Flashing an original Asus RT-AX53U using scp?

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

explains how to flash an Asus RT-AX53U Router

Is this possible using scp?

This method seems not optimal for me.

wget https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/22.03.5/targets/ramips/mt7621/openwrt-22.03.5-ramips-mt7621-asus_rt-ax53u-squashfs-factory.bin

This needs an internet connection in the 168.178.0.x net, right? Not so easy to realize for me, I use the Fritzbox net 192.168.178.x

Alternative: Transfer the factory image from your machine to the filesystem:

cat openwrt-22.03.5-ramips-mt7621-asus_rt-ax53u-squashfs-factory.bin | ssh admin@device "cat > /root/openwrt-22.03.5-ramips-mt7621-asus_rt-ax53u-squashfs-factory.bin"

Can I copy the factory file to the router using scp? The syntax with scp looks a lot easier for me,

Something like:

scp openwrt-22.03.5-ramips-mt7621-asus_rt-ax53u-squashfs-factory.bin admin@192.168.0.1:/

Is there something like /tmp with the original firmware or where should I copy the file, if scp can be used.

2

Is the device currently running OpenWrt or some other firmware?

It should be quite easy, actually -- typically just connect the wan port of the AX53U to the lan port of your FB.

2 Likes
3

No it is ordered and it will be running the original Asus firmware.

Not so easy actually. My Fritzbox is in another floor, pretty cold there :wink: Also the WAN port at the Fritzbox is disabled and used as local LAN port.

So you think, after downloading the file, I cannot allow ssh at the brand new Asus RT-AX53U, connect it to a pc without internet, but with net 192.168.0.x That's the way I am connecting all my other routers. In this case I can't use a webinterface for flashing.

Don't know what the original fw supports with ssh. Maybe can I use an usb-drive to copy the file?

if the openwrt-file is on the router, the next step with ssh should be easy:

mtd-write -i openwrt-22.03.5-ramips-mt7621-asus_rt-ax53u-squashfs-factory.bin -d Kernel

admin@device

Should be device normally 192.178.0.1?

I assume mtd-write is available with the original firmware?

4

Bring a sweatshirt with you. It won't take long.
Or maybe run a wire from the FB to a more comfortable location.

That said, in theory scp should work if you download the file to your computer and then send it by scp (after enabling ssh) to the AX53U... but I cannot speak to any quirks of the vendor firmware.

I was talking about the lan port of the FB > wan port of the RT-AX53U.

5

Not necessary, it worked to connect the Asus WAN-port with an Ethernet-port of an Archer C7, which is wireless wds-client.

I did not get it work to configure ssh with the original-FW without Internet. But the connection above did the job, including an Asus-FW-Update to 3.0.0.4.386

But then you have to know some things which is different to the wiki.

After enabling ssh you have to reboot the rooter. I tried a lot ssh connections and was blocked at the end.

You have to define a router account-name and this is the local part for ssh, not admin or root. I don't know if this must be lower case, did it at the end after trying a lot things.

SSH-Keys worked with the correct local part, which you configured before as "router account".

Take care, if you have configured more network-connections with your pc to be always in the "Asus-net".

Since I had an internet connection, I did it as described in the wiki, was not adventorous and tried scp. Especially I was unsure which target path to use, probably it should be /tmp/home/root/.

ax-53@RT-AX53U-0EC8:/tmp/home/root# wget https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/
22.03.5/targets/ramips/mt7621/openwrt-22.03.5-ramips-mt7621-asus_rt-ax53u-squash
fs-factory.bin
--2023-12-21 15:17:56--  https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/22.03.5/targets/ramips/mt7621/openwrt-22.03.5-ramips-mt7621-asus_rt-ax53u-squashfs-factory.bin
Resolving downloads.openwrt.org... 199.232.18.132, 2a04:4e42:41::644
Connecting to downloads.openwrt.org|199.232.18.132|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 9568256 (9.1M) [application/octet-stream]
Saving to: 'openwrt-22.03.5-ramips-mt7621-asus_rt-ax53u-squashfs-factory.bin'

openwrt-22.03.5-ram 100%[===================>]   9.12M  4.85MB/s    in 1.9s    

2023-12-21 15:17:59 (4.85 MB/s) - 'openwrt-22.03.5-ramips-mt7621-asus_rt-ax53u-squashfs-factory.bin' saved [9568256/9568256]

Then:

ax-53@RT-AX53U-0EC8:/tmp/home/root# mtd-write -i openwrt-22.03.5-ramips-mt7621-asus_rt-ax53u-squashfs-factory.bin -d Kernel

Is done very quickly.

ax-53@RT-AX53U-0EC8:/tmp/home/root# reboot

I think this didn't work. I waited 5 minutes and then switched the rooter off and on. Be careful to change the network now to the openwrt-net.

If the old router is one which has the 1st radio with 5GHz, the Asus has 2.4 GHz as 1st radio. Took a while until I found out, why wds did not work because of the changed radios.

6

This topic was automatically closed 10 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.