ASUS WL-500W

bgn (N300)
Wireless Super Speed N Router
Homepage	Product page
Wikipedia	Asus routers
InfoDepot Wiki	Asus WL-500W
WikiDevi.wi-cat.ru	ASUS WL-500W
3rd Party Firmware
dd-wrt	Supported
OpenWrt	Was Supported
Tomato any flavor	Supported
Gargoyle	Status Unknown
Platform
Brand • Model • Rev	ASUS WL-500W (R1.11)
FCC ID	MSQWL500W
Type	wireless router
CPU1	Broadcom BCM4704
CPU1 Type	BMIPS3300
CPU1 Speed	264 MHz
Flash1 Chip	Macronix MX29LV640BUTC-90G
Flash1 Size	8 MiB8,388,608 B <br />65,536 Kib <br />8,192 KiB <br />64 Mib <br />0.00781 GiB <br /> (Parallel)
RAM1 Size	32 MiB33,554,432 B <br />262,144 Kib <br />32,768 KiB <br />256 Mib <br />0.0313 GiB <br />
RAM1 Chip	SK hynix HY5DU281622ETP-5 x 2
ETH chip1	Broadcom BCM4704
Switch	Broadcom BCM5325F
Ethernet Port Count	1-100MbE-WAN 4-100MbE-LAN
Wired Standard	IEEE 802.3i/3u
802dot11 OUI: none specified Ethernet OUI: 00:22:15 (3 E, 4 W)
Stock bootloader	CFE
Expansion IF types	USB 2.0, Mini PCI
Mini PCI slots	1
USB ports	2
USB Hub Compatible	Untested
Power	5 VDC, 2.5 A
Connector type	barrel
Serial Port (UART)	yes, 2x 4-pin header
Flags: draft MIMO
Additional chips USB 2.0 Host Controller;VIA;VT6212L;;1;
Other
Default SSID: default (101 addl. devices) Default IP address: 192.168.1.1 the IP 192.168.1.1 is used by 1324 additional devices of which 173 are ASUS devices Default login user: admin Default login password: admin admin:admin credentials used by 1342 additional devices of which 207 are ASUS devices
Manuf/OEM/ODM	Askey
3rd Party Firmware Support	DD-WRT • (List) , Oleg (wl500g) • (List) , Oleg-ng (wl500g) • (List) , OpenWrt (Was) , TomatoUSB • (List | DLs) , FreshTomato • (List | DLs)
Retail
Availability	End of Life
FCC approval date	01 August 2006
(Est.) release date	26 October 2006
(Est.) initial retail price (in USD):	$130
UPC	0610839725786 (UPC DB, On eBay)
EAN	0610839725786 (UPC DB, On eBay)
ASIN	B000IP0N0E
Country of manuf	China
Radio 1
Radio1 module	ASUS WL-121W
Radio1 module IF	Mini PCI
Chip1	Broadcom BCM4321L
Chip2	Broadcom BCM2055
Wireless interface OUI	00:22:15
Antenna Connector Type	U.FL
MIMO status	2x3:2
Wireless Standard	IEEE 802.11b/g/n
802.11n	up to 300 Mbps
802.11g	up to 54 Mbps
802.11b	up to 11 Mbps
WiFi Operating Frequency	2.4 ~ 2.5 GHz
Radio cor_rev	11
FCC ID ASUS WL-121W MSQWL500W

For a list of all currently documented Broadcom chipsets with specifications, see Broadcom.

For a list of all currently documented ASUS device with specifications, see ASUS.

• 300 Mbps - 2SS 2.4GHz 802.11n (40MHz chan.) = N300 class

Overview

The wireless card has "WL-121W R1.03" silkscreened on in it in the FCC photos.

The device is using a VIA VT6212L USB 2.0 controller.

The manual says the default SSID is default.

Links of Interest

• On the DD-WRT wiki
• On the OpenWrt forums

Boot log specifies the CPU speed as 264MHz

• On the wl500g forums

Inside view pictures

• Review on THG

Flashing

Flashing dd-wrt

Supported by dd-wrt as of = v24 build 7823 20070905

Flashing dd-wrt

Introduction

This How To is intended to walk someone through configuring a basic USB printer and a USB storage device on their ASUS WL-500W router. The majority of the information comes from the other ASUS WL500 series Wiki's as well as other websites. There are great USB how to articles on the DD-WRT wiki, so if what is listed in this how-to does not suit your needs, search the Wiki and the Forums! And remember Google is your freind!

Firmware

A fresh firmware flash is highly recommended as well as a clearing of the NVRAM. Starting from a clean slate will provide the smallest chance of encountering a random problem as these units can be some-what temperamental. Flash your WL500W router with either the latest DD-WRT Mega firmware (v24 SP2 or later) or the Eko DD-WRT NEWD/NEWD2 Big, or even a mini USB release that includes full USB support in a mini firmware package. Why bother with the reduced functionality of a mini build when this router has 8MB flash?

There are several advantages. The mini is a fraction of the size, yet provides the vast majority of the functionality of the larger builds. For this small sacrifice, you get a much more lean and efficient setup, including...

• A nearly 5.0MB JFFS2 partition
• Nearly 90% free system memory on a fully configured system
• Full USB support, easily enabled from the web GUI (just like Mega)
• Faster, leaner (Merely observational, but noteworthy)

IMPORTANT

Consider the following or you run the risk of BRICKING your router:

Brainslayers mega flash size - 7.33MB

Eko's Big Flash size - 5.9MB

Now, the error only occurs when JFFS2 is enabled and the router reboots, so you are safe if you DONT enable JFFS2.

Total available JFFS2 size for BS's build is 640KB which overwhelms the kernel and causes a panic. Even using a storage device with the command mount -o bind /mnt/jffs /jffs will still cause a kernel panic.

Eko's JFFS2 partition size is 1640KB+, allowing much more room.

I tested this on BS's 12996,12874 and 12533 builds and partially bricked my router several times. (A simple power disconnect for 30 secs will allow it to recover)

Eko's build however works flawlessly AND provides the SAME features (except for connection warning) as BS's.

One thing I am still unsure of is why this particular model Asus router is subject to this bug, but in the mean time, I suggest using Eko's Big build until the dev's can work it out..

Flashing OpenWrt

On the OpenWrt ToH (techdata entry)
On the OpenWrt Wiki
OpenWrt Target: brcm47xx
OpenWrt Subtarget: legacy
OpenWrt Package architecture: mipsel_mips32
Support started version: 10.03
Current supported version: 22.03.7

Please insert instructions here

Flashing Tomato

Please insert instructions here

Upgrading

Updating DD-WRT

If dd-wrt is already on the router follow these instructions. If stock firmware is on the router follow the flashing instructions.

1. Check for recommended builds here first.
2. Set your computer to a static IP of 192.168.1.7. (or to whatever subnet the router is on) Disable all firewalls and security. Disable wireless on your computer and only have the router connected to the flashing computer by the ethernet cable between the two.
3. Hard reset or 30/30/30 (If the router supports it, if not, reset to defults in the GUI) prior to flashing. Wait. Check for password page on re-login and change password.
4. Flash firmware. You can use the webgui except if you have a belkin router. (For belkin use tftp.exe to flash)
5. Wait...at least three minutes. Lights should return to normal. See important2, below. Failing to wait is how most people brick their routers.
6. Do a power cycle of the router. (Unplug the cord, count to 30 and plug it back in.)
7. Wait for the lights to return to normal usually about 2 minutes.
8. Hard reset or 30/30/30 again (If the router supports it, if not, reset to defults in the GUI). Wait. Check for the password page and re-login to change the password. Then you can reconfigure your settings manually.
9. Once configured set your computer back to autoIP and autoDNS.
   

Important1: This Hard reset or 30/30/30 works fine for Asus router, but you do have to power cycle after the reset.

Important2: After you flash the firmware, and before you do the hard reset, the router will be building some nvram settings. YOU MUST WAIT FOR THIS TO FINISH PRIOR TO DOING ANYTHING WITH THE ROUTER INCLUDING A HARD RESET. Usually, you can tell when this process is completed by the WAN light coming on, but it does take several minutes. Go have a beer. There are starting to be more and more people who BRICK their routers by not waiting until the nvram is rebuilt, PRIOR to doing a hard reset. YOU NEED TO WAIT!

Reverting

You will need the Restoration Utility and the Firmware.

• Reset the router to defaults by the 30/30/30 method but don't power cycle after the last 30 second hold. The router's Power LED should be blinking indicating it is in Restore mode.

• Set a static IP of 192.168.1.10 and 255.255.255.0 on your PC.
• Disable your Wireless devices and connect a cable to one of the LAN ports
• Start the Restoration utility and select the original Asus Firmware. Click Update.
• When it completes the install, wait 5 minutes, then power cycle the router.
• You should be able to access the unit at 192.168.1.1 with un/pw of admin/admin

JTAG-Serial Info

JTAG

JTAG Pinouts

No JTAG

Serial

boot log • >>

CFE version 1.0.37 for BCM947XX (32bit,SP,LE) Build Date: ?G 6??13 16:25:32 CST 2006 (root@localhost.localdomain) Copyright (C) 2000,2001,2002,2003 Broadcom Corporation. Initializing Arena Initializing Devices. et0: Broadcom BCM47xx 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Controller 3.90.23.0 rndis0: Broadcom USB RNDIS Network Adapter (P-t-P) et1: Broadcom BCM47xx 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Controller 3.90.23.0 CPU type 0x29006: 264MHz Total memory: 33554432 KBytes Total memory used by CFE: 0x80800000 - 0x8089B600 (636416) Initialized Data: 0x80831770 - 0x80833E50 (9952) BSS Area: 0x80833E50 - 0x80835600 (6064) Local Heap: 0x80835600 - 0x80899600 (409600) Stack Area: 0x80899600 - 0x8089B600 (8192) Text (code) segment: 0x80800000 - 0x80831770 (202608) Boot area (physical): 0x0089C000 - 0x008DC000 Relocation Factor: I:00000000 - D:00000000 Device eth0: hwaddr 00-18-F3-59-D4-C3, ipaddr 192.168.1.1, mask 255.255.255.0 gateway not set, nameserver not set Null Rescue Flag. Reading :: TFTP Server. Failed.: Timeout occured Loader:raw Filesys:raw Dev:flash0.os File: Options:(null) Loading: .... 1720320 bytes read Entry at 0x80001000 Closing network. Starting program at 0x80001000 CPU revision is: 00029006 Primary instruction cache 16kb, linesize 16 bytes (2 ways) Primary data cache 16kb, linesize 16 bytes (2 ways) Linux version 2.4.20 (root@localhost.localdomain) (gcc version 3.2.3 with Broadcom modifications) #11 ?@ 8??14 21:01:06 CST 2006 Setting the PFC to its default value Determined physical RAM map: memory: 02000000 @ 00000000 (usable) On node 0 totalpages: 8192 zone(0): 8192 pages. zone(1): 0 pages. zone(2): 0 pages. Kernel command line: root=/dev/mtdblock2 noinitrd console=ttyS0,115200 CPU: BCM4704 rev 9 at 264 MHz Calibrating delay loop... 263.78 BogoMIPS Memory: 30492k/32768k available (1478k kernel code, 2276k reserved, 116k data, 64k init, 0k highmem) Dentry cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 3, 32768 bytes) Inode cache hash table entries: 2048 (order: 2, 16384 bytes) Mount-cache hash table entries: 512 (order: 0, 4096 bytes) Buffer-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes) Page-cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 3, 32768 bytes) Checking for 'wait' instruction... unavailable. POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX PCI: Initializing host PCI: Fixing up bus 0 PCI: Fixing up bridge PCI: Fixing up bus 1 Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.4 Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039 Initializing RT netlink socket Starting kswapd devfs: v1.12c (20020818) Richard Gooch (rgooch@atnf.csiro.au) devfs: boot_options: 0x1 NTFS driver v1.1.22 [Flags: R/O] pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured Serial driver version 5.05c (2001-07-08) with MANY_PORTS SHARE_IRQ SERIAL_PCI enabled ttyS00 at 0xb8000300 (irq = 3) is a 16550A ttyS01 at 0xb8000400 (irq = 0) is a 16550A PPP generic driver version 2.4.2 PPP Deflate Compression module registered PPP BSD Compression module registered Amd/Fujitsu Extended Query Table v1.3 at 0x0040 MFR: 1 ID 7e number of CFI chips: 1 Flash device: 0x800000 at 0x1c000000 Physically mapped flash: cramfs filesystem found at block 982 Creating 4 MTD partitions on "Physically mapped flash": 0x00000000-0x00040000 : "boot" 0x00040000-0x007f0000 : "linux" 0x000f5964-0x007f0000 : "rootfs" 0x007f0000-0x00800000 : "nvram" sflash: found no supported devices NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0 IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP IP: routing cache hash table of 512 buckets, 4Kbytes TCP: Hash tables configured (established 2048 bind 4096) ip_conntrack version 2.1 (256 buckets, 2048 max) - 344 bytes per conntrack ip_conntrack_pptp version 1.9 loaded ip_nat_pptp version 1.5 loaded ip_tables: (C) 2000-2002 Netfilter core team ipt_time loading NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0. NET4: Ethernet Bridge 008 for NET4.0 802.1Q VLAN Support v1.7 Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com> All bugs added by David S. Miller <davem@redhat.com> VFS: Mounted root (cramfs filesystem) readonly. Mounted devfs on /dev Freeing unused kernel memory: 64k freed Algorithmics/MIPS FPU Emulator v1.5 eth0: Broadcom BCM47xx 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Controller 4.80.17.0 eth1: Broadcom BCM47xx 10/100 Mbps Ethernet Controller 4.80.17.0 PCI: Enabling device 01:02.0 (0004 -> 0006) eth2: Broadcom BCM4329 802.11 Wireless Controller 4.80.17.0 device eth0 entered promiscuous mode device eth2 entered promiscuous mode eth3: No such device eth4: No such device br0: port 2(eth2) entering listening state br0: port 1(eth0) entering listening state br0: port 2(eth2) entering learning state br0: port 1(eth0) entering learning state br0: port 2(eth2) entering forwarding state br0: topology change detected, propagating br0: port 1(eth0) entering forwarding state br0: topology change detected, propagating info, udhcp server (v0.9.8) started No interface specified. Quitting... usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs usb.c: registered new driver hub usb-ohci.c: USB OHCI at membase 0xb8003000, IRQ 6 usb-ohci.c: usb-00:03.0, PCI device 14e4:4715 usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1 hub.c: USB hub found hub.c: 2 ports detected uhci.c: USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver v1.1 PCI: Enabling device 01:03.0 (0000 -> 0001) uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0x100, IRQ 12 usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2 hub.c: USB hub found hub.c: 2 ports detected PCI: Enabling device 01:03.1 (0000 -> 0001) uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0x120, IRQ 12 usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3 hub.c: USB hub found hub.c: 2 ports detected PCI: Enabling device 01:03.2 (0000 -> 0002) ehci_hcd 01:03.2: PCI device 1106:3104 ehci_hcd 01:03.2: irq 12, pci mem c0100000 usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 4 ECHI PCI device 31041106 found. ECHI reg 0x49 = 80010f20 ECHI reg 0x49 changed to = 80010f00 ECHI reg 0x4b = 80010f09 ECHI reg 0x4b changed to = 80010f29 PCI: 01:03.2 PCI cache line size set incorrectly (0 bytes) by BIOS/FW, correcting to 32 ehci_hcd 01:03.2: USB 2.0 enabled, EHCI 1.00, driver 2003-Dec-29/2.4 hub.c: USB hub found hub.c: 4 ports detected usb.c: registered new driver usblp printer.c: v0.13: USB Printer Device Class driver usb.c: registered new driver audio audio.c: v1.0.0:USB Audio Class driver Linux video capture interface: v1.00 SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00 Initializing USB Mass Storage driver... usb.c: registered new driver usb-storage USB Mass Storage support registered. No interface specified. Quitting... PCI devices found: Class 0501: PCI device 14e4:0800 (rev 9). Class 0200: PCI device 14e4:4713 (rev 9). Class 0200: PCI device 14e4:4713 (rev 9). Class 0c03: PCI device 14e4:4715 (rev 9). Class 0604: PCI device 14e4:0804 (rev 9). Class 0b30: PCI device 14e4:0816 (rev 9). Class 0703: PCI device 14e4:4712 (rev 9). Class 1000: PCI device 14e4:4718 (rev 9). Class 0500: PCI device 14e4:080f (rev 9). Class 0600: PCI device 14e4:4704 (rev 9). Class 0280: PCI device 14e4:4329 (rev 1). Class 0c03: PCI device 1106:3038 (rev 97). Class 0c03: PCI device 1106:3038 (rev 97). Class 0c03: PCI device 1106:3104 (rev 99). echo for PaN ::: &&&PaN BusyBox v0.60.0 (2006.08.14-12:43+0000) Built-in shell (msh) Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands. # # lsmod Module Size Used by usb-storage 66464 0 (unused) sd_mod 13072 0 (unused) scsi_mod 69968 1 [usb-storage sd_mod] videodev 5712 0 (unused) audio 49824 0 (unused) soundcore 5056 0 [audio] printer 11712 0 (unused) ehci-hcd 23632 0 (unused) uhci 31488 0 (unused) usb-ohci 21696 0 (unused) usbcore 77680 0 [usb-storage audio printer ehci-hcd uhci usb-ohci] nls_utf8 752 0 (unused) nls_big5 416 0 (unused) nls_cp950 98336 1 wl 567808 0 (unused) et 26576 0 (unused) ip_nat_ftp 3680 0 (unused) ip_conntrack_ftp 4944 1 ipt_NETMAP 768 2 ip_nat_starcraft 1984 0 (unused) #

USB Info

DD-WRT USB

• The USB port is where you can connect an external USB hard drive or flash drive. Which can do a multitude of things. You can use in as a NAS, storage for a FTP server, use Optware to run external programs like torrent software, samba for sharing files to network, share a USB printer with network... The list of possibilities is long, it just takes a little research.

• ProFTPd, samba, dlna, raid support is included in most the newer builds of dd-wrt. Check the features chart to be sure.

Initial Prep

1. Complete your standard WAN, LAN, DHCP configuration so that your router has working Internet access

   Note: This guide will not explain these details, since they are very well documented elsewhere

2. Under Services, enable:

   Secure Shell (SSHd)

   Telnet (optional, select this if you have no idea how to connect to an SSH server)

   USB modules which you need (Core USB support, UHCI, OHCI, USB 2.0, USB Storage, ext2/ext3, FAT, USB Printing, Automatic drive mount)

For example, if you only want to install Optware packages on 2.0 device you can enable : Core USB support, USB 2.0, USB Storage, ext2/ext3 FS support

• Save & then Apply Settings
• Under Administration > Management:
• Enable JFFS2 Support
• Clean JFFS2
• Save & then Apply Settings
• Reboot Router

NOTE If attempting to use USB storage with multiple partitions for /opt , /jffs , /mnt, do NOT enable JFFS2. Once the USB storage is configured, JFFS will reside on the mounted drive partition.

Using Telnet or SSH to install the printer driver

If you wish to keep it simple, you can use the command line in Windows to telnet to your router.

Steps:

1. Make sure Telnet is enabled under Services on your router.
2. In Windows XP, go to Start->Run and type cmd. A DOS window will pop up.
3. Type telnet 192.168.1.1 into the prompt and let it connect.
4. Enter the user name (default is root) and press enter.
5. Enter the password. Be careful when typing, as the character will not display when you type them in.
6. You should now be connected to your router via Telnet with a DD-WRT Splash picture in the DOS prompt.

You must have JFFS2 enabled for the following to work, as well as an EKO Big build. Brainslayers Mega builds will not allow this to work! If you are not using a Big or Mega firmware, then no need to worry!

Steps:

1. Type cd /jffs
2. Type mkdir -p /jffs/tmp/ipkg
3. Type ipkg update
4. Type ipkg install p910nd
5. Let it install and download the packages.
6. Type reboot into the command line.

You're done!

Configure the Printer from a Windows/Linux Client

If planning to use both a printer and take advantage of the USB storage support with the awesome advantages of Optware, go to THIS link. The below information is still useful though even after following the link!

• From Windows, go to Control Panel, Printers, Add Printer
• Choose Local, create new port Standard TCP/IP Port
• Set Device Type to TCP/IP
• For Hostname or IP field, set to router IP (default is 192.168.1.1)
• On Vista, do not query printer for driver
• On next screen, click custom
• Manually select the printer from list or select Have Disk to add a new printer driver
• Note: On Vista, many newer HP Deskjet printers can be set to HP Deskjet 990c since no Vista drivers are available from HP.

Adding USB Storage

ONLY USE HARD DISKS WITH THEIR OWN POWER SUPPLY'S!

-USB Flash drives are ok to use.

USB storage is an ever growing popularity with modern routers. Asus' factory Web-interface is tacky and very buggy. DD-WRT provides a very stable platform for utilizing the twin USB ports on this model router. The section below is perhaps the greatest feature that DD-WRT has to offer as far as USB support is concerned.

If the below is not your cup of tea, the standard options in the DD-WRT Web-interface under Services -> USB will provide you with the basics.

Installing Frater's Optware

This is the latest, greatest and easiest way to enable Optware on your Router, and add an enormous amount of flexibility to it. It is highly recommended.

Please see Optware, The Right Way for more detailed instruction

Potential services that you may want to incorporate through Optware:

• Bash instead of shell in busybox (LFS support)
• Automounting and unmounting of storage device partitions
• Network printing
• Watchprinter
• Torrent transmission with watchdog
• Hotmount
• Pre-configured samba share
• Reverse proxy featuring pound
• Service tool
• Xinetd
• Pound
• Asterisk
• Lighttpd
• Vlighttpd
• Countryblock
• AsiaBlock
• Services running as other users than root
• Vim with proper terminal support
• Twonky Media
• News Server
• Other various useful tools

Pictures

Images

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  ASUS WL-500W

Images

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  ASUS WL-500W board

• 

  ASUS WL-500W PCB

• 

  CPU, RAM, Flash