Microsoft MN-700

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bg (G54)
Microsoft® Broadband Networking Wireless Base Station
Microsoft MN-500.jpg
Wikipedia
WikiDevi.wi-cat.ru
3rd Party Firmware
dd-wrt
OpenWrt
Tomato any flavor
Gargoyle
Status Unknown
Platform
Brand • Model • Rev
Microsoft MN-700 3.0
FCC ID
IC ID
Board ID
141400520001J
Type
wireless router
CPU1
Broadcom BCM4702
CPU1 Type
BMIPS3300
CPU1 Speed
125 MHz
Flash1 Chip
Macronix Model?
Flash1 Size
4 MiB4,194,304 B <br />32,768 Kib <br />4,096 KiB <br />32 Mib <br />0.00391 GiB <br /> (Parallel)
RAM1 Size
16 MiB16,777,216 B <br />131,072 Kib <br />16,384 KiB <br />128 Mib <br />0.0156 GiB <br />
RAM1 Chip
Micron MT48LC4M32B2
ETH chip1
Broadcom BCM4702
ETH chip2
Altima AC101L
Switch
Broadcom BCM5325A2
Ethernet Port Count
1-WAN
4-100MbE-LAN
Wired Standard
IEEE 802.3/3u

802dot11 OUI: 00:0D:3A (-, 4 W)
Ethernet OUI: 00:0D:3A (-, 4 W)

Stock FW OS
Windows CE NET 4.2
Expansion IF types
Mini PCI
Mini PCI slots
1
Power
12 VDC, 1 A
Connector type
Negative polarity
barrel, reverse gender core
Serial Port (UART)
possible, no UART, 10-pin header, unpopulated
JTAG Port
yes, 12-pin header, unpopulated
Flags:
Windows CE

Additional chips
2.4GHz Power Amplifier IC;Micro Mobio;;2406, B11F;1;

Other

Default SSID: MSHOME (1 addl. devices)
Default IP address: 192.168.2.1
the IP 192.168.2.1 is used by 297 additional devices
of which 2 are Microsoft devices
Default login user: admin
Default login password: blank
admin:blank credentials used by 366 additional devices
of which 0 are Microsoft devices

Manuf/OEM/ODM
Accton WG4005 -68(CM)
3rd Party Firmware Support
DD-WRT • (List)
, Oleg (wl500g) • (List)
, OpenWrt • (List | Dev | DLs)
, Tomato • (List | DLs)
Retail
Availability End of Life
FCC approval date 30 June 2003
(Est.) release date 06 August 2003
UPC 805529291836
(UPC DB, On eBay)
ASIN B0000BZO58 Flag of the United States.svg
Country of manuf Taiwan
Radio 1
Radio1 module
Radio1 module IF
Mini PCI
Chip1
Broadcom BCM4306
Chip2
Broadcom BCM2050
Wireless interface OUI
00:0D:3A
Antenna Connector Type
none
Wireless Standard
IEEE 802.11b/g
802.11g
up to 54 Mbps
802.11b
up to 11 Mbps
WiFi Operating Frequency
2.4 GHz
Radio cor_rev
4
 FCC ID
Microsoft MN-730C3KMN730

For a list of all currently documented Altima chipsets with specifications, see Altima.
For a list of all currently documented Broadcom chipsets with specifications, see Broadcom.

For a list of all currently documented Microsoft device with specifications, see Microsoft.

• 54 Mbps - 2.4GHz 802.11g = G54 class

Overview

For one particular production model MN-700...

  • "MN-700", "REV 3.0", "(C) 2003 MICROSOFT CORPORATION", and "P/N: 141400520001J REV: 01" is silkscreened onto the top (primary component side) of the board.
  • "MN-700" and "111362-30" is etched onto the bottom of the board.
  • While there is a clearly marked UART header, the UART and assoc. components are all omitted. It's presumed to be usable if populated. Hopefully..

Links of Interest

General

Wikis

This unit by default runs WinCE. To install DD-WRT (or any third party Linux firmware), the bootloader must be replaced.. which will require JTAG access.

Flashing

Flashing dd-wrt

Supported by dd-wrt as of = v23 build 3953

The Microsoft MN-700 is essentially a rebadged Asus WL500G WRT. Out-of-the-box it runs a WinCE based firmware with a crippled bootloader that does not support Linux based firmwares (like DD-WRT). To run DD-WRT, a new bootloader must be installed through a hardware hack (until someone comes up with a WinCE killer like the vxworks killer for the Linksys WRT54G v5). The following links provide details regarding this hack:

*Jozerworx version of LiamM's hack

For those who are wondering, the MN-500 has completely different hardware than the MN-700, so the instructions provided by the links above work for the MN-700 but not the MN-500. To date, it does not appear a similar hack for the MN-500 has been discovered yet.

Note: Support for the MN-700 was officially added after the release of DD-WRT v.23 SP2. Therefore v.23 SP2 and eariler are not supported on the MN-700. Please use build SVN 3953 (link below) or higher. Earlier builds will brick the router, you will have to clear NVRAM through JTAG (recovery mode will NOT work).

A compatible build (SVN 3953) of DD-WRT is available here.

  1. Follow one (or a combination) of the hardware hack guides listed in the Introduction section above to get the WL500G Stock Firmware, Oleg's Custom Firmware, or OpenWRT installed and running on the MN-700.
  2. Download a compatible version of DD-WRT here (SVN 3953).
  3. Put the WRT in hardware restoration mode (hold down the reset button while powering on the WRT and wait until the the power light steadily alternates between green and amber).
  4. Upload the DD-WRT firmware with the Asus Firmware Restoration Utility. (Available under "Utilities")

Flashing OpenWrt

Support started version: ?
Current supported version: ?
Comment:
No evidence of support

Please insert instructions here

Flashing Tomato

Please insert instructions here

Upgrading

Updating DD-WRT

If dd-wrt is already on the router follow these instructions. If stock firmware is on the router follow the flashing instructions.

  1. Check for recommended builds here first.
  2. Set your computer to a static IP of 192.168.1.7. (or to whatever subnet the router is on) Disable all firewalls and security. Disable wireless on your computer and only have the router connected to the flashing computer by the ethernet cable between the two.
  3. Hard reset or 30/30/30 (If the router supports it, if not, reset to defults in the GUI) prior to flashing. Wait. Check for password page on re-login and change password.
  4. Flash firmware. You can use the webgui except if you have a belkin router. (For belkin use tftp.exe to flash)
  5. Wait...at least three minutes. Lights should return to normal. See important2, below. Failing to wait is how most people brick their routers.
  6. Do a power cycle of the router. (Unplug the cord, count to 30 and plug it back in.)
  7. Wait for the lights to return to normal usually about 2 minutes.
  8. Hard reset or 30/30/30 again (If the router supports it, if not, reset to defults in the GUI). Wait. Check for the password page and re-login to change the password. Then you can reconfigure your settings manually.
  9. Once configured set your computer back to autoIP and autoDNS.

Important1: This Hard reset or 30/30/30 works fine for Asus router, but you do have to power cycle after the reset.

Important2: After you flash the firmware, and before you do the hard reset, the router will be building some nvram settings. YOU MUST WAIT FOR THIS TO FINISH PRIOR TO DOING ANYTHING WITH THE ROUTER INCLUDING A HARD RESET. Usually, you can tell when this process is completed by the WAN light coming on, but it does take several minutes. Go have a beer. There are starting to be more and more people who BRICK their routers by not waiting until the nvram is rebuilt, PRIOR to doing a hard reset. YOU NEED TO WAIT!

Reverting

Firmware Restoration Mode

The MN-700 (and Asus WL500G AFAIK) has a special pre-boot state that makes it extremely easy to upload new firmware images, even when the current firmware is corrupt (infact the WRT automatically drops into this mode when a corrupt firmware is detected during boot). Either applying a new firmware through the Asus Firmware Restoration Utility (see section below) or a hard reboot (removing the power) is required to exit this state (Note that entering this state does not negatively effect the current settings or firmware so it is not especially dangerous to accidentially enter firmware restoration mode -- although it does get in the way of performing a "reset button" based reset of the WRTs settings as noted in the section above).

To enter firmware restoration mode, simply press the reset button while powering on the WRT and wait until the power LED alternates between green and amber. The reset button can then be released and the WRT will stay in this state until the next power cycle or a new firmware has been uploaded.

In this state, the Asus Firmware Restoration Utility (see below) can/should be used to upload new firmware images.

It does not appear that any particular IP address range is needed to upload firmware in this mode. However, a valid IP address is required. Since no DHCP server is available in this mode, either the host computer needs a static IP address or one simply needs to wait for Windows (Win2k and later) to assign an automatic private IP address in the 169.254.0.0/16 range.

Asus Firmware Restoration Utility

The Asus Firmware Restoration Utility is available from the Asus support site under "Utilities." This is the preferred utility for uploading new firmware distributions since many firmwares reject a different distribution's firmware if one attempts to use the web interface.

It appears this utility operates at layer 2 of the OSI model, because it is able to detect WRTs in Firmware Recovery Mode regardless of the host computer's IP address. I recommend statically assigning an IP address in the 192.168.1.x range when working with DD-WRT because this is the range DD-WRT defaults to and WRTs can only be detected once the host has an IP address (DHCP works, but takes longer because the DHCP client must first time-out and assign an automatic private IP address before the WRT will be detected -- and this happens every time the WRT is power cycled because the network connection is lost).

Sometimes the Windows firewall interfers with the Asus Firmware Restoration Utility. When it does, the utility is not able to find the WRT, but the WRT power LED stops alternating colors and displays a solid green when one attempts to upload a new firmware file. Either disabling the firewall or making a firewall exception for the Asus Firmware Restoration Utility solves this problem.

Pictures

User Images
  • Microsoft MN-700 v3.0 board top.jpg
  • Microsoft MN-700 v3.0 radio.jpg

Notes

There are several ways the MN-700's NVRAM can be reset.

  1. Using the Administration -> Factory Defaults web interface.
  2. Selecting the option to reset to Default Settings when upgrading the firmware through the Administration -> Firmware Upgrade web interface.
  3. Pressing the reset button while booting (see Reset Button below for MN-700 reset button quirks).
  4. Last, non-hardware based, resort when the unit won't boot due to a bad setting -- see this forum post.
  5. Last resort -- use the JTAG connection that originally allowed custom firmware to be installed on the MN-700 to reset NVRAM.

Reset Button

SVN 3953 and later builds support the reset button. However, the "firmware restoration" mode requires a change to the standard Linksys "hold reset button for 30 seconds" procedure for resetting the WRT to its defaults. The following is how the reset button works on the MN-700:

When the WRT is powered on

* Holding the reset button for 15-20 seconds will cause the WRT to reboot.

  • Upon reboot, a pressed reset button causes the WRT to go into firmware restoration mode. This does NOT reset the defaults (see the section below for more information on the firmware restoration mode).
  • Since there is little to no warning of the exact instant the WRT will reboot when holding the reset button, chances are extremely good that the reset button will still be depressed and cause the WRT to go into firmware restoration mode. Hard booting the WRT will get the WRT back, but settings will NOT be reset.

When the WRT is booting

* Holding the reset button during the boot sequence will reset the unit to its defaults.

  • Care must be taken to press the reset button right after the (amber) power light turns off immidiately after powering on the WRT and not before, to avoid going into firmware restoration mode.

Based on the above, it should be fairly self-evident that the following procedure is recommended for using the reset button on the MN-700.

# Unplug the WRT

  1. Plug in the WRT
  2. The power light will blink, then glow amber
  3. As soon as the power light turns off, press and hold the reset button
  4. Hold the reset button until the power and wireless buttons glow green.
  5. The WRT should now be reset to its defaults

Hardware Notes

This section covers observations made about working with the MN-700 hardware. Certian behaviors of this device are different than other WRTs (especially the Linksys).

NVRAM Protection

DD-WRT SP2 and earlier do not work with the MN-700 because some NVRAM variables (namely filter_services1-7) were too long. NVRAM variables >1024 characters in length cause the MN-700 to reset the NVRAM every reboot. Excessively long NVRAM variables actually brick the MN-700 (the power light is solid amber when powered on and the unit never boots) and can only be unbricked by resetting NVRAM through a JTAG connector. I can't define excessively long because I discovered this when working with some SP2 alpha builds and never calculated the maximum limit (I was just happy to be able to debrick my WRT and moved on).

This issue manifests itself when changes to the WRT do not survive a reboot.

SP2 and most of the previous versions of DD-WRT exibited this symptom and can technically be made to work with the MN-700 by manually clearing the filter_services variable (only filter_services2 for SP2) and commiting nvram after the intial installation of DD-WRT. But doing so is not recommended or supported because this may cause problems later (especially relating to DD-WRT filters).

The information above is provided to explain the NVRAM protection feature of the MN-700 to aid in troubleshooting potential future problems should a >1024 NVRAM variable creep back into the DD-WRT firmware.

External Links

See also

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