Acer Predator W6 with OpenWrt

For Developers
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Thanks for double confirmation and explanation.

Indeed, I found 'is_sec_boot_enabled' command in Dynalink DL-WRX36 thread and it is based on Qualcomm, not on MediaTek.

Ok, so to sum up OpenWrt on Acer Predator W6 / W6d routers:

  1. It is possible to install vanilla OpenWrt, it needs to be done via serial connection with USB TTL adapter, there is no need to open the router, soldering is also not needed - instructions can be found in git commit (link in first post)

  2. Unfortunatelly, after every router restart it is needed to connect laptop with USB TTL adapter and interrupt autoboot to launch again vanilla OpenWrt, because image signature verification is used by stock Acer U-Boot - if autoboot is not interrupted, stock sw will be launched

  3. It is not possible to replace stock Acer U-Boot because Acer enables full-chain secure boot which means that BL2 preloader is signed and will be verified by BootROM - it is not possible to replace stock BL2 without signing it with the same RSA private key Acer is using

CONCLUSION:
Acer provided router with decent platform (2 GHz quad core CPU, 1GB RAM, 4GB eMMC), they used OpenWrt 21.02 as base for their stock firmware, however they locked U-Boot bootloader so that it is not possible to normally boot vanilla OpenWrt. The only way to boot vanilla OpenWrt is to connect serial cable, interrupt autoboot and boot OpenWrt without signature check. It needs to be done after every system restart which makes this router not suitable for daily use because for every restart it is needed to connect laptop with USB TTL adapter and interrupt autoboot.

Cheers,
Przemek

P.S. Is it possible to add link to this post in Table Of Hardware for Acer W6? By looking at ToH, this router looks like a very good choice - strong HW, support for latest release of OpenWrt, but in reality user experience is not so perfect...

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