EA8500 with one partition bricked - noob needs help!

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hello all.
I have a Linksys EA8500 and a WRT1900ACv1.
The WRT1900ACv1 is running DD-WRT and is my gateway and VPN Client provider.
The EA8500 was on stock firmware being used as an AP at the other end of the house.
I thought I'd try OpenWRT on the EA8500 and flashed it with 18.06.1 Stable release.
I first flashed an older stock firmware (1.1.4.169978) to get around the fact that latter firmware will block 3rd party firmware.
It went well and I was playing around with trying to set up openvpn client without much luck.
I browsed the forum for help and someone had answered a similar query by saying that a later update has resolved some issues.
So I decided to flash the Snapshot release.
I used the Snapshot upgrade image (thinking that I was upgrading already from openwrt), not the Snapshot Install release as I probably should have...(was not clear to me)
Result: it boots up and I can ping it but the Luci interface does not come up.
If I swap partitions by turning off/on 3x with 2 second intervals,
I can get to the other partition and Luci works, allowing me access..
I'm still unable to get OpenVPN Client to work and I want to go back to stock firmware for now.

At page https://openwrt.org/toh/linksys/linksys_ea8500 it says "You will need SSH access to the device as Web UI flashing page will reject stock firmware. You will also need version 1.1.4.169978 of the stock firmware and not anything later (like 1.1.5.178908). Upload the stock firmware file to /tmp/ directory on the router and then run: sysupgrade -n -v -F /tmp/FW_EA8500_1.1.4.169978_prod. "
I have the 1.1.4.169978 stock file.
I don't know how to get it from my directory on my windows PC to the tmp directory on the router - the router does not appear on my network.
I want to swap to the damaged partition, copy the stock firmware to its /tmp/ directory and run the sysupgrade command mentioned above to get that partition back to stock.
Can anyone provide the steps needed to do this?
Thank you.
Nick

2

with the snapshot images Luci is not installed so it wont come up unless you install it

3

Oh, ok.
I booted into the bad partition and tried:
opkg update
opkg install luci
but it failed to install.
How do I install Luci into that partition using ssh commands?

4

Why don't you force boot into working partition and flash the new image from there? Images flash onto alternative/non-active partition, so that would achieve the same result.

5

OK,
I could go to the good partition and flash to stock, but:
"You will need SSH access to the device as Web UI flashing page will reject stock firmware. You will also need version 1.1.4.169978 of the stock firmware and not anything later (like 1.1.5.178908). Upload the stock firmware file to /tmp/ directory on the router and then run: sysupgrade -n -v -F /tmp/FW_EA8500_1.1.4.169978_prod. "
I have the 1.1.4.169978 stock file.
I don't know how to get it from my directory on my windows PC to the tmp directory on the router - the router does not appear on my network.

6

I don't know how to get it from my directory on my windows PC to the tmp directory on the router - the router does not appear on my network.

Is the router connected directly to your computer (ethernet on comp/lan on router)? If not, that's how it should be connected when installing firmware. You'll need WinScp to transfer the file to /tmp, you should be able to get the hang of it pretty quickly, it's just drag and drop.

7

Hi Mike,
yes it's via ethernet.
I'll try out WinScp later - thanks.
I've set it up as an AP now using OpenWRT.
Eventually I want to learn enough to get the OpenVPN Client setup + Samba to share an external 2GB USB3 drive.
For now I'd like to get that second partition working - it's a bit like not having a safety net without it.
If I flash the same OpenWRT firmware (openwrt-18.06.1-ipq806x-linksys_ea8500-squashfs-factory.bin) a second time from my current working partition, will that set up a second Luci-based partition and overwrite the Snapshot install, or just stuff up the one I have working correctly now?
I might take a day away from it before doing anything hasty!

8

I don't have an ea8500, but it seems safe to assume it's dual partition works the same as my wrt1200 which also has dual partitions so yes, if you flash from your working partition it will write to the other partition and not affect your working partition. So, if your working partition is partition A and you flash from partition A, it will write to partition B and partition A will be unaffected.

Also, when you flash from OpenWrt make sure to use the firmware named sysupgrade in the file name, the firmware named factory (the one shown in your comment) is for flashing from stock/factory firmware (in your case Linksys) only.

9

Took a break from dead-heading agapanthus plants and flashed the second partition as suggested.
Worked!
I now have both partitions running OpenWRT stable with Luci and with identical setups (AP).
Back to the gardening...

10

@stangri @ianchi @NeoRaider @mkresin

Hi guys I'm upgrading from kernel 4.9 to 4.14 using latest git trunk and upon check on serial boot log it's failing on login.sh, see below bootlog.

Loading from nand0, offset 0x3780000
   Image Name:   ARM OpenWrt Linux-4.14.79
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    2088457 Bytes = 2 MiB
   Load Address: 42208000
   Entry Point:  42208000
Automatic boot of image at addr 0x44000000 ...
   Image Name:   ARM OpenWrt Linux-4.14.79
   Image Type:   ARM Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
   Data Size:    2088457 Bytes = 2 MiB
   Load Address: 42208000
   Entry Point:  42208000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
   Loading Kernel Image ... OK
OK
mtdids not defined, no default present
info: "mtdparts" not set
Using machid 0x1260 from environment

Starting kernel ...

[    0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0
[    0.000000] Linux version 4.14.79 (virtual-machine) (gcc version 8.2.0 (OpenWrt GCC 8.2.0 r8431+70-df1191bcea)) #0 SMP Wed Nov 7 22:37:16 2018
[    0.000000] CPU: ARMv7 Processor [512f04d0] revision 0 (ARMv7), cr=10c5787d
[    0.000000] CPU: div instructions available: patching division code
[    0.000000] CPU: PIPT / VIPT nonaliasing data cache, PIPT instruction cache
[    0.000000] OF: fdt: Machine model: Linksys EA8500 WiFi Router
[    0.000000] Memory policy: Data cache writealloc
[    0.000000] random: get_random_bytes called from 0xc0900928 with crng_init=0
[    0.000000] percpu: Embedded 15 pages/cpu @ddc03000 s29004 r8192 d24244 u61440
[    0.000000] Built 1 zonelists, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 121920
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: console=ttyMSM0,115200n8 ubi.mtd=16
[    0.000000] Bootloader command line (ignored): console=ttyHSL1,115200n8 init=/sbin/init rootfstype=squashfs root=31:16
[    0.000000] PID hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[    0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
[    0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
[    0.000000] Memory: 479456K/491520K available (4807K kernel code, 151K rwdata, 616K rodata, 1024K init, 222K bss, 12064K reserved, 0K cma-reserved, 0K highmem)
[    0.000000] Virtual kernel memory layout:
[    0.000000]     vector  : 0xffff0000 - 0xffff1000   (   4 kB)
[    0.000000]     fixmap  : 0xffc00000 - 0xfff00000   (3072 kB)
[    0.000000]     vmalloc : 0xde800000 - 0xff800000   ( 528 MB)
[    0.000000]     lowmem  : 0xc0000000 - 0xde000000   ( 480 MB)
[    0.000000]     pkmap   : 0xbfe00000 - 0xc0000000   (   2 MB)
[    0.000000]     modules : 0xbf000000 - 0xbfe00000   (  14 MB)
[    0.000000]       .text : 0xc0208000 - 0xc07b1c28   (5800 kB)
[    0.000000]       .init : 0xc0900000 - 0xc0a00000   (1024 kB)
[    0.000000]       .data : 0xc0a00000 - 0xc0a25c80   ( 152 kB)
[    0.000000]        .bss : 0xc0a27000 - 0xc0a5e958   ( 223 kB)
[    0.000000] SLUB: HWalign=64, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=2, Nodes=1
[    0.000000] Hierarchical RCU implementation.
[    0.000000] NR_IRQS: 16, nr_irqs: 16, preallocated irqs: 16
[    0.000000] clocksource: dg_timer: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 305801671480 ns
[    0.000008] sched_clock: 32 bits at 6MHz, resolution 160ns, wraps every 343597383600ns
[    0.000023] Switching to timer-based delay loop, resolution 160ns
[    0.000228] Calibrating delay loop (skipped), value calculated using timer frequency.. 12.50 BogoMIPS (lpj=62500)
[    0.000252] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
[    0.000377] Mount-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.000392] Mountpoint-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.000948] CPU: Testing write buffer coherency: ok
[    0.001723] Setting up static identity map for 0x42300000 - 0x42300060
[    0.001881] Hierarchical SRCU implementation.
[    0.002637] smp: Bringing up secondary CPUs ...
[    0.004464] smp: Brought up 1 node, 2 CPUs
[    0.004482] SMP: Total of 2 processors activated (25.00 BogoMIPS).
[    0.004492] CPU: All CPU(s) started in SVC mode.
[    0.014500] VFP support v0.3: implementor 51 architecture 64 part 4d variant 2 rev 0
[    0.014666] clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 19112604462750000 ns
[    0.014691] futex hash table entries: 512 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
[    0.014788] pinctrl core: initialized pinctrl subsystem
[    0.015610] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[    0.015876] DMA: preallocated 256 KiB pool for atomic coherent allocations
[    0.017242] cpuidle: using governor ladder
[    0.017303] cpuidle: using governor menu
[    0.038686] msm_bus_fabric_init_driver
[    0.040015] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[    0.040104] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[    0.040199] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[    0.040258] pps_core: LinuxPPS API ver. 1 registered
[    0.040269] pps_core: Software ver. 5.3.6 - Copyright 2005-2007 Rodolfo Giometti <giometti@linux.it>
[    0.040300] PTP clock support registered
[    0.042207] clocksource: Switched to clocksource dg_timer
[    0.045539] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[    0.046064] TCP established hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
[    0.046108] TCP bind hash table entries: 4096 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
[    0.046162] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 4096 bind 4096)
[    0.046252] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[    0.046279] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[    0.046467] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[    0.047680] No memory allocated for crashlog
[    0.047932] workingset: timestamp_bits=30 max_order=17 bucket_order=0
[    0.053019] squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
[    0.053034] jffs2: version 2.2 (NAND) (SUMMARY) (LZMA) (RTIME) (CMODE_PRIORITY) (c) 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
[    0.062283] io scheduler noop registered
[    0.062302] io scheduler deadline registered (default)
[    0.064131] qcom-pcie 1b500000.pci: 1b500000.pci supply vdda not found, using dummy regulator
[    0.064178] qcom-pcie 1b500000.pci: 1b500000.pci supply vdda_phy not found, using dummy regulator
[    0.064217] qcom-pcie 1b500000.pci: 1b500000.pci supply vdda_refclk not found, using dummy regulator
[    0.064830] OF: PCI: host bridge /soc/pci@1b500000 ranges:
[    0.064873] OF: PCI:    IO 0x0fe00000..0x0fefffff -> 0x0fe00000
[    0.064909] OF: PCI:   MEM 0x08000000..0x0fdfffff -> 0x08000000
[    0.172678] qcom-pcie 1b500000.pci: link up
[    0.172846] qcom-pcie 1b500000.pci: PCI host bridge to bus 0000:00
[    0.172869] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [bus 00-ff]
[    0.172887] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [io  0x0000-0xfffff] (bus address [0xfe00000-0xfefffff])
[    0.172902] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [mem 0x08000000-0x0fdfffff]
[    0.173448] PCI: bus0: Fast back to back transfers disabled
[    0.175838] PCI: bus1: Fast back to back transfers disabled
[    0.175937] pci 0000:00:00.0: BAR 8: assigned [mem 0x08000000-0x081fffff]
[    0.175962] pci 0000:01:00.0: BAR 0: assigned [mem 0x08000000-0x081fffff 64bit]
[    0.176098] pci 0000:00:00.0: PCI bridge to [bus 01-ff]
[    0.176121] pci 0000:00:00.0:   bridge window [mem 0x08000000-0x081fffff]
[    0.176674] pcieport 0000:00:00.0: AER enabled with IRQ 35
[    0.177219] qcom-pcie 1b700000.pci: 1b700000.pci supply vdda not found, using dummy regulator
[    0.177261] qcom-pcie 1b700000.pci: 1b700000.pci supply vdda_phy not found, using dummy regulator
[    0.177299] qcom-pcie 1b700000.pci: 1b700000.pci supply vdda_refclk not found, using dummy regulator
[    0.177899] OF: PCI: host bridge /soc/pci@1b700000 ranges:
[    0.177936] OF: PCI:    IO 0x31e00000..0x31efffff -> 0x31e00000
[    0.177958] OF: PCI:   MEM 0x2e000000..0x31dfffff -> 0x2e000000
[    0.287886] qcom-pcie 1b700000.pci: link up
[    0.288032] qcom-pcie 1b700000.pci: PCI host bridge to bus 0001:00
[    0.288051] pci_bus 0001:00: root bus resource [bus 00-ff]
[    0.288068] pci_bus 0001:00: root bus resource [mem 0x2e000000-0x31dfffff]
[    0.288530] PCI: bus0: Fast back to back transfers disabled
[    0.290727] PCI: bus1: Fast back to back transfers disabled
[    0.290809] pci 0001:00:00.0: BAR 8: assigned [mem 0x2e000000-0x2e1fffff]
[    0.290832] pci 0001:01:00.0: BAR 0: assigned [mem 0x2e000000-0x2e1fffff 64bit]
[    0.290955] pci 0001:00:00.0: PCI bridge to [bus 01-ff]
[    0.290974] pci 0001:00:00.0:   bridge window [mem 0x2e000000-0x2e1fffff]
[    0.291464] pcieport 0001:00:00.0: AER enabled with IRQ 68
[    0.293853] L2 @ QSB rate. Forcing new rate.
[    0.294066] L2 @ 384000 KHz
[    0.294235] CPU0 @ 800000 KHz
[    0.294248] CPU1 @ QSB rate. Forcing new rate.
[    0.294365] CPU1 @ 384000 KHz
[    0.298333] gsbi 16300000.gsbi: GSBI port protocol: 6 crci: 0
[    0.300209] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 2 ports, IRQ sharing disabled
[    0.301027] msm_serial 16340000.serial: msm_serial: detected port #0
[    0.301116] msm_serial 16340000.serial: uartclk = 7372800
[    0.301201] 16340000.serial: ttyMSM0 at MMIO 0x16340000 (irq = 101, base_baud = 460800) is a MSM
[    0.301242] msm_serial: console setup on port #0
[    1.030016] console [ttyMSM0] enabled
[    1.034810] msm_serial: driver initialized
[    1.043188] loop: module loaded
[    1.045186] nand: device found, Manufacturer ID: 0x01, Chip ID: 0xa1
[    1.045221] nand: AMD/Spansion S34MS01G2
[    1.051732] nand: 128 MiB, SLC, erase size: 128 KiB, page size: 2048, OOB size: 64
[    1.055917] 18 fixed-partitions partitions found on MTD device qcom_nand.0
[    1.063110] Creating 18 MTD partitions on "qcom_nand.0":
[    1.069881] 0x000000000000-0x000000040000 : "SBL1"
[    1.076677] 0x000000040000-0x000000180000 : "MIBIB"
[    1.082935] 0x000000180000-0x0000002c0000 : "SBL2"
[    1.087626] 0x0000002c0000-0x000000540000 : "SBL3"
[    1.089800] random: fast init done
[    1.099300] 0x000000540000-0x000000660000 : "DDRCONFIG"
[    1.102016] 0x000000660000-0x000000780000 : "SSD"
[    1.106081] 0x000000780000-0x000000a00000 : "TZ"
[    1.113341] 0x000000a00000-0x000000c80000 : "RPM"
[    1.118422] 0x000000c80000-0x000000dc0000 : "art"
[    1.121327] 0x000000dc0000-0x000000ec0000 : "APPSBL"
[    1.124768] 0x000000ec0000-0x000000f00000 : "u_env"
[    1.128356] 0x000000f00000-0x000000f40000 : "s_env"
[    1.133044] 0x000000f40000-0x000000f80000 : "devinfo"
[    1.137813] 0x000000f80000-0x000003780000 : "kernel1"
[    1.212297] 0x000001280000-0x000003780000 : "rootfs1"
[    1.277438] 0x000003780000-0x000005f80000 : "kernel2"
[    1.348093] 0x000003a80000-0x000005f80000 : "rootfs2"
[    1.408064] random: crng init done
[    1.413494] 0x000005f80000-0x000008000000 : "syscfg"
[    1.472374] libphy: GPIO Bitbanged MDIO: probed
[    1.493739] switch0: Atheros AR8337 rev. 2 switch registered on gpio-0
[    2.334544] libphy: Fixed MDIO Bus: probed
[    2.335998] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37200000.ethernet: PTP uses main clock
[    2.337848] stmmac - user ID: 0x10, Synopsys ID: 0x37
[    2.344145] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37200000.ethernet: Ring mode enabled
[    2.349085] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37200000.ethernet: DMA HW capability register supported
[    2.355232] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37200000.ethernet: Enhanced/Alternate descriptors
[    2.363221] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37200000.ethernet: Enabled extended descriptors
[    2.370699] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37200000.ethernet: RX Checksum Offload Engine supported
[    2.377811] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37200000.ethernet: COE Type 2
[    2.385715] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37200000.ethernet: TX Checksum insertion supported
[    2.391447] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37200000.ethernet: Wake-Up On Lan supported
[    2.398904] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37200000.ethernet: Enable RX Mitigation via HW Watchdog Timer
[    2.407198] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37400000.ethernet: PTP uses main clock
[    2.414450] stmmac - user ID: 0x10, Synopsys ID: 0x37
[    2.420523] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37400000.ethernet: Ring mode enabled
[    2.425639] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37400000.ethernet: DMA HW capability register supported
[    2.431636] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37400000.ethernet: Enhanced/Alternate descriptors
[    2.439698] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37400000.ethernet: Enabled extended descriptors
[    2.447257] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37400000.ethernet: RX Checksum Offload Engine supported
[    2.454287] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37400000.ethernet: COE Type 2
[    2.462103] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37400000.ethernet: TX Checksum insertion supported
[    2.468000] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37400000.ethernet: Wake-Up On Lan supported
[    2.475374] ipq806x-gmac-dwmac 37400000.ethernet: Enable RX Mitigation via HW Watchdog Timer
[    2.482796] i2c /dev entries driver
[    2.491437] Calibration not found.
[    2.493973] qcom-tsens 900000.thermal-sensor: tsens calibration failed
[    2.498281] Speed bin: 0
[    2.503925] PVS bin: 1
[    2.506910] cpuidle: enable-method property 'qcom,kpss-acc-v1' found operations
[    2.508786] cpuidle: enable-method property 'qcom,kpss-acc-v1' found operations
[    2.516520] sdhci: Secure Digital Host Controller Interface driver
[    2.523292] sdhci: Copyright(c) Pierre Ossman
[    2.529459] sdhci-pltfm: SDHCI platform and OF driver helper
[    2.535626] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[    2.541104] Segment Routing with IPv6
[    2.544046] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[    2.548272] 8021q: 802.1Q VLAN Support v1.8
[    2.552014] Registering SWP/SWPB emulation handler
[    2.557483] qcom_rpm 108000.rpm: RPM firmware 3.0.16777342
[    2.574901] s1a: supplied by regulator-dummy
[    2.574937] s1a: Bringing 0uV into 1050000-1050000uV
[    2.578468] s1b: supplied by regulator-dummy
[    2.583293] s1b: Bringing 0uV into 1050000-1050000uV
[    2.587652] s2a: supplied by regulator-dummy
[    2.592388] s2a: Bringing 0uV into 800000-800000uV
[    2.596907] s2b: supplied by regulator-dummy
[    2.601244] s2b: Bringing 0uV into 800000-800000uV
[    2.608903] ubi0: attaching mtd16
[    2.891400] ubi0: scanning is finished
[    2.901017] ubi0: attached mtd16 (name "rootfs2", size 37 MiB)
[    2.901040] ubi0: PEB size: 131072 bytes (128 KiB), LEB size: 126976 bytes
[    2.905802] ubi0: min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048/2048, sub-page size 2048
[    2.912662] ubi0: VID header offset: 2048 (aligned 2048), data offset: 4096
[    2.919448] ubi0: good PEBs: 296, bad PEBs: 0, corrupted PEBs: 0
[    2.926284] ubi0: user volume: 2, internal volumes: 1, max. volumes count: 128
[    2.932532] ubi0: max/mean erase counter: 9/6, WL threshold: 4096, image sequence number: 828406127
[    2.939504] ubi0: available PEBs: 0, total reserved PEBs: 296, PEBs reserved for bad PEB handling: 20
[    2.948587] ubi0: background thread "ubi_bgt0d" started, PID 60
[    2.949218] block ubiblock0_0: created from ubi0:0(rootfs)
[    2.949223] ubiblock: device ubiblock0_0 (rootfs) set to be root fi¦[    2.981519] VFS: Mounted root (squashfs filesystem) readonly on device 254:0.
[    2.983212] Freeing unused kernel memory: 1024K
[    5.443921] zram: Added device: zram0
failed to find a module named ext4
[    5.473319] zram0: detected capacity change from 0 to 16777216
[    5.475999] init: Can't exec /usr/sbin/mkfs.ext4: No such file or directory
[    5.502202] init: Can't mount /dev/zram0 on /tmp: No such device
[    5.502445] init: Console is alive
[    5.507489] init: - watchdog -
[    5.524121] kmodloader: loading kernel modules from /etc/modules-boot.d/*
[    5.761249] exFAT: Version 1.2.9
[    5.770070] SGI XFS with security attributes, no debug enabled
[    5.775184] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
[    5.777766] SCSI subsystem initialized
[    5.787520] ahci 29000000.sata: AHCI 0001.0300 32 slots 1 ports 6 Gbps 0x0 impl platform mode
[    5.787556] ahci 29000000.sata: flags: ncq sntf pm led clo only pmp pio slum part ccc apst
[    5.795798] scsi host0: ahci
[    5.803536] ata1: DUMMY
[    5.808458] ehci-platform: EHCI generic platform driver
[    5.812063] ohci_hcd: USB 1.1 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver
[    5.814379] ohci-platform: OHCI generic platform driver
[    5.950735] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: xHCI Host Controller
[    5.950819] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[    5.955526] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: hcc params 0x0228f065 hci version 0x100 quirks 0x02010010
[    5.962844] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: irq 105, io mem 0x11000000
[    5.972068] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    5.977768] hub 1-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[    5.981380] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: xHCI Host Controller
[    5.985322] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
[    5.990539] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.0.auto: Host supports USB 3.0  SuperSpeed
[    5.998247] usb usb2: We don't know the algorithms for LPM for this host, disabling LPM.
[    6.005105] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    6.013104] hub 2-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[    6.016827] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.1.auto: xHCI Host Controller
[    6.020669] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.1.auto: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3
[    6.026154] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.1.auto: hcc params 0x0228f065 hci version 0x100 quirks 0x02010010
[    6.033597] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.1.auto: irq 106, io mem 0x10000000
[    6.042672] hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    6.048460] hub 3-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[    6.052206] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.1.auto: xHCI Host Controller
[    6.056135] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.1.auto: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 4
[    6.061373] xhci-hcd xhci-hcd.1.auto: Host supports USB 3.0  SuperSpeed
[    6.069081] usb usb4: We don't know the algorithms for LPM for this host, disabling LPM.
[    6.075993] hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    6.083964] hub 4-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[    6.089525] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[    6.091578] kmodloader: done loading kernel modules from /etc/modules-boot.d/*
[    6.100321] init: - preinit -
[    6.274001] init: Failed to start preinit: No such file or directory
[    6.357032] procd: - early -
[    6.357141] procd: - watchdog -
[    7.027464] procd: - watchdog -
[    7.027976] procd: - ubus -
[    7.083679] procd: - init -
Please press Enter to activate this console.

Failed to execute /usr/libexec/login.sh
Please press Enter to activate this console.

Any ideas what's causing this?

11

Hello, I've the similar issue after not successful sysupgrade TL-WA901ND-v3 with OpenWrt 18.06.01. Failsafe not works. Any reaction on Reset button pressing. The power light lit constantly. Ethernet port doesn't work.
I connected to router via serial port. When router was booting got this:
(a lot non valid symbols at the boot beginning)

[    0.000000] Linux version 4.9.146 (user@debian) (gcc version 7.3.0 (OpenWrt GCC 7.3.0 r7638-c5c20f510a) ) #0 Sat Jan 5 10:24:52 2019
[    0.000000] bootconsole [early0] enabled
[    0.000000] CPU0 revision is: 0001974c (MIPS 74Kc)
[    0.000000] SoC: Atheros AR9341 rev 3
[    0.000000] Determined physical RAM map:
[    0.000000]  memory: 02000000 @ 00000000 (usable)
[    0.000000] Initrd not found or empty - disabling initrd
[    0.000000] Primary instruction cache 64kB, VIPT, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes.
[    0.000000] Primary data cache 32kB, 4-way, VIPT, cache aliases, linesize 32 bytes
[    0.000000] Zone ranges:
[    0.000000]   Normal   [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000001ffffff]
[    0.000000] Movable zone start for each node
[    0.000000] Early memory node ranges
[    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000001ffffff]
[    0.000000] Initmem setup node 0 [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000001ffffff]
[    0.000000] Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 8128
[    0.000000] Kernel command line:  board=TL-WA901ND-v3  console=ttyS0,115200 rootfstype=squashfs noinitrd
[    0.000000] PID hash table entries: 128 (order: -3, 512 bytes)
[    0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
[    0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[    0.000000] Writing ErrCtl register=00000000
[    0.000000] Readback ErrCtl register=00000000
[    0.000000] Memory: 28188K/32768K available (2917K kernel code, 150K rwdata, 388K rodata, 184K init, 202K bss, 4580K reserved, 0K cma-reserved)
[    0.000000] SLUB: HWalign=32, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=1, Nodes=1
[    0.000000] NR_IRQS:51
[    0.000000] Clocks: CPU:535.000MHz, DDR:400.000MHz, AHB:200.000MHz, Ref:25.000MHz
[    0.000000] clocksource: MIPS: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 7144898866 ns
[    0.000011] sched_clock: 32 bits at 267MHz, resolution 3ns, wraps every 8027976190ns
[    0.008245] Calibrating delay loop... 266.64 BogoMIPS (lpj=1333248)
[    0.091055] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
[    0.096044] Mount-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.103029] Mountpoint-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.113628] clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 19112604462750000 ns
[    0.124041] futex hash table entries: 256 (order: -1, 3072 bytes)
[    0.131150] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[    0.137554] MIPS: machine is TP-LINK TL-WA901ND v3
[    0.378088] Can't analyze schedule() prologue at 80335d54
[    0.395703] clocksource: Switched to clocksource MIPS
[    0.402325] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[    0.407898] TCP established hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.415262] TCP bind hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.422027] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 1024 bind 1024)
[    0.428847] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.435024] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.441935] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[    0.451474] Crashlog allocated RAM at address 0x1f00000
[    0.458321] workingset: timestamp_bits=30 max_order=13 bucket_order=0
[    0.472630] squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
[    0.478831] jffs2: version 2.2 (NAND) (SUMMARY) (LZMA) (RTIME) (CMODE_PRIORITY) (c) 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
[    0.499297] io scheduler noop registered
[    0.503437] io scheduler deadline registered (default)
[    0.509249] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 1 ports, IRQ sharing disabled
[    0.516481] console [ttyS0] disabled
[    0.540380] serial8250.0: ttyS0 at MMIO 0x18020000 (irq = 11, base_baud = 1562500) is a 16550A
[    0.549496] console [ttyS0] enabled
[    0.549496] console [ttyS0] enabled
[    0.557058] bootconsole [early0] disabled
[    0.557058] bootconsole [early0] disabled
[    0.569735] m25p80 spi0.0: found s25sl032p, expected m25p80
[    0.575509] m25p80 spi0.0: s25sl032p (4096 Kbytes)
[    0.581423] 5 tp-link partitions found on MTD device spi0.0
[    0.587230] Creating 5 MTD partitions on "spi0.0":
[    0.592186] 0x000000000000-0x000000020000 : "u-boot"
[    0.599566] 0x000000020000-0x0000001423a0 : "kernel"
[    0.607122] 0x0000001423a0-0x0000003f0000 : "rootfs"
[    0.614077] mtd: device 2 (rootfs) set to be root filesystem
[    0.620032] 1 squashfs-split partitions found on MTD device rootfs
[    0.626442] 0x0000002b0000-0x0000003f0000 : "rootfs_data"
[    0.634493] 0x0000003f0000-0x000000400000 : "art"
[    0.641759] 0x000000020000-0x0000003f0000 : "firmware"
[    0.650644] libphy: Fixed MDIO Bus: probed
[    0.674209] libphy: ag71xx_mdio: probed
[    1.307796] ag71xx ag71xx.0: connected to PHY at ag71xx-mdio.1:00 [uid=004dd042, driver=Generic PHY]
[    1.318089] eth0: Atheros AG71xx at 0xb9000000, irq 4, mode:MII
[    1.325568] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[    1.330419] 8021q: 802.1Q VLAN Support v1.8
[    1.341705] VFS: Mounted root (squashfs filesystem) readonly on device 31:2.
[    1.350256] Freeing unused kernel memory: 184K
[    1.354850] This architecture does not have kernel memory protection.
ff[    2.097461] init: Console is alive
[    2.101230] init: - watchdog -
[    2.405735] random: fast init done
[    2.892661] kmodloader: loading kernel modules from /etc/modules-boot.d/*
[    2.975773] kmodloader: done loading kernel modules from /etc/modules-boot.d/*
[    2.984189] init: - preinit -
[    2.989364] init: Failed to start preinit: No such file or directory
[    3.128293] procd: - early -
[    3.131390] procd: - watchdog -
[    3.784476] procd: - watchdog -
[    3.788130] procd: - ubus -
[    3.822669] random: ubusd: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
[    3.915435] random: ubusd: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
[    3.922688] random: ubusd: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
[    3.930536] procd: - init -
Please press Enter to activate this console.
tpl
Failed to executPlease press Enter to activate this console.
[  132.845750] random: crng init done
[  132.849285] random: 5 urandom warning(s) missed due to ratelimiting
Failed to execut
Please press Ent

When trying run command in terminal get
Failed to executPlease press Enter to activate this console.

What ideas form light minds?

12

This system is working.

  • What is the problem?
  • What happened when you press ENTER?
13
  • I can't run any commands
  • When ENTER is pressed for any command got: Failed to executPlease press Enter to activate this console.
14

First of all, this really doesn't have anything in common with the original thread (the TL-WA901ND-v3 doesn't have anything in common with the ea8500, use a different flash type, different arch and SOC, different recovery mechanisms).

That said, if you can't get to a shell via serial console, I'd try (in this order):

  • firstboot to reset the router (void the overlay) to its defaults
  • try push-button tftp recovery
  • flash a new firmware via tftp from the bootloader console (access via serial console)
15

Yes, TL-WA901ND-v3 and ea8500 are different. But I've notice again, I've similar output from console only.
Algorithm for WA901ND described here: https://openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wa901nd
All instructions are correct. The information below will be useful for all noobies faced with resetting any OpenWrt device via console port.
In my case I have had not valid output from console at the start like random special symbols during first 2 seconds. So, don't pay attention on not valid symbols, 'tpl' command runs only during the first 2 seconds of boot time!!!

16

Please make a new thread for your different device.