I downloaded the lede-17.01.0-r3205-59508e3-ar71xx-generic-alfa-ap120c-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin image as that is the only available package on the LEDE site. The upgrade failed from the native Alfa firmware's web interface. No factory .bin image exists.
The error is: The image /tmp/lede-17.01.0-r3205-59508e3-ar71xx-generic-alfa-ap120c-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin being stripped from protective header fail !! Error Code[256]
Reading OpenWRT it appears the there is an upgrade method via console using boot and tftp. OpenWRT also has root and boot filesystem images but I am concerned that the instructions are very limited and suggest issues.
Does anyone have a comprehensive way to upgrade this AP to LEDE. I have lots of background with Cisco Networking and RHEL Linux (certified) so not afraid of command line, tftp loads, etc.
So the commands from console are: #rootfs
tftp 0x80060000 openwrt-ar71xx-generic-db120-rootfs-squashfs.bin;erase 0x9f050000 +5E0000;cp.b 80060000 0x9f050000 $filesize #kernel
tftp 0x80060000 openwrt-ar71xx-generic-db120-kernel.bin;erase 0x9fd50000 +110000;cp.b 80060000 0x9fd50000 110000
I assume I will need to get the rootfs and kernel from OpenWRT since those files don't exist in the Lede download area.
The Wiki link above has very little information but says under interface that "The network is not working at the moment".
Sounds like there are some major issues. Has anyone performed this UBOOT download? Also, assuming I do this, does this position me to install the sysupgrade binary file from Lede.
There seems to be very little information on how to proceed. Any information would be appreciated.
Ping me please next week, I have this device here (currently bricked, I need to re-flash it), will try to help you and eventually fix support for it if it's broken.
Sounds great. Would definitely appreciate the assistance as I would prefer not to flash the rootfs, etc. via TFTP with the OpenWRT images if that breaks wireless/networking unless that just paves the way to flash the sysupgrade image.
Sorry for late reply. I managed to fix my board and flash LEDE snapshot on it, you can follow below instruction:
Make sure you have selected booting from firmware A in vendor GUI
By default, vendor GUI should be available on 192.168.11.1 (login/password: admin/admin).
On serial console, during early stage of booting process (U-Boot) you should see something like below (important lines: "Current Image was A" and "## Booting image at 9fd50000"):
[...]
[eapsw_watchdog::status] cold start
[eapsw_watchdog::status] boot normally
[eapsw_watchdog::status] autoswitch enabled=On , times=None
Current Image was A
In: serial
Out: serial
Err: serial
Net: ag934x_enet_initialize...
[...]
## Booting image at 9fd50000 ...
Image Name: Linux Kernel Image
Created: 2014-10-14 3:25:40 UTC
Image Type: MIPS Linux Kernel Image (lzma compressed)
Data Size: 927620 Bytes = 905.9 kB
Load Address: 80002000
Entry Point: 801edab0
Verifying Checksum at 0x81000040 ...OK
Uncompressing Kernel Image ...
[...]
Download and flash LEDE image from TFTP server
Check TFTP IP server in U-Boot with: printenv serverip command (on my board it's 192.168.100.11).
Setup TFTP server on your PC (with static IP from previous point, 192.168.100.11/24 in my case).
Make image lede-ar71xx-generic-alfa-ap120c-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin available to download from configured TFTP server.
Interrupt booting process in U-Boot and issue below commands:
I greatly appreciate you taking the time to document this process.
Once it is installed, after booting the Lede firmware does anything special wireless configuration need to be created by editing files from the command line or does the wireless configuration show up in the web based GUI?
WiFi works just fine but it turned out that sysupgrade is broken for this board, I will fix it.
Just remember, if you need GUI, install release image. In case of snapshot image, you would need to install LuCI manually as it's not included by default.