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Saturday, April 14, 2012

Western Digital LiveWire Powerline adapters Firmware upgrade



I wrote this blog post when I was a bit frustrated over my Western Digital LiveWire Powerline adapters suddenly not working any more. They disconnected very frequently and PLC light went out after about one minute. This was after the SmartMeter installation in my house. I asked from the Western Digital support 2 times if there is a new LiveWire Firmware and the answer was no, both times. After a late night of google I found this page:
http://www.zibri.org/2009/03/powerline-ethernet-fun-and-secrets.html
None of the mentioned Firmware in the post actually helped me but then down in the comments I found a link to a page where you can download the firmware tool and a new firmware FW_TPL-307E_v1.0R(4.5.0.01).zip
http://www.trendnet.com/downloads/list_subcategory.asp?SUBTYPE_ID=1506
This seems to have done the trick and now I have atleast connection. I dont think it will be as good as it was before thought.

If you need to know exactly how to update the firmware I suggest this document:

http://www.solwise.co.uk/downloads/files/explanation%20of%20firmware%20versions%20for%20atheros.pdf

If you wonder why the WD was possible to upgrade with another manufacturers program and firwmare the reason is that the actual chip inside the box is the same. The INT6400 is used in most of the 200Mbit Powerline adapters. 

For me there was no other options than to risk to brick the device. I might consider a 500Mbit device, but this time I will select a manufacturer with firmwares online...

Updated!
I have wrote a new blog post for a solution of the issue I had. You find it here:
http://868mhz.blogspot.fi/2012/07/powerline-saga-final.html

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