Look for IT over here

Wireless internet access is great - most of the time. It saves the need for running wires through your house, but can be a bitch to set up, and can be affected by other devices that emit radio signals.

Most new routers are expensive, high-performance affairs that use the 802.11n standard. But the ‘funky looking’ WRT54G2 sticks to the slower but still reliable 802.11g standard which enables perfectly acceptable internet access and half-decent file transfer speeds. It also costs half the price of 11n kit.

Beyond its living-room friendly design (the antennae are internal), its distinguishing feature is Linksys EasyLink Advisor, or LELA. This is a truly idiot-proof set-up. Out of the box, instructions scream “run the disc’s software first”. Simple, animated diagrams aid cabling and you’re walked through setting up a secure wireless network.

If you have a compatible “Wi-Fi Protected Setup” device, connecting involves simply pressing buttons on both devices. Those who like tinkering with advanced options have all of the usual features available via the browser-based settings.

Note: There’s no modem inside the WRT54G2 - you’ll need to connect one via an Ethernet cable.

Check it out here.

There is probably only one reason why you would want to take apart your Linksys wireless router - you have bricked it due to a bad firmware flash (or something very similar).

I decided to write some instructions to go with my other article on unbricking the V5. I noticed, looking at the stats for this site, that the majority of visits were for this post. As I said in that article, I could not find (at that time) any info on how to fixed a bricked V5.

These instructions will not only apply for the V5, but the earlier Linksys wireless routers as well.

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Disassemble Linksys WRT54g V5

I decided to share my experiences below on how to unbrick my Linksys WRT54G V5 wireless router - it was bricked after I had a problem (after) installing open source firmware, and I could not find specific instructions for the V5. Having nothing to lose, as it wasn’t working, I followed similar instructions for the V4 series.

I have a couple of wireless routers at home. Having heard so much about the Linksys WRT54G being a good router to run open source firmware, I decided to buy one.

The firmware I put on it was DD-WRT . It has a good user base and support, and being easy to use I was quiet happy with it.

Then the fun started. Somehow, the power plug for the router was not sitting in the power point properly, so the unit was powering off/on in succession. Then the unit would not boot up. The power LED was flashing, and the port LEDs were not coming on when I plugged the Cat5 cables into them.

Oh no, have I ‘bricked’ the Linksys - two days after I have bought it? I did a bit of searching around and All the info I could find was for earlier model WRT54G routers that use a intel chip. The V5 does not.

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Unbrick your WRT54G V5