DD-WRT and the WRT310N: A how-to

8Nov/0926

DD-WRT and the WRT310N: A how-to

A few months back I was playing around with my WRT54G2 and ended up bricking it. Don't worry, if you follow the instructions in my post on upgrading the WRT54G2 to DD-WRT, you'll be fine. I was trying to put firmware on there that didn't fit and I screwed up. Well, after I bricked it, I decided to pick up a WRT310N from Best Buy. I think I paid around $100 for the router, and after bricking the last one, I decided to not upgrade it to DD-WRT. Well, that lasted until about an hour ago.

I missed the fun stuff that DD-WRT gives me. After doing some research on putting DD-WRT on the WRT310N, I decided that it wasn't very likely that I would brick the thing, so I got to work on it. First thing you are going to need is the firmware files. You can download everything you need here. In that zip file you're going to find multiple version of the firmware. I'll get to those in a second. Now, let's do this step by step.

1.) DO A HARD RESET BEFORE YOU FLASH FIRMWARE. This does not mean hitting the reset button and saying you are done. This means doing the 30-30-30 reset. To do a 30-30-30 reset you must push the reset button with your router powered on. Hold it for 30 seconds with the router powered on. STILL holding it, pull the power cord for 30 seconds. Still holding it, plug the router back in and continue to hold the reset button for 30 more seconds. You will have held the button for a full 90 seconds without releasing it. You will not get a password renewal page as you have stock Linksys firmware on the router still.

2.) Plug a cable into the lan port of the router and your computer, and disable any wireless to the computer. You may have to set a static IP on your computer (I did). Set the IP on your computer to 192.168.1.2, subnet of 255.255.255.0, and the default gateway of 192.168.1.1.

3.) Go to 192.168.1.1 in your web browser. The stock Linksys username is "admin" and the stock password is "admin".

4.) Go to the "Administration" tab and click on "Firmware Upgrade".

5.) Browse to the dd-wrt.v24_mini_wrt310n.bin file that is part of the .zip file I linked to at the top of this post. YOU NEED TO INSTALL THE MINI FIRST! You CANNOT install the standard yet.

6.) Click on the upgrade button and WAIT for the upgrade successful message. Give it some time and don't be so impatient. I have received too many emails and comments from people that get impatient and start messing with stuff before the flash is complete.

7.) Power cycle your router. (very important) WAIT until you can relogin at 192.168.1.1. This should take around 20 seconds. If it takes longer, it takes longer. Once again, don't get impatient.

8.) Once the Web GUI for DD-WRT comes up, you will be asked to change your username and password. Do this immediately.

You can now upgrade to any generic dd-wrt build except Mega and Micro, or you can just leave the mini on there. The Wiki says that you need to do a hard reset before and after flashing to new firmware, but I didn't have any problems without doing a hard reset between the mini and the standard. NEVER re-use a configuration file from a previous build or another router. Reconfigure from scratch.

Now, about the files in the .zip file. I have included a multitude of firmware packages that will run on this router. I have the standard, usb, VoIP, and VPN. All of these have different functions. I originally put the standard version on and ran into some issues because the Port Forwarding has a bug in it. You can't add ports to forward! Once I put the VPN version on, it solved the Port Forwarding issue. So, if you have to do a lot of Port Forwarding on your router, I suggest using the VPN version that is included in that .zip file.

I hope this guide helps you out. I haven't had any problems with it yet, and if I do run into issues, I'll be sure to post them here. Let me know how your upgrade went in the comments below!

-Greg

***EDIT***

I have run into 1 issue so far. I started messing around with the router trying to set up different things on it. When I really started banging on it and resetting it, I was having trouble getting an IP address over the WAN link. Granted, all this took was rebooting the router and the cable modem, but I felt like I should let you guys know.

Tagged as: custom firmware, DD-WRT, firmware, firmware upgrade, Linksys, mini, standard, VPN, WRT310N, WRT54G2 Leave a comment

lucas

I tired this, and now when I plug in the router all I get is the number 1 light to light up. This of course signifies that I have my computer plugged into port number on on the router. My computers are not able to pull an ip address from the router, and it is not pingable.. Any suggestions?
http://www.gregoryledet.com Greg Ledet

Ok, run through everything you have done. In order. Try to give me time frames of how long each step took.

First, give yourself a static and see if you can ping it.

***EDIT***

Nice… looks like you knew you bricked it before you ever came to the site! You searched for “ddwrt wrt310n reset” and that's how you found your way here. Tell me what you did and I may be able to help you fix it.
lucas

I tired this, and now when I plug in the router all I get is the number 1 light to light up. This of course signifies that I have my computer plugged into port number on on the router. My computers are not able to pull an ip address from the router, and it is not pingable.. Any suggestions?
http://www.gregoryledet.com Greg Ledet

Ok, run through everything you have done. In order. Try to give me time frames of how long each step took.

First, give yourself a static and see if you can ping it.

***EDIT***

Nice… looks like you knew you bricked it before you ever came to the site! You searched for “ddwrt wrt310n reset” and that's how you found your way here. Tell me what you did and I may be able to help you fix it.
sandyxxx

I've never even thought about commenting till now. I guess if I really like a post I find myself checking the external links for

more and favoriting (if that is a word) the post instead.
From now on though I'll definitely try and drop a comment every so often.

hot deal–
studioab

Hello,

I recently bought WRT310N v1. and of course checked it out in my existing network configuration. Everything (Four ports and WiFi) was working with the original firmware.

I had a plan to install DD-WRT software because I already had a good experience with it on my Linksys 54g router.

I followed your instruction and successfully flashed it with DD-WRT mini over web interface. Everything started to work right out of the box. I changed password and set everything up almost with the default settings. All four lan ports were working in GIGAbit mode and lights were yellow. Network was working just perfect.

This morning I found that my desktop computer with gigabyte Ethernet 10/100/1000 controller doesn't have correct ip address (192.168.249.222 instead of 192.168.1.101) and first light on the router is blue instead of yellow. I wasn't able to get internet on this computer or open DD-WRT panel. Other ports were working fine.

I tried everything. This desktop computer works fine in the 2nd Lan Port. I changed cables, rebooted comp and router. First Lan port doesn't work. Other ports can provide correct IP addresses as it was yesterday. Wifi is working as well.

Please give me some clues or advices. I'm very appreciated to you.
http://www.gregoryledet.com Greg Ledet

Try resetting the router to factory settings and starting over.
chaelsonobi

i was looking for a solution about my wrt310 with a firmwire of v1.0.07.014-LS because it is not forwarding the ports that i want it to forward then i came across this site and saw your post.

i've tried everything that you've said in order. for some reasons, i cant port forward. i've read that you used vpn to solve the port forwarding issue but it didnt work for me. i went to dd-wrt.com to download v24 presp2 build 13064. i tried other build of vpn but it didnt help. is there any way that i could fix this problem?

thanks
chaelsonobi

and i am trying to open 443 port.
http://www.gregoryledet.com Greg Ledet

I don't know why it's not forwarding ports. Chances are, it's likely something that you're doing wrong or it's that your ISP doesn't allow the port you're trying to use. 443 is used for https, and most ISPs have rules against running servers on their networks. I'd start with that first.

To properly forward a port, click on the NAT/QoS tab. The first tab is “Port Forwarding”. Click “add” and fill out everything. Application is HTTPS, port from is 443, Protocol is TCP, add the IP address of the computer you are trying to forward to, the port to is 443, and check off Enable. After you do that, click “Apply Settings”.

Once you do that, go to http://www.canyouseeme.org/ and check the port.
Gowtham

Hi,

I bricked my WRT310N and i tried all the steps including 30-30-30 still not able to access it. I am not getting an IP address any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Gowtham .N
http://www.gregoryledet.com Greg Ledet

Set a static IP and try to access the web GUI.

If you can not access the web GUI, try to ping 192.168.1.1. If you get a response, you're doing good.

See the peacock thread on DD-WRT.com for more info. It's going to be #6 – Is my router bricked. The thread can be found here: http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=51486
Ray

Does this procedure and files work with WRT310N v 2.0 firmware?

Thanks!
http://cpayne.myopenid.com/ cpayne

I was surprised, I followed the instructions above and it worked as expected – too easy!

If you can't get it to work, then I am sure you aren't waiting long enough between resets
ruenigma

I followed the guide to letter and spirt, but everytime I try to upgrade from mini to any other version the page simply disappears after showing the prompt that upgrade in progress please waint 299…298..297…. seconds. The upgrade is not working mini to any other version. Please help.
http://www.gregoryledet.com Greg Ledet

I don't know what to tell you. Without the router in front of me, it's kinda hard to troubleshoot it. I've never had that problem myself and I've done quite a few of these routers. Try going to dd-wrt.com and checking there or maybe posting on their forums.
jcejka

So I got the mini loaded, but every firmware upgrade mega/vpn, etc i try just goes through the motion and about 3 secs in just loads a “Problem loading page” the router does not reset and then i go back to the gui it says mini as the firmware.
jcejka

So I got the mini loaded, but every firmware upgrade mega/vpn, etc i try just goes through the motion and about 3 secs in just loads a “Problem loading page” the router does not reset and then i go back to the gui it says mini as the firmware.
Gride

those routers have trouble factory getting ips well mine does my old wrtgs will grab one in a split sec the new 310n unplug for over a minute sometimes is all that will work
Ruslanguns

Hi I tried to flash my router and I was run through everything you have done. In order. But I cant Go to 192.168.1.1 in the web browser. In the router I see one light on the port 1, but I dont see the Power Light. I tried many times. But I have the same. Can you tell me what can I do? Thanks for the blog is cool.
http://www.moncleroutletmall-it.com Moncler Online

I try to upgrade from mini to any other version the page simply disappears after showing the promp
John

I was getting an error page when trying to upgrade to std after installing mini.
I got it to work by doing a hard reset and then trying to install std again.

Doing a HARD RESET after installing mini is a must!
RivertownNetworking.com

I had the same problem as everyone else after getting the mini version on and trying to upgrade the firmware to std or vpn. I also notice that if I changed any settings when I would click save settings it would go to the Problem loading page even after doing the hard reset after upgrading to the mini firmware. I was using FireFox browser at the time. I closed firefox and opened internet explorer and tried it and everything worked perfectly.

Maybe this will help a few of you.
http://RivertownNetworking.com/ RivertownNetworking.com

If you are using a browser other than Internet Explorer close it and try with Internet explorer. I was using FIrefox and it would give me the problem loading page if I tried upgrading from mini to another firmware or if I even changed any settings. I opened IE and everything worked flawlessly.
Guest

I got to step 6, but for me there was no “upgrade” button. I wasn’t sure if the process has already begun, because it said “Please wait a few moments”, but there was also a “continue” link below that. I tried waiting about 5 minutes and then figured that I perhaps needed to click “continue” to begin. That page was absurdly ambiguous, and I think I must have bricked it somehow (I can no longer ping it and resets have no effect), but I’m not sure whether I did something wrong or it was just bad luck. Oh well, at least it was a cheap one.
Sacha Obado

I flashed my router using the steps mentioned above and all is working perfectly.. I then flashed the std build and all is well.

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DD-WRT and the WRT310N: A how-to

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