OpenWRTKamikazeonDLink7100AP

ThistutorialisforenablingDLinkDWL7100APtorunOpenWRTKamikaze7.09 Iknowit'sanoldaccesspointmodel,andanoldversionofOpenWRT,butInoticedpeoplearestill interestedinrunningOpenWRTonthesedevices,soIdecidedtomakethistutorial.MyAPislabeled HWVersionA1,butdifferentversionsmayhavedifferentcomponents.IfyourversionisA1aswell, though...thistutorialshouldhelpyouturnyourAPintoanOpenWRTdevice. IwilltrytomakeitasclearasIcan,becausewhenIfirstattemptedthis,Ibarelyunderstood anything,anditallseemedmuchharderthanitreallywas.Ittookmemonthstogatherallthe necessaryinformationandsoftware,butonlyafewhoursinacoupleofdaystomakeOpenWRT bootonmyAP.So,ifitseemstodetailedforsomepeople,sorry...:) Firstofall,youneedabufferedWigglerJTAGcable(andanoldfashionedLPT25pinparallelporton yourPC).ThiswillallowyoutooverwritethebootloaderintheAccessPoint(AP).Thedefaultone doesn'tsupportwritingOpenWRTtoflash(whichistheAP's...let'ssayharddisk:)),sowewill replaceitwithamoreflexibleonecalledredboot. InordertoseetheAP'soutputyoualsoneedaserialcable.IhaveusedanUSBcablefrommyold SamsungX600phone.Manysuchphonecableswilldojustfine,sincetheycontainUSBtoSERIAL converters.Youcanalsomakeoneyourself,orbuildacablethatdirectlyusestheoldfashioned COM1port(ifyourPChasone).Evenso,Irememberthatitstillneedsacircuittolowerthevoltage (PCCOMportworksat12V,andtheAPneedsonly3.3V,soconnectingitdirectlywouldfryit). That'swhyIdecidedthatthephonecableistheeasiestway.IsearchedtheSamsungconnectoron pinout.ruandfoundwhichpiniswhat.ThenItookthemultimeterandconfirmedthatitoutputs3.3V signals,soIwasallset. Bothcables(serialandparallelJTAG)needtohavetheirwiressolderedinsidetheAP.Therearetwo connectorsontheboard.Theserialonlyneedsthreewires:RX,TXandGND(onereceivestheAP's output,onetransmitsyourcommandsandoneistheGround).Tocommunicateovertheserialport, youneedaterminalsoftwarethatisabletodothat.IusedthesmallapplicationnamedPutty(for Windows). Butbeforethis,youneedtorewritethebootloader.ThisrequirestheJTAGtobeconnectedtothe APusing8wires.Itisalittlemorecomplicatedtobuildandsolder,butonceyourewritethe bootloader,youdon'tneeditanymore(unlesssomethinggoeswrongandyoubrickyourdevice meaningthatcorruptfirmwareismakingitnottoturnonatall). ThesoftwareneededtorewritethebootloaderisbasedonLinux.IusedmyinstalledMandriva,butI heardthatyoucanalsouseCygwininWindows So,theshortversiongoeslikethis: 1.BuildWIGGLERJTAGcable 2.ConnectJTAGcabletoAPboard 3.useLinuxjtagsoftwaretowriteredboottoflash 4.connectserialcableandaccessredboot 5.givecommandstoredbootinordertodownloadandinstallOpenWRTfromyourPC 6.restarttheAPandseeifitworks 7.configureOpenWRTtoyourlikingandenjoyyournewprofessionalAP Seebelowimagetogetageneralideaaboutthesesteps:

 TheJTAGschemecanalsobefoundhere: http://wiki.openwrt.org/oldwiki/openwrtdocs/customizing/hardware/jtag_cable (underBufferedCableWiggler) Andmoredetailsabouttheserialcablecanbefoundhere: http://wiki.openwrt.org/oldwiki/openwrtdocs/customizing/hardware/serial_console TheJTAGconnectoristhe14pinoneontheboardseethepictureabove.Checkoutthisimage (not7100,butsimilar)toseethepinout:

Ifyouhaveamultimeteraround,beforeconnectingthecable,verifythatwiththeAPpluggedin youhave3.3Vbetweenthepinnumbered14andoneoftheGNDpins.Thenconnectyourcablelike intheschemefromtheOpenWRTWiki. http://wiki.openwrt.org/_detail/oldwiki/openwrtdocs/customizing/hardware/wiggler.png?id=oldwiki %3Aopenwrtdocs%3Acustomizing%3Ahardware%3Ajtag_cable ThenusetheLinuxprograminthefirstarchivefilejtagtoolsandredbootfor7100AP.rar Injtagtools,youwillneedtousethesecommandsforinitialisation: cableparallel0x378WIGGLER detect poke0x584000000x100e3ce1 detectflash0x3fc00000 Afterthatyoucaneitherreadthecontentsoftheflash(somethinglike:readmem0x3fc00000 0x40000boot.binsavesthecurrentbootloadertotheboot.binfile) Oryoucandirectlywritethenewbootloaderintheflashattheaddress0x3fc00000(beginningof flash)using:flashmem0x3fc00000tredbootromlzm.bin Youcanfindtheredbootromlzm.binfileintheredbootzipfilelocatedinthefirstarchiveaswell. Thereisalsoaramversionthatihaveneverused(youloseeverythingatreboot). NotethatJTAGreadingandwritingtakesALOToftime.Icopiedtheentireflash(4MB)justincase somethinggoeswrongandIneededtorestoretheoriginalfirmwareandittookseveralhours.The bootloaderislessthan200KBbutwillstilltakesometimetowrite. Afterthat,whenyouconnecttheserialcable,youshouldseetheRedBootprompt.Toaccessthe serialconsole,IusedPutty.Justdownloadit(it'sfree http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/x86/putty.exe)andselecttheSerialradiobutton,then changetheportsoitmatchesyours.Ifyouusetheclassicone,itwillbeCOM1.Ifyouusethephone cable,afterinstallingthedriversitwilladdaportthatyoucanseefromthedevicemanagerin Windows.thenpressOpenanditshouldconnectyoudirectlytotheRedBootprompt.Also,Iused 9600baudrateinPutty. AfteryougettheRedBootrunning,usingtheTFTPD32softwareonyourPC,youcanservethe OpenWRTfilesthroughtheEthernetcableinsteadoftheJTAG,usingthe"fiscreate"commandin RedBoot.Youcanfindboththefilesinthesecondarchivefile,OpenWRT7.09for7100AP.rar Ihopethishelpssomeone... ByOzTmonOpenWRTForums