WRT54GL Mods

[FoldingAddict]

After looking around on google to find various ways to play with my spare WRT54GL, I ran into a site called Hack Attack. Specifically an article called "Turn your $60 router into a $600 router." Link here. (http://lifehacker.com/software/router/hack-attack-turn-your-60-router-into-a-600-router-178132.php) The article outlines a little bit, how to go about loading the DD-WRT V23 SP2 firmware onto any WRT54G/GS/GL. The article is not the interesting part though...

DD-WRT firmware allows you all kinds of options that the stock Linksys firmware doesn't. Anywhere from overclocking to wireless transmit mW tweaking, to your normal WPA2 security stuff. My purpose was to boost the Xmit power setting as far as I could, safely. The default setting is 28, the problem is, the DD-WRT manual specifically states, any Xmit power increase above 70 can cause the router to overheat and fail before its time. I wanted more than 70, more than 125 even, just for testing purposes to see what the gains really could be.

Anyhow, my solution to any overheating problems that might arise. A northbridge heatsink off an old ECS board, and an 80mm fan. Pics to follow.

All pics taken with a camera phone because my Canon is MIA...sorry.

Stock WRT54G unmolested.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/ODMonday/IMAGE_00081.jpg

Antennas removed.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/ODMonday/IMAGE_00082.jpg

Two shell pieces pulled apart (no screws so it's easy)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/ODMonday/IMAGE_00083.jpg

Removing PCB from bottom plastic piece requires removing two screws.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/ODMonday/IMAGE_00087.jpg

Testing with my multimeter shows the connection with the black sharpie as POSITIVE, the one above that (closest to rear power connector being negative.)
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/ODMonday/IMAGE_00089.jpg

Used arctic alumina to attach the heatsink.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/ODMonday/IMAGE_00090.jpg

Fan attached, 4 screws drilled into the fan from the inside out. The top "grill" of the router was cut out.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/ODMonday/IMAGE_00085.jpg

Finished product.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/ODMonday/IMAGE_00092.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/ODMonday/IMAGE_00091.jpg

DD-WRT V23 SP2 firmware.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y58/ODMonday/untitled.jpg

Everything runs great. I have so far overclocked to 216MHz and boosted the Xmit number to 100. It's hard to say what kind of actual dB gain I receive by doing this. After taking the laptop for a walk around and outside my house, it seems like I've gained a bar or two over stock beyond 150 ft from my house. Total connection distance seems to be above 300 ft now, when it wasn't before. Next mod will be a parabolic antenna.

~FA

[Thrax]

DD WRT is great, isn't it? :) I've had their firmware loaded for about 6 months, with Sveasoft's firmware before that, and I've really appreciated 64mW instead of the default. I've never had a heatsink clunking around to mod the router to go above 70, but kudos to you for having one. :)

[Pterocarpous]

Wow! That's great! Nice work FA! :thumbsup:

Keep us posted on the health of the router and on any adverse effects (as well as positive, of course :smiles: ).

What effect, if any, will this have on other wireless equipment or visa versa?? (phones, wireless TV or Stero headsets, etc....)

BTW, what's that PDA connected to on the inside of your case? (Just curious... :bigggrin: )

[FoldingAddict]

DD-WRT allows for more frequency presets than the stock firmware for the WRT54G, but it's still all 2.4GHz. Basically any interference you might have, you'll have with either stock firmware or DD-WRT firmware, it doesn't really matter.

The PDA inside my case is my business phone, it's just there because it's there. ;)

~FA

[Leonardo]

Cool stuff. Thanks for documenting it.

[Pterocarpous]

I thought I had one layin' around - I do but it's wired only... rats!

Would it be worth it to buy a cheapy Linksys wireless router and do this mod?

[Winfrey]

Cool stuff FA. Some of my friends were trying to do stuff like this on their Linksys router but were using OpenWrt instead. Would you recommend DD-WRT over OpenWrt for firmware?
:bigggrin: we have the same speakers lol

[mtrox]

Nice FoldingA. Thanks for the pics and the write up.

[Leonardo]

Hmm, makes me want to find a second WRT54GL to play with. That sounds like a fun project, one that satisfies tinkering and modding needs with a possibility for real payoff.:bigggrin:

[airbornflght]

I've seen some guys with a scope and when the bumped the radio past about 80mw the signal started getting hairy. I'm interested if it still does that with the active cooling solution.

[FoldingAddict]

FreeC8675: I have no experience with OpenWRT. I'm totally happy with DD-WRT though, so that's what I would go with over anything else. Thrax probably has more experience between the two than I do.

Airborn: My signal is as stable as stock even at 100 mW and a small 16MHz overclock to 216MHz. Active cooling does most likely fix some stability issues that you might normally have with a stock WRT54X while running it overclocked and boosted.

This was overall a pretty easy mod, the hardest part was finding the dremel that I hadn't touched in months. All you need is a phillips screwdriver, a drill helps, soldering iron, spare WRT54X, Dremel, 80mm fan, and small heatsink for the broadcom processor. The firmware upgrading is damn easy and really you can't mess it up if you follow the instructions. Even if you brick your router, you can still recover.

~FA

[airbornflght]

FreeC8675: I have no experience with OpenWRT. I'm totally happy with DD-WRT though, so that's what I would go with over anything else. Thrax probably has more experience between the two than I do.

Airborn: My signal is as stable as stock even at 100 mW and a small 16MHz overclock to 216MHz. Active cooling does most likely fix some stability issues that you might normally have with a stock WRT54X while running it overclocked and boosted.

This was overall a pretty easy mod, the hardest part was finding the dremel that I hadn't touched in months. All you need is a phillips screwdriver, a drill helps, soldering iron, spare WRT54X, Dremel, 80mm fan, and small heatsink for the broadcom processor. The firmware upgrading is damn easy and really you can't mess it up if you follow the instructions. Even if you brick your router, you can still recover.

~FA

Well, I have a WRT54G running DD-WRT V23sp1 sitting right next to me. So I'm tempted to try it.

Thrax, do you know if upgrading to v24 is worth it, and if so, I couldn't find any documentation of if I have to go back to the stock firmware before doing so or if there is a way to just upgrade the version.

How much more range do you actually get out of it, because isn't the amount of power required figured as an exponential quantity. Such as to achieve one more unit of distance you need double the power. Similar to powering a speaker. if it take 50 watts to get 100 decibles then it will take 100 watts to get 51 101 decibles. At least it went SOMETHING like that. I thought I'd done some reading that after a certain point more power started having for lack of a better term diminishing returns.