Flashing to DD-WRT help

[mlee49]

So I'm frustrated with the limited port forwarding with my Linksys WRT 54G and am thinking about flashing it to the DD-WRT firmware; but I've got some concerns.

1) I've flashed an Xbox 360 before and it was simple enough. How difficult is this and what are the chances of bricking my router?

2) What other benefits would I see from flashing the router? Any down sides?

3) Can it be re-flashed to the original Linksys firmware? If so how?


I'd greatly appreciate any help, I'm struggling with my NAS access remotely and not sure what to do. I can access on my personal LAN but want to access it from any computer and through my DRIOD G1(Synology has an app).

Portforwarding.com says the WRT54G and my Synology 210j wont play together, basically it can't forward enough ports. Right now I've setup DNZ to go straight to the NAS but in the GUI of the NAS I cant get it to confirm that ports 80/5000 are open. Even a port checker shows 80/5000 open but none others are coming through.

Am I missing something here or am I limited by my router/firmware?

 

[[Ion]]

I must say I prefer Tomato. I find it more intuitive and it has an (arguably) cleaner interface. And I think that it's easier to set up what I want (such as wireless bridge). But DD-WRT is pretty simple to flash on to a WRT54G-based device

 

[brandonwh64]

I have a WRT-54G V5.0 and it and DDWRT go hand in hand! i love it personally cause it lets the router do TONS of things that the other firmware had blocked. It was relatively easy, just follow the step by step instructions on the DDWRT website and for most WRT54G routers, you have to use the micro firmware cause of limit mem size on the router

 

[mlee49]

I must say I prefer Tomato. I find it more intuitive and it has an (arguably) cleaner interface. And I think that it's easier to set up what I want (such as wireless bridge). But DD-WRT is pretty simple to flash on to a WRT54G-based device

Thanks for the alternative I'll check it out.

I have a WRT-54G V5.0 and it and DDWRT go hand in hand! i love it personally cause it lets the router do TONS of things that the other firmware had blocked. It was relatively easy, just follow the step by step instructions on the DDWRT website and for most WRT54G routers, you have to use the micro firmware cause of limit mem size on the router

Thanks for the micro shout out, I'll look into that. Did you flash yours yourself?

 

[newtekie1]

It is very easy to flash the WRT54G's firmware, there should be easy to follow instructions on DD-WRT site. It is usually as simple as go to the admin interface, go to the firmware upgrade section, and point to the DD-WRT firmware. However, it can be a little different depending on what version of WRT54G you actually have and what type of firmware is currently loaded on it.

Some of the other benefits off the top of my head will be:

• Most Stable operation(less need to reboot the router than with the standard firmware).
• Adjustable radio power(helps extend the range of the wireless signal or shrink if it you have nosey neighbors).

Yes, you can flash back to the stock firmware, usually the process is similar to flashing to the DD-WRT firmware, just you tell it to load the stock firmware instead.

I must say I prefer Tomato. I find it more intuitive and it has an (arguably) cleaner interface. And I think that it's easier to set up what I want (such as wireless bridge). But DD-WRT is pretty simple to flash on to a WRT54G-based device

I also prefer Tomato, the only down side is that it doesn't support all the versions of the WRT54G, only the earlier ones, and the WRT54GL.

 

[digibucc]

yeah I tried tomato for my 54g and did not like it - ended up going back to DD-WRT. now the first thing I do after opening a new router is to flash it with DD-WRT... it's simple and easy (for 54g at least) and very rarely does anything go wrong.

and all those extra options and features are well worth it

 

[mlee49]

Thanks guys, reading the 'instructions' now. Funny there is a whole wiki on it that tells you to read a whole thread on it first.

 

[RejZoR]

It's recommended to flash DD WRT with mini image first and then with a generic one. Though i also recommend you use Tomato. I've been a long year Tomato user and have tried DD WRT out of curiosity few days ago. I'm using WRT54GL. DD WRT does look slightly better as there is more graphics but in general it's a bit limited, doesn't have as many tweaks as Tomato and in my case it even capped connection to 1Mbit even though i have 8Mbit. Could be because of gaming mode enabled under QoS but if that's the case, constantly enabling and disabling it isn't exactly practical. Plus Tomato QoS is far more flexible and just works beautifully.
Bottom line from my experience, Tomato wins hands down. It's super reliable, has loads of settings, well organized menus and settings and works great for years already.
Have also installed on 2 other WRT54GL routers for my cousins and they also work great. For one we even increased antenna signal so they get good signal on larger distance. Plus it's a bit more up to date compared to quite outdated DD WRT unless you use the beta version...