Are you having strange issues with your Linksys WRT54G/WRT54GL/WRT54GS router after flashing it with a newer firmware? You may need to manually clear the nvram to remove previous settings/files from the old firmware.

I recently flashed my Linksys WRT54G v2 from DD-WRT v23 SP2 to DD-WRT v23 SP3 Beta (05/02). Before flashing to the newer version of the firmware, I was sure to ‘Reset to Factory Defaults’ as well as hold the rear button on the router for 30 seconds, as these were supposed to clear any previous settings and files.

A couple days after flashing the firmware, my wireless connectivity started acting ‘funny’. It would simply drop the wireless connectivity, appearing off line to the client nodes. This issue persisted even after I reverted back to the previous version of DD-WRT that I was running before the upgrade.

After some research I was able to identify my issue. It seems that using the GUI ‘Reset to Factory Default’ as well as the back button on the router is not enough to clear all the settings. What I had to do was actually telnet into the router (which DD-WRT enabled me to do) and manually erase the NVRAM using the following command:

erase nvram; reboot

After that command is executed, your router will reboot and be set back to default settings as the nvram has been completely cleared.

Below is a screen shot of this:

This solved my issue and it might solve yours as well!

Cheers!