Failed installation on Asus RT-AX53U

Installing and Using OpenWrt
#21

Just rebooted it. Would this help?

# dmesg | head -250
[    0.000000] Linux version 4.4.198 (heidi_wen@sw4-build-server) (gcc version 5.4.0 (LEDE GCC 5.4.0 r0-22e5567) ) #1 SMP Tue Oct 11 18:54:34 CST 2022
[    0.000000] SoC Type: MediaTek MT7621 ver:1 eco:3
[    0.000000] bootconsole [early0] enabled
[    0.000000] CPU0 revision is: 0001992f (MIPS 1004Kc)
[    0.000000] MIPS: machine is MediaTek MT7621 RFB (802.11ax, NAND with NMBM)
[    0.000000] Determined physical RAM map:
[    0.000000]  memory: 10000000 @ 00000000 (usable)
[    0.000000] Initrd not found or empty - disabling initrd
[    0.000000] Zone ranges:
[    0.000000]   DMA      [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000ffffff]
[    0.000000]   Normal   [mem 0x0000000001000000-0x000000000fffffff]
[    0.000000] Movable zone start for each node
[    0.000000] Early memory node ranges
[    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x000000000fffffff]
[    0.000000] Initmem setup node 0 [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x000000000fffffff]
[    0.000000] On node 0 totalpages: 65536
[    0.000000] free_area_init_node: node 0, pgdat 819db040, node_mem_map 81d34000
[    0.000000]   DMA zone: 32 pages used for memmap
[    0.000000]   DMA zone: 0 pages reserved
[    0.000000]   DMA zone: 4096 pages, LIFO batch:0
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 480 pages used for memmap
[    0.000000]   Normal zone: 61440 pages, LIFO batch:15
[    0.000000] VPE topology {2,2} total 4
[    0.000000] Primary instruction cache 32kB, VIPT, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes.
[    0.000000] Primary data cache 32kB, 4-way, PIPT, no aliases, linesize 32 bytes
[    0.000000] MIPS secondary cache 256kB, 8-way, linesize 32 bytes.
[    0.000000] PERCPU: Embedded 10 pages/cpu @81f44000 s9280 r8192 d23488 u40960
[    0.000000] pcpu-alloc: s9280 r8192 d23488 u40960 alloc=10*4096
[    0.000000] pcpu-alloc: [0] 0 [0] 1 [0] 2 [0] 3 
[    0.000000] Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 65024
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: console=ttyS0,115200 rootfstype=squashfs,jffs2
[    0.000000] PID hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
[    0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
[    0.000000] Writing ErrCtl register=0000202b
[    0.000000] Readback ErrCtl register=0000202b
[    0.000000] Memory: 246136K/262144K available (7951K kernel code, 2948K rwdata, 2052K rodata, 220K init, 327K bss, 16008K reserved, 0K cma-reserved)
[    0.000000] SLUB: HWalign=32, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=4, Nodes=1
[    0.000000] Hierarchical RCU implementation.
[    0.000000] NR_IRQS:256
[    0.000000] clocksource: GIC: mask: 0xffffffffffffffff max_cycles: 0xcaf478abb4, max_idle_ns: 440795247997 ns
[    0.000000] clocksource: MIPS: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 4343773742 ns
[    0.000008] sched_clock: 32 bits at 440MHz, resolution 2ns, wraps every 4880645118ns
[    0.007775] Calibrating delay loop... 586.13 BogoMIPS (lpj=2930688)
[    0.070402] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
[    0.075120] Mount-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.081645] Mountpoint-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    8.427728] Primary instruction cache 32kB, VIPT, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes.
[    8.427737] Primary data cache 32kB, 4-way, PIPT, no aliases, linesize 32 bytes
[    8.427748] MIPS secondary cache 256kB, 8-way, linesize 32 bytes.
[    8.427890] CPU1 revision is: 0001992f (MIPS 1004Kc)
[    0.177649] Synchronize counters for CPU 1: done.
[    8.204538] Primary instruction cache 32kB, VIPT, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes.
[    8.204544] Primary data cache 32kB, 4-way, PIPT, no aliases, linesize 32 bytes
[    8.204550] MIPS secondary cache 256kB, 8-way, linesize 32 bytes.
[    8.204620] CPU2 revision is: 0001992f (MIPS 1004Kc)
[    0.268019] Synchronize counters for CPU 2: done.
[    8.294643] Primary instruction cache 32kB, VIPT, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes.
[    8.294649] Primary data cache 32kB, 4-way, PIPT, no aliases, linesize 32 bytes
[    8.294655] MIPS secondary cache 256kB, 8-way, linesize 32 bytes.
[    8.294737] CPU3 revision is: 0001992f (MIPS 1004Kc)
[    0.353203] Synchronize counters for CPU 3: done.
[    0.357934] Brought up 4 CPUs
[    0.361497] devtmpfs: initialized
[    0.369285] clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 19112604462750000 ns
[    0.379064] futex hash table entries: 1024 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
[    0.385358] pinctrl core: initialized pinctrl subsystem
[    0.391152] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[    0.402630] FPU Affinity set after 11720 emulations
[    0.431571] mt7621_gpio 1e000600.gpio: registering 32 gpios
[    0.437203] mt7621_gpio 1e000600.gpio: registering 32 gpios
[    0.442843] mt7621_gpio 1e000600.gpio: registering 32 gpios
[    0.448838] mt7621-pci 1e140000.pcie: Failed to get gpio for PCIe1
[    0.454980] mt7621-pci 1e140000.pcie: Failed to get gpio for PCIe2
[    0.661410] PCIe port 2 link down
[    0.664643] PCI coherence region base: 0x60000000, mask/settings: 0xf0000002
[    0.704321] PCI host bridge to bus 0000:00
[    0.708354] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [mem 0x60000000-0x6fffffff]
[    0.715228] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [io  0x1e160000-0x1e16ffff]
[    0.722000] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [??? 0x00000000 flags 0x0]
[    0.728776] pci_bus 0000:00: No busn resource found for root bus, will use [bus 00-ff]
[    0.736638] pci 0000:00:00.0: [0e8d:0801] type 01 class 0x060400
[    0.736689] pci 0000:00:00.0: reg 0x14: [mem 0x00000000-0x0000ffff]
[    0.736755] pci 0000:00:00.0: supports D1
[    0.736768] pci 0000:00:00.0: PME# supported from D0 D1 D3hot
[    0.737023] pci 0000:00:01.0: [0e8d:0801] type 01 class 0x060400
[    0.737077] pci 0000:00:01.0: reg 0x14: [mem 0x00000000-0x0000ffff]
[    0.737156] pci 0000:00:01.0: supports D1
[    0.737176] pci 0000:00:01.0: PME# supported from D0 D1 D3hot
[    0.737434] pci 0000:00:00.0: bridge configuration invalid ([bus 00-00]), reconfiguring
[    0.745391] pci 0000:00:01.0: bridge configuration invalid ([bus 00-00]), reconfiguring
[    0.753473] pci 0000:01:00.0: [14c3:7916] type 00 class 0x000280
[    0.753570] pci 0000:01:00.0: reg 0x10: [mem 0x00000000-0x000fffff 64bit pref]
[    0.753625] pci 0000:01:00.0: reg 0x18: [mem 0x00000000-0x00003fff 64bit pref]
[    0.753663] pci 0000:01:00.0: reg 0x20: [mem 0x00000000-0x00000fff 64bit pref]
[    0.753773] pci 0000:01:00.0: supports D1 D2
[    0.753786] pci 0000:01:00.0: PME# supported from D0 D1 D2 D3hot D3cold
[    0.754004] pci_bus 0000:01: busn_res: [bus 01-ff] end is updated to 01
[    0.754233] pci 0000:02:00.0: [14c3:7915] type 00 class 0x000280
[    0.754330] pci 0000:02:00.0: reg 0x10: [mem 0x00000000-0x000fffff 64bit pref]
[    0.754377] pci 0000:02:00.0: reg 0x18: [mem 0x00000000-0x00003fff 64bit pref]
[    0.754413] pci 0000:02:00.0: reg 0x20: [mem 0x00000000-0x00000fff 64bit pref]
[    0.754518] pci 0000:02:00.0: supports D1 D2
[    0.754531] pci 0000:02:00.0: PME# supported from D0 D1 D2 D3hot D3cold
[    0.754746] pci_bus 0000:02: busn_res: [bus 02-ff] end is updated to 02
[    0.754782] pci_bus 0000:00: busn_res: [bus 00-ff] end is updated to 02
[    0.754878] pci 0000:00:00.0: BAR 9: assigned [mem 0x60000000-0x601fffff pref]
[    0.762066] pci 0000:00:01.0: BAR 9: assigned [mem 0x60200000-0x603fffff pref]
[    0.769178] pci 0000:00:00.0: BAR 1: assigned [mem 0x60400000-0x6040ffff]
[    0.775963] pci 0000:00:01.0: BAR 1: assigned [mem 0x60410000-0x6041ffff]
[    0.782675] pci 0000:01:00.0: BAR 0: assigned [mem 0x60000000-0x600fffff 64bit pref]
[    0.790407] pci 0000:01:00.0: BAR 2: assigned [mem 0x60100000-0x60103fff 64bit pref]
[    0.798062] pci 0000:01:00.0: BAR 4: assigned [mem 0x60104000-0x60104fff 64bit pref]
[    0.805781] pci 0000:00:00.0: PCI bridge to [bus 01]
[    0.810656] pci 0000:00:00.0:   bridge window [mem 0x60000000-0x601fffff pref]
[    0.817861] pci 0000:02:00.0: BAR 0: assigned [mem 0x60200000-0x602fffff 64bit pref]
[    0.825538] pci 0000:02:00.0: BAR 2: assigned [mem 0x60300000-0x60303fff 64bit pref]
[    0.833239] pci 0000:02:00.0: BAR 4: assigned [mem 0x60304000-0x60304fff 64bit pref]
[    0.840907] pci 0000:00:01.0: PCI bridge to [bus 02]
[    0.845837] pci 0000:00:01.0:   bridge window [mem 0x60200000-0x603fffff pref]
[    0.854761] clocksource: Switched to clocksource GIC
[    0.862444] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[    0.867518] TCP established hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[    0.874404] TCP bind hash table entries: 2048 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
[    0.880873] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 2048 bind 2048)
[    0.887275] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[    0.893023] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[    0.899556] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[    0.903911] PCI: CLS 80 bytes, default 32
[    0.918344] squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
[    0.924110] jffs2: version 2.2 (NAND) (SUMMARY) (LZMA) (RTIME) (CMODE_PRIORITY) (c) 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
[    0.940623] io scheduler noop registered
[    0.944464] io scheduler deadline registered (default)
[    0.951426] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 3 ports, IRQ sharing disabled
[    0.959478] console [ttyS0] disabled
[    0.963014] 1e000c00.uartlite: ttyS0 at MMIO 0x1e000c00 (irq = 33, base_baud = 3125000) is a 16550A
[    0.972033] console [ttyS0] enabled
[    0.978904] bootconsole [early0] disabled
[    0.987795] 1e000d00.uartfull: ttyS1 at MMIO 0x1e000d00 (irq = 34, base_baud = 3125000) is a 16550A
[    0.997600] 1e000e00.uartfull: ttyS2 at MMIO 0x1e000e00 (irq = 35, base_baud = 3125000) is a 16550A
[    1.011394] IMQ driver loaded successfully. (numdevs = 3, numqueues = 1, imq_dev_accurate_stats = 1)
[    1.020533] 	Hooking IMQ after NAT on PREROUTING.
[    1.025225] 	Hooking IMQ before NAT on POSTROUTING.
[    1.030510] libphy: Fixed MDIO Bus: probed
[    1.095033] libphy: mdio: probed
[    1.098789] mtk_soc_eth 1e100000.ethernet: generated random MAC address ca:e9:d7:a4:39:41
[    1.107452] mtk_soc_eth 1e100000.ethernet: connected mac 0 to PHY at fixed-0:00 [uid=00000000, driver=Generic PHY]
[    1.118590] mtk_soc_eth 1e100000.ethernet eth0: mediatek frame engine at 0xbe100000, irq 10
[    1.127009] mtk_soc_eth 1e100000.ethernet: generated random MAC address 3e:57:25:82:50:8c
[    1.135703] mtk_soc_eth 1e100000.ethernet: connected mac 1 to PHY at fixed-0:01 [uid=00000000, driver=Generic PHY]
[    1.146846] mtk_soc_eth 1e100000.ethernet eth1: mediatek frame engine at 0xbe100000, irq 10
[    1.155435] PPP generic driver version 2.4.2
[    1.160051] PPP BSD Compression module registered
[    1.164810] PPP MPPE Compression module registered
[    1.169594] NET: Registered protocol family 24
[    1.174049] PPTP driver version 0.8.5
[    1.177997] register mt_drv
[    1.180962] <--mt7916_hif_init()
[    1.184749] Rx[0] Ring: total 24576 bytes allocated
[    1.194012] Rx[1] Ring: total 16384 bytes allocated
[    1.198997] <-- pci_alloc_tx_rx_ring_mem, Status=0
[    1.236581] 
[    1.236581] 
[    1.236581] === pAd = c0381000, size = 13482752 ===
[    1.236581] 
[    1.247702] <-- RTMPAllocAdapterBlock, Status=0
[    1.252228] PCI CSRBaseAddress =0xc0280000, csr_addr=0xc0280000!
[    1.258248] RTMPInitPCIeDevice():device_id=0x7915
[    1.262935] mt7915_init()-->
[    1.265812] Use the default iPAiLNA bin image!
[    1.270310] <--mt7915_init()
[    1.273469] RtmpOSFileOpen(): Error 2 opening /etc/wireless/l1profile.dat
[    1.281276] wdev_init(caller:RTMP_COM_IoctlHandle+0x39c/0x18ac), wdev(0)
[    1.288902] Rx[0] Ring: total 24576 bytes allocated
[    1.293967] Rx[1] Ring: total 24576 bytes allocated
[    1.301252] Rx[2] Ring: total 8192 bytes allocated
[    1.310401] Rx[3] Ring: total 16384 bytes allocated
[    1.317646] Rx[4] Ring: total 8192 bytes allocated
[    1.322482] <-- pci_alloc_tx_rx_ring_mem, Status=0
[    1.329102] GACT probability NOT on
[    1.332600] Mirror/redirect action on
[    1.336335] u32 classifier
[    1.339025]     Performance counters on
[    1.342835]     input device check on
[    1.346490]     Actions configured
[    1.349911] Netfilter messages via NETLINK v0.30.
[    1.354667] nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (3845 buckets, 15380 max)
[    1.361138] ctnetlink v0.93: registering with nfnetlink.
[    1.366706] xt_time: kernel timezone is -0000
[    1.371275] gre: GRE over IPv4 demultiplexor driver
[    1.376342] ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[    1.381933] arp_tables: (C) 2002 David S. Miller
[    1.387994] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[    1.394474] ip6_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[    1.400215] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[    1.404665] NET: Registered protocol family 15
[    1.409160] bridge: automatic filtering via arp/ip/ip6tables has been deprecated. Update your scripts to load br_netfilter if you need this.
[    1.421773] l2tp_core: L2TP core driver, V2.0
[    1.426153] l2tp_ppp: PPPoL2TP kernel driver, V2.0
[    1.430926] 8021q: 802.1Q VLAN Support v1.8
[    1.437890] mtkmips-pinmux pinctrl: spi is already enabled
[    1.443371] mtk-nand 1e003000.nand: Error applying setting, reverse things back
[    1.451220] nand: device found, Manufacturer ID: 0x01, Chip ID: 0xf1
[    1.457566] nand: AMD/Spansion S34ML01G2
[    1.461471] nand: 128 MiB, SLC, erase size: 128 KiB, page size: 2048, OOB size: 64
[    1.469730] Scanning device for bad blocks
[    3.165453] nmbm nmbm: Signature found at block 1023 [0x07fe0000]
[    3.174882] nmbm nmbm: First info table with writecount 0 found in block 960
[    3.191538] nmbm nmbm: Second info table with writecount 0 found in block 963
[    3.198795] nmbm nmbm: NMBM has been successfully attached
[    3.204299] 7 ofpart partitions found on MTD device nmbm
[    3.209595] Creating 7 MTD partitions on "nmbm":
[    3.214195] 0x000000000000-0x0000000e0000 : "Bootloader"
[    3.220982] 0x0000000e0000-0x0000001e0000 : "nvram"
[    3.227285] 0x0000001e0000-0x0000002e0000 : "Factory"
[    3.233660] 0x0000002e0000-0x0000003e0000 : "Factory2"
[    3.240232] 0x0000003e0000-0x0000035e0000 : "Kernel"
[    3.565178] 2 fit-fw partitions found on MTD device Kernel
[    3.570669] 0x0000003e0000-0x0000007a0000 : "linux"
[    3.576972] 0x00000078f094-0x0000035e0000 : "rootfs"
[    3.583547] mtd: device 7 (rootfs) set to be root filesystem
[    3.589259] 0x0000035e0000-0x0000067e0000 : "Kernel2"
[    3.596030] 0x0000067e0000-0x000007800000 : "jffs2"
[    3.634892] mt753x gsw: Switch is MediaTek MT7530 rev 1
[    3.661598] libphy: mt753x_mdio: probed
[    3.671626] hctosys: unable to open rtc device (rtc0)
[    3.684288] offset 0x14000 elapse 0ms
[    3.703690] found private data block and skip it
[    3.720812] VFS: Mounted root (squashfs filesystem) readonly on device 31:7.
[    3.745277] devtmpfs: mounted
[    3.748844] Freeing unused kernel memory: 220K
[    3.753269] This architecture does not have kernel memory protection.
[    5.522040] mt753x gsw: Port 1 Link is Up - 100Mbps/Full
[    6.721656] mt753x gsw: Port 0 Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full
[   11.706965] init (1): drop_caches: 1
[   13.716045] random: init: uninitialized urandom read (5 bytes read, 43 bits of entropy available)
[   15.734745] nvram_commit(): pid 1 comm [init]
[   15.738825] found private data block and skip it
[   16.355126] random: init: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read, 48 bits of entropy available)
[   16.364043] random: init: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read, 48 bits of entropy available)
[   18.145379] mt753x gsw: Port 0 Link is Down
[   18.149690] mt753x gsw: Port 1 Link is Down
[   20.880364] mt753x gsw: Port 0 Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full
[   23.514768] nvram_commit(): pid 1 comm [init]
[   23.518906] found private data block and skip it
[   25.574752] nvram_commit(): pid 1 comm [init]
[   25.578851] found private data block and skip it
[   26.464150] jffs2: notice: (1) jffs2_build_xattr_subsystem: complete building xattr subsystem, 0 of xdatum (0 unchecked, 0 orphan) and 0 of xref (0 dead, 0 orphan) found.
[   28.484768] nvram_commit(): pid 1 comm [init]
[   28.490842] found private data block and skip it

Thanks a lot for your help!

#22

I see nothing odd, sadly. writing 20.03.2 should work, as in, what you've tried here:

1 Like
#23

I do have a theory about this.
We didn't yet prove that the bootloader of this device is capable to run the 2nd Kernel partition if it can't boot the first one, that just might be the case here.
If there's something broken with the 22.03 builds it will (theoretically) boot the 2nd partition that OpenWrt doesn't currently touch, so you have the official firmware intact on it, which the bootloader boots.
I will try today to flash that specific build and see what's going on via serial, and maybe try to trash the OpenWrt partition to see what will the device do.
LE: yup, just checked. If it can't boot the first partition (Kernel, I've trashed it on purpose) it will check the 2nd partition (Kernel2) and if that's ok, it will copy it to Kernel. Log:

Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0

  *** U-Boot Boot Menu ***

     1. Startup system (Default)
     2. Upgrade firmware
     3. Upgrade bootloader
     4. Upgrade bootloader (advanced mode)
     5. Load image
     0. U-Boot console


  Press UP/DOWN to move, ENTER to select
Reading from 0x1e0000, size 0x100000
Succeeded

RT-AX53U bootloader version: 1.0.0.0
Reading from 0x1e0000, size 0x100000
Succeeded
MAC Address: FC:34:97:0C:A0:60
Reading from 0x1e0000, size 0x40000
Succeeded
Check Factory's EEPROM successfully! (r = 16)
Reading from 0x2e0000, size 0x40000
Succeeded
Check Factory2's EEPROM successfully! (r = 16)
Reading from 0x3e0000, size 0x2000
Succeeded
Reading from 0x3e0000, size 0x3f
Succeeded
Bad TRX magic.
Reading from 0x35e0000, size 0x2000
Succeeded
Reading from 0x35e0000, size 0x29c86f8
Succeeded
   Image Name:
   Image Type:   MIPS Linux Kernel Image (lzma compressed)
   Data Size:    43812536 Bytes = 41.8 MiB
   Load Address: 81001000
   Entry Point:  81001000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK

## 1st FW damaged; 2nd FW good ...
Erasing from 0x3e0000, size 0x29c86f8 ...
Succeeded
Writing to 0x3e0000, size 0x29c86f8
Succeeded

## Fix 1st FW and boot from 2st FW ...
## Loading kernel from FIT Image at 83000040 ...

But I did flash 22.03.2 without any issues, and without a serial console I can't imagine why yours doesn't like OpenWrt.

1 Like
OpenWrt support for Asus AX1800HP
#24

Hi,

I just bought the device and almost got afraid of flashing it due to this post ^^
(I took backups of all mtd partitions though and ASUS recovery should get the device booting again in most cases)
Flashing worked like a charm.
I rebooted with "reboot" command and when just the "Internet" LED (Saturn icon) kept on blinking, I used the power switch to reboot forcefully. Then OpenWRT booted up with LuCI. (I flashed the newest release)

Good luck @paemuri in getting yours flashed :slight_smile:

Stuff I noticed:
The router updates itself even when autoupdates are disabled (atleast it did for me).
(It was in Access Point mode and connected via WAN to my AVM Fritz!Box)
Unless the Fritz!Box somehow told it to update (some TR-Protocols), it did so on its own.

Maybe a bit offtopic:
I'm wondering whether it's hard to create actual images for the device to flash via stock web gui. Asus ships .trx files after all since it's an OpenWRT fork. I might binwalk the official trx files if I have the time.
https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/image.format
But if anyone's already working on this, pls tell me. I have never done something like this and still need to figure out where to start ^^

#25

Regarding the stock flashable image, not worth doing it, it will cause useless NAND wear, flashing the image twice (first on backup then on main partition).
I'm currently running a self built image with patches gathered from different pull requests and comments, expanding the usable space in OpenWrt

Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root                 5.3M      5.3M         0 100% /rom
tmpfs                   122.0M      1.2M    120.8M   1% /tmp
/dev/ubi0_1              91.2M     56.0K     86.4M   0% /overlay
overlayfs:/overlay       91.2M     56.0K     86.4M   0% /
tmpfs                   512.0K         0    512.0K   0% /dev
2 Likes
#26

That was something else I was wondering about:
Whether it's possible to change the partition layout without modifying the bootloader.
Nice that that's possible :slight_smile:

Maybe it's useless to flash both partitions but if any update in the future fails, it would reboot to stock firmware without those patches, right?

I actually bought the device to add Gluon support since it seems to be a great entry device with WiFi6 support that we could recommend to our Freifunk users.

I would kinda like the ability to switch to OpenWRT/Freifunk via GUI more than explaining our users how to flash via ssh. Even if it's not all that complicated, it's way less work since you don't need to install/run any additional software for ssh. And we wouldn't run into issues like this thread and the first reboot of the device would work without a kernel panic ^^

Or is the current .bin already flashable via stock GUI? (probably not)

#27

Hi. I have the same problem as paemuri. I tried to install newest release - 22.03.2 via ssh. After reboot command router booted properly, so I configured wifi, dhcp etc. and everything was working. After that I wanted to move device to other room. Router didn't boot second time. Power led lights up than led for connected ethernet cable blinks but only once. All led goes out for a while and process starts from beginning. I recovered firmware by Asus firmware restoration tool and tried to install again, but unsuccessfully.

#28

I had similar issues:
a) the image shown in the wiki will brick your router. You have to use the latest image for openwrt 22.03, available in the table on the same wiki
b) not sure if it's relevant but I gave it a few minutes of idle after mtd-write
c) After proper flashing, router has only one LED is lit (which is different from asus default where many LEDs are flashing) - one can think it's bricked while it's not
d) !SUPER IMPORTANT! don't forget to turn back DHCP to ON on your LAN interface. I had static address set 192.168.1.10 (for the purpose of restoring bricked device) and it couldn't connect with newly flashed open_wrt device. Router behaved like if it was bricked.

I struggled so much with this so much, please edit wiki instruction so it references only latest image for mtd-write.

Thanks a lot!

#29

In my case every image causes the same. I recorded video how it looks like: https://streamable.com/fr99z9
After that I had to use Asus app to recover firmware. After recovering, all setting (lan, wan etc) are the same as before flashing openwrt, so its very interesting.

#30

the settings are stored in a partition called nvram, I think, which openwrt doesn't touch. that's why everything is as it was before.

#31

Hi there!
I just got the ASUS RT-AX53U and followed the wiki in order to flash OpenWRT.
It didn't flash the firmware the first time so the second time I waited for 10 minutes before rebooting the router and everything worked fine.

This is the file I used:
mtd-write -i openwrt-22.03.2-ramips-mt7621-asus_rt-ax53u-squashfs-factory.bin -d Kernel

Regards.

1 Like
#32

OK, now 22.03.3 has been released.