Installation and Quick Review of Tomato 1.27.9045 BETA 10 Firmware for WNR3500L

The Tomato router firmware is well known in the open source community for being simple, lean, and full of useful features.  The newest builds of this firmware have a bandwidth monitor, advanced QOS and access settings, and tons more. 

So, are you interested in trying a newer beta version of this software on your NETGEAR WNR3500L?  Read on for simple installation instructions and a preview of what Tomato can offer. 

***Note that at this time, the available builds of Tomato that are compatible with WNR3500L are in early beta form, and as always, there is a risk involving in testing such firmware.  Features may be missing or poorly implemented, etc.***

Step 1: Preparing your Router

In order to get your WNR3500L ready for a firmware upgrade, you should reset the router using a 30-30-30 reset procedure.  This clears out the NVRAM in the unit and is a step to ensure that the upgrade proceeds smoothly.  You can find instructions for performing the reset in this article.

Step 2: Download and Prepare the Tomato Firmware

Now, download the Tomato firmware available from the community by clicking here.  As of the writing of this article, it's the latest beta build - but note that these firmwares are updated frequently.  You can always check at SourceForge for newer builds as they become available.

Next, you'll have to change the extension of the firmware file to .BIN as shown above. You'll see why in a bit!

Step 3:  Install DD-WRT to your WNR3500L

It's recommend to install the latest Tomato beta via DD-WRT - so if you don't have DD-WRT installed on your router yet, you'll need to get that going.  Fortunately, it's quite the simple affair.   First, download a DD-WRT build in .CHK format (the format you need to upgrade from the standard NETGEAR firmware.)  As of the writing of this article, here's a build I recommend.

Once downloaded, head to your router's administration screen and upgrade the firmware using the DD-WRT file you chose.  You'll have to wait for your router to reboot - I also recommend that you perform an additional reset after this step to once again clear the NVRAM.

Step 4: Install Tomato via DD-WRT

Fortunately, installing Tomato in DD-WRT is now very simple, since you renamed the file in a previous step.  Head to the Administration tab, then Firmware Upgrade.

Select the Tomato firmware file and perform the upgrade.  Note that if you are on a Mac, performing this step while inside the Safari browser may not work properly.  I had to use Firefox to perform a successful upgrade.

When complete, your router should reboot.  I would again suggest that you perform a 30-30-30 reset to clear the NVRAM before using your new Tomato installation.

Step 5: A Quick Tour of Tomato

First, you have to log in to Tomato - the default login is "root" and the password "admin".  I recommend, of course, that you change these immediately.

Here's the main menu screen, you can see the various options available to you in the panel on the left.

One of the first things you'll want to do is set up your wireless connection, which you can do via this screen.

Tomato comes with a detailed bandwidth monitor; something many firmwares lack or don't implement as well.

There's a whole host of advanced settings for you to choose from.

Experiment and Post

Of course, Tomato has tons of features left for you to test and discover on your WNR3500L.  Make sure to stop by our forums and post any questions, troubleshooting tips, and favorite features you may have.

Tags: 

zSoc
zSoc's picture
Jumbo frames are not

Jumbo frames are not supported by WNR3500L, right?

nukie
nukie's picture
I wish i had a second 3500L

I wish i had a second 3500L to try this on :) As the family will punish me if i screw up i will wait a couple of builds before i try it out.

John Schuetz
John Schuetz's picture
So far so good. I have been

So far so good. I have been running this on mine for almost a week with zero issues. I have a 750GB external drive hooked to it...the drive WAS ntfs at first and that was working just fine. I decided to repartition it and format it as a linux ext3 partition, and used the disk utilities included (I had installed the USB + EXT version from Teddy Bear). QoS is working great...FTP is working great...I can't complain about anything.

Brandon C
Brandon C's picture
Was that after installing DD

Was that after installing DD-WRT first?

Nero
Nero's picture
Upgraded from previous

Upgraded from previous version of Tomato without resetting first and have had no problems. Been running for the past 4 days and no issues.

Joao S Veiga
Joao S Veiga's picture
zSoc said: Jumbo frames are

zSoc said: Jumbo frames are not supported by WNR3500L, right?

It doesn't look like it does:

root@tomato:/tmp/home/root# ifconfig br0 mtu 3000
ifconfig: SIOCSIFMTU: Invalid argument
root@tomato:/tmp/home/root# ifconfig eth0 mtu 3000
ifconfig: SIOCSIFMTU: Invalid argument
root@tomato:/tmp/home/root# ifconfig eth1 mtu 3000
ifconfig: SIOCSIFMTU: Invalid argument

I also tried to enable&change through tomato's interface, but still get MTU 1500 on ifconfig.

I just installed tomato-K26USB-1.27.9045MIPSR2-beta11 after a scare in the intermediate DD-WRT phase (yes, 30-30-30 is king), and it seems Ok.

What an improvement over the original netgear fw! I haven't tested throughputs, but the interface itself if faster, has much more monitoring features and eye candy, and does not require as much reboots when changing configurations. The ssh is welcome too.

And contrary to what a feature comparison matrix in this site says (May 22, 2010), it does support WPA2.

Best regards,

Harm
Harm's picture
a little typo:

a little typo:
the user name and password are not "root," and "admin." but just "root" and "admin".
resetting to factory settings inbetween seems to be necessary.

Peter Redmer
Peter Redmer's picture
@Harm - thanks, typo fixed.

@Harm - thanks, typo fixed.

Norman Williams
Norman Williams's picture
I installed beta 16 (with USB

I installed beta 16 (with USB support) on WNR3500L. Everything is fine except blocking web sites via HTTP REQUEST in ACCESS RESTRICTION section does not work. No matter how it is in the setting, web sites are always allowed on all computers. I tried ibm.com$ and ^www.ibm.com$ etc. Still goes thru.

Please verify web blocking on your router before commenting here.

Maybe BETA 10 is better than BETA 16?

Thanks

David L
David L's picture
I've changed my password from

I've changed my password from "admin" but don't see anywhere to change from "root". Anyone?

Babu
Babu's picture
When I tried upgrading to

When I tried upgrading to Tomato , Im getting Upgrade failed

jackoboy9
jackoboy9's picture
When I go to 192.168.1.1, I

When I go to 192.168.1.1, I am asked for a username and password. The site says: "toast". What do I do???

What are the credentials?!?!?!?

borschelrh
borschelrh's picture
I followed the instructions

I followed the instructions and have installed the mini DD-WRT. I have performed the 30-30-30 reset (twice now) but when I try and upgrade to Tomato I select the file and start the upgrade, the countdown begins from 299 and then the screen goes to blank and nothing else happens. If I go back into DD-WRT it is where I was before. I have changed the firmware to .bin extension (using Tomato-K26USB-1.28.9054MIPSR2-beta-VPN3.6.bin same happened for other versions but this is the version I am using an another Netgear WNR3500L and I would like to keep the same firmwar on both routers. Any suggestioons? The DD-WRT is working fine but it also refuses to take a newer version of DD-WRT as well.

digune
digune's picture
Does the tomato firmware

Does the tomato firmware works on the DGN3500B too?
Has anybody tryed it?

Runaway1956
Runaway1956's picture
I'm overwhelmed. Got DD-WRT

I'm overwhelmed. Got DD-WRT installed, and I rather liked that interface. Then, I got Tomato installed. The interface is less "pretty". As I look through the QOS settings, I'm basically lost. Partly because I work nights, and I've not slept yet today - need to get a nap, and leave this until tomorrow, LOL

I take it that the "default" QOS settings are likely to be sufficient for most purposes. Yeah, I know that I'll need to do some tweaking at some point, but the defaults should throttle most bulk stuff, allowing the wife and I to browse and play online games. That is my primary reason for going to all this trouble!

'Night all . . .

Runaway1956
Runaway1956's picture
borschelrh said: I followed

borschelrh said: I followed the instructions and have installed the mini DD-WRT. I have performed the 30-30-30 reset (twice now) but when I try and upgrade to Tomato I select the file and start the upgrade, the countdown begins from 299 and then the screen goes to blank and nothing else happens. If I go back into DD-WRT it is where I was before. I have changed the firmware to .bin extension (using Tomato-K26USB-1.28.9054MIPSR2-beta-VPN3.6.bin same happened for other versions but this is the version I am using an another Netgear WNR3500L and I would like to keep the same firmwar on both routers. Any suggestioons? The DD-WRT is working fine but it also refuses to take a newer version of DD-WRT as well.

 

Try a different browser.  Or, at least disable all of your addons.  Same thing happened to me 3 times, before I thought about all my addons.  Firefox failed, then Chromium failed.  When it finally occured to me that Ghostery or NoScript might be causing problems, DD-WRT installed without a hitch.  

Don't forget that DHCP is disabled in Tomato by default - that had me stymied for a couple more minutes!

robife
robife's picture
borschelrh said: I followed

borschelrh said: I followed the instructions and have installed the mini DD-WRT. I have performed the 30-30-30 reset (twice now) but when I try and upgrade to Tomato I select the file and start the upgrade, the countdown begins from 299 and then the screen goes to blank and nothing else happens. If I go back into DD-WRT it is where I was before. I have changed the firmware to .bin extension (using Tomato-K26USB-1.28.9054MIPSR2-beta-VPN3.6.bin same happened for other versions but this is the version I am using an another Netgear WNR3500L and I would like to keep the same firmwar on both routers. Any suggestioons? The DD-WRT is working fine but it also refuses to take a newer version of DD-WRT as well.

Try upgrading with some other web browser, If you are using firefox then try IE or others.

Pavek
Pavek's picture
All work great, thx

All work great, thx

Pavek
Pavek's picture
All work great, thx.)

All work great, thx.)

Renfro
Renfro's picture
YD

YD

Renfro
Renfro's picture
d.e.s.i.l.v.a.r.a.m.i.r.ez