Hello all,

First of all, sorry about the "urgent" request, but I've already started the proccess and I'm afraid I'll brick my router at all if I break it.

So, I was following the steps related in OpenWRT Wiki: http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wr2543nd.

Everything is OK until step 6:

What is this "code.bin" file? If I just type the command "tftpboot 0x81000000" it keeps waiting for some input:

ar7240> tftpboot 0x81000000 code.bin
Using eth0 device
TFTP from server 192.168.1.27; our IP address is 192.168.1.10
Filename 'code.bin'.
Load address: 0x81000000
Loading: T T T T T T T T

I'm missing something, but I can't say what. Can someone please kindly help me?

Thanks a lot!

I suppose that you follow these steps.

Recovery

You will need:

1. Serial cable with a 3.3v converter. Those nokia cables work well.

2. A terminal emulation. I used putty on windows, minicom on linux.

3. A TFTP server. I used tftp-hpa under linux.

4. A PC with a static IP address of 192.168.1.27 netmask 255.255.255.0. Please take note that I do not know if that address work on all routers. Mine is what it was looking for.

5. A network cable between the computer and the router (any) lan port. 

To transfer the file you must run a tftp server ( example http://tftpd32.jounin.net/ ) in the computer that must be set to the ip 192.168.1.27 .
The code.bin is the firmware that will be transfered to the router. It can be a stable version of openwrt ( sysupgrade version ) or a uboot striped version of the original firmware from tplink.

Hello Zhadoom! Thanks a lot for you reply!

Sorry to bother again, but: how do I strip the tp-link firmware to flash it?

Thank you!

EDIT: It's done --flashed it with OpenWRT and it's working now.

However, still trying to figure out how to install DD-WRT or the stock firmware. Hope someone can help out with this.

Thanks in advance!

(Last edited by mspector on 12 Dec 2014, 01:25)

To strip down the uboot use the procedure at the end of the wiki.

Back to Original Firmware

1. Download the original firmware from the tp-link website

2. Cut the file: dd if=orig.bin of=tplink.bin skip=257 bs=512

Where orig.bin is the uncompressed  binary firmware from tplink website. Tplink.bin is the uboot striped firmware.
The size of the striped firmware must be exactly 8126464 bytes ( 0x7c0000 ).

Not try to flash the original firmware without uboot striping using openwrt luci interface. It will brick the router again.
You can easily flash the uboot striped firmware from openwrt luci web interface.
You can easily flash dd-wrt after gone back to tplink original firmware.

(Last edited by zhadoom on 12 Dec 2014, 02:05)

Hello again, zhadoom!

It's done. Working like a charm.

Thanks A LOT for your help!

Wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year!

Cheers!

Thanks. Merry Christmas.