Adding OpenWrt support for ZTE MF286 3g/4g wifi router

For Developers
285

I also followed the MF286R tutorial.
The initramfs from version 23.05 did not work for me. I encountered the same error as reported here:

So I tried the initramfs from 22.03, which worked.

I don't have that 2.4GHz SISO problem.

The 5GHz RX signal bug was fixed with the board-2.bin you posted here:

as @victor186 already pointed.

Regarding the LTE modem, I installed watchcat and configured it to ping ipv6.google.com (Claro BR disables IPv4 ICMP from 23:00 to 07:00, at least in my city). If it fails for more than 5 minutes, it will restart.
So far, every time the modem was rebooted, it connected automatically. Maybe the wait time should be increased depending on the operator?

286

Interesting, it is the same phone as mine... The 2.4GHz radio on this router is insane.

287

Claro BR already disabling ICMP here on the FWA plan, it's started recently.
But at the same time, the post paid plan on phone can do ICMPv4 :clown_face:

288

This router is very strange

289

I using a script to restart uqmi interface with ifdown/ifup when the uqmi command "uqmi -d /dev/cdc-wdm0 --get-data-status" return "disconnected", but, sometimes, uqmi don't reply, and i need to send AT COMMAND to mPCI-E modem to restart.

290

Huh, it looks like we need to enable LZMA loader for that one, the initramfs has grown bigger over the size limit - unless there is a magic way to alter LZMA parameters in a way that won't require doing so. I'll take a look into that in coming days.

291

That was long ago. Can't remember how I solved it I'm afraid but I did get it loaded and running happily ever since.

292

I took a plunge and checked that - indeed enabling LZMA loader allows the initramfs to boot with 23.05, but current main has grown so big - about 6.6MB for initramfs image, that LZMA loader crashes too. I'm not sure how to proceed with that, then - I think it doesn't make sense to create a fix only for 23.05 - it's better to document using older initramfs for initial installation on the wiki.

293

Isn't this caused by the load address ?

Increasing 0x81000000 might solve it.

294

N00b question again: how do I know when the new snapshot is available?
I didn't find a date/timestamp on the snapshot-files in the download section and the version part is unintelligible.

295

Snapshots are build daily.

296

Sorry, I didn't state clearly what I was after: in Leo's message "When the PR for 23.05 lands, you'll be able to use it in 23.05-SNAPSHOT immediately". How can I tell when the fix is included?

297

Should be in, since 3 days.

Keep in mind you need a 23.05 or master snapshot for this.

298

Do you mean increasing that while TFTP'ing the binary in? If so, could be, as the loader could in theory self-overwrite. I'll try that.
Edit: nope, crashes the same way:

ath> setenv serverip 10.0.0.24; setenv ipaddr 10.0.0.254; tftpboot 82000000 openwrt-ath79-nand-zte_mf286a-initramfs-kernel.bin; bootm 82000000
Trying eth0
ath_gmac_phy_link
ath_gmac_phy_duplex
ath_gmac_phy_speed
dup 1 speed 1000
Using eth0 device
TFTP from server 10.0.0.24; our IP address is 10.0.0.254
Filename 'openwrt-ath79-nand-zte_mf286a-initramfs-kernel.bin'.
Load address: 0x82000000
Loading: #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         ######################################################
done
Bytes transferred = 6929230 (69bb4e hex)
## Booting image at 82000000 ...
   Image Name:   MIPS OpenWrt Linux-6.6.58
   Created:      2024-11-02  22:37:34 UTC
   Image Type:   MIPS Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    6929166 Bytes =  6.6 MB
   Load Address: 80060000
   Entry Point:  80060000
   Verifying Checksum at 0x82000040 ...OK
OK
No initrd
## Transferring control to Linux (at address 80060000) ...
## Giving linux memsize in bytes, 134217728

Starting kernel ...



OpenWrt kernel loader for AR7XXX/AR9XXX
Copyright (C) 2011 Gabor Juhos <juhosg@openwrt.org>
Decompressing kernel... e8dvļæ½ļæ½eļæ½

And I'll be doing the same for MF286A/R too, because - out of curiosity - I tested replacing BDF on MF286A too, and got about 60% better uplink performance with QCA6174 in my laptop as the other end.

299

Yeah.

Go even higher, 0x85

300

With the MF286C file ?

301

No, MF286A/R have their own (common) file, but different from MF286C.

Doesn't work either :frowning:

302

Bummer, seen this on other devices, then I guess the LZMA isn't related to mem space.

303

I tried the newest 23.05.5 but it still was missing the other radio (did sysupgrade over ssh).
Then got the newest snapshot "r28009-11ba2b141f" but that doesn't have/run Luci or there's a problem with it (i.e. no connection at 192.168.1.1) - I tried building with Luci but still doesn't work.
It's really hard to get internet without Luci in my case.
What could I do?

304

Go to https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/, select snapshot and your device, click the tiny arrow and request build, the new sysupgrade image will have webUI.