I have three EA8300s. They are definitely tri-band.
Since that is the case, then there is a slight driver difference on the 2nd 5Ghz Radio and 2.4Ghz radio. It shows up but it doesn't work at all. The 2nd 5ghz is non-existent in Luci.
I got ballsy and did a sysupgrade on the MR8300 and it works perfectly. Please share the news. Only thing is you have a to use the serial method of flashing to install as you can't do this via the gui. I'll keep updated with future updates.
Some changes need to be made to have this device working, even if it's an exact copy of an EA8300.
For instance, you mentioned a difference in RAM and wireless not working as expected.
Now that you can boot into openwrt and know the partition table, mount the firmware partition (root_fs) and extract all relevant information such as wifi drivers and additional hardware configuration.
If it follows other Linksys devices you can get the device tree from the FIT image that holds the kernel -- additionally you load the FIT image in u-boot and extract the DTB from there, ping me if you need assistance.
What speed of transfer you got over the tftp?
It was a couple megs or so. So in order to flash Openwrt on the MR8300 it must be on partition 2 and not partition 1.
So do the following:
- Boot into U-boot
- tftp 84000000 [filename].itb (initramfs)
- bootipq
- bootm (this loads your tftp flash from memory)
- Login to OpenWRT
- Go to update firmware and flash the sysupgrade.bin
- After reboot you'll have a good running openwrt router.
So there isn't any needed drivers or builds required other than the one built for the EA8300. It has more RAM than the EA8300 and I am not sure about space. Also the bluetooth doesn't work either. I am running this as we speak and I haven't seen any issues. So this can be listed as usable just the means of flashing is via tftp only.
Will be very happy if any official OpenWRT support is able for Linksys MR8300.
Have a MR8300 myself but doesn't have any serial access device.
Also I have some kind of log generated by sysinfo.cgi
-----Boot Data-----
cat /proc/cmdline: init=/sbin/init rootfstype=ubifs ubi.mtd=13,2048 root=ubi0:ubifs rootwait rw clk_ignore_unused
cat /proc/mtd: dev: size erasesize name
mtd0: 00100000 00020000 "0:SBL1"
mtd1: 00100000 00020000 "0:MIBIB"
mtd2: 00100000 00020000 "0:QSEE"
mtd3: 00080000 00020000 "0:CDT"
mtd4: 00080000 00020000 "0:APPSBLENV"
mtd5: 00080000 00020000 "0:ART"
mtd6: 00200000 00020000 "0:APPSBL"
mtd7: 00080000 00020000 "u_env"
mtd8: 00040000 00020000 "s_env"
mtd9: 00040000 00020000 "devinfo"
mtd10: 05800000 00020000 "kernel"
mtd11: 05500000 00020000 "rootfs"
mtd12: 05800000 00020000 "alt_kernel"
mtd13: 05500000 00020000 "alt_rootfs"
mtd14: 00100000 00020000 "sysdiag"
mtd15: 04680000 00020000 "syscfg"
Memory Use:
free
total used free shared buffers
Mem: 500872 158140 342732 0 0
-/+ buffers: 158140 342732
Swap: 0 0 0
If there is something that I can provide, please ask and I'll provide.
(Also the GPL code of this router is released on Linksys' GPL page.)
There actually is. So I kind of did some tomfoolery and flashed the EA8300 firmware on this device and it actually works. Again the only way to get it flash is via serial since the oem firmware doesn't allow for it to be flashed otherwise. When you look at the SOC's MR8300, MR9000 and EA8300 they are exactly the same. The MR8300 and MR9000 have 512MB of RAM instead of 256 like the EA8300. I suspect I need to create a fork or builds of this for us MR8300 folks?
Is the MR8300 conversion to OpenWRT still only via serial ?
I have several issues with the OEM firmware :
- Wi-Fi drops every once in a while
- Impossible to have stable Wi-Fi on iPhones 7 and 8 using Zoiper voip soft phone, which keeps de-registering showing "not ready"
- OEM firmware completely dummed out compared to EA8300
So I just bought a refurbished EA8300, namely because of OPENWRT support, price, very decent flash + ram size, double firmware backup.
Flashed this baby twice to latest OEM firmware, in order to fall back if required. I then proceeded to flash to 19.07.3 and WOW :
- In the farther rooms, now getting full 3 bar signal on my iPads and iPhones, where I only got 2 bars with my previous routers Archer C60 and the MR8300
- No more intermittent Wi-Fi drops
- Most importantly Zoiper works perfectly now with my iPhones
I must say I had previously bought an EA8300 prior to the MR8300 back in 2019, but it didn't fix the C60 signal strength issue and as such I returned it.
I later got my hands on the MR8300 for $100 CAD new, primarily lured by killer price, mesh and the fact the EA's firmware was quite a step up from my C60's. What a deception the dummed MR was compared to the EA, but I decided to keep it considering the killer price and decent upgrade to the C60.
However, as impressed I am with the EA's brain surgery, I am now itching to upgrade my MR8300 to same. However, I would very much prefer to avoid using a scalpel with a serial intervention.
My questions here are as follows :
Has the MR8300 been locked out from GUI upgrade by Linksys the way TP-LINK did to my C60, or this is an issue that will be resolved in a future release of OpenWRT ?
Also, do I just need to be patient and official support is in the works ?
This is my first post here, hopefully I didn't rant too much...
I really like OpenWRT, never felt so much in control before !
Has the MR8300 been locked out from GUI upgrade by Linksys the way TP-LINK did to my C60, or this is an issue that will be resolved in a future release of OpenWRT ?
That was the first thing I figured out when I picked up this router. No way to flash the "easy way". That wasn't too bad to do and these happen to come apart pretty easy. I do suggest making the serial port exposed outside if you can swing it (Did this to my EA9500 and both of my MR8300's).
Also, do I just need to be patient and official support is in the works ?
If you look at the hardware of the MR8300/9000 vs EA8300 they are exactly the same. What separates the two is the fact that the MR has 512MB of RAM vs the EA's 256MB of RAM. Both are ipq40xx, in a way you could say it's like the WRTxxxxAC router family just with a different chipset. As of yesterday I confirmed that 802.11s is working well (of course standard wifi and all other normal features work as well). Or the TLDR, it is supported there just isn't a guide to do what I did yet. From what I gather though looks like I may be having to continue supporting this and get another thread together.
Should I understand the exposed serial port is because the only way to update OpenWRT once installed is via serial or it's just in case you want to revert to stock OEM fw and re-flash back to OpenWRT because you put yourself in trouble and need back to stock in order to start from scratch ?
Since the HW seems to be same as EA8300, except for ram, I was thinking of flashing stock EA8300 fw to MR, essentially turning MR to EA and then flashing to OpenWRT like I did successfully with my EA. Did you ever go there ? Or might this be a venue to GUI upgrade ?
OK, I just rebooted the MR, just to find out the stock fw doesn't have a specific file upload choice, just an upgrade from detected new available version from Linksys. Boy, this stock fw has been very seriously dumb-ed out compared to the EA. So that kills the thought of an EA fw flash.
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Would appreciate if it were possible to obtain a step by step guide on upgrading MR8300 to OpenWRT.
I was reading thread and I don't quite seem to follow from A to Z, there seems to be some assumptions along the way...
Would anyone be so kind ? I am new to this, the EA8300 upgrade went super fine from the first try, but I am itching to upgrade the MR. Please...
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I'll be more than happy to write one up for you. I'll have to take some pictures and get screen shots. Give me a few and I'll start a new thread with said guide.
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Many thanks, looking forward to my upgrade !
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+1 For a step by step guide on installing OpenWRT on the MR8300 as well.
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Anyone do a tcpdump to see how the router checks for OEM updates? Is it possible to fool it to get an image from somewhere else than the official server?
Hi @GillyMoMo, I wrote some detailed instructions on flashing the MR8300 based on the comments on this thread. I'd like to share them with you in case they can be helpful for the guide you're writing.
Could you post the instructions?
Hello all, i own an MR8300 and was able to install OpenWRT via the web. You need to go to http://routerip/fwupdate.html
It works!