DD-WRT for NETGEAR WGR614L Installation Guide

It's great to see the official release of DD-WRT for the NETGEAR WGR614L. The firmware can be downloaded from this page. Below are the steps to install this firmware to the NETGEAR WGR614L.

Installing DD-WRT From a Serial Console to the WGR614L

  1. Run minicom/hyper terminal from a Linux/Windows machine. Configure the baud rate and the device properly and connect the serial console to your PC.
  2. Connect your PC to the LAN port of 614L with a straight cable and assign a IP in the '192.168.1' subnet (I am assuming that the default router IP is 192.168.1.1).
  3. Press ctrl+C and reboot the router. Router will now give you the CFE prompt.
  4. From the CFE prompt run the TFTP server bu running 'tftpd' command.
  5. Upload the 'chk' image downloaded from 'myopenrouter' using the following command -
    'tftp -m binary 192.168.1.1 -c put dd-wrt.v24-9281_mor_NEWD_SF_mini.chk'
  6. Now the image will be written to the router flash and will be rebooted automatically after successful write.

Congratulations, your DD-WRT firmware is now ready to use! Now, if you don't have a serial console, here's how to install the firmware from the default NETGEAR software.

Installing DD-WRT to the WGR614L From Default NETGEAR Firmware

1. Go to the 'Router Upgrade' page of the NETGEAR Configuration UI.

2. Browse the 'chk' image downloaded from MyOpenRouter and click 'Upload'.

3. Now it will give a warning – "All Internet connections will be lost." Press the OK button.

4. It will give another warning, since the DD-WRT firmware version does not match with the existing version. Ignore this warning and press the 'Yes” button.

Now the router should start uploading the DD-WRT firmware.

Now, wait until the image is flashed. Your DD-WRT firmware is up and ready to use!

Quick Links

More Info on the WGR614L from NETGEAR

Download the DD-WRT Firmware | Discuss on MyOpenRouter Forums

twindragon6
twindragon6's picture
And if you flash a standard

And if you flash a standard un modded version of DD-WRT after, it will brick your router so don't do it!

jeanrob98
jeanrob98's picture
After installation, the

After installation, the default login user is "root" and the default password is "admin".

blackmacbook
blackmacbook's picture
So I'm assuming you guys have

So I'm assuming you guys have updated your v.8 to this dd-wrt? So how is it so far? I'm afraid to flash my v.8 as of now.

benbenson
benbenson's picture
Thanks a lot, this totally

Thanks a lot, this totally BRICKED my fucking router. Thanks for the great scam, I'm sure you're having a great fucking laugh right now. Fuck it, I'll just send the equipment back to the retail outlet and claim it was defective, let them eat the cost!!!!

Brad
Brad's picture
Deleted

Deleted

Brad
Brad's picture
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Brad
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Deleted

Deleted

Xyzzy
Xyzzy's picture
I've got 4mb of flash on my

I've got 4mb of flash on my WGR-614L yet I'm forced to run the mini version of the DD-WRT firmware. I'm running DD-WRT v24-sp1 (08/08/08) mini. Why isn't the standard build of DD-WRT available in chk format? Why won't Netgear make it available? I've got to say I'm rather disappointed.

I have downloaded what purports to be the standard build in chk format, but it will not load and I don't want to brick my unit. There seems to be no clear and concise set of instructions on anything related to this unit, despite the fact that Netgear has this site aimed specifically at it.

jules
jules's picture
Hey guys, it would be great

Hey guys, it would be great if you would include some of the advice on this page in the above article:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=39529

On the dd-wrt page, it says that doing a hard reset before and after flashing is an ESSENTIAL step, but you didn't mention anything about it in this article.
Thanks!

UPDATE: DO NOT DO A HARD RESET AFTER FLASHING THIS DD-WRT IMAGE!!! I believe there is a problem with the dd-wrt 11205 mini chk image -- any hard reset, either through the web interface or the reset button, bricks my router with this image installed. I had to install a serial cable to recover.

John.w.dailey
John.w.dailey's picture
OK, I want to make sure I do

OK, I want to make sure I do this right... I have never put a firmware on a router other than one from the manufacturer. And I really don't want to brick my router, so...

So to put DD-WRT on a brand new WGR614L I should first do a hard reset on the router (30-30-30 style) then turn on the router and connect to it over the web interface (will it ask me to set a password at that point? Should I set one?) then upload the chk file... and then wait for a while, and do another 30-30-30 reset? Then I can turn it on and login to dd-wrt?

Did I get that all right? I really don't want to brick this thing...

jules
jules's picture
John.w.dailey said:

John.w.dailey said:
OK, I want to make sure I do this right... I have never put a firmware on a router other than one from the manufacturer. And I really don't want to brick my router, so...
So to put DD-WRT on a brand new WGR614L I should first do a hard reset on the router (30-30-30 style) then turn on the router and connect to it over the web interface (will it ask me to set a password at that point? Should I set one?) then upload the chk file... and then wait for a while, and do another 30-30-30 reset? Then I can turn it on and login to dd-wrt?
Did I get that all right? I really don't want to brick this thing...

Well, yeah that's what the dd-wrt web page says to do. But now I'm not so sure -- I'm having a problem on my own router, and just last night I discovered it seems to be triggered by a hard reset after loading dd-wrt. So I wouldn't recommend that second hard reset as of  right now. I hope it isn't too late. If you have the same problem I do, I'm sorry. At least I can tell you that installing a serial port as described in the link below works well and will let you un-brick it. 

http://www.myopenrouter.com/article/10341/Recover-Your-WGR614L-Using-a-S...

John.w.dailey
John.w.dailey's picture
I used the 30-30-30 reset

I used the 30-30-30 reset first, then I followed the instructions here, and then a plain reset, and everything seemed to work...

Hope that helps someone out there...

mix
mix's picture
Hi,

Hi,
I have a brand new WGR614 and want to put dd-wrt on it, but confused of instructions to do or not a reset just after flashing, and if yes exactly which one: hard reset 30, hard reset 30-30-30 or just power off and on.

Is the steps are the same if I decide to set -mini- (got from eko) or -standard- (dd-wrt.v24_std-wgr614v8_07280105.chk) firmware

Any suggestions are welcome. Please, respond

John.w.dailey
John.w.dailey's picture
I did the 30 second reset

I did the 30 second reset after flashing, and it worked for me...

whosane
whosane's picture
-----------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------
If the firmware you are loading is before svn11600 then you will need to update the firmware using this file first before upgrading to a newer build. After the initial .chk flash (after svn11600) any generic .bin file can be used to upgrade firmware to the router using the dd-wrt Firmware update tab.
----------------------------------------------------------

I saw this on the dd-wrt wiki (http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Installation). Does this mean that it is possible to use a .bin file to flash the router once the initial flash is done with the .chk file. I bought this router a few weeks ago and have been reading on upgrading to dd-wrt and everyone on this forum has said never to use a .bin file at risk of bricking the router. So, what should i do?

mix
mix's picture
Hi,

Hi,
I just would like to share my bad experience:
dd-wrt.v24_std-wgr614v8_07280105.chk got from dd-wrt.com bricked my WGR614L. Reason is invalid checksum. I suppose there were not enough memory in flash.

Mini distro, got from eco (dd-wrt.v24-11100_WGR614v8-L_mini.chk) worked for me after that.

Johannes
Johannes's picture
Hi, after reading through

Hi, after reading through these comments, I would strongly urge that the article should reflect some of the issues.

An article says that you just have to download the latest firmware, upload it to the router and you are ready to go is what I would even call irresponsible. Moreso since some info found on this site says that the standard unbricking procedure via tftp to 192.168.1.1 does not work for DD-WRT so that you have to start messing around with the serial console which looks greasy looking at the howto article.

Johannes
Johannes's picture
(deleted, my comment was

(deleted, my comment was redundant)

Johannes
Johannes's picture
twindragon6 said:

twindragon6 said:
And if you flash a standard un modded version of DD-WRT after, it will brick your router so don't do it!

  

Which builds are compatible is explained in the  Netgear_readme.txt in the build directory, e.g. go here and scroll down to the bottom.

falawater
falawater's picture
I could not get a successful

I could not get a successful installation of DD-WRT with either Firefox or IE 7. Firefox crapped out on some obscure naming error. Finally tried Safari for Windows out of desperation and it worked on the first try. Go figure. Thought this might be useful tip if you get the same goofy error.

Johannes
Johannes's picture
jules said:

jules said:
Hey guys, it would be great if you would include some of the advice on this page in the above article:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=39529
On the dd-wrt page, it says that doing a hard reset before and after flashing is an ESSENTIAL step, but you didn't mention anything about it in this article.
Thanks!
UPDATE: DO NOT DO A HARD RESET AFTER FLASHING THIS DD-WRT IMAGE!!! I believe there is a problem with the dd-wrt 11205 mini chk image -- any hard reset, either through the web interface or the reset button, bricks my router with this image installed. I had to install a serial cable to recover.

Thank you so much for this warning. A couple of days ago I submitted a bug report based on your information.  So the issue seems to be  fixed as of SVN revision 12222 which adds boardnum 0123. So EKO build 12250 should be fine.

arturo
arturo's picture
I would like to have more

I would like to have more options then mini build but i havent seen other builds with .chk . Is it safe to instal std .bin firmware or i will brick my router doing so ??

jhon
jhon's picture
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