Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[RamGuy]

I think there might be something messed up with my DGL-4500 firmware / flash memory?

After I once back in time flashed my DGL-4500 with a 1.13 BETA firmware it has been a pain in the ass?
First of all the firmware 1.13BETA did so I couldn't change any settings on my DGL-4500 whatsoever. It wouldn't save my changes? If I tried to change the LAN subnet from 192.168.0.1 to 192.168.1.1 it would just toss me back to the login screen upon hitting "save".

This applied no matter what setting I tried to configure!
And when trying to flash back to 1.12 with the firmware update utility it would just say "update successful" but after the reboot it was still 1.13BETA with the same annoying "can't change any settings" issue, which made the router useless for me as I need to do some critical changes for the router to work at all..

And yeah, I tried that entire power-cycle thing.. Holding the rest button for like 10-30sec, pull the power cord while keep pressing the rest button, and the plug the cord in again.. Tried lots of different versions of this "power-cycle" process. None of them seemed to do the trick at all?


So I thought it was some kind of bad flash or something?
Then I was told that at TFTP flash might get it back to life!

I downloaded firmware 1.12 and did the whole TFTP flash procedure:
- Run CMD
- typing "tftp -i 192.168.1.1 put "the name of the firmaware""

And that did actually do the trick! I was back on v1.12 and was able to configure the DGL-4500 once more! But it doesn't felt stable? (the 1.12 never did feel stable for me in the first place, GIVE ME 1.02!)

Then I got this 1.15 BETA that I tried, but same thing happened again? Every time I've tried to flash into anything newer than 1.12 (no matter if it is 1.13 BETA / FINAL, 1.14 or 1.15 BETA / FINAL) I get this "can't change any of the settings" issue again? And all I can do is firing up another TFTP flash getting me back to unstable 1.12 where I at least can change some of the settings?


How come I can't change any settings with the newer firmwares? And why can I change my settings with 1.12 when I can't with any of the newer ones?

[Dragonslore]

I had pretty much the same problem as you did, only for some reason, I wasn't able to use the Tftp utilty to back flash my unit.

The only success I had was only after I removed the Black anodized metal shield from under the circuit board.

Looking at the shield, there were some scratches on it and looking at the bottom of the circuit board, it does appear that some of the wire leads protruding from the bottom were a bit on the long side, possibly long enough to have caused the scratches.

But sinceI removed the metal shield, I have been able to successfully upgrade my firmware twice. First down to v1.12 then up to v1.15 and I have been having no problems with my router.

So it's possible that the circuit board might just be shorting out against the metal shield as there is no insulating material between the shield and the underside of the circuit board.

To this day, I have kept the metal shield out of the unit.

I would advise D-Link to start addind a thin layer of insulating material to prevent problems caused by short circuits.

[1968 Torino GT]

 If component leads are shorting out against the metal shield (which it sounds like they are) that means it violates "minimum electrical clearance" standards in electronics manufacturing. This means poor quality control & manufacturing procedures. Which needs to be addressed & fixed by D-Link.
 Putting in a mylar shield with leads as long as yours would only provide a short term fix because over time those leads would work/push their way through the mylar & short out again because of the pressure the lead would be putting on the mylar when the shield is installed. Bringing us back to my first paragraph.

[RamGuy]

I had pretty much the same problem as you did, only for some reason, I wasn't able to use the Tftp utilty to back flash my unit.

The only success I had was only after I removed the Black anodized metal shield from under the circuit board.

Looking at the shield, there were some scratches on it and looking at the bottom of the circuit board, it does appear that some of the wire leads protruding from the bottom were a bit on the long side, possibly long enough to have caused the scratches.

But sinceI removed the metal shield, I have been able to successfully upgrade my firmware twice. First down to v1.12 then up to v1.15 and I have been having no problems with my router.

So it's possible that the circuit board might just be shorting out against the metal shield as there is no insulating material between the shield and the underside of the circuit board.

To this day, I have kept the metal shield out of the unit.

I would advise D-Link to start addind a thin layer of insulating material to prevent problems caused by short circuits.

Interesting.. You don't got a "guide" on how to open the casing?

[Dragonslore]

Yes, there was very little clearance if any which is why there should have been some insulating material in place. The stuff I'm used to seeing is reddish in color and about a millimeter thick.

 -

The tabs that hold the cover in place for your router are located about 2 centimeters or a ½" from either side on the front.

Then on the sides, there are tabs located opposite each other with the back edge of the tabs being even with the back edge of the silver square that is directly behind the display on the cover.

NOTE: Use a small flat headed screw driver inserted between the cover and the top edge of the wide band that runs around both sides and the front. You'll want to do this gently at the location of each tab starting with one of the side tabs first, careful not to crack or break the case.

The circuit board is held in by two screws on the front edge.

You'll probably want to remove the antennas and the antenna connectors from the back of the case before you remove the circuit board or you will find it to be a lot more difficult to remove it. You can re-attach the antenna connectors very easily after the circuit board is put back in place.

[Dragonslore]

oOpss.....

Reading through my last post, I realized that I forgot the FIRST Step.

 - Remove the Two screws from the Bottom First!

[RamGuy]

Thanks.. Interesting thing is that my unit now behaves different? So it must have done something!
Downside is that every time I now try to make any changes the unit reboots?

[Dragonslore]

If removing the metal shield made a difference, but you're having other problems now, then chances are, the firmware needs to be re-flashed as I had specified in another post, including having nothing connected to the router other than the system used to flash the router.

[RamGuy]

Hmm.. I TFTP flashed back to 1.12, then opened it again for completely removing the metal plate (I just tried to completely isolated it from the board)

I also tried a little twist.. I replaced the Wireless NIC with the one I've got in one of my (working) DIR-655 routers, they actually use the same Atheros chip? Also replacing all the three antennas wires (internal) and the external antennas with the one from the same DIR-655 to see if that could put and end to the "wifi init failed" issue I've had for the past 4-5months on my DIR-655 (occurred when flashing to v1.12 the first time)

Funny thing is not even that seemed to do the trick?
Now I'm trying to re-flash the router with firmware 1.12 through the webinterface, then going to flash with 1.15 to see if I'm finally able to change my settings. If it doesn't work I guess I have to call it dead for sure

[RamGuy]

It didn't do the trick
It now keeps rebooting upon whatever change I do.. So I guess my router at some point f***ed up the WiFi when flashing to v1.12 and then the 1.13BETA flashing killed something more making the whole thing useless to me

Well, what have I learned from this experience?..

1#: Don't by stuff from Ebay.com, no matter if it's impossible to obtain in your own country or not, actually never do it if the item you are purchasing isn't available in your country at all, because then you can forget about everything that has to do with warranty.

2#: The Norwegian D-Link support is horrible, the support here on this forum is decent though, with Lycan actually trying to help out and support those who write here.. And there are lots of other users helping each other out! But I think I'll never call the D-Link Norway support ever again..

3#: Despite the fact that D-Link got what have to be the most promising routers currently available when it comes to hardware.. It doesn't necessary mean you will have a blast when using their routers. It's not really D-Link's fault though, it's the UbiCom team and their horrid firmwares that are messing that what could've been the best routers available into a living nightmare to use. I thought the Linksys official firmwares were bad, well I was clearly wrong! It's really sad to see such a good piece of hardware and engineering that many of these D-Link routers actually are being pulled down in the mud by disappointing firmwares. The combo of a DGL-4500 / DIR-825 / DIR-855 or the DIR-655 and DD-WRT / OpenWRT or Tomato firmware would have been really awesome! Combining the best hardware solutions with the best firmwares solutions would have made the perfect router.. But as of today you have to choose between 1#: The router with the best hardware, but lack the support of good firmware or 2#: Router with weaker hardware, but support some really awesome firmwares.

And as we all know, good hardware is nothing without the right software, and good software is nothing without decent hardware.. So there is no such thing as the perfect router I guess

[Dragonslore]

I wonder if by using tftp you might have messed something up with the firmware?

When I've used tftp, it's been with linksys routers and DD-WRT.
If you're familiar with this, then you know there is more than one step to the process and you need to be careful not  to damage the RedBoot part of the Firmware.

Now with D-Link routers, I don't know if they use something similiar to RedBoot or not.

So you can see the dilema here, especially seeing as D-Link appears to be reliant on cooperation of UbiCom for the firmware.

 -

Well, hopefully you'll be able to get it working again or if not maybe you can pull the WiFi card and use it without the WiFi capabilities?

[1968 Torino GT]

Yes, there was very little clearance if any which is why there should have been some insulating material in place. The stuff I'm used to seeing is reddish in color and about a millimeter thick.

 -

 Yes Dragonslore the "red" fiber board type material is also a common insulator used. But it would still have the same problem if there was 0 clearance originally. Because the pressure can (and I have seen this happen) over time cause the leads to eventually break through the insulating meterial.
 Bottom line is D-Link needs to make sure that the leads do not exceed a certain height. And also putting in an insulating material between the board & shield would be an added protection aganst shorting problems. But putting in that insulating material could also cause a cooling problem.

[RamGuy]

I wonder if by using tftp you might have messed something up with the firmware?

When I've used tftp, it's been with linksys routers and DD-WRT.
If you're familiar with this, then you know there is more than one step to the process and you need to be careful not  to damage the RedBoot part of the Firmware.

Now with D-Link routers, I don't know if they use something similiar to RedBoot or not.

So you can see the dilema here, especially seeing as D-Link appears to be reliant on cooperation of UbiCom for the firmware.

 -

Well, hopefully you'll be able to get it working again or if not maybe you can pull the WiFi card and use it without the WiFi capabilities?

Well the "can't change any of the settings" issue exist with or without the wireless card, it WiFi card failed a while before the firmware / ROM got messed up. And it wasn't the TFTP that did it either, because it was messed up before TFTP flashing came to my mind.

[Dragonslore]

Then maybe the short circuit caused by the bottom of the board is the root cause?

 - I'm sorry, but I do have do ask this just out of routine for elimination...

When you re-inserted the circuit board, did you carefully pay attention to the items on the back of the board and the switch on the right side?

If you can try running the router with the circuit board out of the case, then it's possible you may not have placed it back in the case correctly. Cause you could have caught the reset button or possibly something else.

I'm sure you understand, I'm shoting in the dark here (from a distance) trying to eliminate some possibilities.

[1968 Torino GT]

Also check to see if any of the leads on the bottom of the board didn/t get bent over from being in contact with the metal shield & shorting out to another lead.