[solved] may have BRICKED router during firmware upgrade

vexingv

Golden Member
Aug 8, 2002
1,163
1
81
(i've posted this at the linksysinfo.org forums as well)
i use the custom tomato firmware on a Buffalo WHR-G54S router. have been using this setup for nearly a year and i regularly update it with the latest firmware. however, i encountered an error during the upgrade process for the first time...

so i just tried upgrading to 1.19 from 1.18 and proceeded as i would normally do. however, instead of progressing normally, i got an error message during upgrade: Error writing to MTD device. i waited for the router to restart itself, but it didn't and it simply timed out. i've tried to restart/reset the router, but nothing happens. the router still powers up but from there nothing. can someone help me. i'm clueless right now.

i've got a buffalo whr-g54s. right now i've plugged in a second router i have.

thanks.

more info:
the green power light is solid. and when i restart it the red lights blink twice before going out.

another update:
putting my laptop into manual dhcp and setting it to 192.168.11.100, i've managed to ping the router at 192.168.11.1 (the buffalo default), but i have not been able to access the admin/web interface. how should i proceed from here?
 

Markbnj

Elite Member <br>Moderator Emeritus
Moderator
Sep 16, 2005
15,682
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www.markbetz.net
Is there really that much benefit to upgrading router firmware so often?

Sorry, I can't help much if a hard-reset doesn't fix it.
 

vexingv

Golden Member
Aug 8, 2002
1,163
1
81
i've been using 3rd party firmwares since 2004 w/ my first linksys wrt54g v1.1 router (sveasoft and then ddwrt). the Tomato firmware writer doesn't update all too frequently/consistently, but there are minor fixes/optimizations between releases. the latest one added better/new L7 filters and i use a few under the QOS rules. usually, the Tomato upgrade process is very smooth and doesn't even require a reset and it keeps all my existing settings, which is why i don't hesitate to upgrade. (ddwrt, on the other hand, required reboots to even change basic options and upgrades required manually setting old options)

i've tried the hard reset, but the router's still not working. i have managed to ping the router at 192.168.11.1, but haven't been able to access the webgui. i think i'll have to use tftp to put the firmware back on, but i want to get some more advice/opinions before i proceed (ie. i don't want to f--- this up any further)

solved: tftp-ing the firmware image using the included batch file worked.