Netgear WNR834Bv1

Default SSID: NETGEAR (43 addl. devices)
Default IP address: 192.168.1.1
the IP 192.168.1.1 is used by 1323 additional devices
of which 107 are Netgear devices
Default login user: admin
Default login password: password
admin:password credentials used by 425 additional devices
of which 306 are Netgear devices

Manuf/OEM/ODM

SerComm

3rd Party Firmware Support

DD-WRT • (List)

Retail

FCC approval date

12 April 2006

Radio 1

Radio1 module

unknown

Radio1 module IF

PCMCIA (32-bit)

Chip1

Broadcom BCM4321

Chip2

Broadcom BCM2055

Wireless interface OUI

00:14:6C, 00:18:4D

Antenna Connector Type

U.FL

MIMO status

2x2:2

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 GHz

Radio cor_rev

	CPU1 brand	Radio1 chip1 brand	Radio1 chip2 brand
Netgear WNR834A	Intel	Atheros	Atheros
Netgear WNR834Bv1	Broadcom	Broadcom	Broadcom
Netgear WNR834Bv2	Broadcom	Broadcom	Broadcom
Netgear WNR834M	Marvell	Marvell	Marvell

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

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

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

Overview

The wireless module is OEM SerComm (YBQ00A-0.8MM).

The main board is also OEM SerComm.

There is also an FCC ID entry for the wireless module at PY306200045.

Links of Interest

On Tom's Guide
Review on 3DNews (router interface screenshots)

Flashing

NOTE: During configuration or flashing a device, the only things that should be hooked to the device is the computer and power.

Flashing dd-wrt

Supported by dd-wrt as of = v24 Beta (02/22/07) - build 5966

NOTE: This model (the V1) does NOT have a JTAG header, only serial, so caution must be exercised when working on this unit.

Not much is said about this device other than flash it with a modified header. All information I found was that there was not modified header build for this unit except that which was created by SveaSoft with theire Talisman 1.3.1 package.

So... after much investigation it was found that the firmware needs to be updated in the form of an .img file. Original Netgear firmware was a .img file and would only accept TFTP input or web GUI input of a .img file.

NOTE: - further investigation proved that the .img file is actually a .zip file. You can rename the .img to .zip (in my case with 512 bytes offset [1]) and extract the contained WNR834B.bin file. Using a hex editor this .bin file contains both the CFE and FW for the unit....so by removing the first byte through the last byte before the HDR0 in the file will leave just the FW of the .bin file... this is a .bin file and CAN be flashed directly to the unit using TFTP.

[1]: dd if=wnr834bv1_1_0_4_2_ww.img of=wnr834bv1_1_0_4_2_ww.zip seek=512 bs=1

Also found was that any .bin file can be flashed using TFTP to the unit unless the nvram has been erased using the CFE's "nvram erase" command then it will need flashing with the original .img file again. Once the Netgear FW .img is flashed navigate to the upgrade FW tab and use the 11580_mini build of .img provided below.

I found that Simri created a .img build for this unit and it works very well. The first loading of DD-WRT firmware must be an .img file and can be loaded from the Netgear firmware update tab.

11580_mini build of .img

Hard reset
Load firmware (192.168.1.1 with admin/password for un/pw)
wait 5 minutes
power cycle router
hard reset again
configure.

Subsequent DD-WRT firmware updates can be done from the DD-WRT firmware update page and you can load any .bin file except for the mega build. (I suggest you don't downgrade lower than the 11580 build that you used for the initial flash)

Here is the original Netgear firmware as well for those that want to revert back.

Additional information about this unit can be found here

Correcting Incorrect MAC address

USE THESE INSTRUCTIONS AT YOUR OWN RISK. DD-WRT OR INFODEPOT WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE IF YOU BRICK THE ROUTER

NOTE: - if you have DD-WRT on the unit and have the wrong MAC address. You can use another method of obtaining the correct MAC address permanently.

Extract the cfe.bin by using the HTTP backup method (save this file to your disk drive) Edit the cfe.bin file using a hex editor...locate and modify both the et0macaddr and et1macaddr to be the MAC address with that which is found on the sticker of your unit (yes...both et0 and et1 will be that address)....Make sure you do not ADD any bytes to the file (only overwrite current bytes)....if you do add to the file...you will have an unrecoverable brick....guaranteed...remember you only have serial communication and the CFE must work for serial to work.

Then using WinSCP (SSH must be enabled in DD-WRT) copy the newly edited CFE to the unit's /tmp directory. Now you can use a telnet session to mtd the new CFE over the old one....remember...you must have the exact same CFE with only the MAC address's changed for this to work...if you don't you will have an unrecoverable brick...guaranteed.

the commands for overwriting the CFE is

mtd unlock cfe
mtd write /tmp/cfe.bin cfe

When it finishes reboot the router. The correct MAC addresses should now show up on the Status tab.

Thanks to Sparky and Simri for sharing their knowledge of these Netgear units on the forum. redhawk

JTAG-Serial Info

JTAG

WARNING!!

This model (the V1) does NOT have a JTAG header, only serial, so caution must be exercised when working on this unit.

Overview

Links of Interest

Flashing

Flashing dd-wrt

Correcting Incorrect MAC address

JTAG-Serial Info

JTAG

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