Quick-Start

15 January 2009
by Amain
modified 6 February 2009

Steps Overview

  1. Download OpenWRT kernel-flash image and Download the Debian Etch root filesystem
  2. Flash Asus WL-550GD
  3. Prepare USB-Stick/USB-Disk with the etch root filesystem
  4. Boot the router
  5. SSH/Telnet 10.0.2.1

Use the instructions and supplied software/binaries you find on this site at your own risk!

Step 1: Download kernel and Debian root filesystem image

Download the OpenWRT kernel and the Debian root filesystem image to your home directory from the download section: latest

Step 2: Flash Asus WL500GD

  1. Put the Asus router into Failure Mode. The router will not boot, bur instead configure all LAN ports to 192.168.1.1 and starts an TFTP server and waits for new flash image
    1. Unplug powercable from the router
    2. Find a pen or other small object and press the reset button on the back of the router
    3. Plug the power cable into the router
    4. After a couple of seconds, power LED starts to FLASH – you are now in Failure Mode
    5. See wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Hardware/Asus/WL500GD for more information on TFPT and Failure Mode
  2. Configure your computer to 192.168.1.2 on the network interface connected to one of the LAN ports on the router
  3. ping 192.168.1.1 – router should respond
  4. Use TFTP to flash the router:
    5. johan@jvz:~$ /usr/bin/tftp 192.68.1.1
tftp> bin
tftp> tra
Packet tracing on.
tftp> put openwrt-brcm47xx-squashfs.trx

    Give the router a minute or so to write the new image to it’s flash. This is important!

  5. Now the router has been flashed

Step 3: Prepare USB-Stick/USB-Disk with the etch root filesystem

  1. We need an USB-Disk or Stick with at least 250M. A 512M would be perfect. For the rest of this Quickstart /dev/sdb is assumed to be the USB-Disk we are going to use.
  2. Create two partitions on it with fdisk /dev/sdb: 
    /dev/sdb1 - Linux - Rest of available size
/dev/sdb2 - Swap - 32MB
  3. Create an ext3 filesystem and make sure that fsck is not run by Debian boot scripts. Debian by default tries to fix problems on filesystems, but if it can’t it will stop booting and present a login prompt. Little awkward if you don’t have a serial console to work with :-) 
    mkfs.ext3 /dev/sbd1
tune2fs -c 0 -i 0 /dev/sdb1
  4. Create swap partition 
    mkswap /dev/sdb2
  5. Mount the ext3 root partition 
    mkdir -p /mnt/debwrt
mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/debwrt
  6. Untar the downloaded Debian root filesystem to /mnt/debwrt (/dev/sdb1) 
    cd /mnt/debwrt
tar xjvf ~/debwrt-rootfs-20090115-1.tar.bz2
  7. Unmount 
    umount /mnt/debwrt

Step 4: Boot the router

  1. Connect the USB-Disk or Stick to the router
  2. Unplug powercable and replug powercable
  3. Give the router a minute or two to boot – while in the meantime the USB-Disk/USB-Stick LED should flash continuesly

Step 5: SSH or Telnet to the router

  1. Now, if everything worked well, the router should have been booted into Debian Etch. If you have an serial console, it should look like this: bootlog. By default all LAN ports (including the one with WAN as description) are configured the IP-address 10.0.2.1. So you might need to reconfigure your computers network interface back from 192.168.1.2 to something like 10.0.2.2. And do a ping 10.0.2.1. see if the router responds.
  2. ssh root@10.0.2.1 with password “angel” will log you into the box and from there you can happily play with your Debian Etch installation.

Note: if you played with the network settings, and you made a mistake and can’t connect to the router; mount the USB-Stick/Disk to your computer, undo all configuration errors and reconnect the USB Disk/Stick to the router.

Enjoy Debian Etch on your Router!!!

Amain – amain@debwrt.net