24.10.0 stable series on Netgear XR500

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Just wanted to share details about my OpenWrt success with a Netgear XR500.

I have for 6 months, been successfully using v23.05.05 in an FTTP connected XR500 as a router & switch only. I have WiFi disabled on the XR500 as it is located in a wiring closet in a location unsuitable for WiFi transmission. So for WiFi I use two distributed Netgear XR700 as 'Access Points'.

I decided to proceed with a SYSUPGRADE to v24.10.00 stable series.

The Netgear XR500 is an "ipq806x" device and the SYSUPGRADE process has a documented exception for this, which has been successfully accommodated in the upgrade process.

As documented in the v24.10.0 release notes :
There is no configuration migration path for users of the ipq806x target for Qualcomm Atheros IPQ806X SoCs because it switched to [DSA]
(https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/dsa/start). You have to upgrade without saving the configuration.

Image version mismatch. image 1.1 device 1.0 Please wipe config during upgrade (force required) or reinstall. Config cannot be migrated from swconfig to DSA Image check failed.

So I thought I would share my experience with this scenario.

I installed OpenWrt v24.10.0 stable series as a SYSUPGRADE over v23.05.05, using the upgrade menus in LuCI with the "Flash new firmware image" menu option.

After the upgrade completed, with the XR500 powered on, I found that I had to perform a factory reset of XR500 by inserting a pin into the reset button on the rear of the XR500 until the white LED power-on started flashing RED.

  • After reboot, I performed another power OFF/ON
  • After bootup I was able to LuCI access via 192.168.1.1 to logon.
  • Initially there is no password for ROOT logon.

For my minimal PPPoE - FTTP configuration of v24.10.0 the following configuration was set via the menus.

  1. Set NETWORK - LAN tcp/ip address was set to 192.168.nnn.1 (where nnn is your local network choice)
    SAVE / APPLY and APPLY UNCHECKED

  2. LuCI access via 192.168.nnn.1 to logon.

  3. Set Network-Interfaces-WAN
    Select PROTOCOL PPPoE
    Really Switch Protocol
    PAP/CHAP userid yourUSERID@ISPname.com
    PAP/CHAP password yourSTRONGpassword
    SAVE / APPLY

  4. Set password for Root yourVERYstrongPassword
    SAVE / APPLY

My XR500 has been rebooted multiple times to test that the configuration boots up correctly. Also perform a backup.

The XR500 has been operating successfully with all devices for a couple days.