Downloading firmware directly from DD-WRT site

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Nick Summy
Nick Summy's picture
Downloading firmware directly from DD-WRT site

Can I download the firmware directly from the dd-wrt site or is the firmware found on my open router modified to work for the netgear routers?  I read I had to download the firmware from here, but looking on the dd-wrt site I can search out my router model and a list of downloads display.  Just curious.  Thanks!

retro98
retro98's picture
You can download from the dd

You can download from the dd-wrt site. Choose the late versions that have *.chk files available.
Beware that some of the older dd-wrt firmwares found here at myopenrouter can brick your router (eg. infinite reboot loop) and/or contains major security vulnerabilities.

Peter Redmer
Peter Redmer's picture
Thanks retro98 for your

Thanks retro98 for your response.

Nick, retro is correct in noting that many of the older firmwares here for WGR614L do contain security vulnerabilities and other issues, as many of them are experimental firmwares.

For the WNR3500L, DD-WRT works fine, even with WPA and WPA2, but Tomato and OpenWRT still only work with WEP and have other features missing at this time.

Retro is also correct that you should be able to use the firmware from the DD-WRT site as long as it's the proper build for the WGR614L.

finite9
finite9's picture
Is the firmware for the 3500L

Is the firmware for the 3500L customized by Netgear to make it work? Or can I use the standard latest beta builds from dd-wrt?

Why does the dd-wrt site list the 3500L as unsupported??

I have read reviews that mention that some features of the dd-wrt firmware do not work on the 3500L (sorry I cannot remember which ones). Can anyone confirm this and supply an explanation?

thanks!

finite9
finite9's picture
Tathagata Das said:

Tathagata Das said:
They released beta version. So I am assuming that they are continuing the development and in future other features will also be supported.

Is there a reason why dd-wrts router database lists the WNR3500L as unsupported.  I mean, it obviously works with a beta version and there are other routers that are listed as being supported on their website but only with the latest beta firmware, so it should not matter that the 3500L only works with a beta... they should still be listing it as supported...

 

Is this indicative of friction between the dd-wrt group and Netgear?  This is purely a guess on my part; im just asking.

finite9
finite9's picture
no, i havent even got a 3500L

no, i havent even got a 3500L as they are not available in sweden yet, but I am trying to choose a new router, and im put off by some reviews I have seen mentioning that the dd-wrt firmware for the 3500L is based on linux kernel 2.4 and does not have full support for some important functions.

I am assuming the 2.4 kernel is due to using the binary broadcom blob instead of the open source b43 driver. And this causes concern when using such an old kernel, due to security vulnerabilities. However, I have not yet determined if the dd-wrt firmware for the Linksys WRT610N (the only real competitor to the 3500L) is any better in this regard, as it is also based on a broadcom chip and may very well also use 2.4 with broadcom blob.

The big difference for me is that the WRT610N costs 1500 SEK and the Netgear WNR3500L 800 SEK which is quite a big difference, and I really do not like Linksys support.

finite9
finite9's picture
Well, I got the information

Well, I got the information from a the comments section of a review of the 3500L on idg.se (sorry it's in Swedish). But I recently discovered that the dd-wrt firmware is based on kernel 2.4 even for the Linksys wrt610N, and it is on one of the dd-wrt developers (Eko) to-do list to upgrade to 2.6. This means that if you guys are using the standard dd-wrt firmware and have not made any major changes to it then it is the 2.4 kernel being used everywhere. I don't really know what the status of that kernel is. I assume that it is still supported for security vulnerabilities, even if new features are not added, but im not 100% sure. Do you have any idea why 2.4 kernel is still used? I have read that it is due to the fact that the binary blob for the Broadcom chip that is being used in the dd-wrt firmware only runs on kernel 2.4. I do not know if this is true or not however. I personally have used kernel 2.6 on a PC with a broadcom bcm43xx chipset using a broadcom binary blob and it has worked ok, so maybe this is not the reason?