NOTE: B2 appears to only be different in labeling. The default firmware claims B1 and even /proc/cpuinfo claim to be B1 revisions even though the packaging and the sticker say B2.

Consult Flash Layout for a better understanding.

There are two ways of installing firmware, either by using normal D-Link firmware update web-interface or by using firmware recovery mode.

Note: Since original Firmware 2.05WW Build: 05Beta01 it is not possible to flash OpenWrt via the firmware update page. (worked on a B2 revision with Ubuntu's Firefox in 2.05NA and 2.06NA) It looks like Firmware 2.01EU behaves the same way. Please use the firmware recovery mode instead.

1. Login into the factory D-Link firmware web-interface as usual. Default procedure for the freshly purchased router is:
   1. Set the static IP 192.168.0.100/24 on the PC
   2. With any web browser go to http://192.168.0.1/, use "admin" as the username, and "" as the password (leave the field blank).
2. Proceed into the firmware update page, click "Browse" and select your OpenWrt image file (openwrt-ar71xx-generic-dir-825-b1-squashfs-factory.bin)
3. Click "Update" and let the router reflash itself.
4. Device should now reboot itself and boot up the OpenWrt.
5. Give the router some time to finish firstboot tasks (initial configuration, jffs2 initialization, e.t.c.).
6. The router's power LED should blink orange during bootup, as soon as it stops flashing, you can connect to it
7. obtain new IP from the router via DHCP and follow firstlogin

Note: The firmware recovery mode has following quirks:

• If you have a Windows machine available you can use Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 ( a Windows running on a VM, like VMware, does not work)
• If you are running Linux you can:
  • Set your interface to 100Mbps using sudo ethtool -s eth0 speed 100 autoneg off, install IE7 in Wine and use it to flash.
  • Later models (or some hardware combinations) may need sudo ethtool -s eth0 speed 100 duplex half autoneg off (e.g. B2, FW ver 2.05EU).
  • Use the following script.
• If you are running MacOS you can use Google Chrome Opera
• FW version 2.05EU seems very difficult to flash, there may be timing issues (that's just a guess). After downgrading to 2.04EU (get it from ftp.dlink.de) it worked the first time, using IE7 on a virtualbox Win XP "guest". YMMV.

1. Get into the D-Link recovery console with the steps below:
   1. While powering up the router, press and hold the reset button until the power LED starts blinking orange (usually takes around 45 (forty-five) seconds )
   2. Set a static IP on your PC to 192.168.0.100/24
   3. connect to http://192.168.0.1, mind the quirks!
2. Click "Browse" and select your OpenWrt image file (openwrt-ar71xx-dir-825-b1-squashfs-factory.bin, this binary image is available in the Backfire 10.03.1rc1 download directory and above)
3. Click "Update" and let router flash the image (don't worry if it reboots before it reaches 100%). The page should display "Device is Upgrading the Firmware" in blue letters with the current percentage in red (with an incompatible Browser it doesn't).
4. The router's power LED should blink orange during bootup, as soon as it stops flashing, you can connect to it
5. obtain new IP from the router via DHCP and follow firstlogin

→generic.sysupgrade

→generic.debrick

→generic.failsafe

Since this part is identical for all devices, see Basic configuration.

→wireless.overview This router requires the packages kmod-ath9k and wpad-mini.

Note: This may void your warranty!

To remove the cover simply:

1. Remove the two (2) back rubber feet. (closest to the ethernet ports and antennas)
2. Unscrew the two (2) screws underneath the feet.
3. Pry case halves apart from back side to front side, carefully.

To remove the board from the casing:

1. Unscrew the two (2) front (inner) screws and remove the LED shield.
2. Lift board from front and slide out in a forward motion.

Remember to use 12V↔3.3V serial port voltage converter or you might break the router by over-voltage.

COM port settings: Speed:115200, Data bits:8, Stop bits:1, Parity:none, Flow control:none

How to connect to JTAG interface, and how to reflash the device with JTAG tools

See port.jtag for more JTAG details.

See the LED section in /etc/config/system on general LED configuration.

The DIR-825 has 11 blue and 2 orange LEDs: The four LAN LEDs are controlled by the switch chip. By default they show link and blink for activity. They are LED Bank 0. To configure the RealTek RTL8366S, you can use swconfig, e.g.

swconfig dev rtl8366s port 0 set led 2

→hardware.button

The D-Link DIR-825 has two buttons:

The WPS (WiFi Protected Setup) button is located at the right side (or the top when standing) and can be easily pressed with a finger. Also the WPS LED is integrated into the Button. For some unknown reason this control is named powersave in various places.

The Reset button is located at the back and cannot be pressed with a finger, you need a small item to push it in.

It was reported that in order to enable second USB port it is sufficient to solder in two straight bridges in place of L66 (take a look to the corresponding photo in the "Photos" section). After that you will need to solder in second USB header or - easier way - to solder in short-tailed female USB type A connector (sample photo is also available in the "Photos" section).

Discussion and more information can be found in this thread.

vavasik did this mod and reported his experiences in this thread.

He used two Samsung K4H511638D-UCB3 chips from Samsung DDR SODIMM 512 MB. Maybe other chips from other manufacturers can be used, only they has to have 32Mx16 organization. Chips with other organization, such as 64Mx8, are not suitable.

Next to the soldering, the bootloader (U-Boot) and the calibration data partition has to be changed, because the D-Link bootloader/calibration data partition does not start with the 128 MB RAM. He used the bootloader/calibration data partition from Netgear WNDR3700. It's done through a full reflash, check the forum for the binary. It turn the D-Link DIR-825 into an Netgear WNDR3700.

The Netgear stock firmware does not recognize the 128 MB RAM, it only shows/uses 64 MB RAM, but it starts.

An detailed tutorial from vavasik can be found here.

Don't do this if your are inexperienced in soldering, you will for sure destroy the contacts→Trash!

→Internal Layout

Feel free to add here any info we haven't covered yet! Thank you!

I was able to upload the openwrt-ar71xx-generic-dir-825-b1-squashfs-factory.bin in recovery mode with Internet Explorer with compatibility view enabled (menu Tools/Compatibility View). Without it it was loading forever. Other browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Opera) were not working. Tested with Windows and Linux. Also I switched my 1Gbit cart into 100Mbit mode.

It may be necessary to run the original firmware and configure the device at least once. I flashed the router right away using the firmware recovery interface which resulted in configuration problems in OpenWrt. All wireless network devices did not have valid MACs instead they used 00:00:00:00:00:00 and refused therefore to work properly. Even trying to read the MAC from the sysfs failed. After flashing the original firmware and configuring the device once using the D-Link Webinterface everything worked as expected after flashing OpenWrt again.

Besides flashing in recovery mode from a MacBook Pro using Google Chrome and the default Gigabit plug worked just fine!

We have recently developed a script and performed some correction based on your work you can find it here

http://openwisp.caspur.it/wiki/owf/FlashingDlinkDIR825#notextile-Automatic-flashing-script-notextile

With this script it's not necessary to force your NIC to work @ 10/100 Mb/s and it's not necessary using IE7