NETGEAR WG302

Currently runs Attitude Adjustment 12.09 stable.

There are units going on eBay for around $40. I'd make sure they come with a power supply.

Supports upgrading the Atheros chip from the b/g variant to the a/b/g variant.

Fixed some bridging issues with the release candidates.

Available since 2005-08. Probably end of life, though 2011-01 still obtainable.

NOTE: VLAN support seems to be broken for this model (at least for 10.03.1-rc4, and probably others as well using the NPE-B microcode). Using the built-in microcode might cause high packet loss and other strange symptoms on VLAN interfaces. If you are planning to use VLANs on this device, make sure to build a “functionality 0” microcode and replace the original image at /lib/firmware/NPE-B with the one you built. Instructions on how to build a custom microcode can be found here: building_npe_microcode

Nice summary of changes through each firmware version. http://www.seattlewireless.net/NetgearWG302

→ Install OpenWrt (generic explanation)

Please add the installation procedure here.

Barrier Breaker (14.07) Appears to hang in kernel load. Use Attitude Adjustment (12.09) or Chaos Calmer (15.05) is also confirmed to work on this device fine .

10.03.1-rc2 was the only version I could get working correctly from that family. Prior to 10.03.1-rc2 I experienced flaky ethernet behavior. 8.09 Kamikaze is also okay, but not 8.09.1 due to a bug with ethernet (not sure about 8.09.2).

To reiterate, Attitude Adjustment (12.09) and Chaos Calmer (15.05) is also confirmed to work on this device, installation instructions are the same as for 10.03.01.

• Kernel image: http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05/ixp4xx/generic/openwrt-15.05-ixp4xx-generic-wg302v1-zImage
• Rootfs: http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05/ixp4xx/generic/openwrt-15.05-ixp4xx-generic-squashfs.img

• Kernel image: http://downloads.openwrt.org/attitude_adjustment/12.09/ixp4xx/generic/openwrt-wg302v1-zImage
• Rootfs: http://downloads.openwrt.org/attitude_adjustment/12.09/ixp4xx/generic/openwrt-ixp4xx-generic-squashfs.img

• Kernel image: http://downloads.openwrt.org/backfire/10.03.1/ixp4xx_generic/openwrt-wg302v1-zImage
• Rootfs: http://downloads.openwrt.org/backfire/10.03.1/ixp4xx_generic/openwrt-ixp4xx-generic-squashfs.img

Mainly, here's what you need to do:

• Prepare TFTP Server with zImage and root filesystem and setting your ethernet port settings on your computer to a static ip of 192.168.0.10 (or other)
• Connect PC to wg302 with serial cable and ethernet cable
• Start terminal emulator (Hyperterm, cu, PuTTy etc..) with 9600 8n1
• Wait for message
• If you experience problems communicating between the WG302 and your computer via TCP/IP, manually configure your connection for 10BaseT Half Duplex.

  Executing boot script in 4.000 seconds - enter ^C to abort

• Interrupt boot with Control-C
• Clear flash with

  RedBoot> fis init -f

• configure local IP and IP of tftp host, e.g:

  RedBoot> ip_address -l 192.168.0.1 -h 192.168.0.10

• load kernel from tftp server

  RedBoot> load -r -b %{FREEMEMLO} openwrt-wg302v1-zImage

• write kernel to flash

  RedBoot> fis create kernel

• load root filesystem from tftp server

  RedBoot> load -r -b %{FREEMEMLO} openwrt-ixp4xx-generic-squashfs.img

• write root filesystem to flash

  RedBoot> fis create -r  0x0001fc00 -l 0x620000 rootfs

• 0x620000 is chosen to fill up the whole remaining space on flash - this can be determined with “fis free” before writing rootfs to flash.
• change boot script with fconfig (list fconfig setting with “fconfig -l”)
  Note: omit the leading two periods and the space when entering in the script.
  

   Boot script:
    .. fis load -b 0x01600000 kernel
    .. exec 0x01600000

• Reboot

  RedBoot> reset

• The router will now boot. After some initial boot messages, you will get lots of line noise. This is because when OpenWrt boots it sets the console speed to 115kbps. Adjust the baud rate of your terminal program and you'll get a console prompt.
• The ethernet interface do not go up by default. Enable it manually.

  # ifup lan

• Add this command to the boot section of the /etc/init.d/network
• Now you can access your router over SSH or HTTP.

A very easy and lightweigth utility is the Midnight Commander (mc) that was originally a clone of the Norton Commander (nc) for DOS, it is installed by the following:

  # opkg install mc

MC makes it really easy to examine the newly installed accesspoint especially from a Putty session that even supports mouse for the menus.

If LuCI does not load, try running /www/cgi-bin/luci from the console. If it returns with just “Segmentation fault.”, run “opkg update; opkg install iw” and reboot. See https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/9749# for more info

To be filled in

Since this part is identical for all devices, see Basic configuration.

Note: If using the UI to install packages, make sure you update the package list before trying to search/install for anything.

The default network configuration is:

If you forgot your password, broken one of the startup scripts, firewalled yourself or corrupted the JFFS2 partition, you can get back in by using OpenWrt's failsafe mode.

• Unplug the router's power cord.
• Connect the router's LAN1 port directly to your PC.
• Configure your PC with a static IP address between 192.168.1.2 and 192.168.1.254. E. g. 192.168.1.2 (gateway and DNS is not required).
• Plug the power on and wait for the DMZ LED to light up.
• While the DMZ LED is on immediately press any button (Reset and Secure Easy Setup will work) a few times .
• If done right the DMZ LED will quickly flash 3 times every second.
• You should be able to telnet to the router at 192.168.1.1 now (no username and password)

NOTE: The root file system in failsafe mode is the SquashFS partition mounted in readonly mode. To switch to the normal writable root file system run mount_root and make any changes. Run mount_root now.

1. Forgot/lost your password and you like to set a new one

passwd

1. Forgot the routers IP address

uci get network.lan.ipaddr

1. You accidentally run 'ipkg upgrade' or filled up the flash by installing to big packages (clean the JFFS2 partition and start over)

mtd -r erase rootfs_data If you are done with failsafe mode power cycle the router and boot in normal mode.

The unit has only one button. It's the Reset.

mini-PCI Atheros AR5001X+ (AR5212A-00) note: this comes in both b/g and a/b/g variants. They appear to be interchangeable, meaning you can add 802.11a (and hopefully 802.11n!) functionality.

• http://www.netgear.com/business/products/access-points-wireless-controllers/access-points/WG302.aspx
• http://kb.netgear.com/app/products/model/a_id/2562
• http://kb.netgear.com/app/products/model/a_id/2563
• http://www.netgear.com/images/wg302_ds_08sept0818-5693.pdf
• ftp://downloads.netgear.com/files/WG302_RM_12MAY06.pdf

Model Number

Front: http://www.netgear.com/images/enus_front-lores_product_wg30218-5695.jpg

http://www.netgear.com/images/enus_front-hires_product_wg30218-5694.tif

Back:

Photo of back

Note: This will void your warranty!

• To remove the cover simply do a/b/c.
• There are five screws holding the PCB to the bottom cover.

Main PCB http://img.techpowerup.org/100107/WG302.jpg Photo of PCB

This unit has a second serial port, which is a 3.3V port. as in, you will have to raise the voltage to 12V levels to hook it to a PC. it is the ten pin un-soldered header toward the front of the PCB. (not the 20 pin in front of that). its pinout is: 1 == GND 2 == +3.3V 3 == CTS? 5 == TX 8 == RX 10 == RTS? its worth noting, if you're thinking of using this to de-brick another AP, that you need to cross the CTS and RX lines, connecting them to RX on the receiving AP's end. don't ask me why.

more weirdness, with CTS and RX crossed, occasionally the unit refuses to boot until it sees activity on the primary port. randomly.

second serial port access is only available on the ixp4xx firmware, or in the latest trunk.

No information available.

When opening the case, be very careful when separating the upper from the lower half. The internal antenna pigtails are quite short and can be ripped out of the plug in the rear of the case.

I found my unit suddenly stopped negotiating a 100MBps Full-Duplex link. I concluded that there are 4 capacitors (2 groups of 2) that need to be replaced. I have ordered them and will update this page with the results. They are essentially the 4 largest electrolytic radial capacitors on the board. I am replacing with a different vendor but exact same specifications. From this picture: http://img.techpowerup.org/100107/WG302.jpg they are the two in the top left corner, the one adjacent the bottom left hand corner of the mini-PCI wifi card, and the capacitor down and to the left of the previous one, in the bottom left quadrant.

You can run “fconfig” from RedBoot and specify many “rescue mode” environment parameters. I configured my RedBoot serial speed for 115200, rather than the default 9600 so that I don't have to close/open terminal sessions when the device reboots or I change how I'm working with the device.

When I initally received the unit, I did a firmware upgrade using the latest image from Netgear. This subsequently disabled my 802.11g activity light.

I highly advise against trying to upgrade RedBoot. I suspect this will brick the device and I can not think of a reason why someone would do this.

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