# DD-WRT/OpenWRT flashing



## roast (Feb 13, 2011)

Hey guys/gals.

It would probably be better if I asked elsewhere, but I wanted to ask here first for some unbiased explanations.

I have a nice TP-Link router which is supported by OpenWRT and DD-WRT.
I'm tempted to flash it, but I just wanted to check beforehand, is it possible to re-flash to the stock TP-Link firmware after I flash it to OpenWRT/DD-WRT? Just in case it ever needs to be returned for warranty purposes.

Cheers,
Mick.


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## Polaris573 (Feb 13, 2011)

Yes as long as you have a copy of the TP-Link firmware.


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## jsfitz54 (Feb 13, 2011)

What happens when it dies with the DD-WRT installed on it?


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## roast (Feb 13, 2011)

Polaris573 said:


> Yes as long as you have a copy of the TP-Link firmware.



Cheers Polaris. Will one of the updates from TP-Links website do, or is there a way to extract the firmware from the routers ROM?




jsfitz54 said:


> What happens when it dies with the DD-WRT installed on it?


No idea. I have a bad feeling that TP-Link probably would regard the warranty as being void.


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## Polaris573 (Feb 13, 2011)

jsfitz54 said:


> What happens when it dies with the DD-WRT installed on it?



That's the risk you take.  DD-WRT has instructions for recovering your router from a bad flash.  If you can't recover from the bad flash then don't be a dick and just absorb your losses.  If it dies because of hardware failure than return it anyway; the firmware probably didn't kill it.  



roast said:


> Cheers Polaris. Will one of the updates from TP-Links website do, or is there a way to extract the firmware from the routers ROM?
> 
> 
> 
> No idea. I have a bad feeling that TP-Link probably would regard the warranty as being void.



I can't speak from experience with your brand, but I used one of the firmwares from the linksys website to roll back my router.  I did it just for the experience though and quickly put DD-WRT back on it (Linksys firmware sucks).


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## timta2 (Feb 13, 2011)

Yeah, I've flashed a lot of routers over the years without as much as one problem. As long as you make sure you have the correct version of the firmware (for your model, etc) you have little to worry about. It's the people who don't follow the instructions and use incorrect version of firmware that end up with the problems. 

And hell, routers are so cheap these days compared to when I bought my first one (BEFSR41 @ $200+ USD), that it isn't that big of a deal if you have to buy a replacement.


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## Trigger911 (Feb 13, 2011)

to add most of these routers have a init boot that will load a tftp server in case you have a bad flash (not flashed fully or corrupt nvram) that will allow you to use 3rd party or original firmware to reflash it. I have saved many of dead routers that way ... also learning how to use jtag tools help too if you seem to mess it up real bad I have done that also.


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