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DD-WRT Flashing Guide (TM DIR-615 G1)

Due to popular demand for DD-WRT configuration help, I've decided to *finally* spend some time into writing a guide regarding DD-WRT firmware for the DIR-615. As I've mentioned in the past, it is possible to flash the TM provided DIR-615 (the orange router) with custom DD-WRT firmware. The primary goal of this guide will basically be to guide users who wish to flash their TM provided Unifi DIR-615 routers with dd-wrt.. however users who have spare dd-wrt flashed routers around will also be able to use the information here to set up the VLAN tagging for the PPPoE connection that is required by Unifi.

 

UPDATE 20th January 2011 : If you're on the DIR-615 H/W Rev. G2 and want to attempt this for whatever reason, the official D-Link 7.05B firmware has been uploaded to the Downloads section.

UPDATE 3rd October 2010 : TM has upgraded the stock router to rev G2 (DIR-615 G2) with Firmware 7.05B. Do not attempt to downgrade/reflash as the hardware revision change may indicate a different platform.

 

Advantages of Using DD-WRT firmware

  • The router gets increased stability
  • Less lockups/crashes
  • Less connection drops (I'm looking at you, generic VPN protocol!)
  • Support for a larger amount of concurrent connections
  • The ability to increase your wifi signal strength (stock firmware has really weak wifi transmit power)

 

Disadvantages of Using DD-WRT firmware

  • Unifi home users (VIP5/10/20) lose IPTV access
  • You lose TM support for your Unifi service (it was pretty much non-existent in the first place!)
  • You probably void the warranty on the router
  • You might brick the router if you don't know what you're doing

 

The Guide : Let's get started!

Before we begin, I just want to make it clear that I am in no way responsible if you absolutely screw up your Unifi router and are left with dial-up/Streamyx access for the next 3 weeks (or at least until TM decides it's time to pass you a new unit). This guide requires basic to advanced networking computer knowledge and I'm simply not willing to list down the steps on matters such as 'how to set a static LAN IP for your network interface' in this guide. Read through all the steps I've listed down here and make sure you understand it. If you don't, get a friend who does to follow this guide and do it for you.

 

Prerequisites :

  1. Original TM DIR-615 G1 firmware - http://unifi.athena.my/downloads/DIR615G1_FIRMWARE_705.rar
  2. Brainslayer's DD-WRT DIR-615 REV D factory webflash - ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/others/eko/BrainSlayer-V24-preSP2/2010/08-07-10-r14896/dlink-dir615d/dlink-dir615d-factory-webflash.bin
  3. Balls of steel

 

Steps to Flash the DIR-615

  1. Set a static IP for your PC in the 192.168.0.x range with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 (192.168.0.50 for example).
  2. Connect a network cable from your computer's network interface card to the WAN PORT (not LAN port, WAN port) of your DIR-615 G1.
  3. Turn off your DIR-615. Hold down a pin to the RESET button of the router (at the back next to its power socket) and turn on the router while holding this RESET button down.
  4. If you did this properly, the power button on the router should now be orange and blinking continuously. The router is now in Emergency Room mode.
  5. Open up Internet Explorer and head over to http://192.168.0.1/ . Please use Internet Explorer as Firefox can cause some weird issues with this particular web interface.
  6. You should be able to see the Emergency Room interface.
  7. Hit the Browse button and select the Brainslayer DIR-615 rev D webflash firmware (dlink-dir615d-factory-webflash.bin) that you downloaded earlier. Upload it to the router.
  8. Upon a successful upload, you should be able to see a success confirmation message.
  9. Let the router reboot by itself.
  10. Once power light turns green.. unplug the network cable from the WAN port and plug into any LAN port on the DIR-615 router (I recommend ports 1-3).
  11. The routers IP should now be 192.168.1.1, so change your PC's LAN IP from 192.168.0.0/255.255.255.0 to something in the 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0 range (such as 192.168.1.50 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0).
  12. Now visit http://192.168.1.1 and configure your router's security (password) settings.
  13. Before you continue to setup your PPPoE link, please setup your wireless security. The wireless radio should be on by default and will be accepting connections.

 

Setting up VLAN tagging and the PPPoE connection

  1. Head over to the Setup -> Networking tab in the web interface.
  2. In this router, 'vlan2' is the WAN interface port. Under Tagging, press Add. Select 'vlan2' as the interface and enter '500' as the tag number.
  3. Save and Apply Settings, then Reboot the router. (It's very important to reboot the router every time I mention it or some settings may not be applied properly).
  4. After the reboot, go back to the same Setup -> Networking tab. Scroll down to Port Setup and select 'vlan2.500' as the WAN Port Assignment.
  5. Save and Apply Settings, then Reboot the router.
  6. After the reboot, go back to the same Setup -> Networking tab.
  7. Apply the following settings to the 'vlan2' interface under Port Setup.
  8. Save and Apply Settings. Ensure that your Fiber optic/VDSL BTU is now wired directly into the WAN port of your DIR-615 (as usual) so that you can setup the PPPoE settings next. Reboot the system.
  9. Your final settings for the Networking tab should look like this :
  10. Please take note that other routers will use a different WAN interface name when running DD-WRT. The TM DIR-615 G1 should always use 'vlan2' as its WAN port name but other routers may use eth0/eth1/eth2/vlan1/vlan2.

 

PPPoE Setup

Now that you've properly setup VLAN tagging and the WAN interface assignment (set to the tagged interface), go to Setup -> Basic Setup and configure your dynamic PPPoE as needed.

If everything went well, you should have a fully working dd-wrt DIR-615 (without IPTV support of course) which is much more stable than the previous firmware.

 

Advanced Settings

Increasing Wireless Signal Strength

DD-WRT can also increase the transmit power of your wifi network in the advanced settings page of its wireless settings. Increasing this value to 120+ produces a noticeably stronger wifi access point signal which can be picked up by your wifi capable devices (laptops, phones, etc.).