Guides and Info How I upgraded a TP-Link TL-WR841N to DD-WRT

For £20 I bought a TP-Link TL-WR841N, I believe this router has a serial connection in case you manage to brick it. It is now available for £19. You may think so what but now think about a DD-WRT enabled router for £19, this is a SERIOUS BARGAIN

£19 TP-Link TL-WR841N | Compare Prices

How I upgraded a TP-Link TL-WR841N to DD-WRT

I bought this router as I fooked my last one up in order to get me out of a crises, I did some research and found that the TP-Link TL-WR841N v8.4 is supported by the popular DD-WRT 3rd-party router firmware. DD-WRT adds support for features not normally available in router manufacturer's stock firmware, and can add stability to these routers and increase their range

In less than ten minutes, I was up and running DD-WRT, here is the process

Please take note, any firmware flashing has the potential risk to brick your device! I know I did it a couple of weeks ago. But, considering the low cost of the router, I figured it was worth taking the risk and it did pay off.

Make sure that your router is running firmware version 8.4 as you will brick your router if you use the attached files on any other firmware version

1.- Go to the Router Database (Router Database | www.dd-wrt.com)
2.- Look under TP-LINK WR-841N(D) V8.x
3.- Go to "other downloads", "2013", "07-24-2013-r22118", scroll to "tplink_tl-wr841ndv8"
4.- Download "factory-to-ddwrt.bin" and remember where you put it
5.- Reset you router with the 30-30-30 procedure, listed below and can be found at

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5.1.- Turn on the router
5.2.- Press & Hold the reset button and complete the following:
5.2.(a) Hold for 30 seconds with the Power adapter plugged in (after 30 seconds, second light, then all lights, then 1 light)
5.2.(b) Still holding the reset button remove the Power adapter for 30 seconds
5.2.(c) Still holding the reset button, plug the Power adapter back in to router (after 30 seconds, second light, then all lights, then 1 light)
5.3 Your router is now factory reset:
6. Disable your laptop wireless. Plug-in the included CAT5 cable between the Ethernet port on your laptop and one of the switch ports on the router. (Not the Blue WAN Port, Using the WAN port did not work for me, Use one of the 4 Yellow switch ports)
7. Plug in the router and turn it on
8. Open a command prompt and enter the following two commands:
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
9. Connect to http://192.168.0.1 with your web browser
10. Go to system tools, then click firmware upgrade. Browse & Select the file from where you saved it, factory-to-ddwrt.bin. Click upgrade. It only takes a few seconds. Let it reboot. I have attached this file here
12. Go back to your command prompt and again enter
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
13. In your browser, navigate to http://192.168.1.1 (Note the change in IP address)
14. Set a password when prompted.
15. Log in again if needed, scroll to administration & click firmware upgrade. Click browse & select from where you saved the file tl-wr841nd-webflash.bin. I have attached this file here as well
Click upgrade. Be patient Let it update & reboot
16.-! DON'T DO ANYTHING. The procedure will last a couple of minutes. You will see the following messages that will appear in your browser:

Firmware Upgrade
Processing...
Please wait until system reboots...
0% - > 100%
Restart
Software Upgraded Successfully!
Restarting...
0% - > 100%

17. - Wait a minute or so and type in the URL 192.168.1.1

That’s it, the router is running DD-WRT. Configure it to your requirements and re-enable your laptop’s wireless.

DD-WRT is a lot more versatile than stock firmware. You can configure it to be a router, an access point, or a repeater, based on what you need. So in the future if you buy a new router or want to increase the range of the router or do not want to run wires to a particular room you could use this as a client bridge which I did get working, I did try running Repeater Bridge but the option was not available in this firmware. Future proof for £19. Bargain I think

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Connect two wired networks using a WiFi link (WIRELESS connection between two routers).

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Client_Bridged

Extend the Wireless access area using a second router WIRELESSLY connected to the primary.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Repeater_Bridge#Atheros

good router by why only 100Mb LAN and WAN ports .. why not Gb - You can pick up a second hard Cisco E2000 for similair price and that supports both DDWRT and Tomato and have Gb LAN and WAN ports.

Ya I know about the gb lan and wan but I needed one immediately, went to buy something else which was not in stock and saw this for 20 squid. Got me straight back up and running and no complaints from the family regarding why is this not working etc. I guess if it not time critical then a second hand one would be good. Which is what I did, I got my new router last night. Flashed this one and used it a a client bridge

skinz said:

Ya I know about the gb lan and wan but I needed one immediately, went to buy something else which was not in stock and saw this for 20 squid. Got me straight back up and running and no complaints from the family regarding why is this not working etc. I guess if it not time critical then a second hand one would be good. Which is what I did, I got my new router last night. Flashed this one and used it a a client bridge

Click to expand...

sorry I wasn't having a go at you, was commenting on it only being 100Mb.

I also used this method to upgrade my TP-Link WR842ND to DD WRT, never flashed routers before and it was very easy.

I know it's an old thread but thought I would mention that although this router will flash with DD WRT it does not support OpenVPN, you need WR842ND instead.