Netgear N900 N4500 is not same as N900 WNDR4500 but you can transform Netgear R4500 from Costco to WNDR4500 in order to get Firmware Updates - A Deal from Costco - not so fast!

I was doing some shopping at Costco and found a good deal for a Wireless Router that had what I needed (Dual Band, 2 USB Interfaces for Print and Storage Share, right price, etc.). It was a Netgear N900 with a model name of N4500. I went back home and found frustrated users that could not upgrade to the latest firmware and functionality due to the fact that model was a different model than the popular  WNDR4500.

I know that manufacturers create CostCo only models, probably to avoid lowest available price claims from those like Best Buy or Frys. But I thought that the firmware could be upgraded to the latest one available to WNDR4500 model. I was wrong, many users were complaining about that on Netgear Forums.  (see: http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=77623 )

I am glad I found the posting below (Thank you Arthur and Melissa!) that helped me find out a solution, turning the Netgear N900 N4500 model into the WNDR4500 model. I did not try it yet, since I did not purchase it yet but need to do it soon since CostCo has a US$20 off until Dec. 2nd.

Clipped from "Arthur's and Melissa's Notes on Everything - Blog": http://arthurandmelissa.com/blog/blog/2012/09/28/netgear-n900-r4500-knockoff-edition/

Netgear N900 R4500 – Knockoff Edition

So you were strolling through your local Costco and picked up a Netgear N900 for a reasonable deal. You hooked it up, and things mostly worked, but a few things advertised on the box and mentioned in reviews aren’t working right. “No problem,” you say, “I’ll go update the firmware to get the latest bug fixes.” So you click the check for updates button and … nothing. Being an Internet savvy person, you already know that there absolutely is newer firmware for the N900 — you can see it right there on the Netgear website. You try updating the router manually — no good, the router says the file is invalid. Then it hits you: you bought the Costco knockoff edition with its own model number — R4500. The real N900 is the WNDR4500, which has firmware updates. The knockoff R4500? Not so much. Apparently, Costco customers must have missed the fine print somewhere that said “This product has bugs which will never be fixed. Shame on you for shopping at a discount retailer.”

Argh!

But wait! Netgear’s routers are Linux-based and are usually supported by open-source firmware, like Tomato. Well, almost. The open firmware guys haven’t worked out the kinks on the N900 or its siblings. What they have done is given you enough information to fix your R4500 by rewiring its brain to believe it is a real WNDR4500. After all, they should be the same hardware, right? There’s a discussion thread where one NetGear phone rep said they were identical, yet another said no, they aren’t at all the same product. (but they have the same marketing model number…)

Here’s what you do. This may void your warranty. This is where Costco’s return policy makes up for selling knockoff routers.

1. Download the latest WNDR4500 firmware from NetGear’s support site.
2. Grab the telnet console enabler here. I did this from a Linux box using the Python version.
3. From here on, use a wired connection to the router.
4. Use the telnet enabler to switch on remote access. Using the Python program, it works like this, substituting your router’s MAC address (and IP if you changed it):
   python telnetenable.py 192.168.1.1 84xxxxxxxxxx Gearguy Geardog
5. Log in to the router:
   telnet 192.168.1.1
6. You’re in! Now we change the router’s “board id” that sets which product it is, and therefore which firmware it will accept.
   burnboardid U12H189T00_NETGEAR
7. Restart the router (you can hit the button in the web interface or power cycle it).
8. After it is running again, upload the WNDR4500 firmware. Wait for the router to update and reboot itself.
9. Presto, the router should now identify itself as a WNDR4500.

If you want to undo this change, repeat this process using the original R4500 firmware and the old board id: U12H189T90_NETGEAR

Enjoy your new WNDR4500!

Tags: Netgear, router, wireless

This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2012 at 10:31 pm by Arthur and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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