Hack your Belkin F5D7230-4 54g router to a F5D7231 - get faster wireless for free

[GTFan]

There have been many 'get Belkin 7230 routers for free or better AR' threads in the past few months, so I thought I'd share a deal to get a free speed boost for these.

Ripped from DSLreports discussion here.

Summary:

- download FD7231 firmware from Belkin's website (current version is 4.03.04).
- use a hex editor to change first 4 bytes to string LOAD.
- upload firmware to router, reenter all security etc. settings after reboot (or save settings before and restore after upgrade).
- enjoy your new speed boost with compatible wireless cards.

Works fine so far for me but I don't have a 125meg card to test with. It appears that the 7231 is a rebadged 7230 with boost enabled in firmware. Does not work with versions prior to 1444 and is not recommended for those (but harmless), and apparently does not work at all with later v2000.

 

[Supa]

Wouldn't see any advantage until the wireless card is also 125meg compatible.


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[dman]

There's a known packet loss problem with the F5D7230-4 Routers, at least with v1444. You won't notice it using WinOS such as XP because the OS worksaround the problem quite well. However, devices such as TIVO or ReplayTV or using two routers in bridge mode, you will see fluxuations in speed during xfers.

Unfortunately, someone tried the 7231-4 firmware already and it didn't resolve the problem. I haven't tried it myself yet. On the Plus side, if they release a fix for 7231 it should be usable on the 7230. Wait and see.