Breathe new life into your old home router
Un-Bricking a Router
When we started reflashing and reconfiguring our router for these projects, we made lots of mistakes. We locked up or "bricked" our routers about a dozen times.
If you've made a simple mistake, often all you need to do is reset your router and then connect directly to a LAN port to redo your configuration. If this fails, check the OpenWRT blog for any recommendations for your specific router model. There are some excellent custom solutions such as nmrpflash
[6] for Netgear routers, which offers an almost 100 percent guaranteed un-bricking solution.
If resetting the router doesn't work and there are no custom solutions, then the next step is the 30-30-30 Hard Reset rule. The following will work for almost all routers:
- Press the reset button for 30 seconds
- While pressing the reset button, unplug the router for another 30 seconds
- Plug the router back in while still holding the reset button for a final 30 seconds
- Release the reset button, and try to reconfigure
Unfortunately, there are cases where even the 30-30-30 Hard Reset rule won't un-brick a router. This happened to us when we loaded an incorrect firmware version.
Summary
In our tasks for these projects, we found that using shell scripting in Ash rather than Bash wasn't an issue. However if you are moving code between OpenWRT and Raspbian, you'll need to toggle between #!/bin/ash
and #!/bin/bash
.
If you would rather use MQTT instead of TCP to pass data, the Mosquitto sub
/pub
command-line tools can be installed on the router using opkg.
Overall, we would recommend repurposing an old home router. It offers a lot of interesting projects with a small price tag.
Infos
- OpenWRT: https://openwrt.org/
- DD-WRT: https://dd-wrt.com/
- opkg: https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/additional-software/opkg
- BBC micro:bit: https://microbit.org/
- Node-RED: https://nodered.org/
- nmrpflash: https://github.com/jclehner/nmrpflash
« Previous 1 2 3 4
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you've found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
elementary OS 7.1 Now Available for Download
The team behind elementary OS has released the latest version of its operating system with a focus on personalization, inclusivity, accessibility, and privacy.
-
The GNU Project Celebrates Its 40th Birthday
September 27 marks the 40th anniversary of the GNU Project, and it was celebrated with a hacker meeting in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland.
-
Linux Kernel Reducing Long-Term Support
LTS support for the Linux kernel is about to undergo some serious changes that will have a considerable impact on the future.
-
Fedora 39 Beta Now Available for Testing
For fans and users of Fedora Linux, the first beta of release 39 is now available, which is a minor upgrade but does include GNOME 45.
-
Fedora Linux 40 to Drop X11 for KDE Plasma
When Fedora 40 arrives in 2024, there will be a few big changes coming, especially for the KDE Plasma option.
-
Real-Time Ubuntu Available in AWS Marketplace
Anyone looking for a Linux distribution for real-time processing could do a whole lot worse than Real-Time Ubuntu.
-
KSMBD Finally Reaches a Stable State
For those who've been looking forward to the first release of KSMBD, after two years it's no longer considered experimental.
-
Nitrux 3.0.0 Has Been Released
The latest version of Nitrux brings plenty of innovation and fresh apps to the table.
-
Linux From Scratch 12.0 Now Available
If you're looking to roll your own Linux distribution, the latest version of Linux From Scratch is now available with plenty of updates.
-
Linux Kernel 6.5 Has Been Released
The newest Linux kernel, version 6.5, now includes initial support for two very exciting features.