WL500g Premium - 7f-pre6 - URGENT ... now -pre7

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03-09-2006, 10:26
Oleg

WL500g Premium - 7f-pre6 - URGENT ... now -pre7

I've updated my firmware to workaround partial nvram loss problem. Everyone, who use my firmware, should upgrade to this latest version: http://oleg.wl500g.info/gp/WL500gp-1.9.2.7-7f-pre7.trx

With this firmware, your unit would correctly detect RESET button state, regardless of nvram settings. I'm still investigating the reason for nvram loss - this is sort of hardware problem.

Updated to -pre7. Added a new workarounds for flash handling. Flash programing is now much faster, hangups should go away when commiting nvram changes. MirrorBit flash technology hacks added... nvram CRC checks are also added. Only kernel is updated.
03-09-2006, 12:03
r0kanon

Is there a possibility to keep settings and USB HDD config?

Hi Oleg, thanks very much for this notice. I have just completed wl-500Gp with HDD, enhanced-ctorrent and stuff like that. It has been working well for a week now. Do you think there is a way to keep customizations or shall I just complete torrents and take everything down, then re-install from scratch?

Cheers and just wanted to say - your work is excellent.
03-09-2006, 14:21
Oleg

You do not need to reinstall everything. Just flash new firmware and replace /sbin/rc with an updated one.
03-09-2006, 14:31
seaky

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oleg

I've updated my firmware to workaround partial nvram loss problem. Everyone, who use my firmware, should upgrade to this latest version: http://oleg.wl500g.info/gp/WL500gp-1.9.2.7-7f-pre6.trx

With this firmware, your unit would correctly detect RESET button state, regardless of nvram settings. I'm still investigating the reason for nvram loss - this is sort of hardware problem.

Many thanks for your work!
03-09-2006, 23:11
Pedro83

stability / dead router

Hi Oleg, thanks for new release. I've bought 500gP recently and still running Asus firmware. Do you still expect possibility of dead router? Is there any other way how to bring it then back to "life" except the trick with pin inside... I would like to install your firmware but i don't want to lose warranty. I will wait couple days probably to have responses from those braver :) thx for your work on firmware... P
04-09-2006, 08:15
Oleg

This is not a firmware problem, but hardware. The router "dies" with ASUS firmware too and DD-WRT as well.
04-09-2006, 08:19
Pedro83

oh, really sorry then... that's good news :) so I will give it try sooner or later... and what about the reset? just through pin? or any other option?
04-09-2006, 12:26
r0kanon

/sbin/rc

I updated the firmware, (by the way web interface refused to do that but ASUS recovery utility loaded it fine. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I had gx firmware on it before) however ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oleg

You do not need to reinstall everything. Just flash new firmware and replace /sbin/rc with an updated one.

Oleg I somehow lost you there. What is updated /sbin/rc ?

I understand this is a binary that contains quite a few things (including reboot) and it comes with the firmware. So if I flash a new one on, the /sbin/rc is updated as well? Or is there something that I am just missing?

Many thanks
04-09-2006, 15:52
IvanS

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oleg

This is not a firmware problem, but hardware. The router "dies" with ASUS firmware too and DD-WRT as well.

Can we have some more details about this hw problem?
Is it something you/Asus can find a software workaround?

BTW I read that wl500gP should have some hw facility to speed up encryption? Does your firmware support it?

thanks and kudos for the great work you're doing
04-09-2006, 18:57
Oleg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pedro83

oh, really sorry then... that's good news :) so I will give it try sooner or later... and what about the reset? just through pin? or any other option?

Reset should work fine now. I've added a code, which checks nvram validity (this feature does not exist in any other firmware at the moment) and automatically resets to defaults. Also, button is no longer depends on the nvram content. And finally, looks like the problem was due to hangups during nvram commit. Finally, the reason was that this new flash utilize MirrorBit technology which is not directly supported by linux. The flash supplies unexpected values during the query cycle, which are causing extra delays during write cycles. Etc, etc, etc... :D I've added a "hack" to workaround this issues.
04-09-2006, 18:59
Oleg

Quote:

Originally Posted by IvanS

Can we have some more details about this hw problem?
Is it something you/Asus can find a software workaround?

Read above.

Quote:

BTW I read that wl500gP should have some hw facility to speed up encryption? Does your firmware support it?

No tech doc is available for this facility and there is no code utilizing it... Well, perhaps they're using the same arch as for accelerators, but nobody checked this.
04-09-2006, 20:00
P Still

Client mode support ?

Is Client mode now working ?

last I tried with release 1.9.2.7-7f-pre4 and client mode it just acted as .... and no possibilities to contact the bricked router. => Pin 9 .....

Should I dare again with 7f-pre6 ?
04-09-2006, 20:12
Oleg

Quote:

Originally Posted by P Still

Is Client mode now working ?

last I tried with release 1.9.2.7-7f-pre4 and client mode it just acted as .... and no possibilities to contact the bricked router. => Pin 9 .....

Should I dare again with 7f-pre6 ?

Works fine. The latest is pre7.
04-09-2006, 22:28
bbaccsi

Oleg, I've experienced a problem with 7f pre6: on the web surface
if I clicked on save & restart I couldn't log in after restart, but
had to force a reeboot again from ssh. Does pre7 solve this problem also?
Thanks for your work!

Bbaccsi

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oleg

I've updated my firmware to workaround partial nvram loss problem. Everyone, who use my firmware, should upgrade to this latest version: http://oleg.wl500g.info/gp/WL500gp-1.9.2.7-7f-pre7.trx

With this firmware, your unit would correctly detect RESET button state, regardless of nvram settings. I'm still investigating the reason for nvram loss - this is sort of hardware problem.

Updated to -pre7. Added a new workarounds for flash handling. Flash programing is now much faster, hangups should go away when commiting nvram changes. MirrorBit flash technology hacks added... nvram CRC checks are also added. Only kernel is updated.
05-09-2006, 08:00
Oleg

pre7 does not fix a problems: it tries to workaround them. Yes, flash pre7.
05-09-2006, 10:20
dunatos

I have installed olegs 1.9.2.7-7f-pre7 firmware on my router.

I now want to install the firmware asus supplied. I have download the file "WL500gp_1.9.6.9_TW.trx" from their site. But when I select the file in firmware upgrade and select upgrade. The router write it will take about 80 seconds..... Then after about 1 minute, the screen reloads as it should. But nothing has happend, the firmware is still "olegs 1.9.2.7-7f-pre7"?

How can I roll back to the asus firmware?
05-09-2006, 10:28
Oleg

Use firmware restoration tool.
05-09-2006, 10:35
dunatos

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oleg

Use firmware restoration tool.

already use it!
the firmware is still "olegs 1.9.2.7-7f-pre7"
05-09-2006, 12:12
degenerated

Quote:

Originally Posted by dunatos

already use it!
the firmware is still "olegs 1.9.2.7-7f-pre7"

try tftp'ing it while in diag mode
06-09-2006, 07:02
dunatos

Quote:

Originally Posted by degenerated

try tftp'ing it while in diag mode

what is command "tftp"?
and how to use it?

Please provide a step
06-09-2006, 12:17
degenerated

Quote:

Originally Posted by dunatos

what is command "tftp"?
and how to use it?

Please provide a step

well check this thread http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?t=1329
06-09-2006, 20:59
IvanS

who should we bother to have the docs?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oleg

Read above.

No tech doc is available for this facility and there is no code utilizing it... Well, perhaps they're using the same arch as for accelerators, but nobody checked this.

Is it something that can be exploited for ssh too or just for the wifi part?

Who should we flood with emails to make the docs public?
On my (our as users) part it seems a definitively good investment to try to put you in the condition to improve the firmware further.

thx for the workaround and the reply
06-09-2006, 21:13
Banane

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oleg

The router "dies" with ASUS firmware too and DD-WRT as well.

I can confirm this. In my case it "died" with OpenWRT, see http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=7050 O.k. I build my own OpenWRT and maybe I did something wrong. But my build messages and results didn't look like that at first sight. I could only reanimate the router with PIN 9 (see also here: http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?p=35121#post35121 ). Before, I already observed strange nvram values: http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?p=34696#post34696 (I posted some nvram excerpts at the end of the post.)

So, if all this is true, Oleg has the only save firmware at the moment (with his workarounds)! Great work again, Oleg!

And here are my questions: Perhaps, I would like to change to Oleg's new firmware, even though I like OpenWRT, too. Are there any possibilities that Oleg's firmware does not have? Especially I want to access a DVD via USB and samba! Therefore I need USB-stuff, Samba-stuff and Kernel-filesystem-module for ISO9660 and UDF.

And I want to boot any customized firmware of my choice from an usb-medium. (This way I never need to do the PIN 9 again when I hacked too much.) Is it possible to boot from usb-media with Oleg's firmware like with OpenWRT? (http://wiki.openwrt.org/UsbStorageHo...ht=%28HowTo%29) Or vice versa: let OpenWRT on Asus and boot Oleg's from usb-medium somehow? Are the firmwares all the same: a busybox that can be "easily" bootet with

exec /bin/busybox init ?

Best regards

Thorsten
10-09-2006, 08:31
Kosh

Full memory already available with new Firmware?

I installed the WL500gp-1.9.2.7-7f-pre7.trx two days ago on my WL500gP. I followed the tutorial http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?t=5909 to install several packages. The only part I skipped was the "Extend RAM to 32MB" section of that tutorial, because free returns the following on my box:

Code:

total used free shared buffers Mem: 30140 28684 1456 0 1048 Swap: 136544 2804 133740 Total: 166684 31488 135196

So it seems to me, that the 32MB memory are already available. Has the latest firmware version been modified to support the 32MB out of the box? If I look at the sdram values in the nvram I find the following values:

Code:

sdram_ncdl=0x507 sdram_init=0x0009

The value "sdram_ncdl=0x507" differs from the "sdram_ncdl=0" in the tutorial. My question is now, if I would gain anything from setting the ncdl value in nvram, since the 32MB seems already available to me...

Tanks for your help,
Kosh
12-09-2006, 19:57
PartyZan

I would like to know, what are the main improvements if I upgrade to pref7 firmware. I'm not such a "power user" like most of you guys here... so I need a simple answer. :p

Thank you!
12-09-2006, 20:10
Oleg

Quote:

Originally Posted by PartyZan

I would like to know, what are the main improvements if I upgrade to pref7 firmware. I'm not such a "power user" like most of you guys here... so I need a simple answer. :p

Thank you!

This depends on the firmware which you've at the moment. If you've one of my firmwares before -pre6, then you should uprade for sure. The changes are internal to keep your router working when nvram fails.
12-09-2006, 20:12
Oleg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kosh

The value "sdram_ncdl=0x507" differs from the "sdram_ncdl=0" in the tutorial. My question is now, if I would gain anything from setting the ncdl value in nvram, since the 32MB seems already available to me...

You've 32MB enabled. ncdl == 0 is used to automagically tune memory timings. Once booted it would be set to different value, so 0x507 is also valid...
12-09-2006, 20:14
Oleg

Quote:

Originally Posted by IvanS

Is it something that can be exploited for ssh too or just for the wifi part?

Mostly by IPSec.

Quote:

Who should we flood with emails to make the docs public?

Broadcom. :D
12-09-2006, 20:19
Oleg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Banane

I can confirm this. In my case it "died" with OpenWRT, see http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=7050

Actually, the fix is possible for openwrt too... There are 2 patches in my sources which are fixing this...
12-09-2006, 21:45
Banane

Hi Oleg!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oleg

Actually, the fix is possible for openwrt too... There are 2 patches in my sources which are fixing this...

Well, send OpenWRT your fix! :-) As far as I remember from some posts you have already been in contact with them. Why not? If I could help a little bit, ..., but I (am only a "newbie" and) believe it is far more efficient if you're communicating with mbm, nbd and so on yourself :-)

I assume they are developing on "kamikaze" mainly :o . Don't know If they would patch WR5 for one device (of several supported) , that did not exist and has never been supported "officially" till march or so :confused: . If they do not patch, it would not "help" people, that do not compile the "bleeding" edge and want to use "stable" WR5. Perhaps there are still other possibilities, but may be a more complicated situation for WR5 with 500gP, but your fix still could be used for kamikaze!

Best regards

Thorsten
13-09-2006, 16:56
PartyZan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oleg

This depends on the firmware which you've at the moment. If you've one of my firmwares before -pre6, then you should uprade for sure. The changes are internal to keep your router working when nvram fails.

Thanks for your answer! Currently I'm runing official fw (1.9.6.9),... I tried also your pre6 fw and I played to much with some settings and finally I run "factory default" wich cause my router died.... pin 9 bring it alive... ;)
Will try pre7... :p
20-09-2006, 20:02
guilherme

Anyone know if tfp command'll restore the router instead of use pin 9? I'd like 2 try oleg's firmware but I don't want 2 open my router.
20-09-2006, 21:11
Banane

Sorry, there will be no guarantee, of course! There's always a real risk. As Oleg says there seems to be hardware bug or something like that, as far as I understand!? His newest firmware seems to work around the problem, and may be the only one, that does this, but ...

Maybe, you will have problems and can restore a firmware with tftp but only if you can reach your router via ip. If it suddenly decides to take a random ip from about 4000000000 possibilities or even no ip at all it will be not reachable anymore.

As much as I understand, this can even happen, if you do not change your firmware but only your settings, like i did before writing the following post:
http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?p=34696#post34696

Here is one defect ip setting in my nvram:

dr_staticipaddr_x=
¥¿¢â]Sñ–•žÜ&Ï÷fNQ÷xÚ5–?L¢gÇß4úÖ³H8ËÙ·œ*xçÜçŸ“PTÔ·) MMkÛ–Á¤¦a *ihcZš080000800800888ÜÀÀààÀpƒƒƒƒƒƒƒC¿O¾ßä“ß÷ù>¿ ç÷ü}zß²ìaË‡´,‰Á‚‰ŸYÖ¾‰Á#G,«ab°£ö®Ú}#ÿó9& þÕ²&M†Á¡÷,k^¾¨|qÅIÅ)õsÕ/£~9ùvå+È·/_I¾Cù*òUå«É×ïX¾–|mùNä{+_W¾sù.äëÉw%ßµ|ùnä»•Ï¥od” >Ï(}¾Qúü£ôå
Ë‘o^¾¨|)ùÒòmÉ·=Ê}ÌŒrsòíýwËÊ,J/=aYe£ƒUéuå=RÞ†ò6•·-ß½Ñ¿Ãü>€v<ÔócäþóÇ˜ç`ŒyJcÌS‘¯.6Å–úµÕïDýNÕ¯#_O¼ ÆÂúèó"ÞÃú‚6ôj}½Z_¯Ö×ËüQ/ó§åÛ–/#ßŽ|Yù
òå;¯$_Y¾šÚëjoªß—ëwëåúÝ<¤~÷þû‡ô[ãÌ74Î|¾qú18NÿÌ8ýaù#òÇåK‹1'æÇ¹n…q®[Uz]y”·¡¼Må=Qû©Ú;êwõ!õ“I?})?}®ŸyÒ~æÉÈ×6:xbt“Gºçuß#ê ¹Gò=
¿ÑÁK/¢Ÿ‰Á|å ú'è;ž ¯5Aß…‰Æy21x5¡{mô¯‘ÇèàôôGdUL:ÌŸr˜?ç0ÿ®Ãü‡óWæ¯;ì ×p˜¿é0[úÈÇä®˜ËbUô8®/ÀqÝ

I do not understand how this could happen, but if the router does such things, it can also suddenly point to a random or invalid ip value. If you only changed your settings you still have guarantee and get a new device or money back!

Perhaps Oleg can post some more descriptions of the symptoms or causes of the bug!?
21-09-2006, 09:32
Oleg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Banane

Here is one defect ip setting in my nvram:

Have you reseted to defaults after you've flashed -pre7? Perhaps, this is an old firmware thing...
22-09-2006, 00:49
Banane

Hi Oleg!

I should have written:

"Here is one defect ip setting that has been in my nvram with my first/original asus firmware"

:-)
29-10-2006, 12:24
philwo

Are Olegs workarounds/fixes incorporated into OpenWRT yet? :)