Overclock a Linksys WRT54G

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

8 Oct 2003, 12:30am

DISCLAIMER: If you toast your router, cry to someone who cares. This hack is to be used at your own will, and I take no responsibility for you smoking your $112 802.11G WAP. Short-media also takes no responsibility. REMEMBER THAT THIS WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY.

I repeat this clearly:
-You're doing this on your own accord
-I am not responsible for damages
-Short-Media is not responsible for damages
-Your warranty will be voided

PREREQUISITES: The newest 9/9/03 firmware, WRT54G by Linksys.

PRELIMINARY INFO: The WRT54G runs Linux kernel 2.4.5 on a 125MHz MIPS processor with 16mb RAM. Approximate 9MB free if you would ever wish to execute your own code. If you want to know how to do that, let me know.

THINGS TO REMEMBER: This hack must be applied again if you (A) Turn your router off and back on (B) Soft-reset the router (C) Factory reset the router. The command functions like a linux command on a temporary file, reboot and it's gone.

Log into the router through your browser and proceed to the ping test window by going to administration -> Diagnostics. Click the ping test.

Follow the picture below. Where it says "TXPWR 84" change the value to 48. Eighty-four is too high a mW rating without additional cooling, and this value provides unstable signals.

The Linksys WRT54G comes with 19mW signal, which is complete crap. Due to FCC regulations, Linksys can't ship it with a signal strength much higher than this. They can't stop you though!

`/usr/sbin/wl -i eth2 txpwr 48` is the string to be placed in the WRT54G ping test interface. Place it in, and hit ping. Your signal strength is now double, and you have successfully overclocked your router. Also, go to the advanced section on your WRT54G and enable "Frame burst." This is what netgear and several other 54G providers are calling turbo mode.

Enjoy.

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Thrax edited : 8 Oct 2003 at 2:47am .

pseudonym

Faster than you!

2,378 Posts

8 Oct 2003, 12:56am

Wow, thanks Thrax. Thats what definitely seems to be lacking with my router. When I check linksys' website though, the only firmware from 9/03 is for the WRT54G VPN Broadband router. I know I have the v1.0 router (original release) with the 7/03 firmware. Can I update to the 9/03 firmware without a problem, or are these two routers different? I wouldn't think they are. Thanks.

__________________ Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man stupid and blind in the eyes.
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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

8 Oct 2003, 1:04am

Release 9/9/03 WRT54G v1.1 firmware

I have a v1.0 WRT54G, but ran into no problems flashing to this version.

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pseudonym

Faster than you!

2,378 Posts

8 Oct 2003, 1:08am

Thrax said
Release 9/9/03 WRT54G v1.1 firmware

I have a v1.0 WRT54G, but ran into no problems flashing to this version.

Ohhhhhhh, ok. My bad. I was looking at the firmware date, not the release date. Thanks.

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pseudonym

Faster than you!

2,378 Posts

8 Oct 2003, 1:26am

SWEET. Thanks Thrax. Now that thing is actually useful on the other side of the house!!

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

8 Oct 2003, 1:28am

How are your signal strengths before and after?

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pseudonym

Faster than you!

2,378 Posts

8 Oct 2003, 1:32am

Thrax said
How are your signal strengths before and after?

Well, the only thing I have up is an XP Pro (No %s or anything) but the thing went from low to very good. (2 bars to 4 bars). Can XP tell me in %? I'll go change it and see what it was if it can.

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

8 Oct 2003, 1:35am

That's all I need.

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pseudonym

Faster than you!

2,378 Posts

8 Oct 2003, 1:38am

Thrax said
That's all I need.

To make it easier to wardrive??

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

8 Oct 2003, 1:45am

That's already easy.

Cisco + Yagi omni.

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primesuspect

The Icrontic Guy

29,322 Posts

8 Oct 2003, 1:46am

Great find, Thrax.

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

11 Oct 2003, 11:38pm

Ooh, this is the router I was (am) going to buy.

Now I am going to come up with some mad ideas.

Can you compile a new kernel on it? But that probably wouldn't work as you cant see anything.

Is 48 the absolute maximum or can you go higher? (I mean realistically and usably).

Also, with the new power output, where does that place this AP in comparison with other APs?

Cheers,
NS

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

11 Oct 2003, 11:57pm

You can go up to 84, but that provides unstable connections. Max realistic is 68. Prepare to mod your router for that.

You have to compile a kernel outside on Linux and inject it, but you'd be better off modifying the GPLed code on Linksys's website. SeattleWireless has been working on modding the router's kernel for about 6 months, with only a little bit of success.

With the new power output, it puts it in the upper 30%. That is, 70% or so of existing WAPs have lower mW ratings.

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Thrax edited : 12 Oct 2003 at 12:00am .

Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

12 Oct 2003, 12:30am

Whats the highest un-modded number?
And does 68 really get it that hot?

NS

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

12 Oct 2003, 12:37am

200mW on Prism 2.5-chipped 802.11B WAPs. On 802.11G, it's about 100mW on some Cisco gear (~$700).

And yes, it gets that hot.

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Thrax edited : 12 Oct 2003 at 12:43am .

Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

12 Oct 2003, 1:13am

So is 48 the max without additional cooling? Or would it be ok at something such as 56? (I meant highest for this AP, not globaly).

Meh.... don't really want to go physically modding my WAP.

Cheers,
NS

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

12 Oct 2003, 1:16am

You might push 56. Give it a whirl. It's like a computer, it'll crash before you damage it. If you feel excess heat from the top of the router, 48 it.

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

12 Oct 2003, 9:18am

Lol, I feel excess heat from my current router and it is just a crappy 4 port D-Link wired router

Cheers Thrax,
NS

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DOSMAN

Old Timer

246 Posts

12 Oct 2003, 5:30pm

How do I tell if I have WRT54G 1.0 or 1.1. It's not in the manual, on the router itself, nor can I find it in the setup.

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

12 Oct 2003, 5:50pm

1.0 has: "Instant Wireless Series" written to the right of the Internet LEDs.
1.1 has something about Cisco.

Doesn't really matter. The newest linksys firmware for the v1.1 runs great on my 1.0. The hardware is identical between the two, they just changed some LEDs, writing on the router, and maybe design of the router itself.

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pseudonym

Faster than you!

2,378 Posts

12 Oct 2003, 6:16pm

Yeah, don't worry about it DOSMAN. I did the same thing Thrax did. No probelms at all.

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

12 Oct 2003, 6:21pm

Just got to wait for mine to arrive now........

NS

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DOSMAN

Old Timer

246 Posts

12 Oct 2003, 6:58pm

THANK YOU THRAX!!!!

YOU ARE MY SAVIOR!!

Now, I can finally use my Laptop on the other end of the house. I had just accepted the fact that it wouldn't work, and now, Success! This is the coolest thing ever.

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DOSMAN

Old Timer

246 Posts

12 Oct 2003, 7:04pm

At the other end of the house, I get Signal Strength 100%, but Link Quality gets pretty low around 30% and it drops out completely every once in a while. Would 48mW be too high/low?

And also, if I use a different mW number, what increments should it be in? 1? 8?

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DOSMAN edited : 12 Oct 2003 at 7:07pm .

Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

14 Oct 2003, 5:52pm

Just tried this and as I am waiting for my WiFi PCMCIA card at the moment, the best I could do was test it with my PDA, and on a shelf above the Router, as I applied 56 (rather than 48) the signal strength on the PDA went from -36dBm to -28dBm. No idea how much gain that actually is, but it's something.

Thrax: Any idea how to put the WAP on the subnet 255.255.0.0 as it will only let me use 255.255.255.0 or 255.255.255.X which is a problem for my network setup.

NS

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 12:01pm

Seems that the new Beta Firmware available now increases throughput but it 'fixes' the ping exploit, which means 19mW power for all.... and that sucks.

Hope someone either hacks it or Linksys for some reason 'un-fix' the new Firmware.......

NS

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 12:11pm

Just use v1.1 firmware linked at the top of the page and the ping hack will work on the 54G.

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 12:18pm

Thrax said
Just use v1.1 firmware linked at the top of the page and the ping hack will work on the 54G.

I know.

I am just saying that the future Firmware(s) that improve speeds and add a few features prevent the Ping hack.

NS

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 12:36pm

I'm sure someone out there will "h4xx0r teh firmwaerz".

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 12:45pm

Thrax said
I'm sure someone out there will "h4xx0r teh firmwaerz".

Someone reported their speed going from 15.8Mbps with the old Firmware to 21.5Mbps with the new firmware, which sounds promising.

NS

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 9:44pm

Haha, fixed my crap signal problems by switching to channel 8.

I now get 103% signal in my front room (through the roof, then through the wall and diagnaly through the roof (basically up a room then left a room)).

One thing though, the speed doesn't seem to be able to settle. Even though the quality is at 103% it only seems to be at 48Mbps. Though it seems to go up and down depending on how much I use it (the more I use, the higher the speed says).

NS

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 9:50pm

Remember that signal quality does not mean signal STRENGTH.

The signal can be very clean, which means few retransmissions etc., but the strength of the signal (Which is what actually determines throughput -- miliwatts and RF decibels) won't ever max out simply because of the air.

What channel were you on? 6 or 11 by any chance?

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 10:07pm

I said in the first sentence. Channel 8. 8, 7 and 6 were good but 8 was best. 11 sucked majorly.

The signal strength here is -60dB...... is that good or bad?

Here is a pic of the connection during a heavy file transfer.

When idling the bad frames is normally 2-10 and the good frames 0-4.

NS

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 10:22pm

I asked what channel you WERE on, not what channel you switched TO (Eight).

dBi, the higher the better (Closer to or over zero). Now don't freak out! Realize that PCI cards and PCMCIA cards are several dozen dBi below zero. That's ok. My farthest wireless card approximately 50 feet away through three walls usually runs at -53 dB on the WRT54G's default of 19mW, and closer to -30 dB at 48mW.

I have lower numbers because both the source and destination have dipole antennas (Figure 8-patterned broadcast. Wide spread, good for overlapping. The signal is sent from the sides of the antenna. Your WRT54G has dual dipole antennas). Your internal card on the other hand is probably an omni, which has slightly lower performance but offers better RF intercept.

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 10:34pm

What is your card that gets such good reception then?

I already knew about db working on Minus and Plus btw, so the minus numbers didn't bother me.

Though I am wondering why it says my PCMCIA card is only broadcasting at 18dBm rather than 21dBm which it says it is rated at.....

Another annoying thing is that the 802.11a Turbo mode dissapears from my options when I have the country set to UK (and if it isnt set to UK it complains my settings dont match).

NS

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 10:39pm

Firstly the output......

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 10:40pm

But what I find strange is the difference between Windows' reports of the quality, and Atheros' own software reports.

Windows shows this and it keeps dropping to 3........

NS

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 10:46pm

It might be that your country has restrictions on the 2.4GHz band that the U.S. doesn't. The specific proliferation of cell technology in Europe that hasn't quite caught on here might have something to do with that.

Your network card could very well be reading the country code you inadvertently picked when you set your timezone/country on the Windows install, and then telling the router that turbo mode is no go.

My primary 802.11G PCI card is a USRobotics USR5416 (63mW card; I forget the gain).

//EDIT: I would be more likely to trust Atheros.

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 10:53pm

Ah, as PCI cards have like a single antenna the same as one of the ones on the WRT54G dont they.

I wonder if there is any way to boost the signal on this card like you can on the router.......

NS

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 10:56pm

NightShade737 had this to say
Ah, as PCI cards have like a single antenna the same as one of the ones on the WRT54G dont they.

Right!

NightShade737 had this to say
I wonder if there is any way to boost the signal on this card like you can on the router.......

Probably not.

Unless you had some way to hack the firmware, it's generally improbable that you can increase it.

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keto

SM22 Host

1,829 Posts

15 Oct 2003, 11:14pm

Hrmm I have a similar problem but with DLink, not Linksys. I have a DI-614+ 802.11b router and in mrs keto's computer in the living room, about 30 feet and 3 walls away, there's a PCI DWL-520+ receiver. Her signal is sometimes full, sometimes crap. OK, cleaning out the spyware from the kids downloading songs helped a bit

but I wonder if there's similar ability to OC the router I have? I wouldn't know where to even begin to look, even after reading this thread

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

16 Oct 2003, 6:36pm

Here are the results of the speed boost next to the actual output in DB that the machine is giving out.

Though my speeds suck, it seems to max out around 910KBps (using Sandra) and is lowest around 500KBps. That is pathetically low (doesn't matter if I am overclocking the router or not).

NS

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

16 Oct 2003, 8:25pm

Ok, managed to get up to 1280KBps downstairs through quite a lot of wall now (through the whole center of the house from upstairs to downstairs and through a giant block).

But the maximum I could get, like 5ft from the Router was ~1800KBps, 2200 Max, 1600 Min.

It never changed into 54/54 mode, it was in 48Mb Transmit and 54 Recieve mode. Any ideas?

Also, do these figures look right?

Oh, I found out the max for the router realitically is 74. I could go higher than 94 (and the range continued to increase) but the speed would lower (it was at about 1400KBps @ 84mW) as I tested every 4mW from 19 to 100.

NS

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broadd

New to the neighborhood

1 Posts

31 Oct 2003, 9:23pm

How to confirm ping hack

The ping hack doesn't seem to affect my signal strength between the wrt54g and my airport extreme.

After I click 'ping', all that happens is 'Invalid IP Address or Domain Name' appears in the window. Is that what should happen?

I have the 1.42.2 firmware.

Regards,
Bruce

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Enverex

~-+-~

5,879 Posts

1 Nov 2003, 6:59am

Re: How to confirm ping hack

broadd said
The ping hack doesn't seem to affect my signal strength between the wrt54g and my airport extreme.

After I click 'ping', all that happens is 'Invalid IP Address or Domain Name' appears in the window. Is that what should happen?

I have the 1.42.2 firmware.

Regards,
Bruce

The hack doesn't work on the latest firmware, you need to downgrade to .1 I believe.

NS

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dertester

New to the neighborhood

1 Posts

20 Nov 2003, 7:57am

Re: Re: How to confirm ping hack

NightShade737 had this to say

broadd said
The ping hack doesn't seem to affect my signal strength between the wrt54g and my airport extreme.

After I click 'ping', all that happens is 'Invalid IP Address or Domain Name' appears in the window. Is that what should happen?

I have the 1.42.2 firmware.

Regards,
Bruce

The hack doesn't work on the latest firmware, you need to downgrade to .1 I believe.

NS

Hallo take this Firmaware

http://h.vu.wifi-box.net/wrt54g/cust...11_03_code.bin

its 1.42.2 european but pinghack works , I've tested cu dertester

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Jimborae

He ain't mad, just English

1,498 Posts

26 Nov 2003, 7:21pm

Well my router died at the weekend so I've now got one of these Linksys as well and have used the 1.42.2 european firmware. The hack sems to work for me although I won't now for sure till my wifi card arrives (hopefully tomorrow).

So thanks Thrax & dertester !

Also a systems guy at work said I should gone for the D-Link 614+ as its better even though its a 802.11b router. What do you lot think.

Regards

Jim

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Thrax

Cat Whisperer

25,154 Posts

26 Nov 2003, 7:33pm

I think even the crappiest G router is better than B for throughput...Maybe not for range. But the D-Links don't have good range, so I disagree.

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Enverex

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5,879 Posts

26 Nov 2003, 7:56pm

Re: Re: Re: How to confirm ping hack

dertester had this to say

NightShade737 had this to say

broadd said
The ping hack doesn't seem to affect my signal strength between the wrt54g and my airport extreme.

After I click 'ping', all that happens is 'Invalid IP Address or Domain Name' appears in the window. Is that what should happen?

I have the 1.42.2 firmware.

Regards,
Bruce

The hack doesn't work on the latest firmware, you need to downgrade to .1 I believe.

NS

Hallo take this Firmaware

http://h.vu.wifi-box.net/wrt54g/cust...11_03_code.bin

its 1.42.2 european but pinghack works , I've tested cu dertester