4728

I could create a pull request if needed.

4729

Have you tried the latest one from yesterday? The bridge manager was added among other things. Also for now if you are in an ETSI country, try to set US as the country code as the inbuilt regdb is a shitshow. Hopefully it will be resolved in the next WIFI FW from QCA.

4730

Try deactivating wifi before the sysupgrade.

I've seen an error after starting sysupgrade that the process hostapd doesn't respond to the kill command and then sysupgrade aborts and just reboots the device.

If you have serial access, you can watch for the actual error on your device during sysugrade.

5 Likes
4731

Hi guys!
I've just bought ax3600 today, and already "dowgraded" it to openwrt-based firmware, enabled ssh, logged there, and checked some things.
Now I'd like to flash it with owrt (and build custom image with some software bundled in it (since there is no USB on it, lol)).

I have already checked out @robimarko 's owrt fork repo, but before doing anything I've few questions:

  1. which brach it is better to use (to compile owrt image from) for image for "general everyday use"?
  • IPQ807x-5.10-backports (looks newer)
    or
  • AX3600-5.10-restart (looks older, but contains some commits I didn't found in first one)
  1. wiki page has following notes:
Secure boot is not enabled but serial TX is Locked, to unlock it execute on shell
<...>
Now, autoboot stop is available and TX is available!

It is a bit unclear for me what do "autoboot stop available" means:

  • it will stop on boot until I will send 'enter' (or something) over UART-TTL, or
  • it will be possible to send something over UART during boot to stop process, but by default it will continue normal boot?

(I just like to enable "normal" UART workmode now, but not yet ready to solder wires to UART pins, as don't want to open the case and brake the warranty yet).

4732

No, you did not. If what you installed is not from Robimarko's repo, you installed a QSDK based crap which has nothing to do with Openwrt. But the worst part is, that QSDK based crap tends to change the partition table of your device, and if you try to upgrade it directly to the real Openwrt, you will end up with a brick. Happened many times here and in other topics as well.

So first, you need to go back to the stock firmware and somehow restore the original partition layout. Good luck with that.

4733

@dchard

  1. under 'downgraded to openwrt-based' I did not mean @robimarko 's based firmare, but the one that calls "version 1.0.17'. Not sure if it is what you call "qsdk", and also I made assumption that it somehow based on owrt because it uses luci (as per browser's address bar) and opkg (as per ssh access I get on it). Well, it even have /etc/openwrt_{release,version} files :wink:
    Although, anyway

  2. as far as I can see, there is still option "upgrade firmware" available under admin access through web.
    I hope Xiaomi do support upgrading in forward direction as well as in backward.

(but should I do that anyway?)

  1. well, let's assume, I upgraded back to stock. how is it possible to flash @robimarko 's firmware then? just feed it with "factory" image from "releases" page of @robimarko 's repo?

  2. And, also: do you mean that instruction on the wiki lies and tells to make a wrong things that will brick the device?

4734

Just call it older stock firmware.

4735

Yeah, that is with the latest commits from yesterday (6001a6f) along with the bridge manager:
CONFIG_PACKAGE_kmod-qca-nss-drv-bridge-mgr=y

I can also confirm that the country code is set to US for all of my radios, so that doesn't seem to be the issue either. I can see a few others in this thread had some success with patches from the "coolsnowwolf" repo, so I might poke around with that today to see if any of those fix it.

4736

that calls "version 1.0.17'.

That is a stock firmware,has nothing to do with Openwrt. And yes, that is QSDK based, but thats the stock firmware, so call it like that. There are a lot of QSDK based versions out there which are NOT the stock versions, those ca cause severe issues.

So you are on the stock firmware now, and has SSH access. In that case, you can follow the wiki.

Its not the wiki which is lying, but you were saying "and already "dowgraded" it to openwrt-based firmware", while in fact you were downgraded to the stock firmware, which has nothing to do with openwrt. Be precise about what you say as these seemingly minor details can have huge consequences.

4737

You might just take a look at the QSDK repo instead.

2 Likes
4738

well, it has /etc/openwrt* files, so it definitelly have something to do with openwrt :smiley:
But nevermind.

Before following the wiki, I'd like to know two things I asked in initial post:

  1. may I safely enable UART RX now? I mean, whether it enables possibility to stop boot process on keystroke via UART, or it make router to not boot without confirmation through UART at all?

  2. does IPQ807x-5.10-backports branch is ... eeerm... "more recommended" to build firmware from, or should I use AX3600-5.10-restart instead (as it contains commits I don't see in IPQ one)?

4739

Yes, you can enable UART safely, make sure you have an 1.8Volt capable TTL serial converter though. I think enabling UART was never a risky procedures, the imortant stuff is the 1.8Volt capable adapter.

Yes, the recommended branch is IPQ807x-5.10-backports, you can find pre-built images in the repo if you dont want to build your own.

4740

I've just successfully upgraded two AX3600s by stopping wpad (/etc/init.d/wpad stop) before the sysupgrade.
So this looks like the problem!

It's a bit annoying because one of them is only available over Wi-Fi, so I had to go get it to upgrade it on a wired connection, but it's better than attempting to sysupgrade from 3 to 10 times until it works! :smiley:

3 Likes
4741

What I do is simply SCP the sysupgrade to the TMP folder, then "sysupgrade -c /tmp/openwrt_sysupgrade.bin", and after that, reboot and do it again. This way the upgrade succeeds, and I dont need to stop anything.

2 Likes
4742

I already tried on the command line and it made no difference.
No matter the method of sysupgrade, the router reboots to the same partition and does not update either partition.
I have the wpad-mesh-wolfssl package installed (maybe it only affects people with that package?)

4743

I also have wpad-mesh-wolfssl package. The important stuff is to do "sysupgrade-c" twice. This way both partitions will be updated and then it does not matter from which the router boots. It works for me.

4744

But we are doing sysupgrade at least twice... I've had to do it up to 10 times before it will update one partition! :laughing:
It could be that because I have very busy Wi-Fi, hostapd doesn't respond to the kill command, causing sysupgrade to abort and reboot (like @kirdes says), but your Wi-Fi is not busy and your hostapd responds to the kill command and does the sysupgrade.

4745

Hi guys... Is this firmware usable and stable yet?

4746

Depends for what you expect, I'd guess...

For my main router I'm not yet relying on it for now

4747

I tried to install openwrt on my AX3600. Is it normal that the usable space is just 15Mb or so for additional packages?