If you’re one of those who braved to install DD-WRT and is at lost on how to upgrade to the latest version, then this is for you. You can check your current installed version on the upper-right side of your router’s web-interface. The latest version is v24-sp1.
First of all, what is DD-WRT?
DD-WRT is a third party developed firmware released under the terms of the GPL for many ieee802.11a/b/g/h/n wireless routers based on a Broadcom or Atheros chip reference design.
Most of the consumer router products from ASUS, Linksys, D-Link, Buffalo, Belkin, Netgear, Motorola, etc. are supported by this firmware.
Upgrading to the latest version is a few steps and is very easy. But before we go on the actual upgrade process, I’d like to remind the following pre-cautions:
- Backup your current config
- If you’re using a laptop, make sure that you have FULL battery or better if your connected to a power source.
- Never, ever use WIFI, use wired connection
- Use http, the upgrade will not continue if you use https
Now, on the actual upgrade process:
- Find and download the latest DD-WRT version for your router here.
- Login to the router’s web interface
- Go to Administration Tab > Firmware Upgrade
- Click browse and find the firmware that you downloaded
- Make sure that you select “Don’t reset” after flashing
- Click Upgrade
- It will take sometime for the upgrade to complete. Sit back and relax.
- After the upgrade, the router will automatically reboot itself.
- Once the router is up, check on the upper-right side of the web interface to confirm the latest version
Enjoy your stable and enterprise grade router at a cheap… 
Very useful summary – cuts to the chase.
DD-WRT Wiki is so buried in scads of sub-links and paragraphs of warnings and precautions that you find yourself flipping through several tabs to find the very basics, e.g. what’s the latest version, and what’s the quickest path to upgrade my out-of-date version.
Yes, I’m well aware of all of the precautions from the first go-round, what I needed was a concise summary.
Nice work.
BTW I can tell those of you wavering on whether to upgrade or not, that my current DD-WRT v23 SP2 (09/15/06) micro running on my WRT-54GL *does* have issues.
For one, it will not support UDP VoIP sessions for Truphone on a Nokia E90. And, after lots of sessions, from many machines it absolutely does get semi-clogged, dropping about a third of ping requests and reporting very long RTTs. A restart clears it up, but hopefully an upgrade eliminates this for good.
Timely info, Citizen Kramfs (don’t know if you’re male or female); keep it up. That link about choppy video using VLC at 1080P looks right up my alley as well – may have to bookmark this site
Very useful summary – cuts to the chase.
DD-WRT Wiki is so buried in scads of sub-links and paragraphs of warnings and precautions that you find yourself flipping through several tabs to find the very basics, e.g. what’s the latest version, and what’s the quickest path to upgrade my out-of-date version.
Yes, I’m well aware of all of the precautions from the first go-round, what I needed was a concise summary.
Nice work.
BTW I can tell those of you wavering on whether to upgrade or not, that my current DD-WRT v23 SP2 (09/15/06) micro running on my WRT-54GL *does* have issues.
For one, it will not support UDP VoIP sessions for Truphone on a Nokia E90. And, after lots of sessions, from many machines it absolutely does get semi-clogged, dropping about a third of ping requests and reporting very long RTTs. A restart clears it up, but hopefully an upgrade eliminates this for good.
Timely info, Citizen Kramfs (don’t know if you’re male or female); keep it up. That link about choppy video using VLC at 1080P looks right up my alley as well – may have to bookmark this site
re backup of your router config –
once you upgrade the firmware, you cannot restore from a back up settings file (the NVRAMBAK created by backing up) created under an earlier (i.e. ten minutes ago) version of firmware.
A backup file can only restore settings to the same version of firmware.
So don’t plan on restoring your settings with a backup file you make prior to upgrading. Write those settings down…
re backup of your router config –
once you upgrade the firmware, you cannot restore from a back up settings file (the NVRAMBAK created by backing up) created under an earlier (i.e. ten minutes ago) version of firmware.
A backup file can only restore settings to the same version of firmware.
So don’t plan on restoring your settings with a backup file you make prior to upgrading. Write those settings down…