sorry, I assumed OpenWrt was as user friendly as DD-WRT and had a GUI.  I know you guys must get tired of "noobs" breaking their routers and then pester the forum members to "fix it" but that's no excuse for being rude and acting like an elitist.

Thanks (as usual) maddes for the link to a simpler process. The way I did it may still be useful for those like me who either didn't have a WAN connection anymore (it's funny how the wife and kids start yelling when I take down our home network :-) :-) ), or if it is in a bricked enough state that the WAN connection no longer is functional.

As a small update, I modded my WNR854T by removing the internal antennas and adding three rp-sma external antenna ports. Definitely improves the radio signal coverage. However, Netgear's firmware controlling the radio card just doesn't keep it consistent - the signal strength constantly changes, and it will do a drop all connections once every 24 to 48 hours. I think I need to try the latest openwrt beta firmware again.

maddes or nilfred - can you suggest the most stable version that includes wireless working that I should start with? That I sure will save me a couple of trial and change iterations.

Thanks again.

From r21167 on BUT need a firmware:
Next weekend I will post a Ubuntu based step by step guide of original AP extraction, maybe a better driver patch, will see.
Erik lead with AP working, I follow him with STA working, not aware of others followers.