TP-LINK TL-WR841ND Wireless N300 Router $19.99 + Free Shipping at Newegg

Quote from alicia454 : I received mine yesterday, and thought that it had openwrt support: http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-db120 So I reflashed it with the "openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-wr841n-v8-jffs2-factory.bin" firmware. Now I have a brick! When it rebooted, the ethernet ports and WLAN are no longer working, so I cannot access the admin webpage to put back the original firmware. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I might be able to unbrick it? (Maybe some type of recovery mode?) Thank you in advance.

Also, did you telnet in for the initial setup? The web interface may not be enabled by default. Follow the OpenWrt getting started links in the wiki if you need instructions.

Quote from drawz : Also, did you telnet in for the initial setup? The web interface may not be enabled by default. Follow the OpenWrt getting started links in the wiki if you need instructions.

Link to OpenWrt wiki on this router with failsafe mode instructions: http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wr841nd

Note links are to an older version of openwrt, but instructions are conceptually the same.

one nice thing about tp link is that on newegg they actually respond to your issues not a canned answer.

pretty much all the routers you see have quite a few bad reviews i really think heat kills a lot of these a horizontal one takes up more space but should be better for heat.

Quote from frank10b : does this qualify for 10% CB from v.me ?

isn't that one time use only? I would save it for a bigger purchase.

unless you are one of those guys that have like 10 accounts per vendor to take advantages of it's one time use coupon . . .

Quote from eibgrad : Well whaddayaknow, FP! Somehow those luddites @ SD didn't get the message either. FYI, lots of ppl don't have interference issues. 2.4GHz works beautifully for them. In fact, 5GHz would actually be a downgrade due to the decrease in range. A $20 2.4GHz wireless N router suits them just fine.

I never knew 5ghz have shorter range than 2.4ghz. you learn something new everyday.

you can't educate the masses. they have to make their own informed decistion on the blance between:
- use age pattern
- price
- features requirement.

so no one product will fit everyone.


Personally I would stay away from low cost routers.. I find them unreliable in perofrmance and actual longeivity of the hardware.


btw: I removed a wireless router (forgot if it was B or G) from a client 2 weeks ago. at the time it was deployed it cost 2x the price of most regular router (about $250 I think)
well... it was on 24/7 for a small busiess and it was deployed in 2002

only reason I took it out was it wasn't fast enough to handle the new bandwith from their ISP.

This is the router I have. I've had zero problems. My wireless devices are limted to 2 roku players and two tablets. One hardwired roku and one hardwired pc. Streaming is perfect 3-4 rooms away. I also put the ddwrt software on it. I don't think the antennas are detachable though.

Quote from blueiedgod : Nothing wrong with Pentium II 300 MHz. I am running 12 TB RAID5 NAS on Pentium II 233 MHz, (with MMX, yo!) and it is faster or at least on par with most retail (consumer level) NAS you can buy today. It was essentially free (except the cost of hard drives). Just had to add a $20 PCI-to-SATA controller, and a $10 Gigabit NIC.

Not bad

Thank you everyone for your helpful tips.

I managed to place my bricked router into recovery mode (with flashing led), but it seems that all interfaces (including ethernet and wlan) are not working. Maybe the openwrt firmware does not have the correct drivers or crashes during boot.

I have tried ping, telnet, and tftp using static IP's at 192.168.0.1 & 192.168.1.1, but I cannot even get an LED to light up, or any entry from the router in the ARP table. WireShark does not find any IMCP, TCP, or UDP packets originating from the router.

My last option is to take it to work on Monday and solder a serial console header, and connect it to a Maxim level shifter, 10kΩ resister, and USB serial adapter. Hopefully if it boot, I can use the console to manual input commands to unbrick it.

I seem to be having bad luck with my wireless routers. My Rosewill RNX-N150RT worked with dd-wrt for a couple of months, and then the ethernet ports died last month, with some type of hardware error. (All of the LAN LED's are always lit, but neither the LAN or WAN ports work.) I can still access the router and administration via wireless WLAN, but without working LAN or WAN, it is useless.

does anyone have any suggestion for gig port router with usb port? not looking to spend too much.

Quote from alicia454 : Thank you everyone for your helpful tips. I managed to place my bricked router into recovery mode (with flashing led), but it seems that all interfaces (including ethernet and wlan) are not working. Maybe the openwrt firmware does not have the correct drivers or crashes during boot. I have tried ping, telnet, and tftp using static IP's at 192.168.0.1 & 192.168.1.1, but I cannot even get an LED to light up, or any entry from the router in the ARP table. WireShark does not find any IMCP, TCP, or UDP packets originating from the router. My last option is to take it to work on Monday and solder a serial console header, and connect it to a Maxim level shifter, 10kΩ resister, and USB serial adapter. Hopefully if it boot, I can use the console to manual input commands to unbrick it. I seem to be having bad luck with my wireless routers. My Rosewill RNX-N150RT worked with dd-wrt for a couple of months, and then the ethernet ports died last month, with some type of hardware error. (All of the LAN LED's are always lit, but neither the LAN or WAN ports work.) I can still access the router and administration via wireless WLAN, but without working LAN or WAN, it is useless.

What release are you using? You should use squashfs instead of jffs2.

I received v8.1 and installed OpenWRT RC1 openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-wr841n-v8-squashfs-factory.bin and been running great. This is my 2nd purchase. I am using it as client and repeater no problem. Unfortunately there is no bridge option for OpenWRT.

Been using for several months and works great with stock firmware.

Unless you are ready to install 3rd party firmware you should stay far away from TP-LINK.
When you see their own people in the Newegg feedback recommending people install dd-wrt or openWRT to make their products actually functional is when you know they have problems.
They are clowns who fail spectacularly at firmware programming.

Bought one of their dual band routers, wdr3600, and I love getting 0.05 mbps 2 rooms away from the device, yeah it's that bad, not to mention wifi disconnects constantly.

Switched back to glorious WRT54GL which is a 10 year old device and oh look at that 15-18mbps from the same exact spot.

Quote from Ludacrisp : Unless you are ready to install 3rd party firmware you should stay far away from TP-LINK. When you see their own people in the Newegg feedback recommending people install dd-wrt or openWRT to make their products actually functional is when you know they have problems. They are clowns who fail spectacularly at firmware programming. Bought one of their dual band routers, wdr3600, and I love getting 0.05 mbps 2 rooms away from the device, yeah it's that bad, not to mention wifi disconnects constantly. Switched back to glorious WRT54GL which is a 10 year old device and oh look at that 15-18mbps from the same exact spot.

I bought the wdr3600 deal they had a couple of weeks ago and returned it to Newegg after dealing with the exact same issues.

I love this router! I've been buying sub $50 for about a decade, and this one is very solid. First one in years I don't have to reset when on the Xbox or downloading public domain torrents, without having to unplug (reset) it 4/5+ times a week. Very annoying when that act requires getting a step latter! I don't know about this version 7 or version 8 people are talking about, but for $20 you can't do better, IMHO.