Archer C7 v3 support

The Archer C7 v2 is supported by OpenWRT/LEDE, but not the v3. According to WikiDevi (https://wikidevi.com/wiki/TP-LINK_Archer_C7_v3.x), the chipsets and hardware are the same. Can the devs recompile with the appropriate version flags so that v3 owners can install?

There is also v4 on the way: https://fccid.io/pdf.php?id=3184919 (looks like switch to QCA956x platform).
I wasn't able to find v3 firmware update, are you able provide flash content dump?

I'm not sure how to do that. If you could give me some instructions, I might be able to (so long as it doesn't involve disassembling or modding the router--it's the only one I have).

The fastest way would be serial console access, but that requires disassembling and soldering. If you find TP-Link firmware update file for v3 somewhere, it might be helpful as well.

I don't even own a soldering gun (I know, I know...), so that's a no-go.

I found two. The latest stable firmware is at http://static.tp-link.com/res/down/soft/Archer_C7_V3_150508_US.zip. The latest beta firmware (per the TP-Link forums) can be found at http://static.tp-link.com/ArcherC7v3_en_up.zip.

Both of them use same HW ID and REV as in Archer C7 v2, the stable firmware has empty region code (universal), the beta one is US

So, if you have currently installed stable one and are brave enough, just try regular factory image for C7 v2 (or ...factory-us if you are using beta).

After a bit more Googling, that seems to be generally confirmed by the OpenWRT forum. https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=313786#p313786

I'm not currently in position to install LEDE (still under warranty, so I'm being jitsy), but I've used it in the past, so I figured I'd ask for when the warranty expires. However, given the OpenWRT confirmation, could someone get that added into the documentation for the C7?

I think someone should first try and confirm that LEDE image for v2 really works on v3 without any problems.

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A few months ago I bought to C7s from Amazon, they sent on V2 and one V3. I haven't yet tried LEDE, but I was able to install Gargoyle (based on OpenWRT CC) on both.

On the V2 I had to TFPT a renamed Gargoyle firmware, I believe. Can't recall the details right now, but it was pretty annoying.

The V3, to my surprise, took the Gargoyle image straight from the stock UI. It was great.

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Given that you have two...I don't suppose you'd be open to testing it out, for those of us who only have our one daily driver?

I installed them for other people, so that's not currently possible. But I may get to try it on one at some point.

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Just FYI.. I just flashed my brand-new Archer C7 1700 v3 router from amazon with the v2 firmware (https://downloads.lede-project.org/releases/17.01.0/targets/ar71xx/generic/lede-17.01.0-r3205-59508e3-ar71xx-generic-archer-c7-v2-squashfs-factory.bin) and it's working just fine as far as I can tell. I've only poked around Luci and turned the interfaces on/off.

pro-tip: if you do do this make sure to rename that long .bin file to something smaller, or the upgrade web-ui from factory tplink will complain.

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I can also confirm the 17.01 LEDE loading on both v2 and v3 C7's.

As the post above says, rename the file to something shorter, or the stock UI complains.

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Seems like this has been confirmed. @pepe2k, can you get this in the wiki?

I managed to hose up the V2 I bought during a FW upload, before I figured out how to unbrick it I bought another one, but wasn't paying attention and it was a V3.

Quick note, in the Wiki, and the OpenWRT database, there's a "V3" that has different hardware that's supposed to be only available in China. There also is a V3 in the US, that is pretty much the same hardware wise, and functionally. For some reason, there's no mention of the US one. Despite other differences like dual band external antennas (the V2 has 3 little internal 2.4Ghz and 3 external 5Ghz only ones) and heat sinks on the chips, they seem to be equals, as far as the FW is concerned.

My experience with the V3 has been with both -rc1 and the final release LEDE. I've had at least 25d of uptime on each version, with no problems, running as my fairly busy home router/AP. I just run the SQM scripts for Cake, otherwise stock,

Another vote of compatibility... :wink:

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Yeah, in the US TP-Link sort of messed up the versioning of this product. I have a C7 V2 purchased in the summer of 2015, and I have a couple purchased in the fall of 2016. Guess what? Different hardware, the flash chip changed, but they failed to rev the version. So the V3 'fixes' that. So late generation v2's = current US v3 from a hardware perspective.
And yes, LEDE works on all of them.

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Wanted to clear up a few things. Reading my last post, I should make it clear that the Taiwan "V3" listed in most of the wiki's is apparently enough of a different animal that it does require different FW, while the US V3 is functionally the same enough as the V2 to not need different FW. I was kind of vauge there.

On the flash chip issue, I don't know if that changed back in V3 or not, that is NOT the only difference on a US V3. The motherboard is laid out differently, footprint of the 2.4Ghz radio is different, and there's a large heatsink covering it (v2 had no heat sink)
There's a different 5Ghz radio card that has diplexers to take in the 2.4Ghz and send it to the now dual band external antennas. The V2 had just single output 5Ghz connectors, going to assumably single band external antennas.

Despite the different hardware, it apparently still uses the same chipsets, so it's functionally the same as far as the FW is concerned.

I've only done some simple testing, so don't take this as conclusive, but it seems the V3 delivers about 3db better signal to some distant computers, than the V2 did, so possibly the dual band antenna change improves things. YMMV. The V2 already was one of the better distance performers back in the day, on Smallnetbuilder.com's testing, one of the reasons I bought it.

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Version 4 badly needed at this pont in october already

This thread is about v3, not v4.
Please stop spamming the forum with your messages regarding v4.

yikes!...sorry!