OpenWrt Forum Archive

Topic: Linksys WRT610N

The content of this topic has been archived between 6 Feb 2018 and 1 May 2018. Unfortunately there are posts – most likely complete pages – missing.

Hi

I have tested the Openwrt SVN Revision r17438
with a patched makefile
Add the follow code to the Makefile at "target/linux/brcm-2.4/image/Makefile" and you get a working image.

$(call Image/Build/CyberTAN,$(1),wrt610n_v1,610N,1.0.1,$(patsubst jffs2-%,jffs2,$(1)))

What i can say is:
Target System: Broadcom BCM947xx/953xx  [2.4]
The wired interfaces works perfect. But no wireless interface available.
Note: You must select at "menuconfig" Kernel modules => Network Devices => [*] kmod-brcm-57xx to get a working wired interface.

The Kernel 2.6 Image:
Target System: Broadcom BCM947xx/953xx
Both wireless and wired interfaces are not available. Only accessible over serial cable.


kind regards RobertD

(Last edited by RobertD on 30 Aug 2009, 23:53)

Hi
thanks for testing the patch. Yes, only linux 2.4 is supported for now, and it will probably stay that way until broadcom releases 2.6 wireless driver, or some HW programing documentation.
I am now working on the wireless driver, but getting the binary-only driver working is not easy, so will take some time.

Hi Kicker

that sounds great,
if i can help you with testing images, just ask.

Well, if you find some time to give VLANs some spin, it would be great. I didn't have time to test them properly, and I don't know if they will just work, or if some more tweaking will be required. I plan to get back to it when basic wireless works.
Also, checking out jumbo frames would be nice, although I haven't even checked if OpenWRT supports them at all yet...

(Last edited by Kicker on 1 Sep 2009, 15:16)

Hi there. Any progress getting the wireless device working in WRT610N? I really need to start using OpenWrt again since I use to make heavy use of its WOL feature. Also, the original Linksys firmware is too buggy...

Are the wired interfaces really working well?
Thanks.

Hi,
I have suceeded in loading the proprietary Broadcom wireless driver into OpenWrt kernel. But I can't configure the device or use it yet, there is still some problem somewhere. So wireless is still unusable.
I haven't done any testing on the wired part since my original patch, as I need to use the unit for normal wireless as well. So I am using the original (yes, quite buggy and limited) firmware for normal day-to-day operation, and boot OpenWrt just for development. I will start really testing wired connection when I get the wirelles usable, which would allow me to switch to OpenWrt for good.

Kicker wrote:

Hi,
I have suceeded in loading the proprietary Broadcom wireless driver into OpenWrt kernel. But I can't configure the device or use it yet, there is still some problem somewhere. So wireless is still unusable.
I haven't done any testing on the wired part since my original patch, as I need to use the unit for normal wireless as well. So I am using the original (yes, quite buggy and limited) firmware for normal day-to-day operation, and boot OpenWrt just for development. I will start really testing wired connection when I get the wirelles usable, which would allow me to switch to OpenWrt for good.

Hi Kicker!
How did you manage to load the proprietary driver into the kernel? Did you force it?
BTW, thank you for your effort on this.

vinicius.vbf wrote:

Hi Kicker!
How did you manage to load the proprietary driver into the kernel? Did you force it?
BTW, thank you for your effort on this.

Well, depends on what you mean by force it :-). It is necessary to modify quite a few source files in the kernel to add all the missing symbols required. Then the module loads (but does not work so far, probably still some modifications missing).

vinicius.vbf wrote:

Hi everyone! Just spent a few hours researching about the WRT610N...
Can anyone confirm that it is possible to access the Serial console in the 610N through the WAN port?  (http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=47603)

Hi
Yes, I can confirm it works. I am using the WAN port with custom made connector (made from one male and one female ethernet connectors, a bit dirty work, but it works) and a custom made level convertor (MAX232) to access the serial console.

vinicius.vbf wrote:

Would the dd-wrt changesets 11650-11653 help us on getting a working wireless driver? (http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic. … ;start=600) (last post)

No idea. The sources of DD-WRT are probably too different from OpenWRT (never checked). You may be better off starting with the original Linksys sources (that's what I am doing). If you start with the DD-WRT, look at some of the later releases, there were some strange problems in the early days of WRT610N support (router rebooting spontaneously with both wireless on etc.). Not sure if the support in DD-WRT is finished now...

I am currently using dd-wrt with a openwrt chroot inside. It works, and I get best of both worlds.

hi guys this is a my very first post, may i know hows the progress for wrt610n.  is the wireless working ???

i just ordered the max3232CPE+ chip for free sample. Still haven't arrived. Hope to get it asap and try the Openwrt.

Any changes on status of wrt610n? I haven't yet tryied openwrt on my device at all but as it seems that my wrt54gs v1.0 is dying(cannot boot with image bigger than 4096mb even though flash is twice that size(only on newer than 2.6.28)), I am thinking about using my wrt610n to replace it for now..

Anyway- at the moment, I am compiling a 2.4 image as explained on this thread but I see there hasn't been a much conversation about the device since my last check and I was wondering if there's any change.. I also found this: https://dev.openwrt.org/changeset/11471
and was wondering if it's for 2.4 or 2.6 and has anyone possible tryied it actually on wrt610n?

Okay - I did my best to flash image to wrt610n by tftp.. with no luck.. sad
Here's what I did from gentoo linux inside a vmware..

gentoo-virt brcm-2.4 # arping -f 192.168.1.1; atftp --trace --option "timeout 1" --option "mode octet" --put --local-file openwrt-wrt610n_v1-squashfs.bin 192.168.1.1

then I plug-in power to the device and start to tftp upload - with catastrophic results.. It ends to:

received ACK <block: 7424>
sent DATA <block: 7425, size: 512>
tftp: error received from server <transfer cancelled>
tftp: aborting

and.. I end up with a brick device (power led blinking eternally)..
My image is 4.9mb but afaik - that should be ok, this device has 8mb flash; right?

I am answering my own question..

TFTP recovery console accepts ONLY legit linksys firmware images AND is limited to 3.8mb - to upload bigger images - use console or web interface (depends on image you are previously using) - or web browser tool called Management Firmware update..

Source of this information and instructions are available on DD-wrt's wiki for wrt610n..

Even so - I used Management Firmware update tool to upload my image and this ended up with a bricked router - I tested it with ddwrt image (bigger than 5mb) - and it worked, so the problem must be within my image. And yes, I don't have serial console so that's why I cannot show any logs or trace the problem.. But surely other people have strugled with this device and might guess where the problem might be.. So tips are welcome..

btw.. People who have succeeded with this.. What versions of uclibc and gcc have you been using? Maybe that's the source of my problem..

I re-compiled again from somewhat clean table.. I left it almost as it is.. Chose brcm-2.4 as a target, enabled kmod-bcm57xx and chose MIMO driver as wireless (not necessary and afaik it doesn't work, but I thought that it shouldn't hurt to try it out while here) - Image is small, only 2.1mb - but I still have no luck with this sad It seems to boot, I ping 192.168.1.1 and it replies 5 times (boot-wait time when to upload image with tftp) and then doesn't answer - until about 10-20 seconds later (after kernel init is at end and system init should start) when it reboots.. So there's a reboot loop.. hmm

Explanation might be once again on dd-wrt's wiki entry.. Check out this link

My router is older with cfe .12 so this would apply..

---

Should had readed the contents of patch before hooraying about i here - I am not sure if that helps at all as it seems to be something about dd-wrt's failsafe/reset..

(Last edited by jake1981 on 23 Jan 2010, 18:00)

I made even smaller image (removed wireless stuff including MIMO modules) and I ended up with only 1.4mb image smile

I flashed it and it ended up exactly the same as my previous try did.. Here's my ping log:

macbookpro:~ jake$ ping 192.168.1.1
PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
Request timeout for icmp_seq 1
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=100 time=19.383 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=100 time=1.007 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=100 time=1.056 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=100 time=0.902 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=100 time=0.970 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=100 time=1.090 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 8
Request timeout for icmp_seq 9
Request timeout for icmp_seq 10
Request timeout for icmp_seq 11
Request timeout for icmp_seq 12
Request timeout for icmp_seq 13
Request timeout for icmp_seq 14
Request timeout for icmp_seq 15
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=16 ttl=100 time=84.991 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=17 ttl=100 time=0.894 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=18 ttl=100 time=0.845 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=19 ttl=100 time=0.930 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=20 ttl=100 time=0.811 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=21 ttl=100 time=0.876 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 22
Request timeout for icmp_seq 23
Request timeout for icmp_seq 24
Request timeout for icmp_seq 25
Request timeout for icmp_seq 26
Request timeout for icmp_seq 27
Request timeout for icmp_seq 28
Request timeout for icmp_seq 29
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=30 ttl=100 time=151.563 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=31 ttl=100 time=0.881 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=32 ttl=100 time=0.881 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=33 ttl=100 time=0.826 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=34 ttl=100 time=1.496 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=35 ttl=100 time=0.743 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 36
Request timeout for icmp_seq 37
Request timeout for icmp_seq 38
Request timeout for icmp_seq 39
Request timeout for icmp_seq 40
Request timeout for icmp_seq 41
Request timeout for icmp_seq 42
Request timeout for icmp_seq 43
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=44 ttl=100 time=216.882 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=45 ttl=100 time=0.751 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=46 ttl=100 time=0.932 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=47 ttl=100 time=0.775 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=48 ttl=100 time=0.919 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=49 ttl=100 time=0.895 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 50
Request timeout for icmp_seq 51
^C
--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---
53 packets transmitted, 24 packets received, 54.7% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.743/20.471/216.882/53.060 ms
macbookpro:~ jake$

HELP!!!

(Last edited by jake1981 on 23 Jan 2010, 18:12)

Hello Jake,
I must admit I haven't tried to flash my WRT610N yet, I am booting it for image testing using ftfp without flashing so far, as I need to use the device for normal operation as well.
I haven't tried 2.6 kernel, as there is currently no hope for wireless in 2.6. Although I think I remember someone posting some log of booting into 2.6.
With 2.4, I can successfully boot image I build and I can use wired networking. I can post my config, or even the image, if that helps (in the evening, when I get home). But not sure my image will be usable for you, it is customized to mount root on the USB stick for testing...

With the reset, I am afraid I can't help. Without logs from serial console, it is very difficult to troubleshoot...

(Last edited by Kicker on 25 Jan 2010, 11:48)

Kicker wrote:

I haven't tried 2.6 kernel, as there is currently no hope for wireless in 2.6. Although I think I remember someone posting some log of booting into 2.6.

There are DD-WRT images with the broadcom 2.6 driver. I have my 610N running it just fine. Both radios work, both G and N. Performance is fine. DD-WRT is using 2.6.24.111 for the baseline. I'm using both radios on 2.4ghz actually, since I do not have any 5ghz devices. This lets me use G-only on one, and N-only on the other.

Anyone able to build openwrt image with 2.6 kernel and drivers from dd-wrt? That would be great starting point for openwrt on wrt610n..

I mean, if someone gets up a building environment that can make bootable image, even though some parts would error or warn, but with wired + telnet/ssh, I could try to help here too, maybe check out if I could bring some other stuff alive that maybe would initially be incorrectly set up (talking about base-files specific to this device here or device specific configurations and so on, not kernel hacking or adding vlan support to driver if that is missing or anything like that..)

mooninite wrote:
Kicker wrote:

I haven't tried 2.6 kernel, as there is currently no hope for wireless in 2.6. Although I think I remember someone posting some log of booting into 2.6.

There are DD-WRT images with the broadcom 2.6 driver. I have my 610N running it just fine. Both radios work, both G and N. Performance is fine. DD-WRT is using 2.6.24.111 for the baseline. I'm using both radios on 2.4ghz actually, since I do not have any 5ghz devices. This lets me use G-only on one, and N-only on the other.

Well, this got me to take a quick look into DD-WRT sources, finally. There are some binary drivers in the 2.6 tree, so it seems there is a hope for wireless in 2.6 after all. Unfortunately, so far I was not able to find any license for these binary drivers or where they came from, so it's still a question whether its usable for OpenWRT or not. Also, I remember seeing complaints on stability on the DD-WRT forums, not sure this got resolved. Drivers for 2.4 kernel are available and well tested in the original firmware, so the question is which way to go now.
But at least, it's a good motivation to start playing with the 2.6 kernel now :-).