Inaccessible device after OpenWrt installation

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hello everyone, I'm new here so consider myself a big noob.
I've been searching on the web for quite a while now but since I yet have to encounter a situation like mine I've decided to ask here for help.

I've recently bought a Mi Router 4A Model R4AC and downloaded the latest version of the openwrt firmware supported for my device. I've then used OpenWRTInvasion guide, using the 0.0.1 build to access the device memory and send the openwrt bin to flash it. The installation process produced no errors and the device rebooted as expected in the guide.

I was ignorant of the fact that OpenWRT disables the router wi-fi by default after installation (by reading the wiki), and I'm currently in a place (campus) where I don't have access to LAN ethernet (it's disabled and no DHCP is available, even tho we have lan sockets in the wall); i just have the campus WPA-2 Enterprise wi-fi network available.

My PC Wi-Fi scan reveales a Hidden Network with full signal (router standing next to pc), tho I couldn't manage to access it. I'm now stuck with an unaccessible router, so I can't configure openWrt the way I was supposed to. Is there a way out of this? Thanks

2

Get/Borrow a device with an ethernet port, you'll need it for 30 sec, or custom create an image with wifi enabled, and flash the router again.

3

Okay, but how do I flash again an image to it if it's unreachable?

4

Good point, did you flash it over wifi the 1st time?

5

Yes I flashed it over Wifi, as it was my only available option (and still is atm).
So I would just need to connect it temporarily to another router device, be able to reach its ip adress and enable Wi-Fi from openwrt configuration?

6

Do you have a USB TTL cable? Could get a serial console with that?

7

No I don't, i just managed to retrieve a lan cable.. but I guess connecting it from my laptop end to the router ethernet socket won't do much (never heard/tried of this approach, if it ever exists)

8

That's how it's supposed to be done.

2 Likes
9

If you attach a cable to the lan port on the router to your laptop, you should get an IP from the openwrt box, DHCP should be running by default. You should be able to access the openwrt config page by going to 192.168.1.1

3 Likes
10

Yes if your PC has an Ethernet port, that is how to set it up. Use a single cable point to point from one of the router LAN ports to the PC.

Next if you have a smartphone with hotspot mode, you can use that as a temporary Internet connection to install the packages needed to connect to a campus Enterprise wifi.

2 Likes
11

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