WL-500W bricked, in warranty - what did I do wrong?

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Zweistein
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 02 Oct 2008
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 18:22    Post subject: WL-500W bricked, in warranty - what did I do wrong? Reply with quote
Hello,

I received my new WL-500W about a week ago, used it with the default firmware for two days, then tried installing dd-wrt.

Here are the steps that I performed, as well as I can remember:

0) Set laptop IP address to 192.168.1.10 and connected to LAN port 1
1) Put the router in recovery mode
2) TFTP'ed wl500g-recover.trx
3) Waited 3 minutes
4) Rebooted router in recovery mode
5) TFTP'ed dd-wrt.v24_mega_generic.bin
6) Waited ~3 minutes
7) Rebooted router

8) It worked! Accessed it, configured wireless, configured Internet (mistakenly entering the wrong username Razz)
9) Realised mistake with Internet settings, entered correct ones, pressed Apply

At this point, I believe I bricked it. It would no longer respond to pings.

I tried to put it in recovery mode again, but failed:
0) (with LAN cable connected and a ping -t 192.168.1.1 on laptop)
1) Unplugged
2) Pushed inaccessible button
3) Plugged in
4) Router responded to one ping and then went unresponsive. Power led not flashing as it did in recovery mode. Nothing seemed to work.

If I don't plug the LAN cable in, or if there is no network activity from the laptop (no pinging), it DID enter recovery mode! However, the first packet sent killed it.

I didn't know what to do aside from building a JTAG cable, opening it and trying to fix it that way, so I sent it back to warranty claiming that I had no idea what could have happened to it, and that it had just died, figuring that perhaps they can't tell or prove that I've flashed a nonofficial firmware, considering the state of brickness in which I sent it.

I'm waiting for it to be returned / replaced, hopefully under warranty. I would like to know what I did wrong. May the fact that I haven't 'erased the nvram' using wl500g-clear-nvram.trx have anything to do with it? Are certain specific builds of devices inherently incompatible with dd-wrt (I mean, is it possible that specifically my router wouldn't work, although WL-500Ws generally do)? What should I do to avoid bricking my router again?
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Diverge
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 25 Sep 2008
Posts: 48

PostPosted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 19:30    Post subject: Reply with quote
the same thing happened with my WL-500W a couple days after owning it. WRT firmware was working for a couple days, then when applying a setting change the router became bricked. wouldn't respond to pings just like yours. the recovery mode flashing led would stop flashing after plugging lan in.

I tried every method of recovery/reflashing, with no success. so as a reach of desperation, I tried the pin 9 short method, even though prior to trying it, i looked up the chip and it's datasheet.. coming to the conclusion it makes no sense that shorting a address pin to ground would unbrick a router.. but after doing it, it unbricked, and let me reflash it.

as to the reason it bricked in the first place... i have no clue. all i was doing was enabling SSH access. maybe it did have to do with not clearing nvram after the initial flash, cause that is something i did do after i unbricked it - and i haven't had any issues as of yet.
ooops
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 07 Oct 2008
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 1:59    Post subject: Reply with quote
I am joining the club. I was able to flash it first with dd-wrt.v24_mega_generic.bin.

Accessed the web interface, enabled USB support, connect USB drive, and after reboot no access anymore.

Each time, when the router restarted in the recovery mode, with power light blinking, it turns on or off (randomly) as soon as something trying to access the router (first ping, Asus recovery utility, TFTP, windows update, anything else trying to access network)

Worst part, UPC label went into mail for the rebate, so even in warranty period would be hard to replace it ....

Please advise...
Spontex
DD-WRT User


Joined: 01 Nov 2006
Posts: 60
Location: North Germany

PostPosted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 7:51    Post subject: Reply with quote
So i am jet another one with a bricked W-500W. The first time everything works fine ... but then after a couple of days the router was in an reboot loop. So i unplugged and replugged the power cord and after that it no longer responds to pings.

Here are my steps:

0) Set laptop IP address to 192.168.1.x and connected to LAN
1) Put the router in recovery mode
2) TFTP'ed wl500g-recover.trx via Asus tool
3) Waited
4) Rebooted router in recovery mode
5) TFTP'ed dd-wrt.v24_mini_asus.trx via Asus tool
6) Waited
7) Rebooted router
10) Flashed dd-wrt.v24_mega_generic.bin via WebIF
11) Waited
12) Rebooted router

Don´t know what went wrong ....

Best regards

_________________
WHR-HP-G300N


Last edited by Spontex on Thu Oct 16, 2008 6:27; edited 1 time in total
dirk
DD-WRT User


Joined: 04 May 2008
Posts: 79

PostPosted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 12:04    Post subject: Reply with quote
This is really weird. I am seeing the same thing with a WL-500gP v.1. Flashed to dd-wrt, used it for two weeks and put it on the shelf for another six. Now it doesn't respond to anything anymore and only switches to recovery mode if there is no network cable connected.

I'd say, this is a hardware problem as my other four WL-500gP are not showing that particular problem. I'll try to get it replaced by my dealer.

@Diverge: can you please explain how that pin 9 method is supposed to work?
frater
DD-WRT Guru


Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 2777

PostPosted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 12:23    Post subject: Reply with quote
It has a lot to do with timing...
Several times I thought I had a brick but after trying over and over it somehow did flash properly using the Asus recovery tool.

The host machine might be the reason too.

Configure your host machine with a static IP in the 192.168.1.0/24 network and run an infinite ping to 192.168.1.1

Try to load a micro or mini edition of DD-WRT in recovery mode.

_________________
Asus RT16N + OTRW
Kingston 4GB USB-disk 128 MB swap + 1.4GB ext3 on /opt + 2 GB ext3 on /mnt
Copperjet 1616 modem in ZipB-config
Asterisk, pixelserv & Pound running on router
Another Asus RT16N as WDS-bridge

DD-WRT v24-sp2 vpn (c) 2010 NewMedia-NET GmbH
Release: 12/16/10 (SVN revision: 15758M)
dirk
DD-WRT User


Joined: 04 May 2008
Posts: 79

PostPosted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 16:22    Post subject: Reply with quote
I don't think this is timing related. As mentioned before: I can't even get the router into TFTP mode anymore if a network cable is connected.
silam
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 02 Oct 2008
Posts: 11

PostPosted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 18:25    Post subject: Reply with quote
I had trouble flashing my drive and thought I had bricked it as well. Everytime I tried using tftpd I got nothing. I flashed with the asus program in the same order they recommend (ASUS firmware, then mega build) and it worked like a dream.

My powerlight was flashing, no ping etc just like yours. Router has now been up for 13 days.
CapnBry
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 16 Feb 2008
Posts: 16

PostPosted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 21:00    Post subject: Reply with quote
Same thing just happened to me on a friend's brand new ASUS WL-500W. I tftped the recovery, then the asus_mini.trx and was able to get into the web interface and then upload the mega_generic.bin from there. It now boots to recovery and and when it gets a few packets it locks up (power light stops blinking). If I watch from WireShark it sometimes will respond to the first ping with TTL=100 or if I get the timing just right it will ack TFTP block 0 and maybe even 1.

Everything locks it up, the Device Discovery utility, the Firmware Restoration utility, tftp, ping. I also did not use wl500g-clear-nvram.trx first, some of the Installation instructions in the wiki do not say to do it.

EDIT: To clarify "same thing" means it is bricked, not that I was able to recover it at all.
Primoz
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 04 Nov 2008
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 21:26    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have the same problem, flashed to DD-WRT v24 SP1 straight away (opened the original Asus config GUI just to see if it's connectable Very Happy ), configured everything nicely, entered the TCP Vegas settings, rebooted and it's dead. DOes installing a DD-WRT firmware void the waranty? Just to know what to say if i want to RMA it. Otherwise, pin 9 method. But i so don't want to do that...
Diverge
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 25 Sep 2008
Posts: 48

PostPosted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 20:00    Post subject: Reply with quote
dirk wrote:
This is really weird. I am seeing the same thing with a WL-500gP v.1. Flashed to dd-wrt, used it for two weeks and put it on the shelf for another six. Now it doesn't respond to anything anymore and only switches to recovery mode if there is no network cable connected.

I'd say, this is a hardware problem as my other four WL-500gP are not showing that particular problem. I'll try to get it replaced by my dealer.

@Diverge: can you please explain how that pin 9 method is supposed to work?


Dirk, sorry for the late reply, but the pin 9 method is explain in a sticky at the top of this sub-forum. it seems hit of miss if it damages the IC, or maybe people perform the task incorrectly. So your results might vary.

I just ordered another WL-500W, and I plan to flash it with dd-wrt as well. Hopefully I don't have the same issues of it becoming a brick after the first reboot. And if it does, it would be cool if some of the dd-wrt folks would look into the reason this is happening to so many people.
cgigate
DD-WRT User


Joined: 03 May 2007
Posts: 183

PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 6:20    Post subject: Reply with quote
ooops wrote:

Worst part, UPC label went into mail for the rebate, so even in warranty period would be hard to replace it ....

Please advise...

UPC label has nothing with your warranty.
it is still in warranty, call ASUS to get RMA and send back (at your expense), they will ship another one to you

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lula07
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 09 Nov 2008
Posts: 1

PostPosted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 21:50    Post subject: One more joining the team!!! Reply with quote
I am another one joining the club. I was able to flash it first with dd-wrt.v24_mega_generic.bin.
I configured port forwarding, WAP, changed Ip range and changed the Web access password.
Used it like this for one week.
Then one day it just stopped working.
Since I have an extra wl-520gu, so I decided to use it and left my wl-500w off until the weekend.
Weekend came and I decided to see if I could try to figure out what went wrong. So I simply connected back and strangely everything was back to normal.
I was shocked.
What the heck just happened? I asked myself.
All right, so I decided to move on and try to connect my HP laser printer to this router.
Actually that was the main reason I upgraded from the wl-520gu to the wl-500w.
I had read that the since the wl-500w has more flash, I could use the mega version which comes with support to USB.
Made the changes as instructed in this article:
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/USB_printer_sharing
(enabled JFFS2 Support, SSH, Core USB Support, USB 1.1 Support (UHCI), USB 1.1 Support (OHCI), USB 2.0 Support, USB Printer Support)
And just after I made these changes and rebooted, the wired connection went nuts.
It would just connect and disconte every 1 second.
after about 20 seconds it held the connection.
I was able to surf the web for a while and then it just went dead.
No configuration page. No more ping. Nothing.
It would not even let me go into recovery mode.
Recovery would only work if there was no cable connected to the router which of course serves for nothing
My router just turned into a brick.
This is so frustrating because I used the wl-520gu for over 4 months now and I never had a problem with it.
The only reason I bought this one is because I could be able to use the mega version and use my Hp printer.
I really hope dd-wrt team solves these issues, since it seeams that a lot of people are having problem with this router.
Diverge
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 25 Sep 2008
Posts: 48

PostPosted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 23:00    Post subject: Re: One more joining the team!!! Reply with quote
lula07 wrote:

No configuration page. No more ping. Nothing.
It would not even let me go into recovery mode.
Recovery would only work if there was no cable connected to the router which of course serves for nothing
My router just turned into a brick.


this is the exact same state mine went into when mine got bricked.

If you ever get it to work again, be sure to restore factory defaults before and after flashing firmwares. I also might stay away from that firmware... there might be some bug in it that messes up the WL-500W's. Since no one has said anything, all we can do is speculate.

I'm using 10776 NEWD mega build now. and haven't had any issues with it on 2 of my WL-500's. Got a 3rd WL-500W coming, and plan to flash that one to this build too. btw, the WL-500 is on sale at newegg w/ $30 mail in rebate, and free shipping Smile
nimdok
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 13 Nov 2008
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 3:44    Post subject: Reply with quote
I managed to brick my WL-500W twice now. It seems to happen most reliably when you mess around with USB settings, and then try to reboot your router. The first time it happened after enabling USB support, SSH, and JFFS then rebooting.

The second time I made sure to reset to default settings before and after flashing the firmware. I managed to get the USB support, etc. all up and running. The router rebooted fine. Then I tried to get my USB printer running by installing the printserve stuff over SSH following the guide on the wiki. Next time I rebooted, bricked again.

Both times while running the stable mega release.

Managed to revive it again using the pin 9 trick. Probably not going to use dd-wrt again until this gets addressed/fixed.
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