How to install Tomato on WNR3500L?

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plex
plex's picture
How to install Tomato on WNR3500L?

Hi

I've just upgraded my old Linksys WRT54GL with an Netgear WRT3500L - just because I needed gigabit switch on my lan.

The old Linksys was equipped with Tomato, and I really loved it :)

Very stable, and lot's of great features :)

So how do I install this, on the WNR3500L?

The original Netgear firmware need .chk format, and the Tomato firmware is in .trx format - but why?

Please help me...;)

Cheers

Csimbi
Csimbi's picture
Be very careful taking advise

Be very careful taking advise from people on these forums.
Most of them did not even try what they are suggesting you to do.
Read my story here:
http://www.myopenrouter.com/article/17506/Installing-Tomato-Early-Firmwa...
Now I am trying to recover my router...

uscallesen
uscallesen's picture
Hey Plex (fellow Danish

Hey Plex (fellow Danish member here ;-)

I'm getting my 3500L this Friday - I'd love to hear from you if you're successful in flashing the Tomato firmware.

As far as I know you need to flash to dd-wrt BEFORE going to Tomato !

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Tomato_Firmware#Asus

http://www.linksysinfo.org/forums/showthread.php?t=63587&highlight=wnr3500l

Csimbi
Csimbi's picture
Ok, my problems are solved.

Ok, my problems are solved. See:
http://www.myopenrouter.com/article/17506/Installing-Tomato-Early-Firmwa...
There are some conclusions at the bottom - it should help you installing the Tomato firmware.

In a nutshell:
You cannot flash Tomato right away (DO NOT use Tomato v1.25 no matter what you hear!!!).
1. Download two firmwares:
- the latest DD-WRT mini (I used svn13575): http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/other-downloads?path=others%2Feko%2FV...... ; make sure the file name contains "WNR3500L.chk".
- the latest Tomato 1.27 (I used tomato127-USB-9044MIPSR2-beta06u.04-Ext-TEST.rar): http://sourceforge.net/projects/tomatousb/files/ ; make sure the file name contains "MIPSR2".
"MIPSR2".
2. Flash the DD-WRT mini.
3. Wait, reboot.
4. Rename the Tomato .trx file to .bin and flash that using the DD-WRT firmware you just flashed.
5. Wait, reboot.
6. When up&running, go to this page: http://192.168.1.1/admin-config.asp and erase all NVRAM data.

I am using "v1.27.9044 MIPSR2-beta06u.04 ND USB Ext" at the moment; so far, so good.

uscallesen
uscallesen's picture
Good info Csimbi !!

Good info Csimbi !!

@Plex if you decide to try it out let me know if you're successful aswell !

plex
plex's picture
uscallesen said:

uscallesen said:

Good info Csimbi !!

@Plex if you decide to try it out let me know if you're successful aswell !

I would let you know, but maybe I'll wait for a non beta release of the Tomato firmware for WNR3500L, and just deal with the Netgear firmware.

The official Netgear firmware is okay, but I really miss the Tomato firmware features I am used to.

Please inform, if you do flash the Tomato firmware - then I might do as well if you succeed ;)

Csimbi
Csimbi's picture
It seems I cannot use the

It seems I cannot use the Tomato firmware.
I have a cable modem in bridged mode and the router is attached to that. The router drops the internet connection a few hours after flashing and booting it the first time, and then it cannot re-establish the connection.
I tried resetting the cable modem, clicking the release/renew buttons in the menu, but nothing. Once the internet connection is lost, it does not come back ever again.
I flashed DD-WRT firmware for now - though it seems very slow compared to the Tomato firmware. Speedtest.net test yielded 22-23ms pings and 72MB/s download speeds on Tomato, while the ping is 25-26ms and the download speed is only 21 MB/s on DD-WRT.
That's bad news but I'd like to check how stable the WAN is on DD-WRT...

BTW: how do you tell the author of Tomato that there's something wrong (such as the internet connection being dropped never to return again)?

uscallesen
uscallesen's picture
You wont believe your luck -

You wont believe your luck - I'm actually a Docsis engineer :) What cable modem are you using ? Do you know if your provider is using DHCP leasy query ?

I suspect that the Router's IP lease timed out an somehow the renewel didn't take place - do you know the DHCP lease time set by your ISP ?

Csimbi
Csimbi's picture
Wow, cool. This is my lucky

Wow, cool. This is my lucky day then.
The modem is a Bewan c5200n eMTA - which means that it has a closed-source custom firmware from the service provider. There's nothing to be configured - it allows switching between routed mode and bridged mode and that's about it. WLAN is configured via the SP's web interface, and new the settings will be somehow propagated to the cable modem.
In bridged mode the first device to connect to the LAN port (using automatic DHCP setting) gets the WAN IP. If it's the router, the router gets it, if it's a PC, the PC gets it. Apparently I plugged in only the router and the digibox. The digibox is not an issue because it gets its own IP address always and uses an isolated subnet.
When I run the cable modem in routed mode, the WAN IP address will be from the 212.x.x.x pool.
When I run the cable modem in bridged mode, the WAN IP address will be from the 81.x.x.x pool.

I do not know the answer to the second question, but I am pretty sure that a lease should not expire in a few hours - should be between 24-72 hours.
But. Even if it has expired, the router should be able to get a new address automatically. I even tried disconnecting/reconnecting all cables, erasing the NVRAM entirely, re-flashing the beta6 BIOS, flashing the beta5 BIOS, but the result was always the same.

The DD-WRT firmware did not drop the WAN IP yet. (13+hours).

I see that a new tomato firmware is out:
tomato-1.27-NDUSB-9044MIPSR2-beta07-Ext.rar
But I could not find a changelog...

uscallesen
uscallesen's picture
I agree it does sound like an

I agree it does sound like an issue with Tomato.

Your cable modem is configured on boot by a cable modem configuration file from your ISP - the file among other things dictate how many CPE devices you as a customer are allowed to connect.

I suspect it's an issue with DHCP - I should receive my 3500L tomorrow - I'll be able to run debugs on both the cable modem and the CMTS to see whats happening (One of many benefits of being the head tech' of your own ISP - besides the free 100/20 Mbit Docsis 3.0 connection :D )

Csimbi
Csimbi's picture
Ok, let me know how it works

Ok, let me know how it works out for you.
It's only 100/5 here.

I guess you have all the right tools to figure out what's wrong. I am pretty sure it's Tomato though - it's been nearly 24hours now and the router with DD-WRT is still kicking - though noticeably slower than Tomato.

plex
plex's picture
uscallesen said:

uscallesen said:

- besides the free 100/20 Mbit Docsis 3.0 connection :D )

Great company you work for....:)

I think all employees in the company should have that :D

uscallesen
uscallesen's picture
Csimbi said:

Csimbi said:
it's been nearly 24hours now and the router with DD-WRT is still kicking - though noticeably slower than Tomato.

What kind of throughput have you been getting - with Tomato and with DD-WRT ?

Kevin
Kevin's picture
you Europeans all enjoy

you Europeans all enjoy 100mbit internet?? holy cow. In US, only select few cities have >50mbit cable internet. Most are stuck

Csimbi
Csimbi's picture
@uscallesen

@uscallesen
Using speedtest.net, the best download speed I got was 72MB/sec using Tomato, while the best download speed using DD-WRT was 21MB/s. Upload in both cases were identical. As for the ping, it's an additional 4-5msecs when moving from Tomato to DD-WRT.

@Kevin
In Finland, the government announced that it will be 100MBit everywhere by 2012(?) sorry, I don't remember the exact date. I don't care much about the download speeds - except when the whole family is using the net. I found upload speeds more important to share our pictures and videos with other family members - but unfortunately that's limited to 5MBit and that's under ideal conditions...

plex
plex's picture
Hi

Hi

Now I've got DD-WRT flashed, but I can't get the Tomato flashed :?

I'm waiting the 300 sec countdown, at then nothing happends. The router still boots with DD-WRT?

I'm trying with the lastest beta:

tomato-1.27-NDUSB-9044MIPSR2-beta07-Ext.rar

What could be wrong?

uscallesen
uscallesen's picture
The postal service somehow

The postal service somehow mamanged not to deliever my package today :| Wont get it until monday :|

@plex - no idea - did you try the version Csimbi successfully flashed ?

Kurt
Kurt's picture
Im having the same issue,

Im having the same issue, flashed dd-wrt v24-sp2 just fine. When I rename tomato to .bin and then try to upgrade I get the count down for a few seconds and then it stops and says upgrade failed.

Anyone have a fix for this? If you need any info Im happy to help.

uscallesen
uscallesen's picture
Are you guys flashing with

Are you guys flashing with this file first:

dd-wrt.v24-13309_NEWD-2_K2.6_mini-WNR3500L.chk

Kurt
Kurt's picture
I think I flashed a newer

I think I flashed a newer version, dd-wrt.v24-13575_NEWD-2_K2.6_mini-WNR3500v2

Also my router is labeled WNR3500v2 so I used that one, should I be using the WNR3500L regardless? I will try the older version.

plex
plex's picture
Kurt said:

Kurt said:

I think I flashed a newer version, dd-wrt.v24-13575_NEWD-2_K2.6_mini-WNR3500v2

Also my router is labeled WNR3500v2 so I used that one, should I be using the WNR3500L regardless? I will try the older version.

Hi

Glad I'm not the only one with problems :)

I've flashed with the same file as you.

I've tried to flash a new version of DD-WRT with the same problem... If I wait long enought, it reports "failed to upgrade".

I've also noticed that it's not function properly. If I try to change the ssid, and press save, then it fails...:(

Just new I shouldn't have trashed my old WRT54GL :D

plex
plex's picture
I've managed to upgrade the

I've managed to upgrade the DD-WRT to a new version - dd-wrt.v24-13972_NEWD-2_K2.6_big. This time using a pc (used mac before), and without any other devices connected - not even internet.

After this I flashed Tomato "tomato-NDUSB-9044MIPSR2-beta05u-Ext".

Now it's asking for user and passw for dd-wrt at login - but why dd-wrt?

It's not admin admin, or my old dd-wrt password? Tried with blank blank, blank admin, admin blank, admin password...

Somebody help :)

Kevin
Kevin's picture
If you are using WNR3500v2,

If you are using WNR3500v2, you need to use a mini version of Tomato. The big version will be too big for the WNR3500v2's 4mb flash. I don't know where to find it but some one posted a link to it.

plex
plex's picture
Kevin said:

Kevin said:

If you are using WNR3500v2, you need to use a mini version of Tomato. The big version will be too big for the WNR3500v2's 4mb flash. I don't know where to find it but some one posted a link to it.

I did use the big version, and it worked

Also solved the password problem, with a hard reset.

So now I'm running Tomato - really really great :)

Kevin
Kevin's picture
You must have WNR3500L, not

You must have WNR3500L, not WNR3500v2. They are not the same.

plex
plex's picture
Kevin said:

Kevin said:

You must have WNR3500L, not WNR3500v2. They are not the same.

I think u are right - I can't find the V2 anywhere...

Is there any other diffence, besides the memory size?

But it really rocks with the Tomato firmware, combined with a 5 Ghz access point (WHNDE111) :)

Cheers

EDIT: Just found some information about V2 - less memory, lower clock speed and no usb port

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=371791

Csimbi
Csimbi's picture
plex said:

plex said:

Kevin said:
If you are using WNR3500v2, you need to use a mini version of Tomato. The big version will be too big for the WNR3500v2's 4mb flash. I don't know where to find it but some one posted a link to it.

I did use the big version, and it worked
Also solved the password problem, with a hard reset.
So now I'm running Tomato - really really great :)

I'm glad to hear you resolved your issues. Great!

Let's hope that Tomato works out for you. Are you on cable? Let's see what happens when it drops WAN ;-)

plex
plex's picture
Csimbi said:

Csimbi said:

Let's hope that Tomato works out for you. Are you on cable? Let's see what happens when it drops WAN ;-)

Hi

I'm on cablemodem yes - Netgear CDV31T.

No problems so far - after 12 hours with traffic :)

I'm using the newest beta7....

Cheers

plex
plex's picture
Just a little summery -

Just a little summery - Tomato is still working great here...:)

uscallesen
uscallesen's picture
Good to hear Plex - I'm

Good to hear Plex - I'm pretty excited to get my hands on mine tomorrow :) You haven't tested the full throughput capability of the router ? I read -somewhere- that Netgear claims it able to route packets at 250 Mbps which was actually the reason I bought it as my otherwise wonderful Juniper 5GT-Wlan craps out at 90 Mbps and as low as 50 Mbps if i prioritize traffic :|

You're working for DK-TV btw ??

plex
plex's picture
uscallesen said:

uscallesen said:

Good to hear Plex - I'm pretty excited to get my hands on mine tomorrow :) You haven't tested the full throughput capability of the router ? I read -somewhere- that Netgear claims it able to route packets at 250 Mbps which was actually the reason I bought it as my otherwise wonderful Juniper 5GT-Wlan craps out at 90 Mbps and as low as 50 Mbps if i prioritize traffic :|

You're working for DK-TV btw ??

Hi

No I've not testet full throughput - you mean from wan side to lan? I've only 30 Mbit here (sometimes)...

But LAN speed is great enough, for the limit on my nas unit - ~40-50 MB/s

Yes I work for DK-TV ;)

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