OpenWrt on Linksys WRT56GL

There was an extra wireless router hanging around not doing anything, so today I want and took the time to play with OpenWRT, and get it installed and setup. OpenWrt is linux firmware for quite a few different routers, but it s best know on the Linksys WRT54(G/GL/GS) series. My friend Matt had gotten another verson of linux firmware running at school on one of the WRT56G routers, so I knew it was posible, I had just never had time/router to play with.

WARNING, As with any firmware update, it could brick your router if something goes wrong, proceed with caution!

Setup was quite easy, go to the site download the Kamikaze firmware bin file and upload using the built in website firmware upload page. By default it is pulling DHCP from the wan side, and is already set up on the lan side. Telnet from terminal into 192.168.1.1 and do a passwd root to chang the root password, afte that you just need to setup wireless and a web interface.

Check out X-Wrt, it is a seprate web interface project working with OpenWRT. To install, SSH into the router and type...

ipkg install http://downloads.x-wrt.org/xwrt/kamikaze/7.09/brcm-2.4/packages/haserl_0.8.0-2_mipsel.ipk

then type

ipkg install http://downloads.x-wrt.org/xwrt/kamikaze/7.09/brcm-2.4/webif_latest.ipk

thsi will install it and run the setup. Afterwards just go to 192.168.1.1 in a webbrowser and finish setting up the router.

I had a wierd error happen after settng up wireless, which stopped the router from working, however I was able to fix this, by putting the router into failsafe mode (unplug, replug, hold down reset button after the DMZ light turns on, stop after it starts blinking). Then set a static address of 192.168.1.2 and set the router address to 192.168.1.1. Then went to the terminal and used telnet to access 192.168.1.1, which took a while to connect, and used vi to change /etc/config/wireless. I removed the "#Remove this comment to annable wireless". After restarting the router this fixed the problem and internet was back again. This could just have been a random error, not sure. You can use the Config Settings page as a guide if you have problems setting up the network and wireless config files.

After that little hickup the webinterface is working fine, and I am surfing on the wirless signal as I type this. Also I have a deep feeling of satisfaction from the fact that I just SSHed into a router, there have been few networking moments more awesome then that.

Wireless Phone vs. Wireless Internet

I have had the unpleasant experience of having to deal with a wireless router acting as if it where possessed at my house. The symptoms where randomly it wold crash and reset, then repeat many times over. After reseting it, it wold be fine for a while then all of a sudden it would starts all over again. I have worked with routers before and if all fails then hard reseting them always fixes it, not counting the occasional hardware failure. This time was not the case, and as funny as it was for a while the constant drop of internet during important tasks was starting to get on my nerves.

So as usual I looked at the possibilities...

1. Settings got messed up (Maybe, but reset did not help)
2. Verizon is dropping our connection (Looked into, and not the case)
3. Something is wrong with the router (Only other possibility)

It turns out that something was wrong with the router, but not the router its self. My family had recently purchased a new phone, 5.8GHz. This supposedly should not have any problems with the 5.4GHz router, and phone calls do not cause any problems. The big problem is that the phone has another wireless connection to the two base stations that are included, and combine that with the phone being less then a foot away from the router and you get interference. After moving the router away from the phone all is well again. Now I have to find a new place for it...