Flashing firmware on Windoze [ was: Host AP mode with STA f/w v1.4.x ]

From: John Croft (john.croft_at_jcu.edu.au)
Date: 2002-07-27 13:28:42 UTC


Jouni Malinen wrote:
> Thanks to Jim and Michael for reporting that STA f/w images for version
> 1.4.9 are available from http://www.netgate.com/support/prism_firmware/.
> I was able to test this firmware version and it indeed fixes Host AP
> mode that was broken in 1.4.2. The upgrade package had a change log for
> different versions and it looks like the probe response bug was fixed in
> 1.4.3, so I would assume that all 1.4.3 to 1.4.9 versions would work
> fine.
>
> This firmware package was even better. Now I finally have a RAM
> downloadable (i.e., like tertiary AP f/w) secondary STA firmware.
> This was exactly the thing for which I wrote download support to Host AP
> driver. In other words, it is possible to upgrade the card during
> initialization without changing flash contents, i.e., much lower
> probability of breaking something ;-).
>
> While testing this, I also noticed that I have managed to break download
> support in the latest CVS version.. ;-) Anyway, I'm using a semi-fixed
> version in testing and will commit this to CVS after cleaning it up a
> bit.
>

Excellent work with the driver, Jouni, it's great!

Some people asked about *permanently* upgrading the firmware on their cards, here is what I did to upgrade mine.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Updating firmware on the D-Link DWL-520 (Prism2.5, PCI, 0x8013):

  1. **Only tested on a Windows XP box**
  2. load latest drivers: ftp://ftp.dlink.com/Wireless/DWL520/Drivers/dwl520_driver_b2.zip
  3. use hardware -> About link to see current firmware rev
  4. download and extract the 1.4.9 firmware files to a local temp dir http://www.netgate.com/support/prism_firmware/1.4.9.zip
  5. copy correct (or all) the HEX files to C:\windows\system32\
  6. run the AutoUpdate executable in C:\windows\system32\
  7. system will go to 100% cpu usage, wireless link will drop off and then reconnect
  8. use 'About' link to see new *flashed* firmware rev
  9. remove HEX files from C:\windows\system32\
  10. done

OS Windows XP (vanilla - no service packs) Tested on a D-Link DWL-520 (0x8013)
Originally - PRI 1.0.7, STA 1.3.5 (from the B2 driver, I think) Upgraded - PRI 1.1.0, STA 1.4.9

Did two cards, worked fine with both of them. YMMV. 

-- 
JohnC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4.