Dynalink DL-WRX36 Askey RT5010W IPQ8072A technical discussion

missingcharacter · February 4, 2023, 1:34am

I have a serial adapter and still cannot unbrick mine

wrcrooks · February 4, 2023, 3:59am

Client, Router, they're all good. I've SCP'd from Linux onto my routers dozens of times now, both for factory images and for sysupgrades. My best guess is that you don't have the right file name. Try an 'ls' first to see what your file is called then run:

scp *factory.ubi root@192.168.1.1:/tmp/

The image should show up when running the 'ls /tmp' command after the SCP.

sampson · February 4, 2023, 4:34am

Please post the output from the serial console.

And check if you can halt the u-boot process by pressing a key.

When I connect my serial for the first time, I got display and no response from key pressed.

It turns out the Send/Receive need to swap.

Once you can halt the boot process, then enter the command to boot from USB again. And reboot.

sampson · February 4, 2023, 4:35am

Thank you for the hints.

I will try again with my second unit. And update back.

oneinchashh · February 4, 2023, 4:39am

Im making sure sorry, so can I remove the usb if I done boot into initramfs from ssh access (usb) and install the openwrt from initramfs?

sampson · February 4, 2023, 4:43am

After flash the factory image to the mtd18/mtd20, and enter all the commands correctly, USB can be removed.

Even not removing it, the router should boot OK.

oneinchashh · February 4, 2023, 4:43am

i see, you mean the ubiformat command?

oneinchashh · February 4, 2023, 4:54am

I already removed it, thank you very much

frollic · February 4, 2023, 6:38am

If you have openssh v9 on your client, you need to use the -O switch with scp Ash: /usr/libexec/sftp-server: not found when using scp

borgqueenx · February 4, 2023, 9:24am

i am now ssh'd into the router with the openwrt image, and getting errors with doing the format..
It's probably because the file you mention in your post, does not exist: "openwrt-snapshot-r21965-6f89a0ca20-ipq807x-generic-dynalink_dl-wrx36-squashfs-factory.ubi"

I also cannot find that file while googling. I tried it with the .bin file that is shared on the installation instructions:
https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/ipq807x/generic/openwrt-ipq807x-generic-dynalink_dl-wrx36-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin

Here are the errors, i expect the device to be bricked when rebooting, so would appriciate asisstance for anyone to link me the correct file i need... Mostly the "filename is not multiple of eraseblock size" error.

EDIT2:
I flashed/ubiformatted a (probably earlier) version that's called https://github.com/robimarko/openwrt/releases/download/ipq807x-2022-12-28-2350/openwrt-ipq807x-generic-dynalink_dl-wrx36-squashfs-factory.ubi , and now the ubiformat had no errors, luckily.

But i want to wait with proceeding anyway, maybe this file version is outdated and not recommended?
Please let me know if this version is ok with proceeding, or if i should copy and ubiformat a different later version.

sampson · February 4, 2023, 10:21am

We should download from official OpenWrt development snapshots.

For ubiformat, we should use the factory image.

borgqueenx · February 4, 2023, 10:47am

What is the factory image? the image file provided by the manufactorer/dynalink?
On the installation page, there is nothing shared towards a .ubi file.
Just the bin file under [Firmware OpenWrt snapshot Upgrade] and the .itb file under [Firmware OpenWrt snapshot Install].

sampson · February 4, 2023, 11:00am

The Official download for WRX36 is at:
https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/ipq807x/generic/

There are 3 images:

|Image for your Device|sha256sum|File Size|Date|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
dynalink_dl-wrx36-initramfs-uImage.itb ab78ed9259f16379d9f8471e2b93f8fdd4819bb1b44de2c5e14390a85b830b4e|11265.0 KB|Fri Feb 3 04:28:48 2023 
dynalink_dl-wrx36-squashfs-factory.ubi 9c2c84ba9b85adba05a1096d540ebe1f9d60f7a383f362ecfa5991cbf577b020|11520.0 KB|Fri Feb 3 04:28:50 2023|
dynalink_dl-wrx36-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin 5a3837b2005129f5636a5a0e0051c7b44ef6ce5d6636c83d36eddcf78bc3d7a9	10730.3 KB	Fri Feb 3 04:28:50 2023

The initramfs is for booting from USB to run the required ubiformat commands
The "factory.ubi" is for writing to mtd18/mtd20 .
The "sysupgrade.bin" is for upgrade (already running OpenWrt)

borgqueenx · February 4, 2023, 11:13am

Thanks! Successfully installed openwrt, and also Luci afterwards, now the next adventure begins, to get wireguard and mesh working on this, but thats offtopic here i suppose. Thanks a lot for the assistance. Although it should be perhaps good to include that link in the installation instructions.

I will make some easy installation instructions and post them here.

What is the sysupgrade.bin file used for then? To upgrade the firmware from luci's firmware settings page?

frollic · February 4, 2023, 11:16am

It's there, just need to read the wiki page carefully enough.

Upgrades when you're already running openwrt.

borgqueenx · February 4, 2023, 11:49am

Here are some windows OS noob-friendly instructions on how to install and get started with OpenWRT using this router.

Advantages of installing OpenWRT:

Getting mesh support with fast roaming/transitioning. Fast roaming is not even supported by leading asus routers.
Able to use wireguard vpn protocol, which is not supported on the standard firmware.
A hell of a lot more of stuff that i personally don't use/know about.

Files you need:
Config file to enable ssh: https://gdteam.net/dynalink_hack/wrx36.cfg (right click, save as)
From the following page you need to grab the following files:
https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/ipq807x/generic/
dynalink_dl-wrx36-initramfs-uImage.itb
dynalink_dl-wrx36-squashfs-factory.ubi

Instructions:

Step 1: The first step is to enable SSH access to the router, so you can remotely give it commands to execute. Head to 192.168.216.1 in your browser to access the web interface.
Use the prepatched config file you downloaded and load it into the router as a restore option, through the web interface.(System Settings>Configuration & Reset)
Once loaded, your router's password has changed. Now, the password for logging into the router is "askey1234". There is no need to change it as we will flash a new OS on the device.

Step 2: Install WinSCP and Putty, simple google searches will get you there.

Step 3: Get a usb drive that is formatted in any FAT format(right-click, format the drive) Copy the openwrt-ipq807x-generic-dynalink_dl-wrx36-initramfs-uImage.itb file to the usb drive, and insert it into your router.

Step 4: Start putty and login into the router. Host name is the device's LAN IP Address, which should be "192.168.216.1". You can find it in Network>LAN on the device's web interface.
Accept the warning message. Login with username admin and password "askey1234". If you cannot login or it says "access denied" try to restart your router.

Step 5: Once logged in with putty, execute the following command:

fw_setenv bootcmd 'usb start && fatload usb 0:1 0x44000000 openwrt-ipq807x-generic-dynalink_dl-wrx36-initramfs-uImage.itb && bootm 0x44000000; bootipq'

and then reboot with the "reboot" command.

Step 6: Now your router is running OpenWRT in temporary memory. You want to install it. Open WinSCP and login using 192.168.1.1 this time, because that's the standard openwrt address. The username is root, and there is no password. Make sure SCP protocol is selected for file protocol for login.

Step 7: Head to the /tmp folder in your router using WinSCP, and copy the openwrt-ipq807x-generic-dynalink_dl-wrx36-squashfs-factory.ubi file there.

Step 8: Head back into putty, login using 192.168.1.1, username root and no password.

Step 9: A slur of commands:

Make sure that rootfs and rootfs_1 should be mtd18 and mtd20 at the result of the following command:

cat /proc/mtd

If (and should) yes, continue with the following two commands:

ubiformat /dev/mtd18 -y -f /tmp/openwrt-ipq807x-generic-dynalink_dl-wrx36-squashfs-factory.ubi

ubiformat /dev/mtd20 -y -f /tmp/openwrt-ipq807x-generic-dynalink_dl-wrx36-squashfs-factory.ubi

IF there were no errors(There shouldn't) then proceed. If there were, ask for help, as you will brick your router if you now restart it or at a power loss.

fw_setenv mtdids 'nand0=nand0'

Now, execute the following command and check the number that is shown:

cat /sys/class/mtd/mtd18/offset

If the number is 16777216, execute the following command:

fw_setenv mtdparts 'mtdparts=nand0:0x6100000@0x1000000(fs),0x6100000@0x7a00000(fs_1)'

If the number is 127926272, execute the following command:

fw_setenv mtdparts 'mtdparts=nand0:0x6100000@0x7a00000(fs),0x6100000@0x1000000(fs_1)'

Almost done. Now execute:

fw_setenv bootcmd 'setenv bootargs console=ttyMSM0,115200n8 ubi.mtd=rootfs rootfstype=squashfs rootwait; ubi part fs; ubi read 0x44000000 kernel; bootm 0x44000000#config@rt5010w-d350-rev0'

You can remove the usb drive and finally reboot with the "reboot" command.

Step 10: Now your router is restarting with OpenWRT. But you do not have a web interface anymore.
This can be solved by executing the following two commands, make sure your router is connected by WAN so it has internet.

opkg update

opkg install luci

Step 11: Now you can access Luci, OpenWRT's interface at 192.168.1.1 and start using OpenWRT!

frollic · February 4, 2023, 11:54am

Are you sure?

borgqueenx · February 4, 2023, 11:57am

I don't do anything with it in the instructions below that, i will add it to instructions if i know where to flash it/how to use it.

I'm glad I didn't need to use linux for anything, though!

sampson · February 4, 2023, 12:43pm

I have 1 WRX36 running stock firmware, and 1 running OpenWrt.

What kind of testing I should be doing before flashing the remaining to OpeWrt?

devaraja666 · February 4, 2023, 1:13pm

Can anyone please confirm if this router has an IOT radio as imore377 show on his post?

Looks like this router might have a zigbee/thread/ble 5.0 radio QPG7015M . Files/utils for it are in /usr/askey_iot and /etc/iot