Linksys WRT150N struck by Lightning

Hellow again

UPDATE: this experiment has been postponed, you are probably not going to learn much by reading this for the time being, i plan to get back to it in a few days, Maybe then i would cool down and make more thoughtful steps to getting this thing working.

While i was writing a bit about the acer aspire, mom called, she told me that “Your dad’s internet is down”, later down that phone call, she told me that lightning struck something nearby, and since then the phone and the router and the thomson (Alcatel) modem would not work !

Luckely, i have an extra thomson modem, a bunch of extra routers, and a cordless phone handy, later i found that my dad’s TV was also busted, but that is not so urgent.

Anyway, the AC adapter for the WRT150N didn’t light up (a small LED on the adapter itself), so no fear i said, and connected the adapter from the WRT54GX V2 to the Linsys WRT150N and all the lights stayed on on the router, it must be bricked

Now i know how to unbrick a WRT54G, simply because the methode is well documented online, how to do it for this one is a different story, i will need to start figuring that out.

This model of the router (WRT150N) i have 2 of, i got them as a gift with my 1 year subscription to the UMNIAH U-MAX service, and that tells me that the year in warante is over !

So, i will take photos as i go of whatever i find worthy of telling you guys, See you here again in a few hours

To start testing , i already know the power brick is busted, to make my mission easier, i have a second identical router that i can use for the knackered router.

I know it is busted because the power LED outlined in this photo does not light up

So, now the easiest way to find out how to unbrick it is by looking for similarities in design between this router, and its cousin the well documented WRT54G.

Now to openning the router, Wot, no screws ? Don’t panic…

First, you need a flat scred driver, not the philips type. You will then need to use it to open the back side of the underside, like in the photo here, The front side is not to be opened this way, it WILL break.

Once both left and right sides of the back side of the bottom side are open, You will need to slide this (In my case silver) lid BACKWARDS towards the antennas, once you do it will come out and you will be able to see the screws, but to our surprise, the screws are neither the normal nor the phillips ! they are Hexagonal screws ! if you don’t have such a tool to take them apart, your best bet is an alternative object like a screwdriver that happens to touch on the inner circumferance of the screw. in my case, the screw driver, used with an angle works just fine (I must admit, i am usually lucky with this stuff).

now, you will need to take both sides off using a screwdriver lke we did for the bottom part, you will probably break a couple of hooks (I didn’t), but it looks likely that they would break so be carefull

Now while you remove the upper side of the router, the front glass thing will come of as a result.

Here we are, we have the board right in front of us, the processor, memory, flash, etc.. and now, to the hard part, finding the similarity between this and the WRT54G, this will not happen by simple observation, we need to download the datasheets of the chips to find what pin maps to what pin on the other chip ! since i am no genius like the person that found the solution to the WRT54G.

I am not very sure that your linksys WRT150N will be exactly the same, this is hardware revision 1.1, there is another model called hardware revision 1.0, they are most probably the same, but if they are not, don’t be so surprised.

I will start by documenting everything on this photo here (What the chips are).

In this router, i have a Spansion flash chip, in the other router it was an intel.

Will not look up the specification sheets and see what i really needed to do to interrupt the operation of this chip while i boot the router, then do it for the WRT150N (At least this is my plan for now), i am no expert on this, but they look like they have the same number of pins and they are of the same size, but we will see in a few minutes.

And since there is no antenna base to “Ground” the pin to, i will get a small screwdriver and wire it to something that is grounded.

Not to skip the obious.

1- trying to reset with reset button

The total hold time of the reset button is one and a half minutes devided as follows

Hold the reset button down with power ON for 30 seconds.

Without releasing the power button unplug power, keep pressing the reset button for another 30 seconds.

replug the power cord while still holding the reset button for yet another 30 seconds.

By now, in the last minute and a half, you should have not released the power button at all, only the power plug, now release the reset button and leave it on for 10 seconds, unplug power for another 10 seconds, replug power and see if it gets better, did not get better ? thought so… let us get to unbricking.

For referance i have documented the chips on the WRT54G here

UPDATE: IT HAS BEEN A LONG day of working with this thing, and it simply won’t respond, it has been postponed.

I have previously unbricked a dozen routers, but this has more issues, it probably has fried chips inside

i managed to get the “SWITCH” to function by short circuiting 2 things i should not, But either way, i can’t afford to keep going with this now, i will get back to it i promis

Untill then, stay tuned