My hard disk crashed and the stock MTD images were lost and I haven't backed it up to cloud so there is no way to recover that, is it possible to use MTD images of another device on this one in case I want to go back.
hi everybody
the last snapshot give me a A quality to test i don't know why
OpenWrt SNAPSHOT r17940-9ae5f09dc8 / LuCI Master git-21.301.66258-0740023
@bobbythomas yes, you can use images of another device to revert to stock as long as you are not planning to use the two devices on the same network (as MAC addresses will be identical as well then).
Thank you Daniel, that really helps. Hope there will be someone to share the MTD image in case I have to go stock (although I don't have any plans).
Do you have the new QoSify installed?
1 Like
I don't know what is it ?
Following @pgreenland steps I've done it finally. Process was pretty straightforward though the instructions is still not 100% clear.
- First...
Upload the
openwrt-mediatek-mt7622-linksys_e8450-ubi-sysupgrade.itbfile.
should read...
Upload the
openwrt-mediatek-mt7622-linksys_e8450-ubi-*squashfs-*sysupgrade.itbfile.
- And regarding backup...
If you haven't already, backup every "mtdblock" category, and move the "boot_backup" to another device. (In the event of emergency you can reflash via JTAG
Problem is, there is no "boot_backup" available from the backup menu...
According to the wiki entry, boot_backup is under mtd3...
So, to specifically backup boot_backup, one has to mount it using ssh...
The command I used were (while in the /tmp folder)
root@OpenWrt:/tmp# mkdir boot_backup
root@OpenWrt:/tmp# mount -t ubifs /dev/ubi0_3 /tmp/boot_backup
And then use scp to move the files off the router.
A side question, is this really necessary if one has backed up the 4 mtdblocks using the system interface?
- Finally, installing auc is no longer necessary because it's included in the latest installer.
Please let me know if I'm mistaken.
BTW, was the manual IP at 192.168.1.254 really necessary?
4 Likes
If this is too off-topic, I'll delete but I was able to find batches of them (RT3200) locally in Michigan for around $65. It looks like Walmart is trying to blow out old inventory. If you're looking for one, check the various inventory websites.
1 Like
not necessary to make that no ?
@daniel why with the last snapshot i'm obtain the A quality in dslreports
? thanks
Let's see if I understand this right. Flash the recovery itb image you mention from the factory firmware. Then SSH connect and run the commands you specified to generate the MTD backups and then SCP those over to my machine. The only thing I am lost is how to update to a newer snapshot since I take the image you are directing me to is a basic with no luci? I still am confused about recovery vs recovery-installer itb... =(
if you want update for luci
just opkg update
opkg install luci
then
backup flash firmware
install the last snapshot
Doesn't the router running openwrt have to be connected to the internet in order to install luci? Kinda of a complicated process to do all of that from terminal. 
This RT3200 will be serving as a way to connect a few devices to an existing wireless network via client mode and I am familiar with how to configure all of that via the web interface, aka luci, which is why I need it included in the openwrt firmware image that I install on this thing.
2 Likes
Yes we need internet for install pack ages
You can use Image Builder to assemble yourself a tailored image that will contain any extra package you specify, without having to compile anything.
If you cannot make use of Image Builder directly (e.g. you do not have access to a Linux environment, do not want to bother with it, etc.), there is a community managed instance of it, so that you can request such customized image with your browser.
See also:
1 Like
I appreciate the help here. I think I will use the online image generator to get the build I need. However I am still confused about what the difference between the initial build that Daniel recommended (the recovery non installer) build in order to backup the mtd versus the installer recovery? All this terminology is confusing. 
However from what I read .60 version of the installer image already contains luci?? Again all of this quite confusing. I've been used to using dd-wrt and tomatousb both of which come with built-in web interfaces.
The recovery contains LuCI as well (all builds from my github come with LuCI pre-installed). However, you cannot use the MTD backup feature of LuCI because it reads from /dev/mtdblockX (instead of /dev/mtdX) which will not work due to ECC/OOB problems with the new SPI-NAND driver.
Regarding the difference between revovery and recovery-installer image:
- the
recoveryimage kernel+initramfs, it works with stock bootloader as well as replaced UBI bootchain. - the
recovery-installerimage is also kernel+initramfs, but in this case the initramfs contains a script as well as all files needed to permanently replace the bootloader in order to have UBI.
2 Likes
The ImageBuilder (and online image builder) can not be used to generate custom initramfs image, it never supported that. Sorry for the confusion.
Hi thanks a lot for providing the tools. Would you mind if I make some edits to the README to reflect the updated status (https://github.com/dangowrt/linksys-e8450-openwrt-installer/blob/main/README.md)?
Not sure how to do it however, all I can find which remotely close to an "edit" function is fork and edit...
Cheers.
Yes please, contributions of this nature (users explaining for users) are very welcome! Fork, edit and then pull-request would be the way.
Done. But the part about manual backup I'm not sure. Please take a look and comment.