Debrick Routers Using zJTAG and DIYGADGET.COM's FTA JTAG Cable

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10 PCS, 10cm x 10cm, 2 layers prototype for $38.80 shipped!








Buy various JTAG cables for your Satellite Receiver, Cable Modem, Wireless Router, Standard Wiggler from http://www.easymg.com and http://www.diygadget.com


In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to debrick your router using DIYGADGET's FTA (All in one, 20 pin or 10 pin) JTAG cable for routers.


Before you try to JTAG your router, we highly recommend you to try a few other steps before you JTAG your router.

Things need to try before you JTAG the router

Please read carefully on this article:

Recover from a Bad Flash

If you have tried everything before the section "Recovery by JTAG cable" and it still doesn't work, you can now proceed with the following tutorials on how to save your router by using DIYGADGET's FTA JTAG cable.

Router Basics

See Debrick_Routers_Using_JTAG_Cable#Router_Basics

Using JTAG Cable to Repair Bricked Router

If you have read this far, it means the only way to debrick your router is by using a JTAG cable. Sorry to hear that! However, don't worry, the steps are really straightforward!

DIYGADGET's Router FTA JTAG Cable

The is the schematic of the our FTA JTAG cable:

0.jpg

Ignore the signal names on the connections in above picture. It's up to the software to choose which pin is for what signal. For example, in above picture, FTA's JTAG software will use DB25's pin 4 as TDI. However this is not the case in the wireless router JTAG software (e.g. tjtag or zJTAG).

This is the JTAG pinout of the Linksys WRT54G(GS/GL) series routers:

nTRST  1   2 GND
TDI    3   4 GND
TDO    5   6 GND
TMS    7   8 GND
TCK    9  10 GND
nSRST 11  12 GND
Linksys Series Routers JTAG Pinout
DB25 Router Function
2 3 TDI
3 9 TCK
4 7 TMS
5 1 TRST (Not Connected)
13 5 TDO
18-25 2,4,6,8,10 GND


Looking at above table, the wireless router JTAG software (tjtag or zJTAG) uses DB25's pin 2, 3, 4, 13 and GND. Compare this with FTA's JTAG schematic, they use identical pins. FTA JTAG also uses these pins. So it is clear now, we can use FTA JTAG cable to debrick wireless routers.

Disassemble WRT54G/GS/GL) Series Router

See Debrick_Routers_Using_JTAG_Cable#Disassemble_WRT54G.2FGS.2FGL.29_Series_Router

Locate the JTAG Pins/Pads on the Router

See Debrick_Routers_Using_JTAG_Cable#Locate_the_JTAG_Pins.2FPads_on_the_Router

The Softwares

We will need to use DIYGADGET's zJTAG (version 0.2 or above) for our debricking process.

Zjtag02.png

Download [zJTAG] program and unzip it to a temp directory on your harddrive.

You will have the following files:

Zjtag.files.png

WinIO32 is used for accessing parallel port, no need to run loaddrv or giveio.

Making The JTAG Connection

This is the exciting part of this tutorial. If your router (like the Linksys WRT54G series) already has the standard 12 pin JTAG pads on the PCB, you mostly like do NOT need to solder wires on your PCB. Otherwise you many need to solder IDC headers on your board.

In this demonstration, I soldered 12 pin header on my router (WRT54GS).

This is the JTAG header on my WRT54GS router:

close up of the router header

This is the 10 pin header of the FTA JTAG cable:

closeup of the 10 pin jtag

This is the 20 pin header of the FTA JTAG cable:

closeup of the 20 pin header

Now we need to make the following connections:

pic shows router header and 10 pin

or

pic shows router header and 20 pin with connections

Now, make the connections using the flexible cables provided in the package. You can use either 10 pin header or 20 pin header from the JTAG cable.

It looks like this:

10 PIN header:

Fta.jtag.10.close.jpg

10 Pin setup:

Fta.jtag.10.jpg

20 Pin header:

Fta.jtag.20.close.jpg

20 Pin setup:

Fta.jtag.20.jpg

Now get your PC ready, make sure the parallel port is 0x378 and mode is ECP or EPP. (Check BIOS setting of your PC if you are not sure).

Plug the db25 connector to your PC's parallel port:

Fta.jtag.png

Debrick it!

Let's debrick your router!

  1. Attach the router's power adapter to the wall outlet.
  2. From the command prompt cd to your unzipped TJTAG's windows directory and run tjtagv2.exe to get a list of options.
  3. To check your cable, run command tjtagv2.exe -probeonly. It will automatically detect the CPU type (see pic below for an example of LINKSYS WRT54GS). If not then check your cable.
    Probe Only Output
  4. Backup NVRAM (command tjtagv2.exe -backup:nvram):
    Backup NVRAM
    . It took 32 seconds to backup my WRT54GS' NVRAM.
  5. Backup CFE (command tjtagv2.exe -backup:cfe):
    backup CFE
    . It took 60 seconds to backup my WRT54GS' CFE.
  6. Backup the whole flash (command tjtagv2.exe -backup:wholeflash):
    Backup whole flash
    . It took 1931 seconds (or 33 minutes) to backup my WRT54GS' whole flash.
  7. Try above steps at least 2 times, generate backups again, then use a binary comparison software to compares the backups, make sure they are exactly the same before you erase anything.
  8. Finally to erase your NVRAM (the usual cause of the problem) with command tjtagv2.exe -erase:nvram
  9. If that doesn't work, erase the kernel (firmware): tjtagv2.exe -erase:kernel, then reflash the kernel via TFTP. This is a very good tutorial on how to flash your router with TFTP: [TFTP Flash]
  10. If it still doesn't work, try to find a CFE for your router (make sure model/version matches) first. Here are two repositories of some router's CFE: [CFE collection project] and [CFE collection 2]
  11. The CFE bin files in the repository all have MAC addresses that DO NOT MATCH your hardware. Use the CFE editing tool "IMGTOOL_NVRAM" available from The [Bitsum Wiki] to set the et0macaddr and il0macaddr before uploading the CFE. et0macaddr is the address printed on the outside; il0macaddr is that same address, plus one. Example: If the printed address is 00:90:4d:83:00:01, then et0macaddr is 00:90:4d:83:00:01 and il0macaddr is 00:90:4d:83:00:02. These are HEX numbers, so HEX 09 plus one is 0A, not 10.
  12. Erase the CFE of your router and flash the working CFE back. tjtagv2.exe -erase:cfe will erase your router's CFE and tjtagv2.exe -flash:cfe will flash the CFE back to your router. Remember to use the modified CFE bin.

Non Linksys Routers

If your router doesn't have JTAG headers or pads, but if it has JTAG enabled, you can still debrick it using the above technique. However, it is very likely you will need to solder the wire on the board.

For a collection of the JTAG pinout of other routers, please take a look [Router JTAG pinouts].

You can cut the DIYGADGET's JTAG cable, solder wire 1, 6, 3, 5, 7 and 9 of the 12 pin flat cable to your router's TDI, GND, TDO, TMS, TCK respectively. You can check the schematic above for details. (Make sure use wire 6 of the 12 pin flat cable for ground. Wire 6 is the only GND line in the 12 pin flat cable, it connects to the DB25's 18-25).


Buy various JTAG cables for your Satellite Receiver, Cable Modem, Wireless Router, Standard Wiggler from http://www.easymg.com and http://www.diygadget.com



10 PCS, 10cm x 10cm, 2 layers prototype for $38.80 shipped!