Adding OpenWrt support for Mikrotik hAP ac 3 [RBD53iG-5HacD2Hn]

robimarko · January 23, 2022, 7:11pm

You can downgrade it up to the factory version directly from RouterBooot itself, I don't think that ROS allows doing a downgrade any other way.

But for me DHCP is broken in 6.47 or v7 but bootp works fine

gasgas · January 23, 2022, 7:38pm

Hi - Correct, DHCP booting on 6.47 or 6.47.* is completely broken.

I understand that the hap ac3 can be downgraded to whatever factory-firmware image it came with, in my case 6.46.6.

I'm not sure what you mean by downgrading to this version directly from routerboot itself. What's routerboot?

robimarko · January 23, 2022, 8:03pm

RouterBoot is the bootloader that does the DHCP/Bootp booting on the device, you need to downgrade it or use bootp

gasgas · January 23, 2022, 9:51pm

I managed to downgrade routeros to v6.46.6 by uploading
routeros-arm-6.46.6.npk to the 'Files' via the web interface and then selecting System -> Packages -> Downgrade. I did not have to press the reset button on the router.

I now see a multitude of tftp attempts. They bascially don't stop and the dnsmasq server is not serving the contents of the 'vmlinux' file:

16:41:11.724217 IP 192.168.0.20.35112 > 192.168.0.10.69: TFTP, length 28, RRQ "vmlinux" octet blksize 512

192.168.0.20 -> hap ac3 in netboot mode, 192.168.0.20/32 leased by dnsmasq;
192.168.0.10 -> linux computer with dnsmasq listening on eth4 / 192.168.0.10/24

I've read that routerboot (bootloader) requests 'vmlinux' by default. I have renamed the initramfs to 'vmlinux' however it doesn't seem to get trasferred

I'm out of ideas.

robimarko · January 23, 2022, 10:01pm

You must advertise the boot file, it wont request anything by default but just get the lease and reboot

gasgas · January 23, 2022, 10:03pm

According to tcpdump, hap ac3 at 192.168.0.20 requests 'vmlinux' from 192.168.0.19:69/udp. dnsmasq is indeed serving this file, however it does not reply back to these tftp requests.

gasgas · January 23, 2022, 11:40pm

I got it to work and flash accordingly, details below.

It's known that routerboot bootloaders versioned higher than 6.46.6 do not boot correctly via dhcp/tftp. You will need to downgrade the bootloader to 6.46.6 in order to dhcp/tftpboot your hap ac3 device. One can check check the routerboot/routeros version by running /system routerboard print
Download the official npk named 'routeros-arm-6.46.6.npk' located at https://download.mikrotik.com/routeros/6.46.6/routeros-arm-6.46.6.npk and then upload it to your router using either winbox or scp. You can do this easily via the web interface.
In the webui, navigate to System -> Packages -> Downgrade. Your device will reboot and downgrade the 'upgrade-firmware' image to 6.46.6. At this stage I'm not sure what magic I did to set 'current-firmware' to 6.46.6.
Download a current snapshot of OpenWrt initramfs/kernel and place it in a folder;
Run dnsmasq and do not forget the --enable-tftp option (I did):

dnsmasq -K -d k -P0 --interface=<ethernet_interface> --dhcp-range=192.168.0.15,192.168.0.50,255.255.255.0,5h --dhcp-host=ma:ca:dd:re:ss,192.168.0.20 --dhcp-boot=/path/to/your/initramfs/kernel/image --enable-tftp

NB: You'll need to IP your ethernet interface:

ip addr add 192.168.0.10/24 dev <ethernet_interface>
ip link set <ethernet_interface> up

Press and hold the reset button found at the back of your hapac3 device while unplugging the power adapter. Keep holding the reset button for approx 15 seconds.

NB2: While the router boots/goes in netboot mode, you might need to re-ip your ethernet interface.

You should now see something along these lines in dnsmasq's output:

dnsmasq-dhcp: BOOTP(enp0s25) 192.168.0.20 48:8f:5a:a5:11:e5
dnsmasq-tftp: sent /srv/tftproot/vmlinux to 192.168.0.20

Your hap ac3 device should now have openwrt loaded in ram. You will see DHCP requests on port #1 and most likely the same IP will be assigned. Try ssh-ing: root:nopassword
scp 'openwrt-ipq40xx-mikrotik-mikrotik_hap-ac3-squashfs-nand-sysupgrade.bin' to your router:

scp openwrt-ipq40xx-mikrotik-mikrotik_hap-ac3-squashfs-nand-sysupgrade.bin root@192.168.0.20:/tmp/.

Run the following to permanently flash your hap ac3:

ubidetach -m 1
ubiformat /dev/mtd1 -y
ubiattach -m 1
sysupgrade -v /tmp/openwrt-ipq40xx-mikrotik-mikrotik_hap-ac3-squashfs-nand-sysupgrade.bin

The router will reboot. Connect an ethernet cable to port 2-5 and ssh using root:nopasswd. You can now configure openwrt by editing /etc/config/*

r1ch · February 8, 2022, 4:49pm

Unfortunately "upgrading" the firmware to 6.46.6 isn't possible on my device :(. Any idea if routerboot is still broken with v7 or RCs?

Do you really want to upgrade firmware? [y/n] 
y
ERROR: can not change firmware to this version, please try newer one

robimarko · February 8, 2022, 4:51pm

v7 works in bootp mode only

r1ch · February 8, 2022, 5:32pm

I managed to get dnsmasq serving BOOTP using the instructions above - no need to downgrade firmware as dnsmasq seems perfectly capable of serving BOOTP. Image is booted up and looks great so far!

wwortel · February 18, 2022, 2:31pm

PoE LED
Anybody here who knows how to activate the PoE LED of LAN port # 5?
Via gpio #452 can activate and deactivate the PoE voltage, but the LED (rear side, between port 5 and the USB connector) stays off. It is supposed to signal the PoE voltage presence on port #5 but apparently is driven separately.

markbirss · February 19, 2022, 3:10pm

maybe available under

this is for my RB5009, you must check on you hAP AC3

root@OpenWrt:/# find ./ -name *blue*
./sys/class/leds/blue:hdr1
./sys/class/leds/blue:hdr2
./sys/devices/platform/leds/leds/blue:hdr1
./sys/devices/platform/leds/leds/blue:hdr2

These can be configured under LED Configuration Luci

markbirss · February 19, 2022, 3:14pm

So it seems we missed OpenWrt 21.02.2 window for the hAP AC3 ?

Only hAP AC2 and SXSTSQ-5-AC image are available

[type or paste code here](https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/21.02.2/targets/ipq40xx/mikrotik/)

wwortel · February 19, 2022, 5:55pm

@markbirss Thanks. PoE switching is defined in the device tree as a LED. Controlling the power voltage works fine by switching that LED, but the physical LED itself, signaling voltage presence, apparently is separately controlled.
This PoE function on port #5 is missing in Mtik's user manual.
Would be nice to know which gpio controls this LED, so it can be added to the DT.

markbirss · February 19, 2022, 6:52pm

github.com

openwrt/openwrt/blob/master/target/linux/ipq40xx/files/arch/arm/boot/dts/qcom-ipq4019-hap-ac3.dts

// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later OR MIT
/* Copyright (c) 2021, Robert Marko <robimarko@gmail.com> */

#include "qcom-ipq4019.dtsi"
#include <dt-bindings/gpio/gpio.h>
#include <dt-bindings/input/input.h>
#include <dt-bindings/soc/qcom,tcsr.h>

/ {
	model = "MikroTik hAP ac3";
	compatible = "mikrotik,hap-ac3";

	memory {
		device_type = "memory";
		reg = <0x80000000 0x10000000>;
	};

	chosen {
		stdout-path = "serial0:115200n8";
	};

This file has been truncated. show original

		poe {
			label = "red:poe";
			gpios = <&tlmm 36 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>;
		};

wwortel · February 20, 2022, 9:39am

@markbirss
Thanks! Indeed works. Wrongly had assumed this gpio 452 being this red LED and PoE voltage combined, since there is a gpio offset. But the offset is 412, not 416. Have adapted my PoE on/off script to also set the LED through /sys/devices/platform/leds/leds/red:poe/brightness

r1ch · April 24, 2022, 9:33pm

For anyone who wants to flash Mikrotik devices under Windows, I modified Tftpd64 so it's compatible with Mikrotik BOOTP since I had trouble finding any other compatible TFTP / BOOTP software. This should work with v7 and any earlier bootloaders.

donaten · May 25, 2022, 9:20pm

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your work. This is my first openwrt experience, and it's amazing to have full featured linux terminal now

donaten · May 26, 2022, 1:43pm

Hi guys,

Even though I was able to install the snapshot build and everything seemed to work, it appeared that wifi range is very low. Within 1.2meters away SpeedTest on wifi shows ~95mbps (it's around limit of my ISP plan), within ~5 meters only ~2mbps, in 7m -- it drops connection immediately (some devices just don't see the endpoint), while initial mikrotik firmware was able to keep connection stable within 20meters (and 2 walls).

I've tried playing with channels, channels' width, country, disabling 2.4G -- nothing helps. Any ideas how to debug, localize a cause and/or configure?

robimarko · May 26, 2022, 7:05pm

Can you try removing the board-2.bin from /lib/firmware/ath10k?
Its a bug for it to be included on Mikrotik subtarget, the patch for it is pending