This is a verified working firmware (1.50.10) for the Linksys BEFW11S4v4 Wireless-B router.
Since Linksys has dropped support for many of their legacy products, the firmware for this series is extremely difficult to come by. Even though this router is very old, it’s still useful as a switch, for testing purposes, or for low-end Internet use. It’s really quite unacceptable that tech companies drop web support for their legacy products. Surely there’s enough room on their servers for hosting a PDF user manual and a couple of ultra tiny firmware files, at the very least. This is a disturbingly common trend amongst businesses that should pride themselves in being technologically savvy.
This firmware might come in handy if you find that your BEFW11S4 is no longer working properly, and a hard reset doesn’t rectify the issue. You may also need this firmware if you have a bricked router.
If the power light is rapidly blinking and you cannot connect to it via 192.168.1.1, then it is almost definitely bricked. Here’s how you fix it:
Download Linksys BEFEW11S4v4 1.50.10 Firmware (befw11s4v4-fw-15010.zip)
Extract this ZIP archive to a new folder.
Change the TCP/IP(v4) settings on your computer to a static IP using these settings —
IP: 192.168.1.10
SUBNET: 255.255.255.0
GATEWAY: 192.168.1.1
Connect your PC directly to the bricked router with an ethernet cable (it does not need to be a special yellow crossover cable).
Run the tftp.exe program which can be located in the folder to which you extracted the firmware package.
You will need to specify the address of the router (192.168.1.1), the password (admin), and the file (code.bin) which will be found in the same folder as the tftp program. Press the “Upgrade” button when you have filled out the required fields properly.
Wait for the progress bar to finish, and if your router wasn’t too damaged to recover, then you should see a success message.
To configure the router, go to 192.168.1.1 and leave the username blank, and use “admin” as the password.
Hurray! You’ve just brought back your decade old router back to life!
Remember to return your TCP/IP settings back to automatic, or whatever static IP you were previously using.
