firmware fiasco on Linksys WRT54G

[Chris Carey]

On 5/7/06, Wade Preston Shearer <lists at wadeshearer.com> wrote:
> I seem to have hosed my Linksys WRT54G router (version 1). When I
> updated the firmware several months ago [1], some interface errors
> were introduced to the the web-based admin interface [2]. The unit
> still functioned properly, but it was annoying to use the admin
> interface. Yesterday, I noticed that a new firmware updates was
> available [3], so I upgraded again, hoping that this and a restart
> would fix the problem. It did not. The problem persisted. Linksys'
> live-chat tech support was absolutely worthless; they barely
> understood what I was even talking about. So, I wondered if I might
> have accidently installed the wrong firmware in the past. This seem
> possible since although locating my exact unit on their download page
> seems clear today, it hasn't been in the past (support for my unit
> seems to be trailing off). So, I wondered if I rolled back the
> firmware to a version before the UI errors were occurring and then
> migrated back up to the latest, perhaps I could fix it. Well, the
> thing crashed when I tried to install version 1.x of the firmware and
> is now not responding at all. Have I hosed it completely? Anyone have
> any ideas on how to resurrect it?

I would suggest posting in the OpenWRT forums.
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewforum.php?id=1

Once I hosed one of mine to where it would not even respond to ping
any more. I used the "controversial" shorting of two pins on the
motherboard and it came back to life. Not sure where the link is to
the page discussing the technique but I did find the link in the
forums. Search for "brick" and read everything you can.

--
Chris