Linksys WRT54GS Crashing? Try DD-WRT

[cr8or]

I have been having a lot of trouble with my home network as of late. The problems all started when I hooked up my new Linksys WRT54GS ap/router about 3 months ago. What they didn’t say in the reviews was how the WRT54G has devolved into what can only be described as a crippled elderly anorexic snail.

Many people suggested that I try the firmware hacks that have been banging about for some time. Upon trying to apply hacks I was presented with unauthorised firmware errors.

I did a bit of a write up on my blog Linksys WRT54GS Crashing? try DD-WRT

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[blacknight]

I tried DD-WRT and ended up dumping it for Open WRT

OpenWRT

which gave a huge improvement to my latency:
OpenWRT - Followup - Improved Latency / Ping

[dathiultaigh]

Using HyperWRT find it gave aquite good to use, reliable, and has got plenty of features. Anyone else used this version and how does it compare to others as I have only used hyperWRT

[blacknight]

I've never heard of HyperWRT.

What features does it provide?

[dathiultaigh]

My bad ... its actually HyperWRT Thibor version 1.5 (last updated May-2006) - website : Thibor's HyperWRT page

Why did I pick it? Well basically thibor's front page explained that .. its the most up to date spinoff firmware version from the original HyperWRT project : HyperWRT - Home Page

Last time I checked the latest linksys firmware upgrade was v4.30.7 Release date 06/21/2006 but as you probable know the features are pretty limited with linksys's version.

Features (from thibor's site)

* Adjustment of transmit power of wireless LAN
* Antenna selection
* 14 wireless channels
* 'Boot wait' protection (increase the time slot for uploading firmware via the boot loader)
* Increased Port Forwarding & Triggering fields
* Increased QoS Device & Application fields
* Increased Access Restrictions Policies & Blocked Services fields
* Command Shell
* TELNET Daemon (access to shell)
* Startup & Firewall scripts
* Uptime and load average
* Reboot button at 'Management' page
* Additional filters to proxy, Java applet, ActiveX, cookies, port scans and P2P (blocks BitTorrent, Kazaa, WinMX, eDonkey, DC and Gnucleus)
* WDS and Wireless Bridge (WET) capabilities
* Static DHCP leases
* Local domain names
* Programmable SES button (wireless on/off button or run a custom script)
* UPnP page to view and delete UPnP mappings
* Site survey page to view other networks in your neighborhood
* Secure Shell server (SSHD)
* Wake-on-LAN from GUI (from qwerty)
* Port redirection
* P2P-specific QoS
* Additional DDNS services
* Raw print server for USB printers (HyperWRT Thibor SL only)
* Bugs from the stock firmware fixed
* Plus other improvements

Initially I was a bit worried about fecking up my router with a non-manfacturer's/3rd party firmware version but the site has good info on how to progress through the firmware flash process. The flashing process is pretty simple and their are reasonable amount of notes online explaining features and their use. Once flashed the thibor version gave me a slight increase on speeds and I have never had any problems at all with the router since then.

[blacknight]

Are there any screenshots of the GUI?

It sounds very similar in functionality to OpenWRT, but it may have more "toys" under the hood

[dathiultaigh]

Few screenies basically using on my home NW of 4 nodes one dog's body file/app server, and 3 clients 2 being wireless.

Most of the other features that are available I have not posted are either same as what you get with the standard linksys firmware though in some cases its expanded like say port forwarding, redirecting etc. The other features I have not posted is screenies that show internal/ext NW info that I would not like to display due to my imagined paranoia and false sense of security .

The command console feature if available on standard would solve similar problems to what cr8or was seeing with it slowing down using a NVRAM reset through the command console. Have not looked into these commands other than the RAM reset/flush one.

Have done the usual portforwarding, redirection, and thibors uPnP fautures is better than linksys FW

Also I have messed a bit with transmiting power as my flat is pretty small and I wished to reduce its range being picked up by neighbours (no SSID broadcast), also get a nice quality signal and reduce laptop battery usuage so played around with wireless beacon interval, DTIM, Fragmentation. Geeks on call released a "Geeks On Call Wireless Networking 5 Minute Fixes Dec 2005" which is dated but hey its handy quick reference guides and the screenies and equipement used is all linksys so was pretty familar for the average joe. I just DLed it from somewere

In my case it is overkill for my home NW but its nice to learn and play. And there are some nice features but its just getting time to sit down and tweaking them all. Or even better ... comparing the 2 FW version - openWRT and hyperwt 2.1 + thibor 1.5 - pro's and con's plus benchmarking. Am sure there's gotta be some website/blog out there with this info on it.

Anyways screenies attached theres not alot but hey try it if you get the time try it and do some benchmarking before and after. I have nothing but good things to say bout this ...

[dathiultaigh]

and some more ...