Unofficial prism2 firmware upgrade (1.4.9) - two methods

From: John Croft (john.croft_at_jcu.edu.au)
Date: 2002-08-29 23:52:51 UTC


Here's my contribution to the Documentation effort :-)


I have flashed three DLink DWL-520's (NIC: id=0x8013 v1.0.0) from

   PRI: '1.0.7' to '1.1.0'.
   STA: '1.3.[45]' to '1.4.9'.
You need a Windows box and drivers which can see the card.

I can vouch for the NetGate 1.4.9 firmware.

   http://www.netgate.com/support/prism_firmware/1.4.9.zip

You'll need to check the dmesg when HostAP loads - read the NIC line - it tells you the type (the 4 hex digits above) of the prism card you have. Then read the PDF's in the 1.4.9.zip file and decide which PRI and STA files you need to load into your card.

I always upgraded both at the same time, so I don't know if you can do one without the other.


I already documented one method (posted to the list) using AutoUpdate.exe and copying the firmware hex files into the C:\windows\system32 directory. You then run AutoUpdate from there and it flashes the firmware. It will probably also do it on reboot, but I didn't test this.

I've also used a second, more elegant method, using the generic Intersil OEM WinUpdate program (mentioned on the list) available in:

   ftp://ftp.dlink.com/Wireless/DWL650/Firmware/dwl650_firmware_8c2.exe

Ignore the actual firmware in the zip-exe and extract the program 'WinUpdate-0-5-1-0.exe' and install it. Load the PRI and STA hex files and click 'Update', then check for the new version using the menu.

I think both the AutoUpdate and the WinUpdate applications are smart enough to do the type checking to say that the DLink DWL-520 card is a type 0x8013 and won't let you load an image written for another type, but I'm *not* sure on this.

YMMV. 

-- 
JohnC
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