Since DIR-825 and TEW-673GRU are identical I was able to install the DIR-825 DD-WRT firmware on TEW-673GRU but the last byte had to be changed from "0" to "1". (See post at http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic. … ;start=45)

Will the same work with the OpenWrt firmware for DIR-825? I mean can I install the OpenWrt DIR-825 firmware directly on TEW-673GRU or if I change the last byte from 0 to 1 and then install on TEW-673GRU, will it work? Will it Brick my Router?

Thanks
Pratab

Go

I just put backfire 10.03.1 on my TEW-673GRU by taking the 'squashfs backup loader' from the dir-825, opening it up in the hex editor and setting the LSB of the the last byte (changing it from ascii '0' to ascii '1'). I used the special 'recovery mode' to flash it (it's different than tftp recovery, it uses http: power router off, push reset button, hold it, power router on, hold for >30 seconds, and release the reset button, then browse to 192.168.10.1 (after setting your own ip to 192.168.10.10)). That is the same method as described for the dir-825, with the only difference that you're using 192.168.10.1 to browse to instead of 192.168.1.1. The flashing would only work on windows with internet explorer and with the 'compatability mode' pushed on (that's a little icon in the titlebar that you press after you first load the 192.168.10.1 page, then reload). It wouldn't work with any other browser I had on Windows nor Linux (must be some clunky javascript on that recovery page that only works that way). After you browse to the (modified) firmware file, and push the send button, you should see a blue text with a percentage starting at 0% and ending at 100%, if you don't see that, it's not working and you should try again or with a different browser (note: you may need to reboot the router to recovery mode again too after a failed upload, it seemed to be stuck for me after some failed attempts). I went straight from the TEW-673GRU firmware from the factory to openwrt, did not go to D-link firmware first, nor did I go to dd-wrt (I guess that is possible, but I saw no reason to do so).

After the blue text reached 100%, I waited a couple more minutes and changed my IP to 192.168.1.10, and browsed to 192.168.1.1 and I saw the openwrt luci interface. I confirmed that openwrt was on it by powercycling the router, and all looked fine and then I proceeded to configure the router to my liking ;-).

You will lose use of the lcd screen (it will just show the bootup logo), and you will lose the link active and activity LEDs, they stay off. For the rest it will be a rockin' openwrt router.

Note: I was messing around a bit too, but have always been able to get back to 'fresh' openwrt: I accidentally tried channel 13 at 2.4Ghz on it, and it broke something that made me have to reflash from recovery mode, and after that it worked fine again (I just didn't try channel 13 again...)... I also went crazy and installed too many packages that filled up the jffs2, and resulted in an unremoveable half-installed package and a full jffs2 partition. I let to router go to 'factory defaults' with the luci interface and then reflashed again from recovery mode just to be sure that nothing was left... With a backup of the configuration it's easy to restore that anyway.

I use it as my main router now, replacing my aging WRT54GS... I love it.

That is what i did, and it worked for me. I hope it helps others, but of course I'm not responsible for bricks if somebody tries something and does it wrong.

Good luck!

(Last edited by atthebeach on 17 Jan 2012, 17:42)

Gabor has just checked in support for the TEW-673GRU including an all new lcd4linux driver. To be specific r30385 or  later have support for the TEW-673RGU.
Image display may take a long time as a consequence of the slow SPI bus clock
Happy testing !