Linksys firmware bug

[David C.]

Just a heads-up for anyone trying to flash the firmware in their
Linksys router.

This morning, I upgraded the firmware in my Linksys BEFSR11 router
using the firmware updates available here:
[url]http://www.linksys.com/download/firmware.asp?fwid=1[/url]

This page has two different firmware releases. The most recent
version (1.45.6) and the previous version (1.44.2z).

I found that internet connectivity from my Mac G4 was flaky to the
point of being almost useless when I installed version 1.45.6. I
could connect to the router's internal web server, and some things
(like DNS and instant messenger) worked, but it was impossible to
retrieve internet web pages. (But my Windows PC had no such problem.)

When I replaced that firmware with 1.44.2z, the problems went away.

I already sent Linksys's customer service department a bug report.
This message is so that anybody else doing a firmware upgrade will
know about the problem with 1.45.6.

-- David

[Tom Stiller]

In article <m28ypsre7h.fsf@qqqq.invalid>, [email]shamino@techie.com[/email] (David C.)
wrote:

> Just a heads-up for anyone trying to flash the firmware in their
> Linksys router.
>
> This morning, I upgraded the firmware in my Linksys BEFSR11 router
> using the firmware updates available here:
> [url]http://www.linksys.com/download/firmware.asp?fwid=1[/url]
>
> This page has two different firmware releases. The most recent
> version (1.45.6) and the previous version (1.44.2z).
>
> I found that internet connectivity from my Mac G4 was flaky to the
> point of being almost useless when I installed version 1.45.6. I
> could connect to the router's internal web server, and some things
> (like DNS and instant messenger) worked, but it was impossible to
> retrieve internet web pages. (But my Windows PC had no such problem.)
>
> When I replaced that firmware with 1.44.2z, the problems went away.
>
> I already sent Linksys's customer service department a bug report.
> This message is so that anybody else doing a firmware upgrade will
> know about the problem with 1.45.6.
>

I have been running 1.45.6 since it was first released without any
problem. Perhaps something went wrong with your upload of the firmware>

--
Tom Stiller

PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3
7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF

[David C.]

Tom Stiller <tomstiller@comcast.net> writes:

>
> I have been running 1.45.6 since it was first released without any
> problem. Perhaps something went wrong with your upload of the
> firmware.

Well, according to the response I got back from Linksys's support
group:

Regarding to your problem, the 1.45.6 is not compatible for
the BEFSR11 it's very high firmware version for the BEFSR11.

I'm not exactly sure what this broken English means, but it's clear
that this person is saying that the firmware is not compatible.

Of course, it now begs the question of why the hell their web site is
making the file available for the BEFSR11 platform if it isn't
compatible.

As for my "upload", I tried to install it twice. Once using their
provided "tftp" program (from a Windows host) and once using the
router's web-based firmware-upgrade utility. No difference.

What model router did you try this firmware in?

-- David

[Tom Stiller]

In article <m2isow8gci.fsf@qqqq.invalid>, [email]shamino@techie.com[/email] (David C.)
wrote:

> Tom Stiller <tomstiller@comcast.net> writes:

> >
> > I have been running 1.45.6 since it was first released without any
> > problem. Perhaps something went wrong with your upload of the
> > firmware.

>
> Well, according to the response I got back from Linksys's support
> group:
>
> Regarding to your problem, the 1.45.6 is not compatible for
> the BEFSR11 it's very high firmware version for the BEFSR11.
>
> I'm not exactly sure what this broken English means, but it's clear
> that this person is saying that the firmware is not compatible.
>
> Of course, it now begs the question of why the hell their web site is
> making the file available for the BEFSR11 platform if it isn't
> compatible.
>
> As for my "upload", I tried to install it twice. Once using their
> provided "tftp" program (from a Windows host) and once using the
> router's web-based firmware-upgrade utility. No difference.
>
> What model router did you try this firmware in?
>

I use a BEFSR41, the four port version of the BEFSR11. I upload from
the OS X command line using a modified version of TFTP that passes the
Linksys password.

--
Tom Stiller

PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3
7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF

[Alan Lehman]

[email]shamino@techie.com[/email] (David C.) wrote in message news:<m28ypsre7h.fsf@qqqq.invalid>...

> Just a heads-up for anyone trying to flash the firmware in their
> Linksys router.
>
> This morning, I upgraded the firmware in my Linksys BEFSR11 router
> using the firmware updates available here:
> [url]http://www.linksys.com/download/firmware.asp?fwid=1[/url]
>
> This page has two different firmware releases. The most recent
> version (1.45.6) and the previous version (1.44.2z).
>
> I found that internet connectivity from my Mac G4 was flaky to the
> point of being almost useless when I installed version 1.45.6. I
> could connect to the router's internal web server, and some things
> (like DNS and instant messenger) worked, but it was impossible to
> retrieve internet web pages. (But my Windows PC had no such problem.)
>
> When I replaced that firmware with 1.44.2z, the problems went away.
>
> I already sent Linksys's customer service department a bug report.
> This message is so that anybody else doing a firmware upgrade will
> know about the problem with 1.45.6.
>
> -- David

I wish I had seen this before I "upgraded" my BESFR11. On my W2K and
Linux systems it broke email completely and slowed web to a crawl. The
person on the linksys support line had me play around with MTU values
but it didn't make any difference. Also 1.45.6 broke the TFTP upload
function. I had to use the web upload to reinstall 1.44.2. This all
took several evenings to figure out. I was about ready to go buy a
netgear box.