ASUS WL-520gC

Links of Interest
On the DD-WRT wiki

Chinese review and internal shots

Pictures

Asus routers on Wikipedia

Flashing dd-wrt
Because this router has only 2MB of flash, you must use a micro-generic build of DD-WRT.

This router supports Micro-plus

Users have experienced successful flashes directly from the web interface on the default factory firmware i.e. the ASUS Flash tool is not required. If this fails, revert to using the tool. (See notes below if you are using ASUS FW newer than 2.0.0.8.)

Other notes

 * Same as Deluxe, but DO NOT flash the clear_nvram or recover files - it will brick your router. Only flash the firmware file itself and then do a reset to factory settings via web GUI.
 * dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic should be used.
 * Using web-based firmware update (rename .bin to .trx)
 * Web interface from Asus firmware 2.0.1.0 and newer doesn't allow to upload DD-WRT firmware, it reports corrupted file. You have to downgrade to 2.0.0.8 Asus firmware in order to flash DD-WRT firmware using the GUI.
 * There also could be unable to downgrade to 2.0.0.8 Asus firmware from newer version through web interface, easily solution could be rename in order to flash DD-WRT firmware. Easy solution could be to rename a old firmware file (up to 2.0.0.8) for example to "newer" WL520gc_2.0.1.2_EN.trx
 * Uploading via TFTP may not reset the router. Wait for 10–15 minutes and then power it down and up manually.

[Added by zorruno 11 Sep 2008]
 * confirmed with new WL-520GC out of box, using web interface only
 * needed first to downgrade Asus firmware to 2.0.0.8 (here) using the method above by renaming it to WL520gc_2.0.1.1_EN.trx (version 2.0.1.0 was in the router originally)
 * don't worry about looking for a .trx file for the next step, dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin is fine (here). Did not need to rename this file as .trx, it uploaded fine with the .bin suffix.

[artemv, 16 Nov 2008]
 * needed to hard-reset the router after downgrading to 2.0.0.8 (from 2.0.1.1) to be able to load dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic

Vermonohue 20:24, 6 November 2009 (CET)

(Original Asus FW: v2.0.1.1)

I used the following steps:

INSTALLING DD-WRT


 * 1) Make sure you have another router to connect to the internet! Just in case you need help while your wl-520gc is mid upgrade.
 * 2) Download FW v2.0.0.8 from Asus web site.
 * 3) Download dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin (build 14929) from here.
 * 4) Factory reset router through original FW web interface.
 * 5) Change your computer's IP address to 192.168.1.2, mask 255.255.255.0. (may have to reboot pc.)
 * 6) Power cycle router.
 * 7) Rename new Asus FW from  ...2.0.0.8_EN.trx FW to ..fake.2.0.1.2_EN.trx. Keep the .trx file extension. (Or some version higher than the one you have if you have higher than 2.0.1.1 installed.)
 * 8) Upload fake Asus FW from previous step using Asus FW upload on web interface.
 * 9) Power cycle, do a restore factory defaults from web interface, Power cycle when it is done.
 * 10) Use web interface to upload "micro" dd-wrt FW. Leave router on for 5 minutes after uploading!
 * 11) Power cycle, browse to 192.168.1.1.
 * 12) Change user, pass, and restore factory defaults from web interface. Leave power on for a few minutes.
 * 13) Power cycle.

I also managed to brick the router a few times learning how to do this. This is how I recovered:

UNBRICKING
 * 1) Power off router, push and hold reset button, plug in power, wait for power light to flash slowly, then release the reset. This should put you in the restore mode.
 * 2) Verify you can ping the router. Try 192.168.1.1 if you don't know what the address is. You may need to use nmap if you are really stuck. You should see ttl=100 on the ping replies. If ttl=64, you may not be bricked!
 * 3) use tftp to connect to the router, and "put" the fake 2.0.0.8 Asus FW. On OS X Tiger I open a terminal window, change to the directory with the FW, and type the following:
 * 4) * tftp 192.168.1.1 (or whatever your router's IP is)
 * 5) * tftp> binary
 * 6) * tftp> put fake.2.0.1.2.trx (use the name you used in step6 from INSTALLING)
 * 7) LEAVE ROUTER ON for 5 minutes after tftp reports it is done uploading!!!
 * 8) Disconnect all cables, power cycle, wait 5 minutes with router on.
 * 9) Power cycle, restore factory settings from web interface.
 * 1) Power cycle, restore factory settings from web interface.

I did NOT need to start a tftp server or daemon.

I did NOT use the mini_asus FW pre-load.

I did NOT use the clear_nvram.trx file.

I did NOT use the recover.trx file.

UNBRICKING V.2 --I2gh0st 20:53, 17 January 2010 (CET)
 * 1) Install ASUS utility
 * 2) Power off router, push and hold reset button, plug in power, wait for power light to flash slowly, then release the reset. This should put you in the restore mode.
 * 3) Go to "Start Menu\Programs\ASUS Utility\WL-520GC Wireless Router\Firmware Restoration"
 * 4) Select the latest bin file for router from dd-wrt site in my case "dd-wrt.v24_preSP2_micro_generic.bin"
 * 5) Wait for asus utility to finish the job, after this your router should be fine.

Pictures
Retail Images