Running commentary on Buffalo WHR-G54S

I've been collecting factoids while getting my router flashed to
DD-WRT. If there is a better site on the WHR-G54S, it would have been
better to have found it before.

http://www.gilanet.com/ohlandl/NIC/whr-g54s.html

Louis Ohland wrote:

> I've been collecting factoids while getting my router flashed to
> DD-WRT. If there is a better site on the WHR-G54S, it would have been
> better to have found it before.
>
> http://www.gilanet.com/ohlandl/NIC/whr-g54s.html
Hi,
Look back on this NG few days. There is some related discussion.
I originated the topic. I am using flashed Buffalo since Tuesday. I got
it from Tigerdirect. I've been using Linksys but this high power router
seems to give better signal strength. I have to cover 3 levels of floor
in my house while router is located on the top floor.
Tony

Tony, I am lazy, when I want to light up a device, I want to go to a
place where the relevant info is collected. Nothing against newsgroups,
but from experience, it's a crap shoot trying to find the desired
information with just one search.

But having said that, I did surf the groups for hours looking for
the varied WRT flashes and gotchas.

I will be going back and reviewing your posts. Unfortunately, a LOT
of the Buffalo WHR-G54S posts go like this: "I bought a WHR-G54S,
flashed it with DD-WRT and it's great". The WIKI stuff is good, but it
missed some of the finer points that I asked about (where is TFTP, which
BIN)

Not saying that the WHR-G54S isn't a good thing, but let's be a
little more precise. As I am trampled by the Buffalo Stampede, I will be
adding to my collection of factoids. It may be common knowledge, but
where is that common knowledge derived from?

To show that I do know how to tread the boards, you can look up the
"Ardent Tool of Capitalism" and find out more than you'd care to about
microchannel. The Gilanet site is the one I update, others are mirrors.

Tony Hwang wrote:
> Louis Ohland wrote:
>
>> I've been collecting factoids while getting my router flashed to
>> DD-WRT. If there is a better site on the WHR-G54S, it would have been
>> better to have found it before.
>>
>> http://www.gilanet.com/ohlandl/NIC/whr-g54s.html
> Hi,
> Look back on this NG few days. There is some related discussion.
> I originated the topic. I am using flashed Buffalo since Tuesday. I got
> it from Tigerdirect. I've been using Linksys but this high power router
> seems to give better signal strength. I have to cover 3 levels of floor
> in my house while router is located on the top floor.
> Tony

Louis Ohland <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:

> I've been collecting factoids while getting my router flashed to
>DD-WRT. If there is a better site on the WHR-G54S, it would have been
>better to have found it before.
>
>http://www.gilanet.com/ohlandl/NIC/whr-g54s.html

Good idea. I do the same thing. Some random comments:

1. More photos please, especially in the disassembly section.

2. Lose the gigantic white space on both margins. It's a huge waste
of paper when printed. It's not a newspaper column. Incidentally,
that's the origin of the term "narrow minded".

3. Add FCC ID link (because the FCCID search engine is permanently
broken and never seems to find anything):
WHR-HP-G54 FCC ID: FDI-09101577-0
<https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout =500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=165435&fcc_i d='FDI-09101577-0'>
I don't have the FCC ID's for the other similar models.

If you want to list ALL the various Buffalo products, go to:
<https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm>
Inscribe "FDI" into the "Grantee Code" box.
Change the "Show XX records" at the bottom of the page to 100.
Hit "Start Search". 52 products (and changes).

4. Include details on the power source (wall wart) including the
connector for those that lose theirs. My WHR-HP-G54 uses a 5.0VDC
2.6A wall wart but the label on the bottom shows 5.0VDC 0.9A which is
apparently the current consumption. Nice. 2.1/5.5mm ??? connector.

5. Add the first 6 octets of the MAC address so that war drivers will
be able to identify the type of access point. Mine shows:
00:16:01:xx:xx:xx

6. Explain differences between similar models:
WHR-HP-G54 High Power Turbo-G 802.11b/g
WHR-G54S Low power No Turbo-G 802.11b/g
WHR-HP-AG108 High Power Turbo-G 802.11a/b/g
Also add links to the models on Buffalo web pile.

7. I probably shouldn't mention that I have several boxes of assorted
MCA boards in storage doing nothing.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

I settled on a 600 pixel wide format years ago. It comes out better
on older IBM monitors (the glorious 85xx series). As Forrest Gump might
say, no particular reason.

I've no decent digital camera. Was looking at Best Buy for one. The
SLR looking models are cheesy plastic, the metal cased ones like the
Casio Exilim are neat-o, but only 3x optical zoom. I wondered if a
digi-cam would work.



Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> Louis Ohland <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:
>
>> I've been collecting factoids while getting my router flashed to
>> DD-WRT. If there is a better site on the WHR-G54S, it would have been
>> better to have found it before.
>>
>> http://www.gilanet.com/ohlandl/NIC/whr-g54s.html
>
> Good idea. I do the same thing. Some random comments:
>
> 1. More photos please, especially in the disassembly section.
>
> 2. Lose the gigantic white space on both margins. It's a huge waste
> of paper when printed. It's not a newspaper column. Incidentally,
> that's the origin of the term "narrow minded".
>
> 3. Add FCC ID link (because the FCCID search engine is permanently
> broken and never seems to find anything):
> WHR-HP-G54 FCC ID: FDI-09101577-0
> <https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Exhibits&RequestTimeout =500&calledFromFrame=N&application_id=165435&fcc_i d='FDI-09101577-0'>
> I don't have the FCC ID's for the other similar models.
>
> If you want to list ALL the various Buffalo products, go to:
> <https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/GenericSearch.cfm>
> Inscribe "FDI" into the "Grantee Code" box.
> Change the "Show XX records" at the bottom of the page to 100.
> Hit "Start Search". 52 products (and changes).
>
> 4. Include details on the power source (wall wart) including the
> connector for those that lose theirs. My WHR-HP-G54 uses a 5.0VDC
> 2.6A wall wart but the label on the bottom shows 5.0VDC 0.9A which is
> apparently the current consumption. Nice. 2.1/5.5mm ??? connector.
>
> 5. Add the first 6 octets of the MAC address so that war drivers will
> be able to identify the type of access point. Mine shows:
> 00:16:01:xx:xx:xx
>
> 6. Explain differences between similar models:
> WHR-HP-G54 High Power Turbo-G 802.11b/g
> WHR-G54S Low power No Turbo-G 802.11b/g
> WHR-HP-AG108 High Power Turbo-G 802.11a/b/g
> Also add links to the models on Buffalo web pile.
>
> 7. I probably shouldn't mention that I have several boxes of assorted
> MCA boards in storage doing nothing.
>

Louis Ohland <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:

> I settled on a 600 pixel wide format years ago. It comes out better
>on older IBM monitors (the glorious 85xx series). As Forrest Gump might
>say, no particular reason.

That's fine. I can still read it
on the screen. However, you must
realize that the worlds supply of
white space is limited and that we
may eventually run out.

Also, please note that the original
purpose of HTML was to be viewable
on any monitor and any computah.
That lasted until the invention of
"publishing" in HTML which demanded
that users purchase the correct size
display to view the web pages. The
Mozilla 4.79 Composer you used to
create the pages can easily autosize
the screen if you NOT put the entire
web page into a table and get rid
of the:
<table CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0
COLS=1 WIDTH="600" >
line. It will still look good at
640x480 and not waste screen area
on more modern displays.

> I've no decent digital camera. Was looking at Best Buy for one. The
>SLR looking models are cheesy plastic, the metal cased ones like the
>Casio Exilim are neat-o, but only 3x optical zoom. I wondered if a
>digi-cam would work.

I have 4 cameras. All are somewhat
of a compromise and take generally
lousy closeups. The camera in my
cell phone is the worst. If you
decide to buy something, be sure
to test it for depth of field (i.e.
focus) for closup shots or your
photos of the guts of wireless
devices will look like mine. 3x
is not much of a limitation when
you can have 8Mpixel images. These
can be enlarged with Photoshop or
Irfanview and still look quite sharp.
Also, anything over about 3X will
require some form of tripod or
image stabilizer.

>>> http://www.gilanet.com/ohlandl/NIC/whr-g54s.html

I just flashed a WHR-HP-G54 with
DD-WRT v23 SP2 generic. It did not go
exactly as the instructions on the DD-WRT
web pile.

1. When starting the tftp upload, hitting
the enter key to start tftp immediately after
applying power to the WHR-HP-G54 did not
work. It ended up with a timeout error 3
times out of 3 tries. What does work is to
wait until the bright red light on the front
panel lights up (exactly 3 seconds after
applying power) and then hit the enter key.

2. The instructions say something about all
the lights coming on at once. That never
happened. What did happen after the successful
upload was that the bright red (diag?) light
started flashing and continued to flash for
about 90 seconds. When it went out, the
router was ready to use. I suspect doing
anything while it was flashing would be
considered a bad idea.

3. The new unit comes with a piece of clear
plastic tape over the front display area.
However, the tape also covers the AOSS button
on the top of the unit which was partially
depressed by the tape. I couldn't figure out
why the router was going into AOSS handshake
mode without provocation until I noticed the
problem with the tape. Remove tape before
operating.

--
Jeff Liebermann (E-Mail Removed)
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On Sat, 25 Nov 2006 20:25:50 -0800, Jeff Liebermann
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
<(E-Mail Removed)>:

>Louis Ohland <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:
>
>> I settled on a 600 pixel wide format years ago. It comes out better
>>on older IBM monitors (the glorious 85xx series). As Forrest Gump might
>>say, no particular reason.
>
> That's fine. I can still read it
> on the screen. However, you must
> realize that the worlds supply of
> white space is limited and that we
> may eventually run out.
>
> Also, please note that the original
> purpose of HTML was to be viewable
> on any monitor and any computah.
> That lasted until the invention of
> "publishing" in HTML which demanded
> that users purchase the correct size
> display to view the web pages. The
> Mozilla 4.79 Composer you used to
> create the pages can easily autosize
> the screen if you NOT put the entire
> web page into a table and get rid
> of the:
> <table CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0
> COLS=1 WIDTH="600" >
> line. It will still look good at
> 640x480 and not waste screen area
> on more modern displays.

Amen! Second the motion!

>> I've no decent digital camera. Was looking at Best Buy for one. The
>>SLR looking models are cheesy plastic, the metal cased ones like the
>>Casio Exilim are neat-o, but only 3x optical zoom. I wondered if a
>>digi-cam would work.

I highly recommend the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5 (or current -FZ7).
Readily available on eBay at bargain prices. Awesome fast Leica
super-zoom (12x) stabilized lens. Very well engineered and made. Get
as close to your subject as 5 cm at wide-angle and 1 m at the telephoto
end in macro mode, with minimum area of only 1.59 x 1.20 inches (40 x 30
millimeters). See
<http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/panasonic/dmc_fz5-review> and
<http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/FZ5/FZ5A13.HTM>.

> I have 4 cameras. All are somewhat
> of a compromise and take generally
> lousy closeups. The camera in my
> cell phone is the worst. If you
> decide to buy something, be sure
> to test it for depth of field (i.e.
> focus) for closup shots or your
> photos of the guts of wireless
> devices will look like mine.

Depth of field is an issue in macro mode with any camera.

> 3x
> is not much of a limitation when
> you can have 8Mpixel images. These
> can be enlarged with Photoshop or
> Irfanview and still look quite sharp.
> Also, anything over about 3X will
> require some form of tripod or
> image stabilizer.

Depends on shutter speed -- longer lenses work well without
stabilization or a tripod when there is sufficient light for an
appropriate shutter speed.

--
Best regards, FAQ for Wireless Internet: <http://Wireless.wikia.com>
John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

Et tu, Brutus?

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> Louis Ohland <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:
>
>> I settled on a 600 pixel wide format years ago. It comes out better
>> on older IBM monitors (the glorious 85xx series). As Forrest Gump might
>> say, no particular reason.
>
> That's fine. I can still read it
> on the screen. However, you must
> realize that the worlds supply of
> white space is limited and that we
> may eventually run out.
>
> Also, please note that the original
> purpose of HTML was to be viewable
> on any monitor and any computah.
> That lasted until the invention of
> "publishing" in HTML which demanded
> that users purchase the correct size
> display to view the web pages. The
> Mozilla 4.79 Composer you used to
> create the pages can easily autosize
> the screen if you NOT put the entire
> web page into a table and get rid
> of the:
> <table CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0
> COLS=1 WIDTH="600" >
> line. It will still look good at
> 640x480 and not waste screen area
> on more modern displays.
>
>> I've no decent digital camera. Was looking at Best Buy for one. The
>> SLR looking models are cheesy plastic, the metal cased ones like the
>> Casio Exilim are neat-o, but only 3x optical zoom. I wondered if a
>> digi-cam would work.
>
> I have 4 cameras. All are somewhat
> of a compromise and take generally
> lousy closeups. The camera in my
> cell phone is the worst. If you
> decide to buy something, be sure
> to test it for depth of field (i.e.
> focus) for closup shots or your
> photos of the guts of wireless
> devices will look like mine. 3x
> is not much of a limitation when
> you can have 8Mpixel images. These
> can be enlarged with Photoshop or
> Irfanview and still look quite sharp.
> Also, anything over about 3X will
> require some form of tripod or
> image stabilizer.
>
>>>> http://www.gilanet.com/ohlandl/NIC/whr-g54s.html
>
> I just flashed a WHR-HP-G54 with
> DD-WRT v23 SP2 generic. It did not go
> exactly as the instructions on the DD-WRT
> web pile.
>
> 1. When starting the tftp upload, hitting
> the enter key to start tftp immediately after
> applying power to the WHR-HP-G54 did not
> work. It ended up with a timeout error 3
> times out of 3 tries. What does work is to
> wait until the bright red light on the front
> panel lights up (exactly 3 seconds after
> applying power) and then hit the enter key.
>
> 2. The instructions say something about all
> the lights coming on at once. That never
> happened. What did happen after the successful
> upload was that the bright red (diag?) light
> started flashing and continued to flash for
> about 90 seconds. When it went out, the
> router was ready to use. I suspect doing
> anything while it was flashing would be
> considered a bad idea.
>
> 3. The new unit comes with a piece of clear
> plastic tape over the front display area.
> However, the tape also covers the AOSS button
> on the top of the unit which was partially
> depressed by the tape. I couldn't figure out
> why the router was going into AOSS handshake
> mode without provocation until I noticed the
> problem with the tape. Remove tape before
> operating.
>

Re-writing the flash instructions, based on the enter after port LEDs
turn off. I'll check Adobe Distiller, and try to get a better image.
They looked like hell in the PDF.

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> Louis Ohland <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:
>
>> I settled on a 600 pixel wide format years ago. It comes out better
>> on older IBM monitors (the glorious 85xx series). As Forrest Gump might
>> say, no particular reason.
>
> That's fine. I can still read it
> on the screen. However, you must
> realize that the worlds supply of
> white space is limited and that we
> may eventually run out.
>
> Also, please note that the original
> purpose of HTML was to be viewable
> on any monitor and any computah.
> That lasted until the invention of
> "publishing" in HTML which demanded
> that users purchase the correct size
> display to view the web pages. The
> Mozilla 4.79 Composer you used to
> create the pages can easily autosize
> the screen if you NOT put the entire
> web page into a table and get rid
> of the:
> <table CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0
> COLS=1 WIDTH="600" >
> line. It will still look good at
> 640x480 and not waste screen area
> on more modern displays.
>
>> I've no decent digital camera. Was looking at Best Buy for one. The
>> SLR looking models are cheesy plastic, the metal cased ones like the
>> Casio Exilim are neat-o, but only 3x optical zoom. I wondered if a
>> digi-cam would work.
>
> I have 4 cameras. All are somewhat
> of a compromise and take generally
> lousy closeups. The camera in my
> cell phone is the worst. If you
> decide to buy something, be sure
> to test it for depth of field (i.e.
> focus) for closup shots or your
> photos of the guts of wireless
> devices will look like mine. 3x
> is not much of a limitation when
> you can have 8Mpixel images. These
> can be enlarged with Photoshop or
> Irfanview and still look quite sharp.
> Also, anything over about 3X will
> require some form of tripod or
> image stabilizer.
>
>>>> http://www.gilanet.com/ohlandl/NIC/whr-g54s.html
>
> I just flashed a WHR-HP-G54 with
> DD-WRT v23 SP2 generic. It did not go
> exactly as the instructions on the DD-WRT
> web pile.
>
> 1. When starting the tftp upload, hitting
> the enter key to start tftp immediately after
> applying power to the WHR-HP-G54 did not
> work. It ended up with a timeout error 3
> times out of 3 tries. What does work is to
> wait until the bright red light on the front
> panel lights up (exactly 3 seconds after
> applying power) and then hit the enter key.
>
> 2. The instructions say something about all
> the lights coming on at once. That never
> happened. What did happen after the successful
> upload was that the bright red (diag?) light
> started flashing and continued to flash for
> about 90 seconds. When it went out, the
> router was ready to use. I suspect doing
> anything while it was flashing would be
> considered a bad idea.
>
> 3. The new unit comes with a piece of clear
> plastic tape over the front display area.
> However, the tape also covers the AOSS button
> on the top of the unit which was partially
> depressed by the tape. I couldn't figure out
> why the router was going into AOSS handshake
> mode without provocation until I noticed the
> problem with the tape. Remove tape before
> operating.
>

>http://www.gilanet.com/ohlandl/NIC/whr-g54s.html#Flashing_DD-WRT<

It seems so wrong to use full screen, like it's taboo.

I also changed the PDF version to 01 and added/changed it as well.

>http://www.gilanet.com/ohlandl/NIC/Flash_Buffalo_WHR-DD-WRT_01.pdf<

Louis Ohland wrote:
> Re-writing the flash instructions, based on the enter after port LEDs
> turn off. I'll check Adobe Distiller, and try to get a better image.
> They looked like hell in the PDF.
>
> Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>> Louis Ohland <(E-Mail Removed)> hath wroth:
>>
>>> I settled on a 600 pixel wide format years ago. It comes out
>>> better on older IBM monitors (the glorious 85xx series). As Forrest
>>> Gump might say, no particular reason.
>>
>> That's fine. I can still read it
>> on the screen. However, you must
>> realize that the worlds supply of
>> white space is limited and that we
>> may eventually run out.
>>
>> Also, please note that the original
>> purpose of HTML was to be viewable
>> on any monitor and any computah.
>> That lasted until the invention of
>> "publishing" in HTML which demanded
>> that users purchase the correct size
>> display to view the web pages. The
>> Mozilla 4.79 Composer you used to
>> create the pages can easily autosize
>> the screen if you NOT put the entire
>> web page into a table and get rid
>> of the:
>> <table CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 COLS=1 WIDTH="600" >
>> line. It will still look good at 640x480 and not waste screen
>> area
>> on more modern displays.
>>
>>> I've no decent digital camera. Was looking at Best Buy for one. The
>>> SLR looking models are cheesy plastic, the metal cased ones like the
>>> Casio Exilim are neat-o, but only 3x optical zoom. I wondered if a
>>> digi-cam would work.
>>
>> I have 4 cameras. All are somewhat
>> of a compromise and take generally
>> lousy closeups. The camera in my
>> cell phone is the worst. If you
>> decide to buy something, be sure
>> to test it for depth of field (i.e.
>> focus) for closup shots or your
>> photos of the guts of wireless
>> devices will look like mine. 3x
>> is not much of a limitation when
>> you can have 8Mpixel images. These
>> can be enlarged with Photoshop or Irfanview and still look
>> quite sharp.
>> Also, anything over about 3X will
>> require some form of tripod or
>> image stabilizer.
>>
>>>>> http://www.gilanet.com/ohlandl/NIC/whr-g54s.html
>>
>> I just flashed a WHR-HP-G54 with DD-WRT v23 SP2 generic. It
>> did not go exactly as the instructions on the DD-WRT
>> web pile.
>>
>> 1. When starting the tftp upload, hitting
>> the enter key to start tftp immediately after
>> applying power to the WHR-HP-G54 did not work. It ended up
>> with a timeout error 3
>> times out of 3 tries. What does work is to
>> wait until the bright red light on the front
>> panel lights up (exactly 3 seconds after
>> applying power) and then hit the enter key.
>>
>> 2. The instructions say something about all
>> the lights coming on at once. That never
>> happened. What did happen after the successful
>> upload was that the bright red (diag?) light
>> started flashing and continued to flash for
>> about 90 seconds. When it went out, the
>> router was ready to use. I suspect doing
>> anything while it was flashing would be
>> considered a bad idea.
>>
>> 3. The new unit comes with a piece of clear
>> plastic tape over the front display area.
>> However, the tape also covers the AOSS button
>> on the top of the unit which was partially
>> depressed by the tape. I couldn't figure out
>> why the router was going into AOSS handshake
>> mode without provocation until I noticed the
>> problem with the tape. Remove tape before
>> operating.
>>