Install tomato on Asus WL-520GC

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I have two identical wireless routers that are only mildly useful with the factory firmware. I used them to establish a point-to-point connection where I didn't want to run a wire. But they would be so much more useful if I could get Tomato firmware on them. It appears that it is possible but requires a special dance as described here:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Tomato_Firmware/Installation_and_Configuration

The main problem is that I have to first downgrade the firmware to a version that allows me to put a custom firware on. That required a trip to here:

http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&m=wl-520gc

There I got a 2.0.0.8 version firmware. The router currently has 2.0.1.1 and that won't let me install Tomato.

Bummer with 2.0.0.8, I get the same delightful error message: 

Firmware Upgrade Fail !
Firmware upgrade fail. It may result from incorrect image or error transmission. Please check the version of firmare and try again.

Next, I downloaded the earliest available English language firmware which happens to be 2.0.0.6.

2.0.0.6 gives me the firmware fail as well.

More googling reveals that perhaps this device only has 2MB of flash instead of the 8MB on the WL-520GU. I was working on the assumption that if the 520GU worked, the 520GC would work. But that is a big difference in RAM. Wouldn't be cool if the ASUS page for specs on this model gave you details like the size of the flash memory: http://www.asus.com/Networks/Wireless_Routers/WL520gC/#specifications

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/ASUS_WL-520GC

So I think my next try will be DD-WRT micro.

dd-wrt on WL-520GC

Successfully downgraded the firmware from 2.0.1.1 to 2.0.0.8. I had to download the 2.0.0.8 firmware and then rename it to 2.0.1.2 and then flash it.

Downloaded dd-wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin.

Flashed the downloaded file directly without renaming it, and IT WORKED. However, I had to reboot the router after flashing it before I could commit any configuration changes.

factory reset of dd-wrt

I'm not sure if I have dd-wrt on this router or not. It is a router just like the one that is currently running dd-wrt, and was once used as half of a wireless bridge to transmit television signals across our house without running a wire. Now it has been sitting unpowered in a box for over a year, and I'd like to power it back on.

I'll first try the assumption that dd-wrt is running on it.

Next I'll check the manual for the WL-520GC.

Could tomato be on there?

This makes me think that it hasn't forgotten the config that was last on it. It was last set to use dhcp on a 10.0.0.0/8 network. Could it still be holding a lease? Ahah, it was. It is using the IP address that my dhcp server last issued it. And it is still running the Asus firmware. I need to get dd-wrt on there. With the asus firmware, I tried to get it to just put out a beacon for me to use as a way to triangulate positions inside our house. I don't plan on actually having it wired into the network at all. It seems that the Asus firmware protects me from doing anything like that.

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