Background:
I had an old DIR-825
laying around from a few years ago, almost useless to me as my only internet
connection is through my smartphone. Early this year (2019) I felt a
need for a better computer at a cheap price point. With the help of a
friend I settled on a used ThinkCentre M83 SFF. Once it arrived I
realized that there actually are computers without built in wireless
adapters. I had a little old NETGEAR N300 that I was able to use but
it was unhandy.
Yesterday a YouTube
video caught my attention and from there I ended up at an article
that talked about using an old wireless router as a wireless bridge,
but in order to make it work I needed to flash a new firmware called
DD-WRT on to it. Over 24 hours later it is working but what a headache. You
can do it too, and probably with a lot less frustration! Here’s
how I did it!
Use any info in here at your own
risk. You could destroy your equipment. I am not a professional.
Items needed:
D-Link DIR-825 B1
(maybe others could work too)
Power cord for
router
Ethernet cable
Computer with
working Ethernet port
Windows 10 and
Windows 7 or just Windows 7
Internet connection/
available wifi
USB thumb drive
Web-browser
Web pages that
are needful/helpful:
Let’s Do This…
1.
First I set my IPv4
network adapter. In “Network
connections” right click on your “Ethernet Connection”, select
“Properties”, select
“Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” then click on
“Properties” at the bottom left of the field. And
select “Use the following IP address”
Set
IP Address to: 192.168.0.2
Set
Subnet Mask to: 255.255.255.0
Set
Default Gateway to: 192.168.0.1 click OK
2.
Update to the latest D-Link Firmware
version 2.07 (to properly update to version 2.07, you must
first upgrade to firmware version 2.06NA)
Go to
https://support.dlink.com/
scroll to bottom of the page and click on Downloads. In the sub
window scroll down and click on DIR-825. Select the appropriate
hardware version (mine is B and this write-up is based off of B)
Click on the drop down menu to see all available versions, also read
the Release Notes
Go ahead and
download all of the versions one at a time and save them to an easy
to find place, label the folder “D-Link Firmware” Unzip or
extract all the updates before use. Version 2.05 has two updates in
the folder, read the text file first, use them one at a time in the
right order.
I was at version
2.02 and installed each update one at a time until I was at 2.07
Note,
it may not be necessary to upgrade to the latest firmware but I know
this way works.
Note,
D-Link says to update java, I did not do that, if i would have it could
possibly have helped make things go better.
Make
sure your DIR-825 is powered on, and has only one Ethernet cable
plugged in, plug the Ethernet cable into #1 of the LAN ports,
DO
NOT
use
the Internet port. Plug the other end of the cable into your computers
Ethernet port
Open
the DIR-825 Configuration
Utility
in your web-browser, I used Firefox.
In
the address bar
type http://192.168.0.1 and press
enter. For
login use
Admin for user name, and
leave password blank. Refer to page 13 in the User Manual (2.10) on
the same download page as the Firmware. If
you can not open Configuration Utility refer to page 99 in the User
Manual (2.10)
Once
logged in click on "Tools" and the top of the page, then click on
"Firmware" in the menu on the left side of the page. In the "Firmware
Upgrade" section click on "Browse" and get the next Firmware upgrade
needed from the place
where you saved the extracted file. Next click "Upload". Follow the on
screen instruction. DO NOT unplug, hit the back button or anything
when the new Firmware is being flashed Refer to page 75 in the User
Manual (2.10) Repeat
until you are at Firmware
version 2.07.
Exit
page.
3.
Getting
the
DD-WRT Files
Go
to the DD-WRT wiki page and read their instructions.
Here is the web page that talks about download options, it was almost
over my head.
In
the Main (BrainSlayer) Build
locations: I went with
https://secure.dd-wrt.com/site/support/other-downloads?path=betas
and that took me to:
Click
on the current year (for me this was 2019). Then click on a date, I
went back three from the newest (this probably made no difference)
Scroll down to: "dlink-dir825-revb" and click on it. I’m
in the US, so I clicked on "factory-to-ddwrt_NA.bin" and
downloaded it. NA is for North America. Then click on "dir825-firmware.bin"
and download it. Make a
folder labeled Firmware DD-WRT and place the two files in it.
NOTE
I
used Windows 10 for the above steps without any problems. For the
next step I had to use Windows 7 to make it work.
4.
Flashing
DD-WRT on to your DIR-825.
On
the back of your DIR-825 press and hold the reset button (I used the
blunt end of a toothpick) for 30 seconds, keep pressing it down
and unplug the power for the DIR-825, keep holing down for 30 more
seconds, still holding down the reset button plug the power back in and keep
holding for another 30 seconds. Now release and you should see the
power light slowly blinking and be orange in color.
(if
you have the original plastic router stand it works well to hold the
router when you are pressing the reset button down for 90 seconds)
Open
your web-browser and type in the address bar: http://192.168.0.1
then press enter. This should open a simple page
titled “Firmware Upgrade System” Click on the "Browse" button and find the
saved file "factory-to-ddwrt_NA.bin"
Click on "Send" or its equivalent. DO NOT turn the power off, or
hit the back button or
anything!
---
At this point I had
trouble, I got a screen that said:
“Incorrect hardware ID image, Please check!”
“Notice
!!
Please
select the right image”
I tried it probably a dozen times and nothing, I tried it in safe
mode with networking, and still nothing. I was using Firefox, then I
tried Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Opera but with no success. I tried
anything I could find on forums, I spent hours pulling my hair out
and then one person said they had got it to work by using Windows 7. So I
dusted off my outdated ASPIREOne (the only thing I have with Windows
7)
I repeated step 1. on that system (setting the IPv4 network
adapter) Unplugged my router from power and computer plugged it into
my little Acer netbook and repeated step 3.
Supposedly there should be a progress indicator in the web-browser of
the flash process, I did not get anything, the page never changed but
the page loading icon kept going, I watched the lights on my DIR-825,
the power light goes out but the LAN light stayed on, I did not touch
anything. After a little bit the power light came back on and the
router rebooted. Lights to know you are done: Blue Power light,
Yellow World light, Blue 2.4GHz- 5GHz lights, and a Blue LAN light. I
left it sit extra time before I closed the web page.
5.
Set Up Your New Firmware!
In web-browser address bar type: http://192.168.1.1 and press enter.
You should see a screen for setting a new user name and password.
Record them in a safe place or on your router.
6.
Upgrade Your New DD-WRT Firmware
Open the web interface in your web-browser http://192.168.1.1
Go to the "Administration" tab then "Firmware Upgrade" button, click on
"Browse" and go find and select dir825-firmware.bin.
Click the "Upgrade" button. This
will take a little bit, again DO NOT power anything off or hit the
back button.
DD-WRT is now ready to use!
I will do another post later on
about how I used this DIR-825 for a wireless bridge with my cell phone
Use any info in here at your own
risk. You could destroy your equipment.
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