[MLB-WIRELESS] WL-HDD going cheap

[David Ashburner]

Done it.
In the end I tried the firmware recovery tool from the CD. It uploaded 
the trx file and the thing rebooted in WRT
(Oh, the shame I had to use a windows machine to do this, lucky the 
kids have one for games )

I tried the method as detailed in the openwrt asus page "control 
commands" method but it didn't work. The control commands are not 
really anything special, the do a read from the device first, assuming 
the existing firmware is called ASUSSPACELINK with the IP address as a 
postfix. Then the upload is changing the filename to ASUSSPACELINK.

Looks like the bootloader on this baby is pretty dumb. I found similar 
things when taking the minitar bootloader appart, you needed to do a 
get of the file first to set the file name for the upload.  Kind of 
strange though I didn't receive any data but as soon as I issued the 
get command the flashing power light went out, then when I issued the 
put command the router rebooted itself.

----- tftp method ------(didn't work for me ------

wailea:~/Desktop jaco$ tftp 192.168.1.220
tftp> binary
tftp> trace
Packet tracing on.
tftp> get ASUSSPACELINK crap1
sent RRQ <file=ASUSSPACELINK, mode=octet>
received DATA <block=1, 0 bytes>

tftp> get ASUSSPACELINK\x01\x01\xa8\xc0 crap2        <----   no magic 
here the postfix is the address in hex, tried this with \xdc for the 
220 address as well
sent RRQ <file=ASUSSPACELINK\x01\x01\xa8\xc0, mode=octet>
received DATA <block=1, 0 bytes>
tftp> put openwrt-brcm-2.4-jffs2-4MB.trx ASUSSPACELINK
sent WRQ <file=ASUSSPACELINK, mode=octet>
received ACK <block=0>
sent DATA <block=1, 0 bytes>
received ACK <block=0>
discarded 1 packets
sent DATA <block=1, 0 bytes>
sent DATA <block=1, 0 bytes>
sent DATA <block=1, 0 bytes>
sent DATA <block=1, 0 bytes>
sent DATA <block=1, 0 bytes

On Jun 16, 2006, at 6:59 AM, mike campion wrote:

> I have flashed a few of these with no problems using the procedure on 
> the openwrt site 
> http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Hardware/Asus/Flashing , ensure 
> you are directly connected to the wl-hdd and not through a switch and 
> also use the TFTP with control commands method.
>
> I have also found that if you take too long to issue the tftp command 
> the transfer will not work and you have to start from scratch.
>
> Mike
>
>
>
> ---- Original Message ----- From: "David Ashburner" 
> <d_ashburner at hotmail.com>
> To: "Melbourne Wireless" <melbwireless at melbournewireless.org.au>
> Sent: Friday, June 16, 2006 3:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [MLB-WIRELESS] WL-HDD going cheap
>
>
>> OK, so I got a couple of these but am having trouble flashing them 
>> with
>> OpenWrt.
>>
>> I checked the instructions on the web site and have tried doing the
>> following:
>> use xxx4mb.trx file
>> set it in recovery mode by holding the reset button while powering on
>> I can ping it at 192.168.1.220  but when I start the tftp transfer it
>> dosen't respond.
>>
>> At the last meeting Ratbaggy mentioned something about using the right
>> network switch speed but I can't remember what he said.
>> Regardless of what I plug this thing into only the 10x light comes on
>> the RJ45 the 100x flashes a couple of times while it is booting but
>> It won't negotiate to the higher speed ( well according to the lights
>> on the back )
>>
>> any tips or pointers?
>>
>>
>> On May 30, 2006, at 7:00 PM, Dan Flett wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Guys,
>>>
>>> I discovered the WL-HDD has had a drop in price recently.  There are
>>> $69
>>> here:
>>>
>>> http://www.computeralliance.com.au/parts.aspx?qryPart=4698
>>>
>>> They have a standard Broadcom radio, integrated, which isn't great.
>>> But at
>>> $69 you can't complain.  They are confirmed to run OpenWRT, they have
>>> 4MB
>>> Flash and 16MB RAM, and they are physically slightly smaller than a 
>>> VHS
>>> tape.  If you've got a spare 2.5 inch HDD lying around then all of a
>>> sudden
>>> you've got heaps of storage space.  And it has USB too.
>>>
>>> Now to find a suitably-sized outdoor enclosure! :)
>>>
>>> Does the drop in price mean that EoL is coming?
>>>
>>> Also, this place sells cheap 9dB indoor antennas:
>>>
>>> http://stores.ebay.com.au/confero24-com-Wireless-Shop
>>>
>>> I've had one of these on Ratbaggy's return-loss analyser and it came
>>> up with
>>> very good figures - so in this case cheap doen't mean nasty.
>>>
>>> So add one of these antennas to the WL-HDD, stick them both inside a
>>> waterproof enclosure and you might be able to make yourself a
>>> reasonable
>>> outdoor AP/Router for less than $150.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Dan
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Melbwireless mailing list
>>> Melbwireless at wireless.org.au
>>> http://wireless.org.au/mailman/listinfo/melbwireless
>>>
>>
>>
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>