Tag: dlink

D-Link DIR-655 1.32NA Build 09 BETA

Update 16th January 2010: 1.33b01NA has been released.

D-link have released an unsupported beta version of the DIR-655’s firmware, this supposedly fixes only the DNS Relay bug.

You can get it here, they seem to be pretty insistent that the firmware shouldn’t be used if you’re worried about your warranty etc so I will just leave it at that link, I’ll be testing this seeing as my router is stuck as a glorified Wireless AP and Gigabit switch due to it’s bad behaviour so it can’t really get much worse.

D-Link SharePort Update

Update: D-Link has released a new firmware for the DIR-655 here, it contains a version of SharePort that is newer than SX Virtual Link.

I haven’t been following D-Link’s SharePort fiasco since the first few months of my previous blog posting about it here. This is due to the fact that as many users have experienced since the original release it appears to have gained more and more bugs in each new version and we only occasionally see them being fixed.

A forum post in the official D-Link forums about the Apple OSX users of the software pointed me to the fact that the drivers and software used to connect to the router appears to have been made by a company called Silex Technology.

I searched around and found SX-Virtual Link, the original name of the D-Link SharePort Utility, upon downloading and installing the latest version 3.2.3 I found that the application was the same as the SharePort Utility except for the branding and the version. D-Link’s latest SharePort Utility has the date 2009/01/06 and theirs is 2009/02/02, there is also a major version difference, the specific version number for the utility/drivers with SharePort is version 4.9.5 and SX-Virtual Link is up to version 5.3.0.

Upon using the utility I had no problems at all connecting to my D-Link DIR-655’s device, I used a wireless mouse to test the functionality and it worked flawlessly for some time, so I am encouraging users who currently have issues with SharePort to uninstall it and install SX-Virtual Link and see if it fixes any of the issues you are currently having with your devices.

For OSX users I have not been able to test out the OSX version and I am unaware of any changes you might need to make to get it working but I will provide a link below for those users to test if they so wish.

You can get the latest version of SX-Virtual Link just below:

These are updated versions (3.4.0) 31/12/2009

SX Virtual Link 3.4.0 Windows
SX Virtual Link 3.3.0 Mac OSX

Please comment below with your experiences.

D-Link DIR-655 1.32NA Firmware Final

Update 16th January 2010: 1.33b01NA has been released.

Update: D-Link has released a new beta firmware for the DIR-655 here, it ONLY fixes *a* SharePort issue.

This is old news but I thought it would be best to point out that the final firmware version of 1.32 is out, here is the change log:

Firmware: 1.32NA
Date: 07/20/09

1. Fix when disable DHCP server and enable DHCP server, LAN PC cannot get IP.
2. Fix using wireless client to configure Access Control rules, cause DUT reboot.
3. Fix UPnP bug.
4. Disable CAPTCHA by default
5. Fixed QRS issue, can’t set up wireless setting.
6. Fixed Router DHCP IP range issue.
7. Fixed WPS UI Show Error warning message.
8. Fix potential security leak with CAPTCHA.
9. Fix USB LED issue about Shareport.
10.Fix Shareport HP932C with Wins 7 issue
11. Fix if set more than 8 Trigger or Firewall port in Application Rules. It will show Warning message.
12. Fix bug: When QRS set wan type of rt to DHCP, the rt will not set Primary and second DNS.

Note: This firmware does not allow downgrading to pre-1.3x.

So far it appears that the DNS Relay lockup bug has not been fixed, SharePort is still acting up for users and in some cases even worse, some people report smoother file transfers however.

Download here:
D-Link DIR-655 Firmware 1.32NA

D-Link DIR-655 BETA01 Firmware 1.32NA

Update 16th January 2010: 1.33b01NA has been released.

Update 1: A new build has been released of this beta, this one has been listed with the only change being CAPTCHA is set to disabled by default, however it is 2KB larger so perhaps they have changed something else. I have updated download links below.

Update 2: The final release of this firmware has been posted, check below for the download link, click here to read about it.

Update 3: D-Link has released a new beta firmware for the DIR-655 here, it ONLY fixes *a* SharePort issue.

D-Link have just uploaded a new beta firmware release for the DIR-655, this fixes issues with SharePort and fixes that CAPTCHA security leak that could cause the router to give out the admin password. I have not tested it personally so I am unaware of any issues however others at the D-Link forums have experienced no problems so far. There are also no reports of this fixing the lockup issues users of the 1.31 firmware were experiencing but it isn’t mentioned in the release notes, we will know for sure though in a few days.

Update: Some users are reporting great success with the new firmware and SharePort, lets hope that continues, also there has been a report from a Mac user stating that after upgrading the firmware the admin page was unable to be used in Firefox or Safari on OSX so keep that in mind those that don’t have a Windows PC just in case.

Release Notes:
Firmware: 1.32 (Beta 01)

1. Fix potential security leak with CAPTCHA.
2. Fix USB LED issue aboutShareport.
3. Update chklst.txt
4. Fix SharePort issue

Again this is beta firmware so it comes with the added disclaimer of possibly damaging your router, you can download the firmware below, I have made a mirror hosted here so if they take it down it will still be available here.

Download the final build here:
D-Link DIR-655 Firmware 1.32NA

D-Link DIR-655 1.3x Firmware Lockups

Update 16th January 2010: 1.33b01NA has been released.

Update: Firmware 1.32NA Build 09 BETA fixes this for most people.

A few people have been experiencing trouble with their DIR-655 routers locking up after about 3-4 days with web browsing slowly going downhill until the lockup during that time, I experienced the same thing.

I realised that I had SPI enabled, which in the past I haven’t had enabled, I disabled it and so far I haven’t had any lockups, it appears the SPI is overloading my router after a few days which to me is surprising for such a supposedly powerful router.

If you experience the lockups try disabling SPI, the other more common solution to do is to disable DNS relay, I’m not sure why this would be causing the router to lockup but it appears to be something to do with the latest firmware, hopefully they fix this in future firmwares.

D-Link SharePort new release 1.10 and DIR-655 1.30 Firmware

Update 16th January 2010: 1.33b01NA has been released.

Update 20th August 2009: All users having issues with SharePort, check out this post for the latest information.

Update 1: The 1.30 firmware now has a beta tag and is available at: ftp://ftp.dlink.com/Gateway/dir655/Firmware/dir655_firmware_130_beta.zip. Before downloading please read below as this firmware isn’t like the others:

Update 2: Firmware 1.31 is available from the D-Link website now, you can get it here.

Update 3: Beta firmware 1.32NA is available now, it fixes a SharePort issue, read about it and download here.

Update 4: Firmware 1.32NA FINAL is available now, read about it and download here.

Update 5: D-Link has released a new beta firmware for the DIR-655 here, it ONLY fixes *a* SharePort issue.

It appears that D-Link have updated the firmware of the DIR-655 router to v1.30, however it has been pulled from their servers just after release, if it becomes available again it should be at ftp://ftp.dlink.com/Gateway/dir655/Firmware/dir655_firmware_130.zip which is the link they had before it was pulled. The most likely reason for pulling the release is due to that fact that it cannot be downgraded once it is installed, coupled with the fact that it removed wireless B support makes it a bit of a gamble.

According to a D-Link forum admin:

The 1.30 Firmware has been taken down from the support site. It may do a little too much at once.
Removing 802.11b is not a bad thing for most people.
Conditions that make a firmware unable to be downgraded are not always avoidable.
Distributing a firmware that removed 802.11b and also will not allow the end-user to downgrade said firmware, could result in customer service or RMA issues neither the customer, seller, or manufacture desire.

Granted from what I have seen, people are reading the release notes and the warnings about the firmware, but I am looking to be on the safe side as the user base with access to the code made change (not read).

It may go back up because the benefits to the majority are to great, but for now we just need too take a closer look at the release.

It is available to download on some sites and people who have installed it are finding it to be a good release, but I urge people not to try it just yet as D-Link may put a new version out soon that can be downgraded or has wireless B support.

Change Log:
Fix DHCP server issue.
Modify the turn from “Network USB” to “Shareport” in the option of “My USB Type is:”
Add Advanced DNS Service feature.
Add SecureSpot 2.0
Remove the 3G from GUI
Fix LLTD wrong icon in Vista.
Fix reboot issue when connecting to Internet
Add Graphical authentication to log-in page.
Removed 802.11b
This firmware can not downgraded to previous versions.
Guest Zone disable SharePort support (USB spec v1.05)
New SharePort support PC/Mac (Requires Utility Installed on PC or Mac to work)
Router time is not reset when factory reset.
Fix schedule end time error.

SharePort 1.10 for PC and now 1.01 for Mac OSX was released at the same time, the PC version has a lower version number than the previous 1.14 release but it is most likely a newer version.
Update: This appears to only work with the above 1.30 firmware.

You can get it here for: Windows OSX

D-Link SkinIt

I’m not sure if this is new or old news but D-Link are advertising that SkinIt skins are now available that can be used to customise D-Link products such as their newer routers.

I had a fun playing around with the skin making software, it’s easy to use and I got the hang of it straight away, I haven’t purchased a skin yet, however I might in a few weeks time.

The skins are $19.95 USD however currently the coupon ‘dlinkskins’ will get you 10% off.

You can get started here.

Windows 7 at the PDC

For now I do not have access to Windows 7 so I can only go on other peoples’ experiences and of course the live stream of the Microsoft PDC, but so far it looks amazing, take a look at some screenshots here at my favorite tech site, Neowin.

From a UI standpoint I am very excited about the possibilities that will be available.
From a web developer standpoint I’m eager to learn how it fits in with Windows Azure and the cloud computing vision.

I hope to do a review once it is available and look forward to other peoples’ reviews, expectations and experiences.

In other news I put Xubuntu on my laptop, I’m actually using it at the moment, It’s a great OS to run when you have an older PC, in this case 4 years old, my laptop maintenance guide will be up soon, I’ve been meaning to finish it but it’s one of those articles you can take forever to write if you wanted to.

I have decided to put up interesting facts, the first fact is that my review on D-Link SharePort on the DIR-655 has had the most views of any posts, you guys seem to like it so I will hopefully bring more of the same in future reviews.

D-Link DIR-655 Router and SharePoint/SharePort

Update 16th January 2010: 1.33b01NA has been released.

Update 2nd November 2009: All users having issues with SharePort, check out this post for the latest information.

Update: Make sure you read the comments below to find out anything new about this feature, many bugs has been fixed since the original release, as of August 2009 Firmware 1.32NA FINAL is the latest firmware, read about it and download it here.

I have owned a D-Link DIR-655 router for the past year and it is by far the best router that I have ever used, although I did pay $150 more than what I have paid for a router before, so I’ve gotten what I have paid for.

Starting with the version 1.21 Beta 04 of the DIR-655 firmware there is now SharePoint functionality available. SharePoint as the media and other sites partially call it or SharePort as it is called everywhere else including the software itself is a way for D-Link products to share a USB device over the LAN, i’m going to try to not confuse you any further so I will refer to it only as SharePort from now on.

SharePort is an interesting feature that I actually wanted to be able to do a few years ago, by sharing USB devices from a computer so they can be used on another PC as if the device was actually plugged into your PC. D-Link have finally brought this technology to life in a limited fashion with SharePort.

Continue reading D-Link DIR-655 Router and SharePoint/SharePort