Hi folks,

I've got a bricked and out of warranty WPNT834 that I was ready to discard when I came across this site and the accompanying wiki.  In the wiki page for the WPNT834 (http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Har … ar/WPNT834) there's some output from the boot loader and references to serial port speeds.  I'd really like to see what is happening with mine during the boot process but haven't figured out how to do that.

The board inside seems to have the capacity for a USB port as eluded to in the wiki and I'm considering soldering on a connector to see if I can hook it up to my PC as a serial port and see the bootloader output.  Am I being overly optimistic or is it that simple?

Anyway, I guess I'm hoping that some helpful soul has some sage advise or meaningful guidance that might make this experiment a bit more likely to succeed.

Thanks.

... Allen

The boot loader & kernel of your bricked device won't be able to handle the USB device on it, even if you manage to correctly solder any missing components. I couldn't find any hint of an USB device on your router in the wiki.
What you need is a serial console cable (if you device has a REAL serial connector, read your above link). There are cables with built in level converters for an RS-232C end on the PC, or cables with a built in serial to USB chip (usually a PL-2303) that connects to a USB port on the PC.

MMCM - thanks for your input.

The reference to a USB connection that I inferred from the wiki was from the notation of the solder points labelled "VCC,  RX , TX and GND".  These labels are in the wiki alone and not on the board itself.  A good picture of the board showing the four solder points labelled JP1 on the board is here: http://trash.uid0.hu/openwrt/wpnt834/9.html

The device does not have a serial port readily available that I can connect to so I think I need to add one.  A reference in another post on this forum (http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=20236#p20236 ) mentions that the RTL8651B microcontroller has two onboard UARTS as well as a USB 1.1 host adapter.  That post is discussing another Netgear device but it's the same microcontroller in each.

So my thought process (as faulty as it may be) is that I need to solder in a pin header at JP1 and basically connect it up by USB to my PC.

I'd be happy to buy a pre-existing cable if that's what it takes but I don't see how it can connect as the only physical ports on the device are power and network ports.  The only way that I can see to do this is through adding a pin header to that JP1 connection and wiring it up to a USB cable - although obviously my point of view is limited by my lack of subject matter expertise.

Yet, based on posts on this board and in the wiki, some people have been able to witness and capture the bootloader messages and that's what I'm hoping to do.  I'd like to follow in their footsteps. 

Perhaps a better question might be how did they do it?

... Allen

Ahh, or is it the JTAG connector that I need to connect to?

... Allen

If I take a look at the wiki, JP1 seems to be the SERIAL connector with 38400 bps.

So get a Nokia DLR-3P or equivalent for a serial console cable with built in level converters and connect it to JP1 on the router and a serial port on the PC.

MMCM,

Thanks.  That's got me going in the right direction.  I'll post back once I've obtained the right gear for the serial console cable and moved this little experiment further along.

Thanks again for your time and sage advice.

... Allen