US Robotics 5461 Incomplet Update

I was trying to upgrade my routers firmware and my connection was broken durring. Now I am unable to log into the setup utility and the router is no longer assigning any ip adresses. Using the reset button on the back does nothing either. I think that the router has an incomplete copy of it's software and is no longer able to reset to factory default. Is there any fix for this? Or is this router trash now?

You say using the reset button does nothing, are you just pressing it or are you holding it down? If you hold down the reset button it should return to factory settings.

No, I have held it in down for 10 seconds waiting for all the lights to go to solid. I have even held it longer just to make absolute sure but it doesn't work.

Unfortunately it sounds like you have turned it into a brick. I've never delt with this model but rumour has it the hardware is similar to a Linksys WRT54G (Broadcom based).

If this is the case, it may feature a failsafe mode where you can get the firmware back on the device even when it is corrupt. Try to upload the firmware file via a TFTP client to either 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.2.1 after turning on the router.

Windows XP and most Linux distros have a command line TFTP client built in. Type tftp at the command line to find out how yours works. It should be similar to below where 192.168.1.1 is the IP of the router and firmware.bin is the path to the firmware file you wish to upload:

Alternatively, see Marlborough WiFi - Hacking the Dick Smith XH8287 access point for information on attaching a serial port to get console access to re-flash the firmware. These instructions apply to a WAP54G PCB but can easily be adapted to most other devices utilising Broadcom hardware. With broken firmware the device has probably voided its warranty anyway so there shouldn't be any harm in opening it up.

Hope this helps!

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Jeremy

Marlborough WiFi Project

Thank you NZLamb for such a comprehensive reply!

Unfortunatly you are correct that the router is dead. After trying your TFPT option I called USR and the tech walked me through trying to manually assign an IP address. Once that failed he declared my router dead and warranty voided. So I decided to open up my router and see if I could try the Marlborough mod. After I got excited by finding the J5 solder point I was again dissapointed. Even though there is a point labled J5 it is not a serial console port. Or at least not as I understand it. It only has 4 ports instead of the 10 shown in the mod page. So I think this router really is toast.

Is anyone aware of people who purchase this sort of equipment for spare parts or to attempt repair? I would prefer to try and get some money out of it rather than toss it in the garbage.

Have you got a photo of the routers insides? Only four wires are actually used for the serial port (transmit, receive, Vcc, ground) so it is possible the PCB design is just a bit different. There is also the alternative option of using the JTAG connector if it is available. There may still be hope!

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Jeremy

Marlborough WiFi Project

I will post a high resolution picture of the board tonight if I can. That would be awesome if there was a possible solution to this problem. I hate to buy a new $70 router.

Here are some pics of the inside....





And here are the pictures at full resolution.

router high res.zip - 9.46MB

Excellent photos! Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be a JTAG connector anywhere. J5 does look somewhat promising. I have a sneaky feeling it might just be another USB port, but it is worth testing anyway.

The top pin of J5 in the photos will be ground. If you have a multimeter handy, measure the voltage of the three other pins from the ground pin. If any measure at 5v (especially the last one with the white marking) then it's likely to be a USB port. If you only get around 3.3v, then there may be hope!

Report back with your findings and hopefully we can figure something out.

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Jeremy

Marlborough WiFi Project

Okay I checked it out and there may be hope. I am not very experienced with a Multimeter but these are my findings.

Using the meter in V DC mode and using the port furthest from the white marking as my ground I got readings:

GRND PORT
PORT 1: 3.3v
PORT 2: .1v
WHITE PORT: 3.3v

I hope that you understand how I am reporting these readings. If not I will figure out a better way to do it.

I work at a technical company that has people who do this sort of thing for a living. I showed the board to one of them and he feels it may be a boundary scan which could be very useful to programing.

Thanks again for all your help! I really appreciate it!

Hmm, I'd suggest perhaps going with the MAX232 circuit and connecting it to the two outer pins for power, the Tx to port 2 and Rx to port 1. If that doesn't work, try swapping Vcc and Rx over.

Follow the directions I outlined on the site above to see if you can get a serial connection working. Maybe one of your mates at work can give you a hand wiring it up.

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Jeremy

Marlborough WiFi Project

It will have to wait a bit before I can try this. The guy who I would ask to help me at work is on vacation for a week. So when he gets back I'll ask if he can give me a hand. I will post again after I make some progress, negative or positive.

Thanks again for all your help NZLamb!

Okay, well I talked to the guy at work and he doesn't think there is anything that I can do. He does not believe that it is a USB port and if it is a serial port then there is nothing on the board to convert to the 3.3v that is needed with RS232. If it is a RS232 port then they most likely have a custom protocol that they use to communicate with the chip. So I am probably out of luck. I will try calling USR one more time to see if they won't let me send it to them to flash it.

I realize this probably is much too late to help the original poster, but I just found this thread after having the same problem and for anyone else who may end up here the solution is in fact to use TFTP. The instructions to do so are on U.S. Robotics' website at Wireless MAXg Router User Guide. Good luck, and remember that you need to know the IP address of the router at the start. Also, after you are done with the flash the IP address of the router will be 192.168.2.1, so you may need to change your computer's IP address after the flash in order to reach the router at that IP.