I have a small Dell PC that I have installed the latest OpenWRT on. This PC only has one built in LAN port, which openWRT is using as the LAN connection. I want to plug in my USB ethernet cable connector but I need the driver packeg installed for kmod-usb-net-asix-ax88179 . I cant use the luci interface to install it because I am not yet connected to the internet but I see I can manually install a downloaded package. But where can I find the required package and any dependancies to manually install. I’ve serched this forum and can’t find the link. Any help would be welcomed.
edit /etc/config/network, temp change the lan paragraph to:
config interface 'lan'
option device 'br-lan'
option device 'eth0'
option proto 'dhcp'
the built in LAN port will become a client to your existing network.
you'll be able to install packages and access luci (using the IP given by the upstream DHCP).
alt use https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/?version=25.12.1&target=x86%2F64&id=generic, click the tiny arrow, and add the kmod-usb-net-asix-ax88179 package to the package list.
click request build button, and reflash/write the new image to your storage.
btw, add kmod-usb-net-cdc-mbim to the list of packages too, seems mod-usb-net-asix-ax88179 wants it, but it's an undocumented dependency.
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Cheers. WIll try it later.
I couldnt wait. So I tried to create the build. Sadly it failed, see below. What did I do wrong?
Error: Impossible package selection: missing (mod-usb-net-asix-ax88179)
STDERR
Generate local signing keys...
WARNING: can't open config file: /builder/shared-workdir/build/staging_dir/host/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf
WARNING: can't open config file: /builder/shared-workdir/build/staging_dir/host/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf
read EC key
writing EC key
WARNING: opening /builder/packages/packages.adb: No such file or directory
Package list missing or not up-to-date, generating it.
Building package index...
ERROR: unable to select packages:
mod-usb-net-asix-ax88179 (no such package):
required by: world[mod-usb-net-asix-ax88179]
make[2]: *** [Makefile:254: package_install] Error 1
make[1]: *** [Makefile:193: _call_manifest] Error 2
make: *** [Makefile:369: manifest] Error 2
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.14/site-packages/rq/worker/base.py", line 1463, in perform_job
return_value = job.perform()
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.14/site-packages/rq/job.py", line 1318, in perform
self._result = self._execute()
~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^
File "/app/.venv/lib/python3.14/site-packages/rq/job.py", line 1378, in _execute
result = self.func(*self.args, **self.kwargs)
File "/app/asu/build.py", line 493, in build
result = _build(build_request, job)
File "/app/asu/build.py", line 293, in _build
report_error(job, check_package_errors(job.meta["stderr"]))
~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/app/asu/util.py", line 332, in report_error
raise RuntimeError(msg)
RuntimeError: Impossible package selection: missing (mod-usb-net-asix-ax88179)
STDOUT
Installed Packages
Script to run on first boot (uci-defaults)
[REQUEST BUILD](javascript:buildAsuRequest())
Download an image
Software shouldn't get blamed for user's C&P errors.
Ahh. Ooops! Apols.
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Its looking positive. I will test later. Many thanks frolic, your support is appreciated.
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SAdly it is not working. It booted fine, the inbuilt LAN port is working as a LAN card but it did not recognise the USB LAN connector. I know the model matches the driver we loaded but the hardware is not apearing in Luci.
tried adding a 2nd interface/device ?
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I have an old USB 2.0 100Mb USB RJ45 connector , I will pop that in and see what happens. It is certainly ignoring my new gigabit USB RJ45 connector.
run lsusb (need to install usbutils package) and post the line related to the USB Ethernet adapter.
I can’t get it connected to the Internet at the moment so can’t install anything, unless this is possible manually through luci. Interestingly, when I unplug and plug in both USB Lan devices, the old and the new the console recognises something and makes a statement on the console screen.
Not sure why they arent recognised and used for the Internet connection.
r8169 is in the default image, it gets recognized, and assigned eth0.
eth0 is the LAN interface, we modified earlier.
was the built in LAN port ever working ?
Yes it has been working fine with this Dell PC used as a server running Nextcloud and Immich.
I see it seems to recognise them at boot too.
[ 0.691600] sda: sda1 sda2 < sda5 >
[1 Apr 2026, 13:46:38 UTC] kern.notice: [ 0.692128] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[1 Apr 2026, 13:46:38 UTC] kern.info: [ 0.692488] Waiting for root device PARTUUID=60c863b3-02...
[1 Apr 2026, 13:46:38 UTC] kern.info: [ 0.770952] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci-pci
[1 Apr 2026, 13:46:38 UTC] kern.info: [ 0.770976] usb 2-2: new full-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[1 Apr 2026, 13:46:38 UTC] kern.info: [ 0.790949] usb 3-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci-pci
[1 Apr 2026, 13:46:38 UTC] kern.info: [ 0.941917] hub 1-1:1.0: USB hub found
[1 Apr 2026, 13:46:38 UTC] kern.info: [ 0.943220] hub 1-1:1.0: 4 ports detected
[1 Apr 2026, 13:46:38 UTC] kern.info: [ 0.973241] hub 3-1:1.0: USB hub found
[1 Apr 2026, 13:46:38 UTC] kern.info: [ 0.974124] hub 3-1:1.0: 4 ports detected
[1 Apr 2026, 13:46:38 UTC] kern.info: [ 1.240945] usb 1-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 3 using ehci-pci
[1 Apr 2026, 13:46:38 UTC] kern.info: [ 1.363743] usb-storage 1-1.3:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[1 Apr 2026, 13:46:38 UTC] kern.info: [ 1.364577] scsi host1: usb-storage 1-1.3:1.0
[1 Apr 2026, 13:46:38 UTC] kern.info: [ 1.460907] usb 1-1.4: new full-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci
[1 Apr 2026, 13:46:38 UTC] kern.info: [ 1.589930] input: Logitech USB Receiver as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:13.0/u
in openwrt.
IN fact the only port working is the built in LAN port with OpenWRT using it as the LAN connection.
It is working now, it’s the only one that does work but only as the LAN connection. Actually let me check the other two to see if they work as a LAN connection.
you need to add them yourself in openwrt, then assign to the correct firewall zone (wan or lan).
Ahhh. So it is recognising the USB RJ45 device its just that I havent added them to the system. I was thinking it might recognise them itself with the driver in place now. CAn you point me in the right direction to add the device? Once available I think I am OK at configuring them in the firewalll. Any guidance welcomed.