I did a fresh install of the jffs2 build of Backfire on a D-Link DIR-825. I could have used the squashfs version, and have done that in the past, but using the jffs2 build makes it easier to use an external USB flash drive as the root filesystem, which I plan to do later.
If you’re starting from factory firmware, the release image of Backfire has to be installed via the router’s recovery mode, which is slightly tricky. Previously I’d figured out how to modify the image to install using the router’s standard firmware upgrade page, and that is now available in OpenWRT snapshots, but not yet in an official release. However, last night I found that this method didn’t seem to work with the jffs2 image, so I reverted to trying to use the recovery mode.
Some people have had lots of problems with the DIR-825 recovery mode, but for others it works fine. Originally it seemed like there was some kind of browser dependency, but apparently that is not the case. The actual problem is that the recovery mode doesn’t work over a gigabit LAN link. (This is now noted in the OpenWRT wiki, but wasn’t back when I first was trying to install OpenWRT.) If you stick to 100 Mbps or 10 Mbps, it works fine. Some people have had luck with issuing a command on their host to force the interface to 100 Mbps. I tried that using ethtool on Linux (e.g., “sudo ethtool -s eth0 autoneg off advertise 00c speed 100″), and while that did seem to force the link to 100 Mbps, then I couldn’t talk to the DIR-825 at all. I ultimately used a different laptop that had only a 10/100 port, and it worked fine. Alternatively, I could have stuck a 10/100 switch between my laptop with gigabit and the DIR-825.
Note to people passing by. I had this problem too. I tried with all of the methods mentioned above and also with external 10/100 Ethernet adapters. My last resort was to borrow my girlfriend’s laptop running Windows XP. It worked right away. Maybe there’s more than one problem, but bite the bullet and try with a Windows box before you give up.
Cheers