By Eric Meyer

The WRT54G is a wireless router made by linksys. A few years ago linksys released its WRT54G firmware source code giving the open source community the ability to make its own versions.

Installing Linux on your wireless router has many benefits and in my opinion few risks. The one risk you do face is turning your router into a “Brick”. Now, this does seem like a big chance to take but there are many options if upgrade fails. Also, if you follow the installation instructions for each wrt54g firmware distribution you won’t have a problem.

Typical ways to “Brick” your wrt54g router are: trying to install your firmware upgrade over a wireless connection, interrupting the upgrade, and finally powering cycling during or five minutes after the upgrade.

General rules to follow are:
1. Always perform an upgrade from the original wrt54g linksys firmware not other firmware distributions.
2. Set your firmware back to factory defaults.
3. Don’t upgrade from a wireless connection.
4. Don’t turn off your router for about five minutes after the upgrade.
5. Insure your firmware is meant for your router, some firmware versions are meant for the WRT54GS (WRT54G with speed booster), and the regular wrt54g.
6. Follow the given instructions for each given firmware distribution.
7. Enable the Boot_wait function on your router. This option will give you the ability recover from a failed upgrade by using tftp to upload new firmware.

Linksys does have tools to that will let you recover from failed distributions. There are many different wrt54g firmware distrobutions to pick from. Some have specific purposes: like being used for a wireless hotspot or a radius server. Do your research before installing and always follow the exact installation instructions.

Sign up for the most popular wireless networking news letter on the internet. Receive the inside scoop on wireless technology for the home and work place at http://www.wirelessninja.com.

Article Source: ArticleSlash.net

Routers Articles

Win-Spy Monitoring Software Monitor Your Home PC Or Any PC Within Your Wireless Network. Monitor A Cheating Spouse. Records Any Password. Monitor Any Email. Monitor Via Webcam And Mic.  Continue Reading... Computer Repair Home Study Course Learn How to Repair Your Computer Today! - Save money on costly repairs and even start your own business. Join thousands of others who learned new skills, jump started their careers, made extra money, and started their biz with this Computer Repair Course!  Continue Reading... Overclocking Your Cpu to the Extreme Who Else Wants To Turn There PC Into A Extreme Gaming Rig Without Spending A Single Cent On Hardware? Discover how to unleash over 900% of CPU performance from your PC in a just a few easy steps, then watch in awe as your game's frame-rates double overnight!  Continue Reading... PC Secrets How to make your computer boot up in mere seconds. Exactly how you can Instantly end any threat of Spyware, Trojans and Viruses destroying your computer from the inside out – for good! Secret Insider settings that with just a few clicks will speed up your computer MULTIPLE TIMES. Instantly And Easily Optimize and Speed Up Slow, Crashing, Freezing Computers Even if You Completely Suck at Computers! Fix For All PC Issues.  Continue Reading...

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Routers... Increasing the Range of your Wireless Access Points How far can wireless go? Well, really, the answer is as far as you want it to, or as far as you can afford. You see, even though each wireless transmitter has a range limit, you can install things called wireless extension points, often called repeaters, to boost the signal and make your network's range even longer. So you're not getting the 11Mbps speed that you thought your card's manufacturer promised? If you read your card or Access Point's spec carefully, you'll probably see that data rates are specified as a function of distance. Data rate drops off very quickly with distance for 802.11b products. What is a Repeater? As you get further away from the origin of a wireless signal, it gets weaker and weaker, until eventually it is impossible to receive at all. No matter how much you spend on high-powered wireless equipment, you will eventually reach a point where your network just won't stretch any further. Some people solve this problem by running...