brick my router.   It will
respond to a single ping randomly, last sample showed 12 responses out of 1272
which were all separate.  Reset button methods have all failed. Can't seem
to get a tftp to take.  LEDS are solid green for power, solid amber for
check.   Am I toast?  Is there really no way to force flash to
default here besides soldering in a serial to usb cable?  I guess I can try my luck returning to Fry’s
but I would really like to know because I may just get a Linksys that will work
with DD-WRT.  How do you have an open
source router with no way to force a reload?  Any help will be greatly appreciated, hope I'm not sounding bitter but I'm just a bit frustrated.  

 

Thanks again!

 

Marc :)

achilles
achilles's picture
At first as far as I know

At first as far as I know WGR614L is WGR614v8 not v7 so first make sure which version u r using ... DD-WRT builds available on this site are for WGR614v8 ...

secondly ,how r u making the conclusion that u have bricked your router if it is responding to ping (though 12 responses out of 1272 is very poor ...)....
moreover as far as I know for firmware upgrades on WGR614L we need to use .chk images while it seems from your post that u have used .bin file ....
It seems to me that u have done some mistake in firmware upgrade and that is why u r not able to use reset button properly ....
Also if u r getting few ping responses then you can access the GUI of board also and try with uploading a .chk file ...

marc_with_a_c
marc_with_a_c's picture
achilles said:

achilles said:
At first as far as I know WGR614L is WGR614v8 not v7 so first make sure which version u r using ... DD-WRT builds available on this site are for WGR614v8 ...
secondly ,how r u making the conclusion that u have bricked your router if it is responding to ping (though 12 responses out of 1272 is very poor ...)....
moreover as far as I know for firmware upgrades on WGR614L we need to use .chk images while it seems from your post that u have used .bin file ....
It seems to me that u have done some mistake in firmware upgrade and that is why u r not able to use reset button properly ....
Also if u r getting few ping responses then you can access the GUI of board also and try with uploading a .chk file ...

As you can see by the file names above I did use files for the WGR614v8
/ L . The ping response is not constant it is random and never for more
than 1 response in a row.  I would consider this a non-booted
interface. I have seen that reported by others. TFTP, resets and SSH
fail and the GUI web interface are not accessible.  I don't feel I did
a mistake other than not doing a reset to defaults after pushing the
.chk over.  Either that or the .bin upgrade just killed it.  I consider
the router bricked if I can only access it using a jtag.  Just
surprising for a router claiming to be specialized for open-source to
brick so easily. No way to recover easily does not make a good coding
environment. Look at the other claims on this site about similar
situations.  I have been running 2 WRT54Gs for close to 4 years now and
have flashed and reconfigured them more times than I can count with no
issues that weren't recoverable.  I just want to make sure I have tried
everything before breaking out the soldering iron or standing in the
exchange line at Frys.

marc_with_a_c
marc_with_a_c's picture
also note that I am using a

also note that I am using a switch in between so it has the timing right as articles have stated to do. still no use

achilles
achilles's picture
marc_with_a_c said:

marc_with_a_c said:

achilles said: At first as far as I know WGR614L is WGR614v8 not v7 so first make sure which version u r using ... DD-WRT builds available on this site are for WGR614v8 ... secondly ,how r u making the conclusion that u have bricked your router if it is responding to ping (though 12 responses out of 1272 is very poor ...).... moreover as far as I know for firmware upgrades on WGR614L we need to use .chk images while it seems from your post that u have used .bin file .... It seems to me that u have done some mistake in firmware upgrade and that is why u r not able to use reset button properly .... Also if u r getting few ping responses then you can access the GUI of board also and try with uploading a .chk file ...

As you can see by the file names above I did use files for the WGR614v8 / L . The ping response is not constant it is random and never for more than 1 response in a row.  I would consider this a non-booted interface. I have seen that reported by others. TFTP, resets and SSH fail and the GUI web interface are not accessible.  I don't feel I did a mistake other than not doing a reset to defaults after pushing the .chk over.  Either that or the .bin upgrade just killed it.  I consider the router bricked if I can only access it using a jtag.  Just surprising for a router claiming to be specialized for open-source to brick so easily. No way to recover easily does not make a good coding environment. Look at the other claims on this site about similar situations.  I have been running 2 WRT54Gs for close to 4 years now and have flashed and reconfigured them more times than I can count with no issues that weren't recoverable.  I just want to make sure I have tried everything before breaking out the soldering iron or standing in the exchange line at Frys.

Well ... I too have flashed my WGR614L several times with firmwares like OpenWRT, DD-WRT and tomato but have not faced any problem similar to yours.... though I have never tried a .bin upgrade

All I can tell you is that either u have done a mistake in firmware upgrade or you have corrupted the flash badly .. :(

I have seen some posts on this site regarding problems faced by the people due to a .bin upgrade ..

I would ssuggest you to try out the flash recovery method outlined in the link below :

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Hard_reset_or_30/30/30

Also don't use chrome or firefox for firmware upgrade ..... Use IE only for this purpose ...

marc_with_a_c
marc_with_a_c's picture
achilles said:

achilles said:

marc_with_a_c said:

achilles said: At first as far as I know WGR614L is WGR614v8 not v7 so first make sure which version u r using ... DD-WRT builds available on this site are for WGR614v8 ... secondly ,how r u making the conclusion that u have bricked your router if it is responding to ping (though 12 responses out of 1272 is very poor ...).... moreover as far as I know for firmware upgrades on WGR614L we need to use .chk images while it seems from your post that u have used .bin file .... It seems to me that u have done some mistake in firmware upgrade and that is why u r not able to use reset button properly .... Also if u r getting few ping responses then you can access the GUI of board also and try with uploading a .chk file ...

As you can see by the file names above I did use files for the WGR614v8 / L . The ping response is not constant it is random and never for more than 1 response in a row.  I would consider this a non-booted interface. I have seen that reported by others. TFTP, resets and SSH fail and the GUI web interface are not accessible.  I don't feel I did a mistake other than not doing a reset to defaults after pushing the .chk over.  Either that or the .bin upgrade just killed it.  I consider the router bricked if I can only access it using a jtag.  Just surprising for a router claiming to be specialized for open-source to brick so easily. No way to recover easily does not make a good coding environment. Look at the other claims on this site about similar situations.  I have been running 2 WRT54Gs for close to 4 years now and have flashed and reconfigured them more times than I can count with no issues that weren't recoverable.  I just want to make sure I have tried everything before breaking out the soldering iron or standing in the exchange line at Frys.

Well ... I too have flashed my WGR614L several times with firmwares like OpenWRT, DD-WRT and tomato but have not faced any problem similar to yours.... though I have never tried a .bin upgrade
All I can tell you is that either u have done a mistake in firmware upgrade or you have corrupted the flash badly .. :(
I have seen some posts on this site regarding problems faced by the people due to a .bin upgrade ..
I would ssuggest you to try out the flash recovery method outlined in the link below :
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Hard_reset_or_30/30/30
Also don't use chrome or firefox for firmware upgrade ..... Use IE only for this purpose ...

I have a feeling it was attempting to use the DD-WRT upgrade screen with the bin file that has killed this.  I have tried the hard reset to no avail.  I'm just concerened that getting the serial cable will not allow me to flash either.  Hopefully someone here can confirm that.  The line in FRYs is looking good right now...

achilles
achilles's picture
marc_with_a_c said:

marc_with_a_c said:

achilles said:

marc_with_a_c said:

achilles said: At first as far as I know WGR614L is WGR614v8 not v7 so first make sure which version u r using ... DD-WRT builds available on this site are for WGR614v8 ... secondly ,how r u making the conclusion that u have bricked your router if it is responding to ping (though 12 responses out of 1272 is very poor ...).... moreover as far as I know for firmware upgrades on WGR614L we need to use .chk images while it seems from your post that u have used .bin file .... It seems to me that u have done some mistake in firmware upgrade and that is why u r not able to use reset button properly .... Also if u r getting few ping responses then you can access the GUI of board also and try with uploading a .chk file ...

As you can see by the file names above I did use files for the WGR614v8 / L . The ping response is not constant it is random and never for more than 1 response in a row. I would consider this a non-booted interface. I have seen that reported by others. TFTP, resets and SSH fail and the GUI web interface are not accessible. I don't feel I did a mistake other than not doing a reset to defaults after pushing the .chk over. Either that or the .bin upgrade just killed it. I consider the router bricked if I can only access it using a jtag. Just surprising for a router claiming to be specialized for open-source to brick so easily. No way to recover easily does not make a good coding environment. Look at the other claims on this site about similar situations. I have been running 2 WRT54Gs for close to 4 years now and have flashed and reconfigured them more times than I can count with no issues that weren't recoverable. I just want to make sure I have tried everything before breaking out the soldering iron or standing in the exchange line at Frys.

Well ... I too have flashed my WGR614L several times with firmwares like OpenWRT, DD-WRT and tomato but have not faced any problem similar to yours.... though I have never tried a .bin upgrade All I can tell you is that either u have done a mistake in firmware upgrade or you have corrupted the flash badly .. :( I have seen some posts on this site regarding problems faced by the people due to a .bin upgrade .. I would ssuggest you to try out the flash recovery method outlined in the link below : http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Hard_reset_or_30/30/30 Also don't use chrome or firefox for firmware upgrade ..... Use IE only for this purpose ...

I have a feeling it was attempting to use the DD-WRT upgrade screen with the bin file that has killed this. I have tried the hard reset to no avail. I'm just concerened that getting the serial cable will not allow me to flash either. Hopefully someone here can confirm that. The line in FRYs is looking good right now...

Well If you corrupt flash then reset might not work and there can be various reasons for this ...

May be due to flash corruption ur rootfs is not getting mounted properly or due to some other reason ur boot process is not happening properly and it stucks in some loop and due to this u r not able to access the board ...

Once you get the serial cable u can post your bootlog on this site so that people over here can look into your problem ...

Also with serial cable you can flash your board with DD-WRT builds in .chk format and that should not cause any problem .... this can be done using tftpd ...

You can try these things out b4 thinking about FRYs line ... :)

playdrums
playdrums's picture
my WGR614L has been in the

my WGR614L has been in the closet ever since I tried to do a bin update on it - you know, the kind of update people do with dd-wrt all the time. I had the original sp1 dd-wrt that was linked on this site installed on my router. I'd love to get it working but I'm not really a hobbyist in that I want to be soldering things to my board. I think it has been a bit irresponsible how long some of the bad builds have been offered as downloads here.

achilles
achilles's picture
well I agree with you

well I agree with you playdrums that It is painful experience to recover a router if gets bricked .... but at the same time having experimental or untested builds is a part of being an open source community and upgrading our board with these custom builds is completely at our own risk ....
Moreover there are people who have these problmatic builds working for them ..

playdrums
playdrums's picture
Well, I'd normally agree with

Well, I'd normally agree with you too achilles except that I tried to jump on this ride months ago - since quite some time before you joined. There were builds that were up that mods, etc., on this site swore up and down worked. And, I'm sorry, but I think it was nonsense. They have a stake in the perceived success of this "open router." And no answers would ever arrive except, "solder a cable to the board in your new router and fix it." There may well be builds that are working now - but apparently still not reliably.

Now, guess what - I went out and bought the stuff to solder a cable to my board. What else am I gonna do? I need to fix it in order to sell the 'brick."

playdrums
playdrums's picture
http://www.myopenrouter.com
achilles
achilles's picture
OK ... if you have a serial

OK ... if you have a serial cable u can use the tftp method to flash your router with a new firmware ...
You may find the following link helpful :
http://www.myopenrouter.com/article/10339/DD-WRT-for-NETGEAR-WGR614L-Ins...

As your problem is with DD-WRT builds I would suggest you to try out newer DD-WRT builds .
They can be obtained from the following link:
http://www.myopenrouter.com/download/10752/DD-WRT-v11205-Mini-Build-CHK-...

marc_with_a_c
marc_with_a_c's picture
I guess that is the route I'm

I guess that is the route I'm going to have to go. Really would have been nice to supply a serial port or something so I wouldn't have to solder a brand new router. I understand loading software is at my own risk but at least make it to where we can recover without voiding warranty. I certainly would NOT have attempted to update using the bin if there was a warning on the firmware page about it.