Installing Kamikaze on the WL500GP

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For the time being, I'll just redirect you [here] and, until I know better, I'll assume you still can't use the ASUS web GUI and have to make do with one of:

  • TFTP and the router diag mode, or
  • the Windows-based ASUS firmware restoration tool

as described there. And unless I'm mistaken, [this] is the image you'll be installing.


TFTP installation of openWRT firmware on a stock ASUS WL-500g Premium

Firmware is most easily installed using some variant of TFTP from an attached computer with the router in diag mode. The current 2.6 Linux kernel firmware for this router (lacking in wireless capability) is openwrt-brcm47xx-2.6-squashfs.trx and can be found at [this] site. Download the firmware and save it in an accessible location.

Firmware loading and flashing on the router is accomplished as follows:

  • Unplug power to the router.
  • Make a wired ethernet connection from LAN port #1 to your computer's ethernet port.
  • Depress and hold the RESTORE button on the back of the router and return power to the router. Hold the RESTORE button until the power indicator on the front of the router begins to blink slowly. The router is now in diag mode.
  • Establish a network connection to the router. The LAN address of the router will be the value stored in nvram. The default is 192.168.1.1 but any changes made to the router configuration will persist in diag mode. The router may, or may not use DHCP to serve addresses in diag mode, so it is best to configure the computer interface with a static address on the LAN network (192.168.1.2 is a good choice, as long as it doesn't conflict with anything else on the network). Ping the router to be sure a connection has been made. It may be necessary to disable other network interfaces (ie. wireless) on your computer to ensure proper routing.
  • From the directory containing the firmware, start an TFTP session. The example below uses the default router address - change it as required: 
$ tftp 192.168.1.1
tftp> trace
tftp> binary   [Depending on your version of TFTP, ensure binary mode.]
tftp> put openwrt-brcm47xx-2.6-squashfs.trx
tftp> quit
$
  • The router will load the firmware and begin to flash it into nvram. During this time, the power indicator on the router will go out. Wait until this light comes back on, or wait at least 8 minutes for the flashing process to complete. If the power indicator has not come back on after 8 minutes, cycle the power on the router.
  • The router should now answer pings on the LAN network. If so, the firmware flashing is complete.
  • Telnet into the router and set the root password. Setting the root password will disable the router's telnet server and enable the ssh server. Use ssh for subsequent communications with the router. Note that after the firmware flash, the router will return to its default address of 192.168.1.1.

mtd installation of openWRT firmware on a ASUS WL-500g Premium

If the router already has a version of the OpenWRT firmware, new firmware can be flashed using the mtd command: 

wget http://downloads.openwrt.org/kamikaze/7.09/brcm-2.4/openwrt-brcm-2.4-squashfs.trx
mtd write openwrt-brcm-2.4-squashfs.trx linux && reboot

Return to OpenWrt on the ASUS WL-500g Premium.

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