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Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) hardware1 Profile Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router It already runs Linux! Getting a bash shell is easy! Here's the specs I have found so far: CPU: BCM4710 rev 0 at 125 MHz (MIPS Processor) RAM: 16MB FLASH: 4MB (AM29LV320DB) eth2: Broadcom BCM43XX 802.11 Wireless Controller (chip reads BCM4306KFB) WAN: One 10/100 RJ-45 port for WAN connectivity LAN: Four 10/100 RJ-45 Auto-MDI(X) switched ports WLAN: 54mbps 802.11g on a MiniPCI card (1.0)/built-in (1.1) with dual external RP-TNC antenna ports dual Hirose antenna connectors? (that may be correct name) The wireless board looks the same as the one in the Linksys WRT54G, if so then it's output is 15 dBm (says it can be increased to 84mw=19.24db) The shell hack is very easy, if the link to the binary firmware below still works, then you simply use the web interface on the box to do a "firmware upgrade" to the binary you downloaded from the link below. I am pretty sure if you mess up really bad you can then tftp the original binary back in from belkin, BUT DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK! I haven't tried the tftp thing yet but the shell firmware works great. After that you simply telnet into the box 192.168.2.1 and the bash shell comes up! (it's busybox) Then you can start the web server so you can then do the normal web menu stuff and still be telneted in! What fun! You can run the normal web server by typing the two lines cd /www /usr/sbin/httpd.ori wget is also available! iptables! The firmware for this hack is a old version 3.00.07 but you can always use the web interface to upgrade back to the stock version. I haven't done that yet but when I first got it I upgraded to the latest version from Belkin's site before doing any of this. One bad thing, the damn thing checks into Belkin via ping every 2 1/2 minutes, that needs to be shut off, no option or mention about it anywhere, bad, bad belkin! Links: I posted pics of the PCB and where the hidden screws are for the case, if you pull up on the top cover back part and press the top cover sides in a little bit (attempt to slide the top cover sideways) the little clips (see pics) will release. http://www.linux-hacker.net/misc/F5D7230/ Shell firmware link (use at own risk for as long as this link lasts, I didn't do this, it's not my link) this is a complete binary at about 2.6MB, just load it in then telnet to the box! (see above details) http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~ramanamt/3007.trx Seattle Wireless info page, this is where I found the shell firmware link http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/Belkin_20F5D7230_2d4 This board setup is just about the same as a Linkys WRT54G board http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/LinksysWrt54g Misc info: 15db=31mW 17db=50mW 20db=100mW Have fun! 02-14-2004 13:39:40

RE:Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) Linuxguru Profile | Email This seems to be the same Broadcom BR47xx platform as the Linksys WRT54G and the Asus W500G, right? What are the pros and cons of using this unit instead of the WRT54G/W500G, and what does it cost? One limitation that I can see is that 4 MB is an awfully small space for a kernel + userland, for a MIPS target. The kernel itself is going to be 1.5 to 2 MB, compressed. 02-14-2004 14:33:47

RE:Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) hardware1 Profile DC to DC converter chip is a AIC1563 http://www.analog.com.tw/pdf_htm/aic1563.htm app note (pdf) http://fsbwireless.fsb.hr/files/an004.pdf The input caps are 35V and this chip will run up to 30V so I am thinking it may run off a car battery directly, NOT TESTED YET! I have to do some more work on that. I want to have the ability to run this from a solar panel. Linuxguru, it was on sale for $39 after rebate, that was the advantage, it has the same flash as a WRT54G, 4MB and you still have a little under 2MB left to play around with, compressed. You could possibly leave out the web server and a few other things to save some space if you needed it. 02-15-2004 01:04:53

RE:Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) hardware1 Profile WARNING!! The following information may change because of different revisions of the circuit!! USE THIS INFORMATION AT YOUR OWN RISK! Reversal of +/- may blow your unit!!! I used a variable power supply that had variable current limiting so I could keep it low! Using a 1A fuse may save your butt! (or not) Good news! This thing runs at up to 28V! I have it running at 28V right now for the last 30 minutes while I type this, I'm letting it go for a hour then run it the rest of the day at 15V (car max "driving" simulation). It only draws about 4W ! After probing around all over looking for 5V inside, and after reading the AIC1563 specs & circuits I took the educated guess that everything ran off of the generated 3V. The other two devices on board that look like regulators are putting out about 1.85V, maybe a core voltage. Then I started cranking it up a little while monitoring the amperage (if it goes up then maybe you have a problem) the amps went down as they should, so I slowly cranked it all the way up to 28V, checked for any heat at the regulation circuits, and got no more than normal! The CPU is about the hotest thing on the board anyway. The input CAPs are 35V rated and there is a nice large CAP on the 3V so even in a car environment it should work, I will test that later with engine running. The chip is rated at 30V but I decided not to go that far. Here's my readings: 5V @ .80A = 4W 12 @ .32A = 3.84W 28 @ .15A = 4.2W So, knowing all this let's roughly calculate solar panel needs. Let's say it's 5W and a solar panel gets good light about 8 hours a day. For 24 hours we need 5 * 24 = 120W a day must be generated within that 8 hour period, so we need 120 / 8 = 15W generated every hour for 8 hours, you have to over rate that due to other losses so I would estimate a 20 to 25W panel would work fine. Those probably cost around $100 retail. Plus a 15 or 20AH battery of course, $50? Don't know if you would need a charge controller because the draw is constant. If you have a 35W panel then maybe it would need to be regulated. Just to give you a idea of battery size, a car/boat deep cycel is about 115AH and a large UPS type Gel Cell that you can barely pick up with one hand around the top is about 18AH. A 25W solar panel would probably be about 1ft X 2ft. So put this thing in the back window of your car, leave it on and everywhere you park there's a little 192.168.2.X wireless network! (about 8 AH a day draw, estimate 7 days to run down?) Add one of those 5 to 10W solar panels that sit up on the dash and extend that to months to run down. 02-15-2004 15:00:41

RE:Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) hardware1 Profile It's been running fine at 15V for a few hours now so I connected it directly to the car in the driveway via lighter plug with engine running (alt noise and spark plug noise test) and got 100% connection inside house. Very good regulation survived starting/stopping the engine several times so low voltage is not a problem. Some computer stuff will glitch due to engine noise. I also confirmed that at powerup you can fix a trashed flash upload by using tftp, make sure you enter binary mode first, after complete boot you can't tftp anymore so be fast about it and if DHCP doesn't work you have to set your computer to use a STATIC IP something like 192.168.2.45 : # tftp 192.168.2.1 > binary > put firmware_filename.bin It will then blink the power light rapidly while it writes flash, don't power it off! Then it resets and starts up like normal and you have saved your box! (I assume the windows CD that comes with it does the same thing) The boot loader is in a protected area of flash so tftp should always be available at power up to get you out of trouble. 02-15-2004 18:33:04

RE:Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) hardware1 Profile Don't forget the option of Power Over Ethernet. http://www.bawug.org/howto/hacks//PoE/ http://www.hyperlinktech.com/web/what_is_poe.php You can put this into a metal case, put it up on the roof (with proper lightning protection to ground!) and run the power up to it through the extra wires in the Ethernet cable. 02-15-2004 20:06:48

RE:Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Little bit of interesting reading. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/07/1740205&mode=thread&tid=126& 02-16-2004 10:05:05

RE:Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) hardware1 Profile This is a good reasource for info http://www.sveasoft.com/forum6.html I found a standard Jtag pinout on http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/LinksysWrv54g It almost matches the J1 connector (the one with pins installed), it looks like the 8 "standard" Jtag connections are connected to somewhere like the flash and processor area, but only two pins, 18 and 20 are connected to ground on this one. I think that this may have some custom connections like serial (if you install a uart??) but it must be a Jtag connector. Below is for reference only, NOT TESTED! (belkin not 3V) +3.3V -- 1o o2 -- nc (belkin connected to ?) nTRST -- 3o o4 -- GND (belkin connected to ?) TDI -- 5o o6 -- GND (belkin connected to ?) TMS -- 7o o8 -- GND (belkin n/c ?) TCK -- 9o o10 - GND (belkin n/c ?) (belkin not GND) GND - 11o o12 - GND (belkin n/c ?) TDO - 13o o14 - GND (belkin +3V) nRESET - 15o o16 - GND (belkin +3V) nc - 17o o18 - GND (belkin connected to GND) nc - 19o o20 - GND (belkin connected to GND) 02-17-2004 00:41:57

RE:Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) hardware1 Profile I did a little distance testing, outside on a mountain top 344 ft up. NOTE: It's not totally scientific but it gives you a idea how far you can get with 31 mW. Set it on top of a deep cycle battery in a clear area so it had a good view of the other places I would go. The other end was a Netgear MA-401 PCMCIA card on a laptop, it's probably about 30 mW also, and I held the laptop up as high off the ground as I could and angled the laptop to get the best signal. I used GPS to get the distance measurements, so it's as the bird flies. Remember that this is all using the stock antennas, I am sure it would increase quite a bit with higher gain antennas. One observation that is very clear is that any plants in the way or anything that blocks line of sight will make the signal drop to nothing. It was a nice normal clear dry day. I also did a mountain top to mountain top test so I could see if there were any differences (and it's about the same, not a big difference). The signal strength never went above the noise figure, so I am only able to post the link quality. It's max is 95 at close range. The good news is you can get a connection at almost a mile! Test from mountain top to 344 ft below (at farthest distance): Link Quality ------ Distance in Miles 22 ------ .20 04 ------ .46 04 ------ .55 (it poped up to 06 a few times) 08 ------ .86 (last stop so I tried harder to get a good signal) Mountain top to mountain top test: (about 100 ft diff elevation max) Link Quality ----- Distance in Miles 20 ------ .26 10 ------ .37 06 ------ .39 (sorry, road ends) 03-07-2004 12:16:25

RE:Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) yakdoff Profile | Email I am trying to force-flash a F5D7231-4 whose ROM i messed up during a firmware update by killing the power :( I have tried the command line tftp -i host PUT source router-ip from my windows xp laptop, static ip and subnet hooked into the router's #1 port. I cycle the router power, lan connection disapears on laptop, reapears and I hit the command line, lan light connection on the router blinks for a while as though it were transmitting data but then the command line returns a time out and that's it; the router's power and WLAN lights continue to flash and the lan link light stops flashing and stays solid on. I am a completel newbie to this stuff. I have no idea if the way in which I'm trying this is correct or even possible. Any ideas? 09-09-2005 10:29:55

RE:Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) tommykee Profile | Email I have the hardware version 1212 of the router. It resembles the picture as posted earlier in the thread http://www.linux-hacker.net/misc/F5D7230/ My router keeps resetting after I changed one of the configuration via the WEB interface. It was running standard Belkin software. The only way to make the resetting stop was by holding down the reset button for 10+ seconds before connecting power to the unit. The web page seems to come up proper under this condition. However, when I unplug power (without changing any configurations), then power up again, the unit goes back to the forever resetting cycle. And when the router was in the sane mode using the method described above, I was able to load various version of Belkin software. However, none of the versions from very old to the latest can fix the problem. I have read about the firmware upgrade may not be working though the web configuration page indicates the upgraded version. I then tried to use the tftp method described in this thread. However, due to the ongoing resetting, I was not able to do the TFTP PUT. When I attempted TFTP PUT while it was in the sane mode, the port 69 was not opened to receive the tftp upload. I am now trying to connect to the 20-pin header on the board to see if I can get a serial console to faciliate the sw uploading. Please let me know if anyone out there had experienced a similar problem and had a solution for it, or if you know the pinout of the 20-pin connector and whether serial console access is even possible. Again, I am dealing with an older version of the hardware. Thanks. 01-18-2006 16:16:06

RE:Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) sunnyaries Profile | Email Hi Guys, Thanks for the great support. I need to stop incoming traffic and hence want to access iptables in my Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router. I tried the links but they do not exist. If you guys have it can you please forward a copy of the image. Many thanks 07-18-2006 06:35:09

RE:Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) hologram Profile Does anyone have a copy of the 3700.trx? The link is now dead. If I get a copy of this, I'll be more than happy to mirror it for others. 09-25-2006 17:59:22

RE:Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) EruditeHacker Profile I'd love to see the firmware hosted somewhere. I've just pulled mine out of the attic, and I wanna play 03-05-2007 16:53:09

RE:Belkin F5D7230 Wireless 802.11 b/g Router (modified 0 times) keith721 Profile d00dz: http://www.archive.org is your very best friend: :) http://web.archive.org/web/20050219063137/http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~ramanamt/3007.trx 06-26-2007 12:36:13

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