WRT54G2 Router Shows Crazy Characters after Firmware upgrade?

[ylomnstr]

So for some reason I felt like upgrading the firmware on my WRT54G2.  Really didn't have any issues with it other than the occasional disconnect.  I have version 1.5.  So I downloaded the firmware and upgraded it.  Now I can't log back into the router, although my internet is working fine through it. I get the log in prompt, and when I put my credentials in, I just get all sorts of crazy characters such as:

f§Ì¡ŒÍR ÏQýT``¼@i›…ÿûe²'(ÏFŸ¨Öuk”ãiWº˜N…¹X"uRéãf^ÇQôä‚Oœ¸øßC@7](‘öjoþÕ³¹±ªíø{ý‰1f„ò¨e0§xð²v·¶¥‡iïåp]âu]œÇˆkɈäùLë4$Úz|ÎÊÞk%#ÓÈyüc„êCdw/í úc–Aß&лJƒ?9úS°õ†2qm,†’Òå¾iMCÒQÑÊ?¾À;ÉŸgâ뜐ëÒñÙ‘ï—w8Þ˜ƒÂÑ‚
ÆD'ñÚ—éç-bçÎCñË:ÒPŽ7‡%])°Îö¦f ¯Û¨¥þõe¢NDií¸\'·¶íÓ¢Áõv¶sTI€K35Í”«e7­
‹?n–“¿«z˜–/ b^Ç“ùŽx4à¢å‘Ǹ„L»ktvÓ„Ý”«Z:ioǦ@ëä`]‹È®èWîìÂUäGÌèµgG#©kWhr"~‹u0â`Ê0îçMvŸ²¤ Øõ1„ÌAg ñDøÔÙãʺwÛΑ"zA» D.üè†T3¿ÄMðìô3-wiœ¸jÀ›/9€Ï^Øà\[õwö†„|ÛãU u›èŠÁ^%/®N7ü;¤§ú}]L͸0s ïÇŒŽÛË%ì|œp+{5š2ˆâ¬q~ûtßRÜÇwÜuciV‹˜eËm7Hô2ÒF¸q½ XJ„•0ýó~W%ߧꇙ¡.[6]eØìJ\šŒÊ[Þ„s›F†t8¾/~Æ¥›Kú==¨ }Œ²~[6"Á1ÌsªV¶Z‰FŸšñ꧎ÈiZøV¬7JËA„L Þ5k*ñ`Áˆ_kW2cVV?^š¼|ÖYdL”]ü÷

I held the reset button back to factory, and it did reset as the default credentials work, but I still get the same crap when I log in.  Any ideas?  Is it toast?  Thanks.

[kent07]

You need to reload the firmware. Download this tftp.exe and load the same firmware.

[ylomnstr]

OK I tried that.  It failed after 3 attempts.  I assume the server is the router's IP? and the password would be my default admin password?

[kent07]

Yes router's IP for server and admin for password. Check if the router is still releasing an IP. If the PC is getting 192.168.1.x try to ping the router.

[ylomnstr]

Yep, I can ping the router with no issues.  All devices can connect to the wireless connection with no issue. 

[kent07]

What are you saying? Did you load the firmware using a wireless computer?

[ylomnstr]

Unfortunately yes. Dumb move i know. Anyway to recover it? Tried the flash tool while hard wired to the router but still no luck.

[kent07]

Is the power light  steady? I'm assuming that you have it wired to the LAN port of the router.

If it's not getting an IP address set it manually.

Reset the router for 10 secs, power light should blink then do a powercycle.

Check if you can ping it. If you're getting time outs lower down the speed of your adapter to half-duplex. That is in the properties of your ethernet adapter.

[ylomnstr]

Power light is steady.  I'm hard wired to port # 2. My laptop has an IP and I'm able to ping the router's IP, yet still can't flash it.

[kent07]

Is wireless disabled on your laptop? Let's say that the router didn't reset, have you tried the password you used before this happened?

Since you have no luck with wired connection have you tried the tftp wirelessly? What's the ssid? Is it linksys and does it have 5 bars?

If nothing is working, try it again, reset the router for 30 secs, use another ethernet cable, another port on the router or another computer.