Overclocking Atheros devices such as La Fonera Fon/Dir-300

[ngg.online]

Hi,

I've read in the DD-WRT forum that it is possible to overclock Atheros WiSOC based hardware such as La Fonera Fon 2100, 2200, D-Dlink Dir-300, etc. from 180 MHz to 200 MHz without any hardware problems. I even found this guide http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=30305 , but i believe it is too DD-WRT specific. I've searched the OpenWrt documentation but I did not find anything useful on the subject.

Has anyone done this with OpenWrt / Gargoyle, and if so could you please provide a detailed guide how to do it without damaging the router beyond repair

Thank you.

[ngg.online]

Ok so after reading some more in the DD-WRT forum I found a solution myself. It is almost identical as in the one in the DD-WRT forum, however some commands are a bit different for Gargoyle and the offsets are different for D-Link Dir-300.

So here is my solution, it is successfully tested on FON2100 and DIR-300:

Log on the the device using SSH, then:

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cat /dev/mtdblock0 > /tmp/RedBoot.bin

Now copy the file with scp to your local computer and load it into a hex editor.


* For La Fonera FON2100 (and FON2200 did not test it personaly):
- change offset 0x1e3 from 0x03 to 0x01 (divisor 2 instead of 5)
- change offset 0x1ef from 0x5c to 0x28 (multiplicator 10 instead of 9 = 200 mhz)

MD5 checksums:
FON2100 183MHz: D8F123639752F2E56B46606461AD8174
FON2100 200MHz: 6AD647AE0978FFBA4357EFBCF0B4DF98

FON2200 183MHz: 80B1A6D05AE6B420129326F8B77B2FC6
FON2200 200MHz: B12C88742121D42C848C03AC36821F02

* For D-Link Dir-300:
- change offset 0x17 from 0x03 to 0x01
- change offset 0x23 from 0x5c to 0x28

MD5 checksums:
DIR-300 183MHz: B9D638E537D01D3ED651FAB2AF63FC22
DIR-300 200MHz: 713806dbb99cb0e633a385eb1a8b5440

Alternatively, you can also download and use the already modified RedBoot bootloaders attached to this post. They worked for me, but I do not guarantee that they will work for you too.

OK now we just need to flash it back.
Copy the modified RedBoot.bin back to the /tmp folder of your router and do:

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mtd -f write /tmp/RedBoot.bin RedBoot

Then just reboot or replug the power and it will boot up with 200 MHz.

After rebooting you can verify the CPU speed by using SSH and typing the following:

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cat /proc/cpuinfo

Hopefully this is useful to someone else as well.

[DoesItMatter]

I had done this a different way with my Fon 2201+

It originally had DD-WRT, and I had overclocked my cpu to 200mhz

I flashed Gargoyle on it, and the 200mhz overclock stayed active.

BE VERY CAREFUL overclocking the Fon 2100's

I used to have a Fon 2100 and overclocked it to 200mhz, and it
was totally bricked, no chance of recovery. Gave it to someone
else for parts.

I've had no issues running my Fon 2201+ @ 200mhz though, so I guess
it's really luck of the draw with your device.

[fra&co]

yes man but consider that fonera 2100 atheros chipset Is historically very hot (try to touch it from the baseline after some usage....)
and another frequency raise can give reliability a broke (or something worse)

the overclock can be done, but before doing so, I suggest to ensure an air flow through it or at least to apply a thermal pad (like those used for chipsets) behind or over the chassis