I’m tinkering with some stuff in the wireless LAN world (more on that in a future post) which has led me to pursue setting up DD-WRT on my router. As I started googling I realized I’ve been having piece too much info from various sources to figure out how to set it up on my Linksys EA2700 router that came from RCN. So, I’m going to do a write up as I do it myself.

1. Using a paper clip, push and hold the Reset button. Hold the reset switch for 10-15 seconds. Disconnect and reconnect the router's power adapter. Once it fully reboots, you can use the default username and password to connect the device.
2. A hard reset should not be confused with a cold boot, also known as a hard boot. Also, this term can be used to describe a factory reset. With a network home router, there is a reset button the back of the router that will reboot the router when pressed. A hard reset is when you press and hold in on.

*Note: You will lose your 5ghz band if you go with this frameware. Just FYI.

Linksys EA2700 Universal Plug n Play (UPnP) is a set of networking protocols that permits networked devices, such as PCs, printers, internet gateways, Wi-Fi access points and mobile devices to find each other and exchange information on the network.

You’ll need what’s called the “BrainSlayer” build of DD-WRT, (get it here: ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/2014/12-11-2014-r25628/linksys-ea2700/) seems there’s been one crafted specifically for this model. I guess router hacking somewhat resembles smartphone hacking, with a name like BrainSlayer. The internet says that that this router is particularly annoying in regards to self-restoring it’s firmware. To circumvent this our best weapon is downgrading the firmware to a “classic” version first, weakening its defenses before moving in with the BrainSlayer. The firmware for this can be found here: http://downloads.linksys.com/downloads/firmware/FW_EA2700_1.0.14.129982.zip

I’ve created mirros for both, below (just in case)

Make sure you’ve got both of these files as you’re about to take your router offline and if you don’t have a backup you’ll be hosed.

The online community seems to agree that flashing multiple times and doing “30/30/30” resets of the router will do the trick. This does seem a bit excessive but I trust the Internets. Also, I had to google what a 30/30/30 reset is. It means holding the router’s reset button for 90 seconds- 30 seconds in the power should be disconnected. After another 30 seconds, plug the box back in.

On my first attempt I’m going to try just one hard reset. For me this means holding the the reset button for a good 45 seconds and then pulling the plug. When I did this my router started making a weird noise at about 35 seconds so I stopped. No issue so far. Also, that reset button is on the bottom left-hand side of the device (shown here). My router is actually black but for whatever reason it appears brown in the phote. Do not be alarmed.

Once you’re back to factory state, you should be able to log in via an open access point or a LAN cable. The default login to get onto this router is admin/admin

To get through the “smart” firmware (i.e. step #1), linksys has left an online manual that covers it on page 51: EA6500_v2_UserGuide_En-FRCA.pdf. The relevant bits are here:

Once the flash is finished, you’ll get the old ugly Linksys “classic” gui. Success! The next step is to install DD-WRT. Instructions to upgrade frameware from from the “classic” version can be found here: Linksys Firmware Flashing.

Great, so now when the router boots it all looks good. Hello DD-WRT!

So anyone with a bit of technical competence and some patience should be able to get DD-WRT installed on most routers. Up next, let’s see how DD-WRT can help us to become the gods of our network..

One final caveat– The router tries to kill your custom frameware occasionally after a few reboots and goes back to the factory firmware. Apparently you can prevent this by doing some additional scripting during the first few boots on your router with DD-WRT. I’ve taken the instructions verbatim from the DD-WRT bulletin board, although unfortunately I can’t remember where I found them. If this was your advice, please feel free to slap me around.

Enjoy your DD-WRT.

Mirrors

[BrainSlayer DD-WRT Image] ( dd-wrt-24160-ea2700.zip | 16.4MB )

[LinkSys Classic Image] ( FW_EA2700_1.0.14.129982.zip | 12.3MB )

From DD-WRT Wiki

This page applies to version 1. For version 2, see Linksys E1200v2

After using the initial flash trailed build (the file with the router name in it), only use nv64k builds to upgrade with or you will brick your unit. Don't confuse this unit with some other Linksys E-Series units that use nv60k builds!

Hard Reset A7000

[edit]Initial Flash

1. Read the Firmware_FAQ and Peacock Announcement.
2. Connect a LAN cable to the PC doing the flash, and disconnect other cables and wireless clients
3. Do a hard reset on router
4. Log into Linksys Web Interface Firmware Upgrade page
5. Upload the known good initial flash E1200 (v1) Trailed Build
6. Wait 5 minutes to assure flash integrity, then power cycle the E1200 (unplug for 10 seconds).
7. Plug the E1200 back in and wait about 2 minutes until it finishes booting.
8. Do a hard reset, then wait for it to boot.
9. Open web interface to set a user and password, then configure as needed.

[edit]Upgrade DD-WRT

1. To upgrade, use a k2.6 nv64k mini build (_K2.6_mini-nv64k.bin) from the /broadcom_K26 directory.
2. Research build threads first to avoid bad builds.

Linksys Ea2700 Hard Reset

• WARNING: only use nv64k builds that fit a 4MB flash footprint, bigger builds can either fail or brick your unit.
• Do not try to flash K3X: while a K3X trailed and nv64k build exists, the files are for minimum 8MB flash devices.

Support for this model was added with build 18946, so do not use any older builds. To be safe, only use builds that are linked within this wiki, or otherwise read New Build and model-specific forum threads. To find the latest builds, look here in broadcom_K26 folders.

Hard Reset Linksys Ea2700

Forum thread: for early E-Series routers.

Download the stock firmware image from the manufacturer's website, reset the router back to defaults using a 30-30-30 hard reset, then flash the stock image from within the dd-wrt webgui. After 5 minutes it should finish, you will then need to do another 30-30-30 reset and then access the stock webgui @ 192.168.1.1