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Topic: [HOWTO] Installing Kamikaze on ASUS WL-500G Premium

The content of this topic has been archived on 7 Apr 2018. There are no obvious gaps in this topic, but there may still be some posts missing at the end.

I actually wrote this HOWTO before I found out that there was another one. I am still posting it thinking that maybe someone will take this as a useful thing and not spam smile

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Foolproof installation of OpenWrt Kamikaze 7.09 on ASUS WL-500G Premium


1. Preparations - Before we start the actual installation here is a list of what you need:

    * The router smile
    * A Windows machine
    * Proper cables for the router (power and network cable – bundled with the router)
    * A tftp client – Windows has one by default available in the command prompt however you can get a better freeware one from here if you wish.
    * Putty for logging in to your newly installed OpenWrt firmware.

2. This part explains the process of installing the OpenWrt firmware on the router.

    * Download the latest stable build of the firmware from the OpenWrt site. I used Kamikaze; you can get the file from here. Save it to c:\
    * Connect the router to the computer using the provided network cable and any of the LAN ports. Do NOT connect the cable to the WAN port!
    * Reset the router to the factory defaults – do this via the official firmware. The purpose of resetting the router is to set its IP to 192.168.1.1 if the router already has this IP, resetting is not necessary.
    * Assign the PC you are working from the static IP address of 192.168.1.10 (subnet mask: 255.255.255.0, preferred DNS server: 192.168.1.1)
    * It's time to reset the router to its factory defaults. Keep the reset button pressed for 10 seconds while the router is powered and running, and then unplug the power cord while keeping the reset button pressed. Keep it unplugged for a couple of seconds then plug back the power cord. Keep the reset button pressed for a couple of seconds then release it. The power led should be flashing once per second.
    * Open a command prompt and cd to the directory where the firmware (*.trx file) is stored. Issue the following command to upload the OpenWrt firmware (replace the name of the file with the one you downloaded):

tftp -i 192.168.1.1 PUT openwrt-brcm-2.4-squashfs.trx

This is not guaranteed to work the first time, you might receive timeouts but if that happens try and upload it again as it will eventually work and you will receive a confirmation message

    * Start the newly installed firmware by resetting the router – unplug the power cord for a few seconds. You can ping the router (cmd: ping -t 192.168.1.1) to see when it finishes booting.

3. Basic configuration of the router.

    * Now that the router is up and running you can telnet to it (cmd: telnet 192.168.1.1 ) and login as root. The first thing to do is set a password; do this by issuing the command passwd <enter> then typing the password twice.
    * At this point you can connect the cable to the WAN port, however things will not work properly if your ISP has a lockdown on your MAC address. If so, Google will help you on the process of changing the MAC address
    * Having connected the internet cable to the WAN port, reboot the router by issuing the reboot command in the telnet session opened earlier. It might take a couple of minutes for the router to reboot and setup the WAN.

At this point it is worth noting that the OpenWrt does not come with a preinstalled graphical web interface and everything can be done only in the command line.

4. Installing the X-Wrt web interface.

    * After the reboot of the router ssh is now active and you will use it instead of telnet. Open putty and open a ssh connection to 192.168.1.1 The user is root and the password is the one that has been set earlier.
    * The ipkg config file needs to be edited to add the X-Wrt repositories. Issue the following command: vim /etc/ipkg.conf

       The basic stuff you need to know about vim (the editor which is now open) is this:
       - Use the arrows to move through the document
       - Use i to enter edit mode
       - Use Esc to exit edit mode
       - While in view mode press :wq to write the file and quit. Double check before saving the file.

    * Append the following line at the end of the file

src X-Wrt http://downloads.x-wrt.org/xwrt/kamikaze/7.09/brcm-2.4/packages

Your ipkg config file should probably look like this:

src release http://downloads.openwrt.org/kamikaze/7.09/brcm-2.4/packages
src packages http://downloads.openwrt.org/kamikaze/packages/mipsel
dest root /
dest ram /tmp
src X-Wrt http://downloads.x-wrt.org/xwrt/kamikaze/7.09/brcm-2.4/packages

* Now that the repositories have been added, issue the following commands

ipkg update
ipkg install webif

* Reboot the router by issuing the reboot command and wait
    * Access the web interface by going to http://192.168.1.1 and logging in with the user root and the password set earlier.

You now should have a functional OpenWrt firmware with web interface. From there it's damn straightforward so configuring the router should be fairly easy.

=========
References:
Overview of the network interfaces concept in OpenWrt – link
General installation info - link
OpenWrt documentation for Kamikaze – link
Installing OpenWrt howto – link
Asus WL-500G Premium specs at OpenWrt wiki – link
X-Wrt wiki – link
X-Wrt on White Russian screenshots - link

(Last edited by ghostwriter on 20 Jan 2008, 20:17)

Nice smile

I strongly suggest that you put your work on wiki pages !!!
Forum is ok but still wiki is THE thing for knowledge !

How about you add some stuff about torrenting ?

It would be nice for me smile

I tried it with step by step and got confused by :

ipkg update
ipkg install webif

--> my router can't have any connection to the famous internet, cause there isn't any ISP information configured.
What about static/dynamic ip adresses, wan interface configuration, username/pw, ... ?

i'm corious about how i'll set up openwrt/x-wrt today... ;D



"It's time to reset the router to its factory defaults. Keep the reset button pressed for 10 seconds while the router is powered and running, and then unplug the power cord while keeping the reset button pressed. Keep it unplugged for a couple of seconds then plug back the power cord. Keep the reset button pressed for a couple of seconds then release it. The power led should be flashing once per second."

man, this sentences made me looking like a weirdo... äh, what?
unplug, push the restore (not reset, which doesn't exist) button, plug in, wait in this sexy position for a few seconds, release.

i also don't get the point of telling users (more likely newbies like me *g*) why they should reconfigure their ip adresses of the router's NIC, as you can take any ip adress with the command-line command (tftp -i 192.168.1.1 PUT openwrt-brcm-2.4-squashfs.trx). maybe i'm wrong, i did the whole procedure with the asus restoration tool.

this is good-ment and silly formated/spellt criticism.
any quick help is appreciated!

/me is *stuck*

You can start with x-wrt image that includes both kamikaze and webif:

This way you will have browser-based interface right away (chapter 4 becomes unnecessary). Theoretically, you won't need to run ipkg from command line at all. However, if you are scared of getting to CLI, OpenWRT may not be for you.

At this point you can connect the cable to the WAN port, however things will not work properly if your ISP has a lockdown on your MAC address.

Assuming you could get to the Internet before, you shouldn't have any problems now, either. OpenWRT installation doesn't change MAC address AFAIK

thanks i like the x-wrt tongue
Now can you tell me when the mount is done ?
search the /etc/init.d,m but cant find it

Why do I need a Windows machine ? :-P

Im not able to save the file edited with vim from putty.

wq doesn't do a thing and whenever i press q it says: 'q' is not implemented.

Anyone has any idea why it's not working?


Nevermind ... my bad i haven't seen the ":"

(Last edited by rocodesign on 25 Apr 2008, 18:09)

Thank you so much for writing this HOWTO, it was very helpful for me. There are other ones but you have taken an excellent step-by-step program.
It all worked fine for me except for the install of the webif package, there was a httpd running but when I connect to http://192.168.1.1 in my browser, I get a 404 error.

I found a resolution here: http://wiki.x-wrt.org/index.php/Kamikaz … t_manually

In short, do a
  ipkg install haserl
before you do the webif install.

ghostwriter wrote:

1. Preparations - Before we start the actual installation here is a list of what you need:

    * A Windows machine
    * A tftp client – Windows has one by default available in the command prompt however you can get a better freeware one from here if you wish.
    * Putty for logging in to your newly installed OpenWrt firmware.

You can do this firmware upgrade much better with a computer running on a Linux OS that already comes with a much better TFTP server and an SSH client (no need to download PUTTY), let alone you can easily use your Linux computer to compile OpenWRT source to build a tailored firmware for your Asus WL-500GP router specific to your needs (I don't see how this can be done easily with a computer running on a Windows OS). So, if you are considering to put this HOWTO on a WiKI, I recommend that you ought to make some necessary changes to the above requirements.

The discussion might have continued from here.