After flashing fresh to IQRouter (x86), it never loads: no SSH, no 192.168.1.1

[ikjadoon]

Hello!

I have an Evenroute IQRouter Pro 2006 (a rebadged Qotom Mini PC Q750G5 S08; Intel J4125 x86, with 5x Intel 2.5 GbE NICs).

Our build is now 2+ years old and due for an update. After Evenroute shut down, their EOL notice stated to update with x86-64-generic-ext4-combined.img builds.

I initially learned about OpenWrt here, but I've not made it very far.

What I did, using these instructions:

1. I removed the mSATA SSD from the router and connected it to my Mac.
2. I downloaded via the firmware selector the image for 23.05.5 generic x86/64; I picked combined-ext4. I did not add any packages.
3. I unzipped the gz archive (via Terminal's gunzip); it made a ~100MB img file.
4. I used Belena Etcher to flash the img file onto the mSATA SSD. It works, with two partitions and plenty of unallocated space (it's a 64GB SSD).
5. I re-installed the mSATA SSD to the IQRouter.

Did I miss a crucial step? After that, nothing worked. I connected my PC via a Thunderbolt Hub → RJ45 to the IQRouter (no other Ethernet devices).

1. My IP address is unfortunately 169.x.x.x.
2. Opening 192.168.1.1 via a browser shows nothing.
3. I set a static IP to 192.168.1.x and still 192.168.1.1 shows nothing.
4. Pinging 192.168.1.1 says host is down or Request timeout for icmp_seq.
5. I tried ssh and it also says port 22: Host is down

What I've tried so far:

• Tried the same using Belena Etcher on a Windows PC. No difference.
• Tried three browsers (Safari, Chrome, and Arc). No difference.
• Tried connecting my Windows PC (with native RJ45) to the router. No difference (IP is 169, static doesn't work, no ping, no ssh).
• Tried a known-good Ethernet cable. No difference.
• Tried adding the packages I wanted to use (mostly SQM). No difference.
• Tried connecting an HDMI monitor. No signal, monitor goes to standby.
• Tried pressing and holding the power button. No difference.
• Tried using a 2nd USB-C to 2.5 GbE Ethernet adapter. No difference.
• Tried letting the router sit powered on overnight after flashing. No difference.
• Tried checking the RJ45 lights (both on, little to no blinking).
• Tried all five RJ45 ports on the router. All give the same result (169, no ping, etc.).
• Tried restoring a Macrium backup of the Evenroute image. That also now causes the same 169 IP (not ideal, but a hint I've screwed up somewhere).

Please let me know if there's anything else I can share. I've added some screenshots below.

//

These are the static IP settings I tried below; it oddly said "connected", but still nothing works: all pings timeout, no ssh, nothing at 192.168.1.1 loads.

These screenshots are from my Mac system, but they are identical results on my Windows PC. For reference, this is an M1 MacBook Air 2020 on macOS 15.1.1 (24B91).

[brada4]

1st port (eth0) ks LAN, 2nd is wan Just plug cable around until you find one.

[ikjadoon]

Thank you, @brada4, for your reply. I did try all five LAN ports on the back of the router: all give the same result, unfortunately.

[slh]

While I don't know anything about the hardware/ vendor, I would expect systems of that vintage to be configured for UEFI, so you might need the corresponding OpenWrt image:

https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/23.05.5/targets/x86/64/openwrt-23.05.5-x86-64-generic-squashfs-combined-efi.img.gz

[ikjadoon]

Ah, that is a great theory. I was also surprised Evenroute recommended the non-EFI images, but I did think the same.

I will try the EFI image and report back!

[brada4]

Connect hdmi monitor or tv, usb keyboard, and check whether it boots your OpenWrt.
USB disk with fedora or ubuntu live cd can help

[frollic]

Since it got HDMI, you should see some kind of output, no matter if it boots, or not.

[ikjadoon]

Great news! Everyone was correct: @slh, @brada4, and @frollic. Thank you so much.

Here's what has worked so far:

1. Use the EFI image; the Evenroute End of Life notice may be a typo. Checking in the Setup, it appears to be UEFI-enabled (e.g, mentions CSM compatibility mode.
2. Connect the HDMI cable & keyboard before turning on the router.
3. When the GNU GRUB menu appears, select Openwrt by pressing enter on your keyboard.

Finally, I'm in! Whew I think it initially did not boot properly with the BIOS image and the router does not boot into Openwrt—I need to hit the enter key each boot.

I'm unfortunately new to Linux, but would it be possible for Openwrt to boot automatically? I've unplugged a few times and it gets "stuck" on this menu each time, waiting for me to start Openwrt:

I let it sit ~20 minutes: still stuck. If helpful, when I press 'e', this is the output.

//

From my research, this older post mentions Openwrt can boot automatically:

OpenWrt Forum Archive

What should happen is a grub screen comes up with 2 choices and then 2 seconds later it boots the OpenWrt kernel.

What I've tried so far:

I tried adjusting the boot options in the BIOS (both are this drive; one is just labelled UEFI OS - SSD and the other is just SSD)--both cause it to get stuck on this screen.

To be clear, once I hit enter, Openwrt boots perfectly!

[frollic]

Disconnect the keyboard, see if it auto boots, it should.

[ikjadoon]

Thank you, @frollic. Unfortunately, it still gets stuck on the menu. I ran some tests today.

What is always connected to the router:
1x Ethernet cable
1x power adapter

I timed each with a stopwatch, to observe any timeout period: there seems to be none, i.e., the menu is always waiting for a USB keyboard input.

Boot headless (no USB KB, no HDMI)

1. I am assigned a 169 IP address. Nothing else happens for 2+ minutes.
2. Workaround: plug in a USB keyboard and press enter. In 13 seconds, I have a 192 IP and can log into LuCI.

Boot with display only (no USB KB, yes HDMI)

1. Monitor shows a permanent GNU GRUB menu. I am assigned a 169 IP address. Nothing else happens for 2+ minutes.
2. Workaround: plug in a USB keyboard and press enter. In 13 seconds, I have a 192 IP and can log into LuCI.

Boot keyboard only (yes USB KB, no HDMI)

1. I am assigned a 169 IP address. Nothing else happens for 2+ minutes.
2. Workaround: press enter. In 13 seconds, I have a 192 IP and can log into LuCI.

Would you have any other suggestions? I can try to flash the combined-efi-ext4 img again, though I've tried that a few times and with the same result, sadly.

//

From this documentation, technically as an ext4 image, I should not have a Openwrt (failsafe) option.

Caveat: Failsafe mode is only available if you have installed firmware from a Squashfs image

My other thought: is this some hardware issue that GRUB is forcing the menu each time? Though I wonder how Evenroute's (admittedly older 22.x) build was able to boot automatically.

[ikjadoon]

After some forum reading, I believe CSM legacy boot could be the problem. I noticed CSM was enabled in the BIOS by default (or, perhaps by Evenroute), but I neglected to disable that when I switched to the EFI image.

Someone else had the exact same problem: CSM on the router + EFI OpenWrt image → the router will get stuck at GNU GRUB with an infinite timeout.

I will disable CSM tomorrow and report back!

[brada4]

Reset BIOS to defaults and upgrade and reset again.

[ikjadoon]

Thank you for the idea, @brada4. No luck.

I ran two tests today.

Keep Evenroute BIOS config, but disable CSM

1. Disable CSM (two step process, but it works).
2. Save and shut down.
3. Boot headless → still assigned a 169 IP → nothing else happens.
4. Plug in keyboard and hit enter: OpenWrt boots, 192 IP, LuCI, etc.

Reset BIOS to defaults, flash again, reset again to BIOS defaults

1. Reset BIOS to "optimized defaults".
2. Flash a fresh image onto the mSATA SSD.
3. Reset BIOS again to optimized defaults.
4. Save and shut down.
5. Boot headless → still assigned a 169 IP → nothing else happens.
6. Plug in keyboard and hit enter: OpenWrt boots, 192 IP, LuCI, etc.

I also checked for BIOS updates: nothing, though this build is relatively new at 2022.

Other troubleshooting ideas, of varying quality:

1. See how / why my ext4 image even has a failsafe mode, while the documentation claims only squash images have failsafe mode.
2. Try an older OpenWrt build. Could something have changed for this router?
3. Remove the CMOS battery & leave it overnight. Maybe something lingering.

[brada4]

Did you boot EFI or BIOS (CSM) image?

[ikjadoon]

Always the EFI image now.

[frollic]

@ikjadoon

See how / why my ext4 image even has a failsafe mode, while the documentation claims only squash images have failsafe mode.

Is irrelevant, the problem is grub, not Openwrt.
You're kind of barking up the wrong tree.

Try disabling the grub count down timer, set it to zero, or perhaps delete it completely from grub.cfg.

Try booting a Linux dist, like Fedora, off a flash drive. It uses grub too, do you see the same issue there ?

[lleachii]

I recall some threads about devices needing an edit of a GRUB parameter. Is this perhaps a smilar issue?

I believe it had to do with devices not containing built-in serial ports.

[frollic]

OpenWrt hangs after GRUB - #4 by zachsaw ? It was Openwrt failing, not grub.

[ikjadoon]

Thank you for your reply, @frollic.

Is irrelevant, the problem is grub, not Openwrt.
You're kind of barking up the wrong tree.

I meant more to delete the OpenWrt (failsafe) entry—or reinstall an OpenWrt image without the failsafe, if possible.

Try booting a Linux dist, like Fedora, off a flash drive. It uses grub too, do you see the same issue there ?

I installed Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS (to mSATA SSD directly). It boots perfectly and directly.

I can shut down and cold start, reboot, pull the plug, etc. and upon the next boot, Ubuntu immediately loads into the GUI. No GRUB menu whatsoever, no waiting for any timeout.

Ubuntu boots flawlessly—a happy surprise.

//

Try disabling the grub count down timer, set it to zero, or perhaps delete it completely from grub.cfg.

That is my next step, though it may take me some time to edit it properly. I imagine I may need to do this every upgrade?

//

@lleachii re: the serial ports. I had read that, too! No external serial ports, but maybe one inside—I'll double check.

[Solved] Boot "hangs" on 'LEDE' item in grub menu on x86 (no grub 'timeout')

I've been using LEDE Reboot 17.01.4 on x86_64 hardware (a Intel Celeron J1900 4x1GbE device). It worked without a problem for a year. Now after power on/off it did not boot anymore. Couldn't ping the device or anything, so eventually I attached a monitor to the VGA port. It turned out that it "hangs" indefinitely at the grub menu prompt listing: [*] LEDE [ ] LEDE failsafe After attaching a keyboard and pressing <ENTER> (so it boots the default LEDE item) the system boots again and works flawl…

In ^^ that thread, they avoided the issue for a year, and then it cropped up and hung just like mine does now. I will post my GRUB cfg file soon.

What a funky issue.

[brada4]

Does it boot fedora or ubuntu live cd off balena-etched live USB?