WL-500gP Enable full 32 Mb of RAM
Although the Asus WL-500g Premium is equipped with 32 Mb of RAM, only 16 Mb are enabled by default.
Output from cat /proc/meminfo:
Mem: 14635008 12939264 1695744 0 2437120 5214208
Swap: 0 0 0
MemTotal: 14292 kB
MemFree: 1656 kB
MemShared: 0 kB
Buffers: 2380 kB
Cached: 5092 kB
SwapCached: 0 kB
Active: 3704 kB
Inactive: 5460 kB
HighTotal: 0 kB
HighFree: 0 kB
LowTotal: 14292 kB
LowFree: 1656 kB
SwapTotal: 0 kB
SwapFree: 0 kB
This thread (see post #6) in the wl500g.info forum explains how to enable the full 32 Mb RAM.
I have seen many warnings with regards to these commands - apparently they may potentially harm the router. I have yet to come across a report from someone who actually damaged their router, however, and it worked for me and some other guys.
Enter these lines one by one in the WL-500gP's hidden admin page (press 'Refresh' button after each line'):
WARNING - Do not copy paste the following code directly into your router admin interface. Why? See comments below.
nvram set sdram_ncdl=0
nvram commit
reboot
Output from cat /proc/meminfo after change:
Mem: 31232000 12918784 18313216 0 2514944 5419008
Swap: 0 0 0
MemTotal: 30500 kB
MemFree: 17884 kB
MemShared: 0 kB
Buffers: 2456 kB
Cached: 5292 kB
SwapCached: 0 kB
Active: 3512 kB
Inactive: 5884 kB
HighTotal: 0 kB
HighFree: 0 kB
LowTotal: 30500 kB
LowFree: 17884 kB
SwapTotal: 0 kB
SwapFree: 0 kB
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November 24th, 2006 at 21:48
Hello,
i have used this to increase my router’s memory (using telnet). After commiting and rebooting the router died. I have reconstructed what went wrong:
In the line nvram set sdram_init=0×0009 you use a special character instead of an “x”. copying this kills the nvram irreversible.
Woul you _please_ change this to avoid that this happens again to other users?
Michael.
November 25th, 2006 at 23:54
I’m really sorry to hear about your problems, Michael. Was the router fatally bricked, or did you manage to bring it back?
I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you should never copy-paste directly from web pages - especially if you are using Windows. You should be extra careful if there is a warning like the one about potential harm in the above post.
For instance copy-paste to a simple text editor and copy-paste from there. To be really careful, type in the commands manually.
The ‘x’ character in the post above is indeed the letter ‘x’ - and not some special character - but code fragments on this blog are rendered using a special plugin, which may make your browser display a special character.
Again, I am sorry to hear your router was damaged.
/chris
December 2nd, 2006 at 17:05
Wow… I have a linksys 2.2, would this code work too?
Feel sorry for the other guy who bricked their router, as I could have easily made the same mistake. Perhaps a one or two line warning right before the code is needed, ie. Please type in code manually, do not use copy or paste as some characters are not copied correctly.
I just tested using ACII editpad and it indeeds copies a different character than the normal x.
December 2nd, 2006 at 23:25
Hi Calvin,
As per your suggestion, I have now added a warning just before the code. I feel pretty bad about the guy damaging his router because of my blog.
I do not think you should try this code with a Linksys router. These instructions are specific to the router’s micro processor. Compare for instance your router’s hardware to that of the WL-500gP using OpenWRT’s table of hardware.
May 11th, 2007 at 23:09
It worked for me! :) Thanks!
August 1st, 2008 at 09:34
I know this post is two years old, but anyone knows if the WL-600g (with DSL interface) can be upgraded applying this code?
Thanks!
August 17th, 2008 at 22:45
Hi Diego, please excuse it has taken me this long to respond - I have been vacationing abroad.
I do not have a WL-600g myself, but I just checked around and I do not think you can make a similar upgrade to the WL-600g - it just does not have the physical RAM.
I found a link to a page with different unofficial information about the WL-600g - maybe that can be of use to you?
August 17th, 2008 at 22:55
Chris,
thanks a lot for the information.
Have fun,
Diego