Stock WNR3500Lv1 "Tomato firmware" install - Need Good Install Instructions

8 posts / 0 new
Last post
joe139
joe139's picture
Stock WNR3500Lv1 "Tomato firmware" install - Need Good Install Instructions

This is my first attempt to upgrade my stock WNR3500Lv1 modem with USB2 to Tomato.  Knowledgble recommendations or suggestions will be most appreciated. My installed Netgear firmware, V1.2.2.48_35.0.55NA, is up to date and the latest for N America.

This modem has worked flawlessly for nearly 9 years for my hardwired ethernet system consisting of a multi-boot Intel PC running Win7, Win 10, Mac Hackintosh 12.6, a Minix droid Multimedia Box, multiple printers, android cell and two multimedia 4K TVs. (one 4K Sony TV is a PC monitor). Except for my cell, all devices are on my network behind the modem NAT and multiple SW device firewalls. All devices connect to cable internet at 275Mbps+ using VPN and AES encryption. One (of several) goals is to set up OpenVPN with AES encryption. I eventually want to go to Advanced Tomato.
 
1. My ‘Tomato firmware’ Assumptions: A new firmware over Netgear stock is required prior to further upgrades to Advanced Tomato using flash files. True? I am considering “Tomato Firmware by Shibby for WNR3500Lv1 All-In-One” (2012-11-21) File: “tomato-K26USB-1.28.RT-MIPSR2-102-AIO.trx.zip”. I am assuming this is a good choice and I can install directly. True? Options or alternatives? Any firmware recommendations or pitfalls? Brick warnings? Any other Warnings or advice? A link to good install instructions would be appreciated.

2. My ‘Advanced Tomato’ Assumption: A flash to ‘Advanced Tomato’ will be possible after initial Tomato install…. True?

3. My WNR3500L V1 and v2 Assumptions: After reviewing the 'Advanced Tomato' website, I reached this conclusion—-Since WNR3500L “v1/v2” are in the same “category”. It was assumed that after the Tomato firmware install, it will be possible to use WNR3500Lv2 ’trx’ files for flashing to “Advanced Tomato”.  Is this true or false? If this is false I am misreading what ‘category’ means.

In any event, a trail of bread crumbs to follow if I am too far off track. There is an enormous amount of info on this site! Thank you in advance for your help.

joe139
joe139's picture
Hmm. It appears the 'firmware

Hmm. It appears the 'firmware' I indicated previously is a flash file when it needs to be a chk file. Not sure which it is... Does it need to be a 'chk' file?

joe139
joe139's picture
Hmm. It appears the 'firmware

Hmm. It appears the 'firmware' I indicated previously is a flash file when it needs to be a chk file. Not sure which it is... Does it need to be a 'chk' file?

Karl_in_Chicago
Karl_in_Chicago's picture
Curious if you ever found an

Curious if you ever found an answer to your questions.  I'm currently running Tomato 1.27 (Tomato Firmware v1.27.9047 MIPSR2-beta16 K26 USB Ext) on a WNR3500L V1; been running this way for so many years can't remember when I put it on.  I'm considering going to a VPN service and would like to just config the VPN info on the router rather than the individual devices.  There's no VPN option on my current version so trying to figure out best way to get there.

vm81
vm81's picture
I would love instructions for

I would love instructions for this as well if anyone has any info:

I am on v1 - bought it on Amazon back in 2010 and its been working flawlessly. I have the firmware: V1.2.2.48_35.0.55NA

I want to upgrade to tomato and then probably advanced tomato.

Thanks for any pointers anyone can provide.

mrdon213
mrdon213's picture
The V1 and V2 are not the

The V1 and V2 are not the same, the V2 has more memory.You will need the minivpn version.

These steps should work, Proceed at your own risk.

MAKE sure you have a static IP assigned to computer flashing router!!!!!!!

1) Reset router to default.

2) Do 30-30-30 reset.

3) Flash initial file from DD-WRT.

4) Do 30-30-30 Reset.

5) Flash Freshtomato.

6) Do 30-30-30 reset.

7) setup your router settings.

 

The Shibby and Toastman builds of tomato have not had updates in a while, Advancedtomato same thing not currently supported,

Freshtomato is still supported.

You will need to Flash a initial DD-WRT file

https://download1.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/downloads/betas/2018/10-10-2018-r37305/broadcom_K26/dd-wrt.v24-37305_NEWD-2_K2.6_mini-WNR3500L.chk

Then Flash Freshtomato:

https://exotic.se/freshtomato-mips/v2019/2019.2/K26/freshtomato-K26USB_RT-MIPSR2-2019.2-MiniVPN.zip

 

Good Luck.

Podtheman
Podtheman's picture
This is a beautiful thing. ta

This is a beautiful thing. ta v.much!

anunez87
anunez87's picture
Joe139: Were you able to do

Joe139: Were you able to do this?

I too am looking for a way to further configure my router. I want to be able to use it as a DLNA yo view movie files on my Firestick and to increase the Wi-Fi range on my Netgear WNR3500L v1.