Installing 19.07.7 to linksys wrt54gs v1 v2

  • This install considers you have changed the original flash 8MB to 16MB, the hardware mod is described in detail on ddwrt forums under my name " voip2014" and others as well (optional)
  • The original 8MB flash without modification should be fine, you may need to image build see other documentation on this process to reduce your image sizes and create a reduced trx file. ( optional)
  • It also considers you have serial and jtag headers to see serial and jtag output. ( optional but recommended)

For this post I will go over the basics to get 19.07 working:

  1. First make a wholeflash backup, it is HIGHLY! recommended you have this using Jtag cable to this device as openwrt can easily brick your router. OR you have great soldering skills and can load CFE directly to the flash chip using a strata flash programmer. ( I have done both and Jtag is easier)

  2. Basics of the install:

    • make sure you get a copy of WRT54GSV2.0_3.37.6_US_code.bin
  3. once installed install OpenWrt 10.03.1
    https://archive.openwrt.org/backfire/10.03.1/brcm-2.4/openwrt-wrt54gs-squashfs.bin

  4. upgrade from terminal once it boots up using the following process:

    cd /tmp
    wget https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/19.07.7/targets/brcm47xx/legacy/openwrt-19.07.7-brcm47xx-legacy-standard-squashfs.trx
    mtd write /tmp/openwrt-19.07.7-brcm47xx-legacy-standard-squashfs.trx linux && reboot
    

    If the wget fails you will need to scp or find a way to use http from another site to get your file on the router. THen wait a good 8 mins! set your computer to use 192.168.1.2 (IP)/ 255.255.255.0 /192.168.1.1 ( gateway)

    You should be able to login to 19.07.07

  5. now the wireless
    There are two branchs both seem to work.

    a) First is kmod-b43 method

    opkg install kmod-b43
    
    

Do not install kmod-b43legacy ( even by mistake)


b) second older method is the old brcm driver

opkg install kmod-brcm-wl
opkg install wl
opkg install wlc
opkg install nas


c) If your using one or the other you can verify you have wireless enabled by typing 

Show wireless status:

uci show wireless

Enable wireless:

uci set wireless.radio0.disabled='0'
uci commit
reboot



   There are some minor stability issues with wireless but over all the router works well even thou its 200Mhz. You will max out around 25Megabits on the WAN on my testing which isnt bad for most home use cases.


BusyBox v1.30.1 () built-in shell (ash)


| |.-----.-----.-----.| | | |.----.| |_
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| W I R E L E S S F R E E D O M

OpenWrt 19.07.7, r11306-c4a6851c72

root@OpenWrt:~# uname -a
Linux OpenWrt 4.14.221 #0 Mon Feb 15 15:22:37 2021 mips GNU/Linux
root@OpenWrt:~# free -h
total used free shared buff/cache available
Mem: 28184 11228 7800 292 9156 14584
Swap: 0 0 0
root@OpenWrt:~# cat /proc/cpuinfo
system type : Broadcom BCM4712
machine : Linksys WRT54G/GS/GL
processor : 0
cpu model : Broadcom BMIPS3300 V0.7
BogoMIPS : 199.06
wait instruction : yes
microsecond timers : yes
tlb_entries : 32
extra interrupt vector : yes
hardware watchpoint : no
isa : mips1 mips2 mips32r1
ASEs implemented :
Options implemented : tlb 4kex 4k_cache prefetch mcheck ejtag llsc nan_legacy nan_2008
shadow register sets : 1
kscratch registers : 0
package : 0
core : 0
VCED exceptions : not available
VCEI exceptions : not available

Good luck.

![openwrt wireless|690x374](upload://AtTU68UWy25qadi75YY82VTTk7u.png) ![openwrt top 19 07 7 |690x360](upload://92hH0kiSlpDWeWrOUei9wTObZdk.png)

The issues in 2021 could be better described as interfering and jamming your neighbors; but who's worried about semantics. Also, I noticed also that you don't mention that trying to use the web GUI makes the device completely unstable.

Disabling the web GUI or installing a Snapshot can overcome this...but again who's supporting unsupported hardware?

How do you make use of the rest of the flash in OpenWrt? :thinking:

(This isn't DD-WRT, it's OpenWrt.)

1 Like

Only hardware strataflash soldering info is on ddwrt forums, the standard 8MB flash ie. with NO modification to hardware "SHOULD" be ok, it runs a lot better however with the strataflash upgrade, I suspect if you have 8MB original flash you might need to reduce your image size. Therefore, the posts under my name voip2014 on the ddwrt forums are just referenced if you need to see photos of the chips,

Yes we are only considering openwrt in this discussion, latest release as of today March 29 / 2021. It works fine.

So that means you cannot make sure of the additional space?

OK.

Edited original info to give you these answers

In the future, please refrain from editing the original post to convey a different context. That may be seen as "vandalism" by others in the community.

I guess it's difficult to provide a yes/no as implied in the wording of my inquiry.

So, since it doesn't seem you have a question, I hope the best for your setup!

Seems actually to be very good and very stable even after reboots, given its the most recent release I am quite happy to be on something current.

???

(Maybe you're getting my replies by email...or you're doing this to quickly get forum reputation.)

Your response makes 0 sense...

:confused:

There is no guide atm for the latest release the idea is hopefully this may help some users with the older models. This router is now 15+ yrs old.

Some models are over 21 years old.

Yes, and unsupported as I noted. I have many posts on these model routers. There will be no guide - but you can feel free to update any official Wiki if you are truly concerned.

Again, I guess since it's a guide, you don't wish to answer questions. I'm glad you got it working; and I hope you don't cause too much wireless interference to your neighbors.