Hacking the WGR614v10 - Part 2

"Upgrading" from 54Mpbs to 150Mpbs

Note: This tutorial is now obsolete. The official Netgear firmware for the WGR614v10 now allows Wireless-N speeds up to 150Mbps. But you're still welcome to follow along if you're interested in the "educational" factor. :)

I remember way back when caller ID first came out for landlines. I thought it was the neatest thing since socks. I just had to get myself one of those spiffy caller ID boxes. And so I did. It was a CIDCO, model something, I don't recall now. It had a 30-call memory so at the 30th call, you had to start deleting. As it turns out, it had a 90-call memory. "Eh? You just said it had a 30-call memory." Yes, I did. You see, the 30-call and 90-call boxes were essentially the same. The difference was the 30-call was intentionally "crippled" by CIDCO. But this cripple could be made, bigger, stronger, faster. Well, bigger at least. All you had to do was pop the box open and desolder one specific jumper and BAM!, you had a 90-call box for the price of 30-call. So what's this all have to do with the price of tea in China? Well, it's the same ballgame with the WGR614v10. The WGR614v10 has a top wireless speed of 54Mbps but has the same underlying hardware as a 150Mpbs capable router; it's just crippled. But we can make it faster. :) If you plan on trying out what I'm about to explain and aren't too handy with a soldering iron, don't worry, you won't need one for this; however, you should be aware this is a potentially unsafe procedure and it's possible to brick your router. With that said, I had no issues performing this procedure and my router works just fine. Now, to the "upgrading" part.

To perform the upgrade you will need 3 things:

• A telnet enabled router (see Part 1 of Hacking the WGR614v10).
• A telnet utility. You can use the MS Win ver. or another of your choosing.
• The WNR1000v3 firmware from Netgear. Dowloand here.

Before starting, I would strongly recommend you either backup your existing firmware or download the latest stock version. The original stock firmware, named WGR614v10.chk, can also be located on the Netgear Resource CD that came with your router. There's also a recovery utility located on the CD if things go bad.

Ok, here we go.

• Step 1:  Enable telnet on your router and telnet in by opening a command console and typing  telnetenable 192.168.1.1 C03F0E34675C Gearguy Geardog and press enter. You will need to replace C03F0E34675C with the mac address of your router, which can be found on the back of your router or on the box that the router came in. Next type telnet 192.168.1.1 and press enter. If everything worked correctly, you should now see something like:

• 
  

• Step 2:  Now we're going to change the nvram board_id value to U12H139T00_NETGEAR by typing burnboardid U12H139T00_NETGEAR and pressing enter. This is necessary because when we attempt to update the firmware the router will check the new firmware version against the value stored in nvram. If the values don't match, then we have a no go.
• Step 3: Reboot the router by typing reboot and pressing enter. Wait for the router to come back online and login to the router via the web interface (http://192.168.1.1).

• Step 4:  Now we're going to upload the new firmware via the web interface. To do so, click on the "Router Upgrade" left menu link. Click on the "Browse" button, locate and select the firmware file that you downloaded (WNR1000v3-V1.0.2.4_39.0.39.chk) then click the "Upload" button.
  
  
  
• Note: The upload process will take a minute or two. DO NOT power off or reset your router until it is complete!

• Step 5:  Reset your router to the factory default settings (per the new firmware) by pressing and holding the reset button, located on the back of your router, for approximately 5 seconds until the power light begins to blink, then release. Refer to your router's help manual if you need additional information on how to perfom a reset.
  
• Step: 6  Login into your router via the web interface to configure the router's settings.
  
  Chances are you will be unable to connect to your router wirelessly at this point. Simply remedy this by connecting your computer to the router directly via ethernet cable. Once connected via cable, login to the web interface and change the "Region" setting, located by clicking "Wireless Settings" under the "Setup" section, to whatever region you're located in. This occurs because the firmware we're using is actually an "international" firmware and different countries/regions have different laws/regulations regarding radio frequency. The Region selection ultimately determines the operating frequency corresponding to the channel you select.

That's it! If everything went accordingly, you should now have a 150Mpbs router. Cheers! :)