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Update: 01/28/2009
Before you venture off this way, let me give you a bit of advice that may save you some time and frustration. If you can, take the 7.2 router back to where you bought it. If you have a family member or a friend of a friend who needs a new router and doesn't need the dd-wrt stuff, give it to them. Then, go out and buy a Linksys WRT54GL. These are the Linux based routers Linksys released that support third-party firmware updates. They are technically a re-release of the v4 WRT54G. I found out about this a while back and have been very happy since.

A few months ago I gave my old Buffalo (WHR-HP-54G) router to my uncle in law. A few days later I went online to purchase a new router and was very disappointed to find out that they were temporarly unavailable in the US. Since I could not buy my favorite router, I decided to use an old laptop and try out IpCop.

I must say I was very pleased with IpCop. The installation was quite smooth even on an old notebook with PCMCIA cards. Unfortunately, after some time of testing, I decided to go back to DD-WRT. The notebook was just too old and too run down to run reliably, so against my better judgment I bought a Linksys and got DD-WRT back up and running.

I bought a WRT54GS (WRT54G with SpeedBooster) from my local WallMart. (I happened to see it while I was browsing around in the electronics section and it was priced relatively low ($59), so I decided to give it a try.) I wasn't sure if that particular model was going to run DD-WRT, but I took it home anyway. (I felt pretty confident I could get the original firmware back on it and take it back if I didn't like it.)

When I first opened the box I was little worried as the version number on the bottom of the router read v.7.2. I had never seen this in any of the routers, but a little search on the internet revealed that 7.2 was most likely a "quick-fix" release to version 7. I went ahead and followed the instructions for loading DD-WRT on a v7 router. (DD-WRT's wiki does not list the version 7.2 on their compatible devices list. Technically, one could say v7.2 is a version 7, but I'm pretty sure they would have the specifically listed it, so I'm going to assume they don't know if it works or not.) Everything installed ok and I'm now an "almost happy" owner of a new Linksys router. I still don't like that Linksys crippled their WRT54G/S.

So, if you need a new router and happen to find a Linksys WRT54GS with serial starting CGNE, then you can flash it with the latest release candidate of DD-WRT. Below you will find the links to everything you need for this specific version of the router.

INSTRUCTIONS
VXWorks Killer
DD-WRT Micro

This entry was posted by deciacco on March 10, 2008 at 08:09 under Hardware. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

11 Comments

  1. Simba says:

    I got this one. but cannot get the repeater function to work. Anyone had success? plz email me.

    December 11, 2008, 21:14

  2. deciacco says:

    Simba,

    I can't help you with repeater mode because i've never used it. However, I'm not sure what you are trying to do, but if you are trying to extend the rage of the access point it may be easier to use WDS. I use it in my house and it works well. It took a little time to get it working, but if you follow the instructions carefully it shouldn't be a problem. Have a look here:
    http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php?title=WDS_Linked_router_network

    Good luck!

    December 11, 2008, 22:44

  3. Danny says:

    Thanks for this great post.I got this to work, but I don't really see any more features than on the original Linksys firmware. I was hoping it would have IPSec VPN support, but it just has a place to allow for passthrough. Is there other firmware available that would do IPSec VPN? I have the wrt54gs v7.2

    December 30, 2008, 17:09

  4. deciacco says:

    Danny...sorry for taking so long to respond! The v7.2 unfortunately is crippled and it's quite a feat already that we can get dd-wrt on it. It has some nice features in terms of the wireless capabilities that the original firmware does not have, but that's about it. I don't know of any other firmware that would do the vpn like you want. I would recommend you look at a WRT54GL. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124190

    January 4, 2009, 15:22

  5. Damon says:

    Hi Deciacco,

    Great post. I have the same router and am trying to get DHCP reservations working for a printer. Do you know if the dd-wrt firmware upgrade you installed on the WRT54GS v7.2 supports DHCP reservations?

    January 7, 2009, 09:34

  6. deciacco says:

    Damon,

    Unfortunately, I don't have this router anymore, so I can't tell you with 100% certainty. However, If I'm not mistaken, the micro version of DD-WRT that installs on this router can use DNSmasq for DHCP. This being the case, you should be able to go under the Services tab in your DD-WRT administration interface and use the " --dhcp-host=" option for the DNSmasq service. Take a look at the man pages for DNSmasq for more info. http://downloads.openwrt.org/people/nico/man/man8/dnsmasq.8.html

    January 7, 2009, 10:01

  7. Simba says:

    Hey all, went ahead and got a wrt54g ver 6 loaded autoap script with bin and its LOVELY for repeater mode, I have it set up to scan for my access point and wep key.. and it pings against google and if its good it stops there, if not it searches for the highest open ap. I love it! my 7.2 I traded to my cuzo. they are a pain in the rear!

    January 15, 2009, 03:08

  8. lillo says:

    afther i flash my wireless router wrt54gs v7 the power light not working and the router is like off.
    please help me

    January 28, 2009, 07:19

  9. deciacco says:

    I'm not sure what happened, but it sounds like your router is bricked. Do a search on google for "linksys dd-wrt debrick". I've had good luck with debricking routers. I've been able to debrick at least two using the "shorting out the pins" method. Search around on the net. I've found instructions for a different versions than the one I had that worked anyway. This may be a start: http://www.linksysinfo.org/forums/showthread.php?t=47259. I remember one debricking method that required you take a wire and connect it to one of the antenna connectors and then attach it to pin 16 on the chip. Anyway, be patient and give it a try. It took me several tries and it got quite frustrating. If this doesn't work out you can always buy a WRT54GL. I've had to do this too!!

    Good luck!

    January 28, 2009, 09:51

  10. Ray says:

    Your router IS NOT BRICKED-> Download Draytec Router Tools version 4.1.0 and follow the instructions. I just did it on my linksys WRT54Gs ver7.5

    December 30, 2009, 20:13

  11. deciacco says:

    This looks pretty cool...thanks for posting!

    December 30, 2009, 23:34

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