This router also known as Imou LC-HX3001 is a very affortable router with MediaTek MT7981BA.
Hardware specification:
SoC: MediaTek MT7981B 2x A53
Flash: Foresee F35SQA001G 128 MB SPI-NAND
RAM: 256MB DDR3
Ethernet: 4x 10/100/1000 Mbps
Switch: MediaTek MT7531AE
WiFi: MediaTek MT7976C
Button: Reset, Mesh
Power: DC 12V 1A
SSH access gain method of LC-HX3001 does not working with HX21 so i created a new restore configuration conf for HX21. Also i created a pull request for this device. Lastet Snapshot installed tested.
Gain SSH access:
Method 1:
Connect UART Adapter to the router
UART pins are enabled, set the root password with passwd command start the dropbear instance on port 22
Method 2:
Login into web interface, and restore the router with SSH enabled configuration.
After reboot Default Web interface password will be 12345678 SSH password is empty
SSH enabled conf link below. Thanks
Mega.nz
Contribute to byjahidul/Imou-HX21 development by creating an account on GitHub.
brada4
November 12, 2025, 8:46pm
2
Can you get console boot log (or dmesg from ssh) from the device? There were somfe indecisive attempts to support this device in the past.
brada4
November 12, 2025, 9:16pm
4
Looks quite ok.... Can you try to ftftpboot + bootm openwrt iniramfs kernel from a similar filogic device via u-boot?
i have complied openwrt snapshot using its previous version LC-HX3001 configs from immortalwrt repo and its working fine and stable.
brada4
November 12, 2025, 9:34pm
6
i have already created a pull request here
main ā byjahidul:add-Imou-HX21-support
opened 07:26PM - 12 Nov 25 UTC
This board is also known as Imou LC-HX3001
Hardware specification:
SoC: Me⦠diaTek MT7981B 2x A53
Flash: Foresee F35SQA001G 128 MB SPI-NAND
RAM: 256MB DDR3
Ethernet: 4x 10/100/1000 Mbps
Switch: MediaTek MT7531AE
WiFi: MediaTek MT7976C
Button: Reset, Mesh
Power: DC 12V 1A
Gain SSH access:
Method 1:
1. Connect UART Adapter to the router
2. UART pins are enabled, set the root password with passwd command start the dropbear instance on port 22
Method 2:
1. Login into web interface, and restore the router with SSH enabled configuration.
2. After reboot Default Web interface password will be 12345678 SSH password is empty
Flash instructions:
1. Connect to HX21, backup everything, especially 'Factory' part.
3. Write new FIP: mtd write openwrt-mediatek-filogic-hx_21-bl31-uboot.fip FIP
4. Set static IP on your PC: IP 192.168.1.254/24, GW 192.168.1.1
5. Serve OpenWrt initramfs image using TFTP server.
6. Wait for TFTP recovery to complete.
7. After OpenWrt has booted, perform sysupgrade.
8. To write new BL2 Install mtd-rw
opkg update && opkg install kmod-mtd-rw
insmod mtd-rw i_want_a_brick=1
mtd write openwrt-mediatek-filogic-imou_hx21-preloader.bin bl2
2 Likes
brada4
November 12, 2025, 11:41pm
8
You are too fast...
mega expires, i think youll need to make it a wiki page. (dont tell me you did it before yesterday }
lol i have never done it before, maybe i will if it got merged.
brada4
November 13, 2025, 7:17am
10
Old thread (maybe somebody willing to test follows it)
Hello OpenWrt Community,
I'm reaching out to request potential OpenWrt support for the Imou HX21 router. I recently performed a teardown and have gathered the following hardware information, which I hope will be useful for anyone considering porting OpenWrt to this device.
Key Hardware Specifications:
Main CPU: MediaTek MT7981BA (Filogic 820)
WLAN/Wi-Fi Chip: MediaTek MT7976CN
RAM: 256 MB
ROM (Flash): 128 MB (ESYSONS S32F1GM)
Based on the SoC (MT7981BA) being supported by OpenWrt for otheā¦
Nehal
November 17, 2025, 10:04am
11
i tried it and its working fine.
1 Like
I tried it, and everything is good so far, but the WAN LED shows "ON" when not connected.
1 Like
Hereās the Test build hopefully everything should be working
5 files
2 Likes
acoul
December 28, 2025, 3:09pm
14
very interesting, promising & welcoming device supporting openwrt out-of-the-box ! are there any photos of the internal circuity-board, especially the place where the serial pins reside ?
any estimate on the gains of the additional antenna compared to other similar devices offering only four antennas ?
Edit : there is a picture on the relative page of the device
I noticed that on the OEM bootlog the board used is MediaTek MT7981 RFB
Machine model: MediaTek MT7981 RFB
[ 0.718904] xhci-mtk 11200000.xhci: xHCI Host Controller
[ 0.731730] xhci-mtk 11200000.xhci: Host supports USB 3.2 Enhanced SuperSpeed
while on the OpenWrt bootlog the board used is Imou HX21
[ 0.000000] Machine model: Imou HX21
also under the basic configuration USB port is also mentioned
configure USB port
There is not much noticiable gain with that extra antenna and this board doesnāt have an usb port.