Hi @suppenkasper0815, i am very interested about switching archer d7 to c7 v2.
Can uboot update be done from telnet without opening the case ?
I am very nervous to crack open the case, it seems very easy for you to do it.
I would've thought that LEDs, buttons and USB ports also stop working if you cross flash the D2??
Hi.
I think @blinkstar88 explained well how you have to work on the u-boot with switching the address 0x1FC00 with your MAC address in hex editor.
If your device is already running Openwrt, then you can maybe read u-boot from there and edit it. But I unfortunately guess you need to open the case and use UART / Seriell to update the u-boot by stopping boot process by typing "tpl" as fast as possible when the message comes to pause booting.
There is also a possibility on the device page of D7 on Openwrt wiki how to get seriell without opening the case. You need to cut some plastic from the bottom and solder the pins to get the access.
Thanks alot @suppenkasper0815 for your explanation.
In case I need to switch back to the tplink firmware or the D7 openwrt firmware,
do I need to flash back the original uboot ? How to back up the original uboot ?
I am very newbie for this matter...
You should use the image with the name initramfs in it and start your device from RAM after stopping the boot process. Then you can backup all partitions via SSH or web interface.
You can find informations here
Or I usually backup all mtd partitions and descriptions via
cat /proc/partitions
cat /proc/mtd
cat /dev/mtdx > /tmp/mtdx.bin
Replace x with mtd partition number
Hi, do you know if the instructions to turn d7 into c7v2 work also for for d7b? Thanks
Could anyone post their u-boot.bin from the D7v1 EU please?
Thx
Hi,
here is a link to all my partitons from Archer D7v1 including the file "uboot-c7-v2.bin" which has to be modified with your mac-address at the hex-address 0x1FC00. You can use both of my bootloader (d7 and c7), but keep in mind to change it into your MAC-Address!
1 Like
Hi,
sorry, I haven't had the chance to test it, but here is my layout of d7v1
root@OpenWrt:/# cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name
31 0 128 mtdblock0
31 1 15936 mtdblock1
31 2 1043 mtdblock2
31 3 14784 mtdblock3
31 4 8768 mtdblock4
31 5 64 mtdblock5
31 6 64 mtdblock6
31 7 64 mtdblock7
31 8 64 mtdblock8
31 9 64 mtdblock9
Maybe you can test it, all my mtdblocks are avaliable here:
The partitions of my router are a bit different. There're only 4 instead of 5 64kb partitions at the end.
I have no idea what i should do... Any instructions? thanks
root@_:~# cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name
31 0 128 mtdblock0
31 1 16000 mtdblock1
31 2 1762 mtdblock2
31 3 14237 mtdblock3
31 4 10944 mtdblock4
31 5 64 mtdblock5
31 6 64 mtdblock6
31 7 64 mtdblock7
31 8 64 mtdblock8
I think that's because the D7b doesn't have a DECT partition.
then, do you know how to switch d7b into d7?
I was able to extract u-boot from the latest firmware for the D7v1 EU downloaded from TP-Link's AU site
(Archer_D7v1_1.9.0_0.9.1_up_boot(180705)_2018-07-05_14.32.55.bin) and successfully flash it on my Archer D7b. Everything seems to be working as it did before.
No need to edit MAC addresses as the Archer D7 doesn't store them in u-boot.
If anyone is interested I've uploaded it to my drive:
are there the commands?
tftpboot 0x81000000 uboot.bin
erase 0x9f000000 +20000
cp.b 0x81000000 0x9f000000 0x20000
after did this what is the next step?
I installed the kmod-mtd-rw package.
I flash the uboot, and then install kmod-mtd-rw package?
how does that work?
Shouldn't I flash the d7 firmware after flashed uboot?
May you be more specific? I really don't know a lot.
The kmod-mtd-rw package is to make the u-boot mtd partition writable and easier flashing without opening up the router.
I ran into trouble when i tried to use 2 D7 in one network within 802.11r Mode (seamless roaming), then I noticed the problem with MAC-Address. After reflashing with modded addresses it worked out.
I guess unless you don't use two routers in the same network there is no need for changing MAC-address. - I just wanna let you know, that with my bootloader your device will use my MAC.
I understand what you mean but I couldn't find any MAC addresses in my Archer D7b u-boot dump.
Also I won't be using the u-boot dump you posted so don't worry.
Thx for your help
No problem. You're welcome to use my u-boot also. If you search mine there is at the address my MAC. I wasn't able to see all my diffrent switch ip addresses in main menu. There were trouble with ping and data transfer between the 2 D7 routers when I gave it a try last week. So please report also how your D7b worked out and many thanks to @numero53 I think he made us a big present with his breakthrough. If he is intrested in D5, i can send you log files from this device and maybe we can also crack this nut. It should be very similar to D50 and D7. 