Belkin RT3200/Linksys E8450 WiFi AX discussion

Underworld · 2023-01-13T10:58:06.880Z

Thanks @hnyman, If I want to go to the development master snapshot, I should use auc -b 22.03 -B 22.03-SNAPSHOT. Is that correct?

hnyman · 2023-01-13T11:03:30.471Z

Underworld:

If I want to go to the development master snapshot, I should use auc -b 22.03 -B 22.03-SNAPSHOT. Is that correct?

No, because your command seems to explicitly want 22.03, altough you say that you actually want master.

I have never used auc, so no firm comments about specifying the master branch.

(I compile my personal firmware from sources with the full buildroot)

Underworld · 2023-01-13T11:08:36.944Z

Oki doki, thanks. I will go with the firmware-selector, just to be sure I do not mess anything. Now I started realizing why I couldn't get WED working as described above in the posts.

hnyman · 2023-01-13T11:36:25.911Z

Underworld:

Now I started realizing why I couldn't get WED working as described above in the posts.

Yeah, you have apparently been running the 22.03 code, mainly from March 2022.

jrc3 · 2023-01-13T18:22:26.725Z

I also updated this morning with the luci sysupgrade and was given the SNAPSHOT r21757-895f38ca1e as my only option and now my ax wifi is also no longer working (disabled detected as bg.)

I followed the guide on the wiki for converting to UBI and snapshot is all I have ever been able to select in the luci upgrades.

Am I understanding @Anteus correctly that all I need to do is add kmod-mt7915-firmware kmod-mt7915e kmod-mt7622-firmware ?

daniel · 2023-01-13T18:24:09.105Z

jrc3:

Am I understanding fonix232 correctly that all I need to do is add kmod-mt7915-firmware kmod-mt7915e kmod-mt7622-firmware ?

Yes, that's correct.

Underworld · 2023-01-13T18:47:24.806Z

If you go to attended sysupgrade in luci, then to "configuration" tab and choose "advanced mode", next time when you try to update the router you will be asked which packages you want to keep remove or add before the upgrade. But that's for the next time:)
I am still wondering on my stupidity. Since June 2022 I have this router, updating it 2-3 times per month without noticing that I am not running the development snapshots...

efahl · 2023-01-13T22:30:54.061Z

I believe this is the secret handshake:

$ auc -b SNAPSHOT -B SNAPSHOT
auc/0.3.1-1
Server:    https://sysupgrade.openwrt.org
Running:   22.03.3 r20028-43d71ad93e on mediatek/mt7622 (linksys,e8450-ubi)
Available: SNAPSHOT r21778-3d5c5427e1
Requesting package lists...
 kmod-usb-storage: 5.10.161-1 -> 5.15.86-1
 terminfo: 6.3-2 -> 6.4-1
...

Underworld · 2023-01-13T22:41:15.948Z

Thanks @efahl, I already updated the router, but I will save the command for future refference.
Thanks again to everyone!

jrc3 · 2023-01-14T03:51:46.397Z

Just letting people know @Anteus was correct and adding these modules to the packages on the Attended Sysupgrade did bring back wifi. I just had to configure the wireless ssid operating frequency and it was back up and running. Thanks to all here for the super fast support!

hnyman · 2023-01-14T08:58:39.570Z

@aparcar @daniel

auc apparently uses "snapshot" as a synonym for the "master" branch name.

As currently there are snapshots made (and offered) both from the master and from the release branches (like 22.03 and 21.02), using "snapshot" as a name for master branch is strange and can lead to confusion (like in the discussion here).

(from master there are only SNAPSHOTs, while from release branches there are both SNAPSHOTs and releases 22.03.3 etc.)

Would it be possible to use "master" as the default branch name for the master branch also in auc, luci-app-attendedsyupgrade etc. ?

Usage: auc [-b <branch>] [-B <ver>] [-c] [-f] [-h] [-r] [-y]
 -b <branch>    use specific release branch
 -B <ver>       use specific release version

Discussion extract from above:

Underworld:

still wondering on my stupidity. Since June 2022 I have this router, updating it 2-3 times per month without noticing that I am not running the development snapshots

efahl:

I believe this is the secret handshake:

$ auc -b SNAPSHOT -B SNAPSHOT

ThiloteE · 2023-01-14T11:50:40.390Z

The word "snapshot" is easy to understand even for non-programmers. I believe it is a great word and hits close to the core of what these images are and what they stand for.

Even with replacing "snapshot" with "master", there might be confusion, because people will still call snapshots from 22.03 the same as snapshots from 21.02 (namely: snapshot) and what will they call an random (older) commit to "master", if not snapshot (or commit)?

The firmware selector only features "snapshot", but it does not say, if it is snapshot for master or snapshot for one of the release branches.

How about following (albeit long) syntax?

~~(Main)~~
SNAPSHOT (Master)
SNAPSHOT (22.03)
SNAPSHOT (21.02)

... or like this?

Master SNAPSHOT
22.03 SNAPSHOT
21.02 SNAPSHOT

... or something else that would denote the connection to each branch/master.

efahl · 2023-01-14T17:17:34.468Z

Indeed, I was confused with SNAPSHOT until I experimented a bunch with it using auc -c and many combinations of -b and -B to see which threw an Invalid argument (22) and which did not.

In fact I'm still not sure about how to get the snapshot on a release branch, as auc -b 22.03 -B SNAPSHOT is invalid... I think it's just auc -b 22.03, but I would not bet real money on it yet.

Anteus · 2023-01-14T20:19:59.742Z

auc -b 22.03 seems to work for that or
auc -b 22.03 -B 22.03-SNAPTSHOT
or auc -b 22.03-SNAPSHOT

Underworld · 2023-01-14T22:13:48.032Z

To be frank, I like the expresion " Snapshot" as well. What is confusing to me is probably "master". To me as a non-English native speaker " master" means - great- " the best", but not " latest".
I would understand something like "development", "unstable", " in testing to become final"...
However, I know it is a tough decision and I would recommend in first place wiki for auc ([https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/installation/attended.sysupgrade])(https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/installation/attended.sysupgrade)to be updated, as I went first there, when I found something doesn't add up with my router.
To be frank I am angry at myself, as I am running netgear r6800 on development snapshot, as a wired AP and I could have compare the versions in the last 8+ months, but auc makes it soo easy, that I didn't think about that.
I am using openwrt for 10+ years before I bought RT 3200, but only the stable versions... so jumping on snapshots was simething new to me.
PS: I am sorry to spam this forum thread about the router itself... I would guess last comments needs to go to an auc forum topic.
Kr
K

Gr0d · 2023-01-15T04:14:55.894Z

Hi everyone again!

As I stated before, I got this router and would like to install openwrt for the following reason. I would like to be able to connect to this router from a different country, so that it shows I am in the US instead of the abroad country. I read somewhere but can't find it, where a few people have made this change possible.

In regards to installing the openwrt software, I am not that technical to do the current process, but if someone could ELI5, that would be greatly appreciated!

FanOfOpenWRT · 2023-01-18T21:41:45.314Z

Were you able to overcome this, and if so, how?

I have tried 22.03.3 and SNAPSHOT r21856 with the changes noted on these wireless drivers, confirmed they're installed, and yet my radio0 (2.4Ghz) still won't initialize, with the same error you pasted. 5Ghz works fine.

efahl · 2023-01-18T23:06:29.050Z

I reverted to 22.03.3 for that router until I get around to putting it back on snapshot. The radios both started working as soon as it booted.

Did your config change when you had the snapshot installed? Maybe rm /etc/config/wireless and reinstall, to reset it back to defaults??? It's a pain in the butt, but if nothing else is working, might be worth a try.

In the off chance there is something broken there, here's my working config.

config wifi-device 'radio0'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option path 'platform/18000000.wmac'
        option band '2g'
        option htmode 'HT20'
        option country 'US'
        option cell_density '1'
        option channel 'auto'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
        option device 'radio0'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option encryption 'sae-mixed'
        option ssid 'my_ssid_2'
        option key 'my_password'
        option skip_inactivity_poll '1'

config wifi-device 'radio1'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option path '1a143000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
        option band '5g'
        option htmode 'HE80'
        option cell_density '0'
        option country 'US'
        option channel 'auto'
        option txpower '6'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio1'
        option device 'radio1'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option encryption 'sae-mixed'
        option key 'my_password'
        option ssid 'my_ssid_5'
        option skip_inactivity_poll '1'

Edit: Oops, I had 2.4 radio disabled.

FanOfOpenWRT · 2023-01-18T23:22:37.579Z

Looks like mine, and yes, when I did the update to the snapshot I told it not to keep any settings and did have to reconfigure everything again. Still no initialization of the 2.4Ghz radio, even trying different wireless settings/channels/etc. (I learned through experience on the 5Ghz radio that a misconfiguration can prevent it from initializing, so I tried a bunch of different settings on the 2.4Ghz radio to no avail yet.)

I had also tried this on the 22.03.3 stable image, but I'm on the latest snapshot now, with the new wireless drivers/packages for the RT3200.

Here's my /etc/config/wireless

config wifi-device 'radio0'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option path 'platform/18000000.wmac'
        option band '2g'
        option cell_density '0'
        option country 'US'
        option htmode 'HT20'
        option channel '6'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
        option device 'radio0'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option ssid 'my-ssid'
        option encryption 'psk2'
        option key 'my-key'

config wifi-device 'radio1'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option path '1a143000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
        option band '5g'
        option htmode 'HE80'
        option cell_density '0'
        option country 'US'
        option channel '161'
        option he_su_beamformee '1'
        option he_bss_color '8'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio1'
        option device 'radio1'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option ssid 'my-ssid'
        option key 'my-key'
        option encryption 'sae-mixed'

Here's the error log:

Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice hostapd: Configuration file: /var/run/hostapd-wl0.conf (phy wl0-ap0) --> new PHY
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.err hostapd: Could not set interface wl0-ap0 flags (UP): I/O error
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.err hostapd: nl80211: Could not set interface 'wl0-ap0' UP
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice hostapd: nl80211: deinit ifname=wl0-ap0 disabled_11b_rates=0
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.err hostapd: nl80211 driver initialization failed.
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice hostapd: wl0-ap0: CTRL-EVENT-TERMINATING
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.err hostapd: hostapd_free_hapd_data: Interface wl0-ap0 wasn't started
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898): Command failed: ubus call hostapd config_add {"iface":"wl0-ap0", "config":"/var/run/hostapd-wl0.conf"} (Invalid argument)
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898): Usage: ubus [<options>] <command> [arguments...]
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898): Options:
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):  -s <socket>:		Set the unix domain socket to connect to
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):  -t <timeout>:		Set the timeout (in seconds) for a command to complete
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):  -S:			Use simplified output (for scripts)
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):  -v:			More verbose output
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):  -m <type>:		(for monitor): include a specific message type
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898): 			(can be used more than once)
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):  -M <r|t>		(for monitor): only capture received or transmitted traffic
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898): Commands:
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):  - list [<path>]			List objects
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):  - call <path> <method> [<message>]	Call an object method
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):  - subscribe <path> [<path>...]	Subscribe to object(s) notifications
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):  - listen [<path>...]			Listen for events
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):  - send <type> [<message>]		Send an event
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):  - wait_for <object> [<object>...]	Wait for multiple objects to appear on ubus
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):  - monitor				Monitor ubus traffic
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898):
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: radio0 (898): Device setup failed: HOSTAPD_START_FAILED
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: Wireless device 'radio0' set retry=0
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.crit netifd: Wireless device 'radio0' setup failed, retry=0
Wed Jan 18 23:31:22 2023 daemon.notice netifd: Wireless device 'radio0' is now down

Finally, I've confirmed I have installed the new wireless drivers/packages:

image955×448 23.7 KB

efahl · 2023-01-19T03:14:56.297Z

I stopped and restarted my 2.4 radio, here's the log. Looking at the first line with hostapd: Configuration file... Mine shows the same name in the (phy wlan0) part that I see in /etc/config/network, while yours shows wl0-ap0.

Wed Jan 18 19:07:09 2023 daemon.notice hostapd: Configuration file: /var/run/hostapd-phy0.conf (phy wlan0) --> new PHY
Wed Jan 18 19:07:09 2023 kern.info kernel: [778954.200955] br-lan: port 5(wlan0) entered blocking state
Wed Jan 18 19:07:09 2023 kern.info kernel: [778954.206449] br-lan: port 5(wlan0) entered disabled state
Wed Jan 18 19:07:09 2023 kern.info kernel: [778954.212186] device wlan0 entered promiscuous mode
Wed Jan 18 19:07:09 2023 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: interface state UNINITIALIZED->COUNTRY_UPDATE
Wed Jan 18 19:07:09 2023 daemon.notice hostapd: ACS: Automatic channel selection started, this may take a bit
Wed Jan 18 19:07:09 2023 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: interface state COUNTRY_UPDATE->ACS
Wed Jan 18 19:07:09 2023 daemon.notice hostapd: wlan0: ACS-STARTED
Wed Jan 18 19:07:10 2023 daemon.notice netifd: Wireless device 'radio0' is now up
Wed Jan 18 19:07:11 2023 daemon.info dnsmasq[1]: read /etc/hosts - 4 addresses
Wed Jan 18 19:07:11 2023 daemon.info dnsmasq[1]: read /tmp/hosts/dhcp.cfg01411c - 3 addresses
Wed Jan 18 19:07:11 2023 daemon.info dnsmasq[1]: read /tmp/hosts/odhcpd - 0 addresses
Wed Jan 18 19:07:11 2023 daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1]: read /etc/ethers - 0 addresses

I chased wlan0 through a couple of places that might provide further clues.

$ tail -6 /etc/config/network
config device
        option name 'wlan1'

config device
        option name 'wlan0'

$ ll /var/run/hostapd/
drwxr-xr-x    2 network  network        100 Jan 18 18:45 ./
drwxr-xr-x    8 root     root           480 Jan 18 18:48 ../
srwxrwx---    1 network  network          0 Jan  9 18:39 global=
srwxrwx---    1 network  network          0 Jan 18 18:45 wlan0=
srwxrwx---    1 network  network          0 Jan  9 18:39 wlan1=

$ ll /var/run/hostapd-*
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          1158 Jan 18 18:45 /var/run/hostapd-phy0.conf
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          2266 Jan  9 18:39 /var/run/hostapd-phy1.conf
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Jan 18 18:45 /var/run/hostapd-wlan0.psk
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Jan 18 18:45 /var/run/hostapd-wlan0.vlan
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Jan  9 18:39 /var/run/hostapd-wlan1.psk
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root             0 Jan  9 18:39 /var/run/hostapd-wlan1.vlan

$ grep wlan /var/run/hostapd-*
/var/run/hostapd-phy0.conf:interface=wlan0
/var/run/hostapd-phy0.conf:wpa_psk_file=/var/run/hostapd-wlan0.psk
/var/run/hostapd-phy0.conf:vlan_file=/var/run/hostapd-wlan0.vlan
/var/run/hostapd-phy1.conf:interface=wlan1
/var/run/hostapd-phy1.conf:wpa_psk_file=/var/run/hostapd-wlan1.psk
/var/run/hostapd-phy1.conf:vlan_file=/var/run/hostapd-wlan1.vlan

I then tried to figure out where phy0 in the .conf file name comes from, but no luck, it's not apparent in anything under /etc/ or /var/run/.