Unbrick/flash firmware to Linksys Wrt1200/1900ac wireless routers

This is a tutorial on how to unbrick/flash firmware your linksys router running openwrt's open source firmware.
Below is the link for Putty commands and serial port pinout.
wiki.openwrt.or...
Important!!!!
Make sure port 69 is open on your computer for Tftpd32
Make sure drivers are installed for your usb to ttl cable for Putty

[@dadealeus]

Great tutorial! I won't bother echoing the same thing everyone else has about the shakiness; it was easy enough to follow. I bricked my 1900ac when flashing with version 2 of the DD-WRT firmware instead of version 1. Bought a USB to serial cable, and followed this tutorial to restore it to working condition with the proper DD-WRT firmware. Some notes on the 1900ac; you have to remove both the front, blue cover and top part of the back, black cover to expose the serial pins. The blue part is easy to remove, but the black part was a pain. I had to use a flat-head screwdriver to gently pop loose the clips to remove it. Finally, the serial pins aren't numbered; the first pin is toward the front of the router, and the last pin is toward the back. Thanks, again, for the tutorial.

[@brianpackard2990]

Thank you so much!!!! Your excellent tutorial helped me save my WRT1900AC. A couple of notes: I downloaded and used the 32 bit versions of PuTTY and TFPTD32. Also you need to be sure to download the correct Prolific driver i.e., the standard Windows driver for the USB to serial cable.

[@twentyonetwo22]

Hey ! I don't really comment under YT videos, but this one man... it's WORKED ! Thank you for getting my router back ! Linksys said the router will be unuseable and can't be recovered. Thank you again !

[@RodakRmz]

Hi, Thank you very much! with your tutorial I was able to unbrick a WRT1900AC router, I used the original firmware from linksys support instead the openwrt, and now I have my router running again!!! thanks a lot

[@fjperezv]

Going to try this myself later today......I have a WRT1900ACS though.....

[@ericparker530]

i cant get the original linksys firmware on my wrt3200acm. i'm stuck with dd-wrt. If anyone knows how to fix this, let me know please. parkercustompc at zoho com if i'm not allowed to write that, i do aplogize. i'm desperate, i agree about how linksys forced this new way of installing the firmware . It's horrible. can't even log in.

[@gmichie1]

This saved me. I bought a WRT1200AC on ebay and bricked it the same day I received it. The USB adapter had to come from China. It took about 2 weeks. The connectors were tight on the pins. I had to rotate the connectors so they would fit. When I first booted and pressed the space bar I ended up in a UNIX shell. This is not where I wanted to be. I rebooted again and pressed the space bar sooner and got into the Marvel environment. After that all worked perfectly. Thanks.

[@PilotPlater]

Thanks for this tutorial, worked for me just now. as you mentioned, connections to the serial port can be tricky with those cables. A tip if having trouble is the GND wire is definitely pin 1 next to the heatsink, it's easy to mix up RX and TX, just keep trying until you get consistent results. If the putty window displays what you type, it's working correctly. I bricked my router because I uploaded a DDWRT image labeled .bin instead of .img. I renamed it .img and uploaded using this method and it worked, I did not revert back to the factory firmware first.

[@PayneVisuals]

Thank you so much. You saved my router (WRT1900ACS V2). I only had one problem. When it went to flash I got T's and then it failed. I forgot to open port 69. After doing so, worked great.

[@patrickarmstrong6503]

Worked perfectly for restoring my WRT3200ACM router back to factory firmware. Thank you!

[@GamerDesdeLos90s]

Kudos!! Got mine unbricked in no time! I used a DDWRT image, renamed it to caiman.img because no matter what name i gave it it was always trying to fetch caiman.img.. so renamed DDWRT.BIN file to caiman.ing, flashed perfectly and loaded DDWRT in the 1st boot. Thanx again buddy!

[@drehstrom1150]

If you are paranoid I probably would not recommend using DDWRT because it only runs stable up to Linux kernel 3.x (to my knowledge) and it considered to be outdated and not up to speed on security. Openwrt runs fine on kernel 4.x and is safer. I myself use DDWRT almost exclusively, have used it on many of my Netgear routers. I bought a Linksys 1900 ac v1 (the original, the one with the fan inside) because I loved it on paper but the shaky support for the Marvel chips left me disappointed. Why the DDWRT architecture can't incorporate what Openwrt can... not sure about that.

[@aura798]

Thank you man for this tutorial, it works just fine with 1900AC. At first I was just mad about the clip quality... but what can I say, I'm happy at the end :)

[@AHMEDYOUSEFMRCPCH]

Thank you so much,after many trial i succeeded as per your instructions to unbrick my router.i used 32 bit putty and tftp and disabled antivirus and firewall and make sure of good serial connections.thanks again.

[@zkluckyking]

My 1900AC just flashed brick. Ur tutorial really helps! THANKS A LOT BRO !!

[@Leemajors40]

whats the benifits of flashing think of doing it

[@brianpayne5773]

dude thank you so much for posting this! Such a relief to see a fix.

[@erikborgqvist961]

you are the best never take this video down

[@tfcanyon]

Successfully unbricked my router using your tutorial. Thank you!

[@onothodox]

Thank you a lot man this was a great video, even thou the cam was shaky i have not found any material out there that helped me understand as well as you did. Ps: it worked and i tried it on the 1900ac for anyone wondering

[@mansooriqbalnagori]

+Stephen Karim accidentally flashed 1200ac open wrt on an 1900ac :@. Agh. Seems like I need to find this cable now.

[@jotal6041]

Stephen Karim ,hello there, I'm stuck with my wrt1900ac after flashing wrong firmware, I can't find any pin.only unsoldering holes, I wonder how to connect the cable, thank's. josef

[@drehstrom1150]

On the 1900ac you would have to take the black cover off as well. The pins are in the back part of the router, unlike the 1200 where they are in the front.

[@woolfy02]

Thank you! I'm hoping to be able to repair mine with this.

[@ViaVa388]

You helped me a lot, get out of the brick. Thanks. my router is working again.

[@TheSbooth72]

Excellent video! Works with WRT-1900ACS v2 as well! The only issue I had with my CP2102 based USB/TTL adapter board was it not handshaking in PuTTY with the 1900ACS when the router is first powered ON. Like others have reported elsewhere, adding a 4.7K pull-up resistor between the Ground and RX pins on the adapter board forces the 1900ACS to see the adapter and all works well in PuTTY from that point forward.

[@AndrewEdwards79]

Hi Scott - I am having an issue with my WRT-1900ACS v2 where I have basically bricked the unit and overwritten the stock partition (Rushing the job)- I'm not at the point where I have to go this USB to TTL route and have found this video - I am a it out of my depth though and am wanting to give myself the best chance of success... Could I ask which firmware you were successful with? And also if you have a link to how I address this Putty issue (anything to help with this step would be a massive help its been a long time since I went to an electronics lecture!)

[@CircuitSaviorsRepair]

Great tutorial, thanks for the video and help, this saved me a bunch of money by allowing me to fix this rather than buy a new one.

[@abar-ad]

Thank you! Very useful video. Helped me save my bricked router. Thanks!!!!!

[@piratex4498]

Oh gezz..people bitch and complain about everything..this was a HIGHLY informative video thank you for making it I just purchased this router myself and I am about to flash my firmware also, so it was nice to see this.

[@evilcodingmonkey]

Thanks a million man! I just saved my expensive router. Thanks A LOT.

[@Mikemav3]

Very helpful walk-thru, thanks!

[@osvaldoschwarz5481]

You rock! TY! TY! TY! MGBY!

[@lucblairon2762]

Thanks a lot (from Belgium)!

[@mohinudeenmahrouf2153]

Brilliant! absolutely brilliant! Thanks a ton mate

[@jki4x4]

what do you do if you get BootROM: Bad header at offset 00010000

[@coolmodee01]

Could I use this method to flash just one instead of both partitions?

[@jeremysimpson1]

Great tutorial, thanks for your help.

[@Matt-Mills]

I just tried this with my Linksys WRT1200AC v1. I got all the way to entering "run update_both_images" but received an error. I had to do the following first then run back through the commands in the video. 1. env default -a 2. saveenv 3. reset

[@ahmedaa264]

Hello friend. I bricked my linksys ea6900 trying to flash dd wrt. I found your tutorial and tried it on mine. However unlike you, my putty console is not giving me the option to interrupt boot with a space bar press. Any help? I d really appreciate it. I could upload the text from the console if that'd help.

[@benjensen246]

You are Awesome!! You saved me!!

[@michaeljoefox]

I can’t get tftpd to do anything. The file transfer never starts

[@jizozorfred2999]

Hi, may I have a link to the last version of Caiman? I bricked my router, I am about to flash it but I couldn't find the image I have a Linksys router wrt 1200 ac v1

[@TheScortUK]

Another possible method (tested on WRT1900ACS): 1. Hold the reset button for 10 seconds 2. Power the router off 3. Power the router on and wait for the Ethernet light(s) to illuminate 4. Immediately power the router off 5. repeat steps 3 & 4 6. repeat steps 3 & 4 7. power the router back on and wait for the power light to stabilize The WRT1900ACS appears to have a backup EPROM that holds the original factory image, and I have used the above to go back, when a flash has bricked the device.

[@CIDRtheBITER]

Thanks for the comment! I tried your method after flashing an incorrect stock firmware and now my router is back online. Thank you.

[@ejon]

Followed your instructions on a WRT1900ACS v. 2 and it worked for me. Thanks a bunch!

[@hat1324]

Wow these routers are amazingly robust. Glad I went linksys

Thanks! :) It helped on 3200ACM

[@charlesanderson7830]

Can’t believe this worked on my 3200 acm

[@thedoe35]

Will this work with the WRT 3200acm. I haven't bricked it but LEDE is doing my head in and seems to be on the other partitions even though I only installed it once.

[@Mtntopwoodshop]

Hello everyone...I am following these steps to unbrick my Linksys wrt3200acm > NEED HELP. I got to the PuTTY section and entered the commands seems that all connections are fine but I am getting ##Warning: gatewayip needed but not set ???? Until it times out. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Nick

[@LikquidDutch]

Nick Polchito this works the same way on the 3200 make sure you have static address assign for the nic driver.

[@wolfieusmc]

Thank you very very much, it worked.

[@madbomber78]

life saver. thank you

[@nabilghali3680]

Since I bought 1900ac its power light blinking white and no connection Any help?

[@ngthensiong]

Hi, the router is not auto boot when open up? What does it mean?

[@ngthensiong]

My green cable it so loose

[@theikhalil]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You've saved me It is a great step-by-step tutorial I bricked my device on the same day I purchased it and following your tutorial I de-bricked it back! This article goes hand-in-hand with your video. It also explains the tricky part of removing the black plastic cover without breaking it github.com/Chadster766/McWRT/wiki/WRT1900ac---Gaining-accesss-to-the-UBOOT-console-via-the-TTL-port

[@klairm9097]

If i connect via UART it says forever "Started to decompress!" Any solution?

[@stephonthomas3336]

I bought a cable, but it's so loose they keep getting unplug

[@joep6801]

Great tutorial!! Can I flash the original Linksys firmware instead of the Openwrt using the exact same procedure??

[@humbledeer2725]

You should be able to flash any that you know of working.

[@januismer]

Thank Bro! You saved me.

[@subhaschanditwar2710]

hi i have a wrt1200acv2 model and after imputting the commands as suggested the router prompt keeps saying : Using egiga0 device TFTP from server 192.168.1.2; our IP address is 192.168.1.1 Filename 'caiman.img'. Load address: 0x2000000 Loading: * TFTP error: 'File not found' (1) Not retrying... Marvell>> PLEASE HELP!!!!

[@jameseversole6118]

So just to clarify (because I had a massive brain fart and struggled with this exact thing), can you see the file extensions of other files? If you change the name of this file to "caiman.txt" does it become a text file? I ask because I had somehow forgotten that I actually didn't have it set to display extensions. So the file I called "cobra.img" (the version name of the router I'm using), the ACTUAL filename was "cobra.img.img". After I smacked myself on the forehead and removed the superfluous ".img" it worked like a charm.

[@AndrewEdwards79]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

[@oaksif0]

I didn't brick my router, but I am watching this just in case. Trying to put Tomato or OpenWrt or DD-Wrt on my routers. Currently have 3 unused routers, and my isp router from optimum isn't working well, thanks to their closed source firmware.

[@Ahmadnaweed786]

I can't type anything. putty isn't receiving inputs from keyboard. but it is receiving those information from router.

[@Aaca1254]

Same here :(

[@jacobmods7630]

can anyone help my wrt 1900 ac linskys router keeps blinking under internet how do i fix?

[@D_Webb]

THANK YOU!!!!!

[@carl.lemieux]

Thanks you !!!!!!!

[@HIN2328]

Good video

[@zeczyguy1]

does this work on wrt1900acs router?

[@deanspanos8210]

Thank you.

[@devangjoshi1025]

Can you help me out when I try to TFTP I'm getting solid T's across the board. And a message saying "retry count exceeded; starting again" Do you know what that means? I've turned off my windows firewall

[@BA3942]

Devang Joshi Make sure you are using the 32bit version of Putty and not the 64bit as this was the case for me.

[@mansooriqbalnagori]

Will this work on windows 10 ?

[@carl.lemieux]

yes

[@hotswapster]

please please please click the youtube stabilise feature!

[@adiamar7887]

For WRT1900AC right combination = setenv ipaddr 192.168.1.1 setenv serverip 192.168.1.2 setenv firmware_name firmwareName.img run update_both_images reset

[@kortrijk056]

cant stop the autobooting

[@trohn_javolta8485]

Thx man this saved me! One thing thogh: Seems like I got a fake PL2303H USB to Serial Cable! The result was that the Prolific driver which was installed by windows didn't work, it shows "device cannot start, code 10". Turns out an older version of the driver will work. All is described in this video: How to fix PL2303 error code 10, Windows 8, Windows 10 kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4jUpn6flMpgaaM Maybe you can include a hint and the link to the video in your video description. PS: Scratch that, firmware flash was successfull, but after some uptime router restarts and power led keeps blinking :( I'm lost here..

[@MrTwitchykid]

I had to uninstall AVG to my windows 7 machine and disable my windows firewall to get this to work. Pesky anti-virus software...

[@invisaligner1435]

STOP SHAKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!