Tim Dupree

I ordered the Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH wireless router on Newegg last weekend.  It has some really nice specs and my old router was getting a bit wonky.  The new Buffalo router is replacing a Lynksys WRT54G2 v1 which seemed to have some incompatibility with the Intel wireless cards in 3 out of the 4 laptops that are usually in my home.

For the past couple years I have only bought routers whose firmware can be changed to run DD-WRT (a Linux based open source firmware for routers).  The Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH is a great router for DD-WRT, but there are/were some problems surrounding a particular version that was manufactured in Japan.  These can be spotted by looking for the letters “A0 A3″ on the router near the serial number.  It seems that for a while that particular version was not playing nice with DD-WRT.

After some research it seemed that I would still be able to get DD-WRT on the Japanese version (if thats what i received) so I decided to take my chances and order it (since you don’t know what version you will get until you have it in your hands).

I ended up receiving the “A0 A3″ Japanese version of the  Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH.  But no worries.  It seems that they have fixed what ever problems were plaguing the firmware update and now its possible to put DD-WRT on the Japanese models.

To install DD-WRT on a Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH with the “A0 A3″ Japanese version number on it, just follow these easy steps:

1. Go to the DD-WRT router database and lookup “WZR-HP-G300NH”.  Then download the firmware labeled “Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH: Special File for initial flashing”.  The filename is “buffalo_to_ddwrt_webflash-MULTI.bin”.  http://dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database
2. Log into your stock WZR-HP-G300NH router at http://192.168.11.1 and go to the page where you can update the firmware online “Admin Config->Update”.  Click the button to browse for a firmware file and upload your DD-WRT image “buffalo_to_ddwrt_webflash-MULTI.bin”.  Then click the button to upgrade the firmware.  Your DD-WRT firmware will upload and then you  will see a progress bar going for a while while the new firmware is installed.
3. After the installation completes, go to 192.168.1.1 to log into your new DD-WRT firmware (It will ask you to put in a new username and password).  If everything checks out fine and your new DD-WRT firmware is running, then head over to the router and perform a Hard Reset (30/30/30 reset) on it.  This is important to do after installing or upgrading the firmware to reset the NVRAM and make sure its all clean and ready to go.  http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Hard_reset_or_30/30/30
4. After the Hard reset, log back into the router at 192.168.1.1.  It will ask you to put in a new username and password again, as a Hard Reset erases any settings you previously had.
5. You should now be up and running with DD-WRT on a Japanese A0 A3 Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH wireless router!

Extras:

The reset button for the router (needed when doing the Hard Reset) is found on the bottom of the router.

If you need the manual for the Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH, you can grab it here: Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH Manual