Belkin RT3200/Linksys E8450 WiFi AX discussion

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Of course it's best to do a clean install and configure the router from scratch, but coming from 23.05.x is not that complex because there aren't dealbreaking changes between the config of 23.05 and 24.10.0.rc1/SNAPSHOT/24.10-SNAPSHOT.

The procedure would be the following:

  1. SSH into the router and execute uci set system.@system[0].compat_version=2.0 and uci commit.
  2. Make a backup of said configuration on System > Backup/Flash Firmware.
  3. Delete the following files from the backup file:
  • /etc/config/ubootenv
  • /etc/fw_env.config
  1. Flash the unsigned 1.1.3 installer and uncheck to keep settings and force upgrade. Get it from the Github page.
  2. The router will reboot on a recovery environment, so go to System > Backup/Flash firmware and flash the desired sysupgrade image that you have previously downloaded (main snapshot, 24.10-snapshot or 24.10.0-rc1). Again, don't keep settings.
  3. The router will reboot on the desired image and you can restore your backup just fine or configure from scratch using the backup file as reference if you want.
  4. Profit!

If you don't delete the files from the backup, you need to SSH into the router and edit those files:

  • /etc/fw_env.config
/dev/ubi0_2 0x0 0x1f000 0x1f000 1
/dev/ubi0_3 0x0 0x1f000 0x1f000 1
  • /etc/config/ubootenv
config ubootenv
        option dev '/dev/ubi0_2'
        option offset '0x0'
        option envsize '0x1f000'
        option secsize '0x1f000'
        option numsec '1'

config ubootenv
        option dev '/dev/ubi0_3'
        option offset '0x0'
        option envsize '0x1f000'
        option secsize '0x1f000'
        option numsec '1'

This info was provided to me here: Belkin RT3200/Linksys E8450 WiFi AX discussion - #5950 by fda

As of today, I don't recommend going to 24.10.0-rc1 because it has a bug in its files for when you intend to upgrade via OWUT or even the firmware selector doesn't work properly. RC2 is just around the corner for this.

Save this instructions for when RC2 drops.

The point of keeping settings from 23.05 is that you already have aditional packages installed, and therefore, you might have wanted to generate a custom image via the Firmware Selector, auc, or even the Image Builder. If you're using the default sysupgrade image, it's best to configure from scratch. 24.10.0-rc1 images can't be generated right now on the ASU server.

Cheers!

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