First time installation on TP-Link RE6000XD

[hroemer]

Hey there,

I have been using OpenWRT on a couple of devices in the past, but now struggle installing it on a new device TP-Link RE6000XD.

I could only find sysupgrade.bin and initramfs-kernel.bin, which would / do not work via vendor web interface.

I also could not discover whether this device has a TFTP server or client running, it just did not respond and didn't show anything obvious in the network traces.

Any help really appreciated!

[frollic]

@hroemer

I could only find sysupgrade.bin and initramfs-kernel.bin, which would / do not work via vendor web interface.

tried the git.openwrt.org link on the hwdata page you posted ?

@hroemer

I also could not discover whether this device has a TFTP server or client running

u-boot usually have a TFTP client.

@hroemer

it just did not respond and didn't show anything obvious in the network traces.

since it seems to require serial, it won't, until you actually hook it (serial) up.

[hroemer]

Thanks for the quick reply.
I didn't expect the instructions in the commit message.
Apologies for the noise!

[hroemer]

I am still waiting for the UART connector to be delivered and in the meantime I opened the box which was actually quite an effort.

I was somehow expecting to see a UART socket on the board, but could only find 4 pin holes at the edge so far.

Maybe it is located underneath the heatspreader, but I am hesitating to remove it.

Is it plausible that the pin holes are connected to the UART transmitter like mentioned in Using UART with ‘holes only’?
If yes, how am I able to determine the correct mapping of Rx, Tx and Gnd?
Trial and error?

[frollic]

@hroemer

Maybe it is located underneath the heatspreader, but I am hesitating to remove it.

Flip the board on the short edge, where all the antennas are attached.

Although I think you found the right holes.

[hroemer]

Thanks, I flipped the board and now see at least some marks. I assume that the arrow pointing to the right most pinhole could be VCC:

So I guess it could be from left to right: GND, RX, TX, VCC !?

According to the commit message it seems to be from left to right:

VCC, GND, TX, RX

Should I really power the device and measure GND and VCC as described in Hardware Hacking: Finding UART Pinouts on PCBs

Sorry, it has been a long time since I was doing any electronics.

[frollic]

@hroemer

Should I really power the device and measure GND and VCC as described in Hardware Hacking: Finding UART Pinouts on PCBs

TLDR, but the guide looked sane...

[hroemer]

Thanks to your advices, it finally worked out!

This image shows the backside of the board and is connected to the UART transmitter as follows:

• RXD: red
• TXD: orange
• GND: brown

I then followed the instructions in the commit message and was able to sysupgrade.

I need to do some follow up testing with the system and its settings, but have to postpone to at least next weekend.

Thank you very much!!