Belkin RT3200/Linksys E8450 WiFi AX discussion

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Not sure if something has changed in kernel 6.6 or OpenWrt MAIN branch that makes it not setup the network interfaces.

EDIT: Oh, I think because FACTORY data has moved to inside UBI in the FIP-in-UBI setup, the MAIN SNAPSHOT initramfs-recovery.itb is expecting FACTORY data inside the UBI volume which is not there in your setup. The question is, if the FACTORY data is still intact in mtd2, why is the @daniel Installer complaining about FACTORY data and exiting the script?

I suggest these steps (based on https://github.com/dangowrt/owrt-ubi-installer/blob/4763f2e6e5fb2220b68b7d7bd8532920050c51bc/files/installer/install.sh):

  1. Sysupgrade 23.05.4 initramfs-recovery.itb https://archive.openwrt.org/releases/23.05.4/targets/mediatek/mt7622/openwrt-23.05.4-mediatek-mt7622-linksys_e8450-ubi-initramfs-recovery.itb . NOTE this image does not contain LuCi interface. After sysupgrade VERIFY that you have working ethernet connection from PC to RT3200 before proceeding to next step.

  2. Copy https://archive.openwrt.org/releases/23.05.4/targets/mediatek/mt7622/packages/kmod-mtd-rw_5.15.162+git-20160214-2_aarch64_cortex-a53.ipk to /tmp using SCP and install using opkg.

opkg install /tmp/kmod-mtd-rw_5.15.162+git-20160214-2_aarch64_cortex-a53.ipk

  1. Load the mtd-rw kmod

insmod mtd-rw.ko i_want_a_brick=1

  1. Copy BL2 v2.4 from https://archive.openwrt.org/releases/22.03.7/targets/mediatek/mt7622/openwrt-22.03.7-mediatek-mt7622-linksys_e8450-ubi-preloader.bin to /tmp and then run the following command to flash it:
for bl2start in 0x0 0x20000 0x40000 0x60000 ; do
	mtd -p ${bl2start} write /tmp/openwrt-22.03.7-mediatek-mt7622-linksys_e8450-ubi-preloader.bin /dev/mtd0
	sync
done
  1. Copy BL31 FIP from 23.05.4 https://archive.openwrt.org/releases/23.05.4/targets/mediatek/mt7622/openwrt-23.05.4-mediatek-mt7622-linksys_e8450-ubi-bl31-uboot.fip to /tmp and then run the following command to flash it:

mtd write /tmp/openwrt-23.05.4-mediatek-mt7622-linksys_e8450-ubi-bl31-uboot.fip /dev/mtd1

  1. Copy your CORRECT mtd2 (factory) to /tmp and flash it to mtd2. THIS STEP IS CRITICAL to get back to working FACTORY data.

mtd write /tmp/factory.bin /dev/mtd2

  1. Sysupgrade v1.1.3 installer.itb .

  2. If after above step the device booted into the MAIN SNAPSHOT initramfs-recovery, then FIP-in-UBI setup is successful and you can proceed with sysupgrade of normal OpenWrt MAIN SNAPSHOT image.

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