Support for Linksys E2500 V4

i bumped into the E5400 variant and am interested in helping getting it supported if anyone can help with that. I can go GPIO hunting but I don't have any JTAG/serial hooked up to it yet, as I just got it yesterday. Not too bad for $20 or so. It was on clearance. I figured I'd see what I could do with it and it looks like the E2500 V4 and all those other models are the same internally with minor changes of port configuration... I think.

Need to look into it more.

so i installed this onto my e5400 and it seems to work? is there anyway to update this to new open wrt from the 19? i cnat find the firmware in the supported?

19 is the latest stable, next one would be 21.02 beta/RC3.

yes that one how would i go about doing this since this isnt listed on the list>?

since this package or router is not listed in the firmware builds how would i go about updating this to

OpenWrt 21.02

You don't, this device is not supported yet (and it's not too likely that it ever will be).

comon there has to be a way anyone?

Sure, get a different, supported device.

bringing this back up anyway this is possible?

download came w/dts file

no thank you

You do. you teach yourself how to.

Thank you for your un constructive comments that really served no purpose other than making me teach myself how to do it on my own using WSL on a surafce pro x,

thanks! :wink: if anyone would like me to remake aon the latest stable build let me know. it works on ALL the linksys e type routers in walmart right now. but i would get the cheapest one (n600) its software blocked meaning this e2500 turns into the e5400 when using this firmware nice day gents

2 Likes

Hi, i have this router and i would like to test that firmware, can you give a guide how to do so? Thank you!

Hello, I build a version from master branch. You can find it HERE with source code.
Everything seems to work but it need more testing, Device Tree polishing. I don't have E2500v4, I only have a e5400 and tester will be needed before issuing a PR.

I have the Linksys E2500... the box says E2500-4B to be precise. I am hoping that "4B" is version 4. If it is I would like to help test your version.

Note: I see I have to get access to the uart. So, I do have an arduino and I think I can figure out how to use it here. The trouble is, I can't get the lid off the thing! I've tried a couple flathead screwdrivers to (gently and carefully) pry it off, but it just keeps snapping back. I've searched for videos on how to do this for this model, but I've come up empty so far.

Sorry for late reply. There are two screws under the sticker, one on the right of reset button above wall fixation and one the bottom left corner.

It's untested, I strongly encourage you to dump flash before doing anything. A $5 ch341a eeprom programmer with clamp is doing the job.

Thanks for the tip on opening up the thing. Are you saying I need an eeprom programmer for this? I guess I could get one.

Just an fyi. Since posting here, I have accomplished getting wireless here by use of a usb wireless dongle. But, since I already said I'd test this, I will go ahead and do this anyway. If it works I could make one my 2.4 and the other my 5GHz wireless router.

EEPROM programmer is not mandatory, you can test without flashing using TFTP, but it's strongly recommended because this release is untested on 2500v4.
If anything fails, and you don't have a backup you may have a brick, lost your MAC and Calibration data.

Feel free to do as you want, as you find it fun to do.

btw, i've relased a version based on 22.03 branch with a config closer to openwrt official, with basic wpad (updating form previous mays result in unknown option in wifi configuration files)

1 Like

This is what I've got: https://www.newegg.com/p/1XZ-00RC-00018?Description=dsd%20usb%20ttl&cm_re=dsd_usb%20ttl--9SIA4REDTE3498--Product

There is a free open source tool called (I think) eeprog, which perhaps I can use with it. No?

Link says serial port...

Hey @j-d-r ,
Thanks for your work on this! I have a couple of E2500s that I picked up on clearance. I was able to tftp the new version, but the 5GHz radio does not show up in config. I will try the older release to see if that works, but I wanted to let you know about the latest one. I'll be happy to test or build images now that you laid the groundwork.

I actually want to use my routers for 2.4GHz only, so that's not an issue for me, but it will be for average users, if they want to get the AC1200 speeds at the price of a 600 :wink:

The March 30 release does show the 5GHz radio. I will keep playing with that one for a while to report use.

Thanks again for your work! @j-d-r