Installing 23.05 on EA8300 from scratch

[gamma-577]

Hello Experts!

I am thinking of installing OW ver 23.05 directly on Linksys EA8300. Both the partitions have OEM fw.

Will that result in a soft brick? The official route is installing ver 22.03 and then increasing the kernel size to 5 mb and then flashing 23.05 factory image.

Do I need to increase kernel size explicitely? I appreciate your advice.

Thank you!

-Gamma

[frollic]

https://openwrt.org/toh/linksys/ea8300#preparation_for_oem_gui-based_install

[badulesia]

@gamma-577

Do I need to increase kernel size explicitely? I appreciate your advice.

It is mandatory !
I was part of the testers of this, back in dec 2022.
The tutorial (@frollic 's link) is copied from the one I have done for the MR8300.

@gamma-577

Will that result in a soft brick?

You still can reverse to OEM on the other partition using the power button trick.

[jc1685]

If you install 22.03, change the kernel size and then upgrade to 23.05, both of the OEM partitions will be overwritten. If you need the OEM firmware you will need to come up with another strategy. I use that exact device and have overwritten both OEM firwares and never looked back.

[gamma-577]

Hi @badulesia,

Thank you for a prompt and quick reply !

I will stick to the official route. I want to retain both the fws OEM alongwith OW. The caveat is flashing OW from OEM and vice a versa. Thanks.

-Gamma

[gamma-577]

Hello @jc1685 ,

Yes, I will need to put a strategy. The reason I am retaining OEM fw is calibration data. I don't know how important is that though.

The obvious strategy is flashing a partition while running the router from other partition. In addidion there is a way to enable ssh access in OEM fw.

Thanks.

-Gamma

Edit : Grammer

[badulesia]

I'm using OpenWrt on both partitions. It works wonderfully. Strictly no issue.
You can easily switch from one partition to another using luci-app-advanced-reboot
(for example by keeping a stable while testing a snapshot).

@gamma-577

calibration data

You can save the mtdblock using Luci (or CLI)

[gamma-577]

@badulesia ,

Kindly excuse my ignorence but how do I know which mtd block should be saved? And how do I copy it to OW partition?

Thank you!

-Gamma

[badulesia]

Luci > system > backup > Save mtdblock > choose partition art

.

[gamma-577]

Got it. Will try out. Thanks.
-Gamma

[badulesia]

I have doubt, it may be caldata partition. I don't have the router to check. Can someone else confirm or infirm?

[gamma-577]

Hi @badulesia ,

Thank you for asking the confirmation. One way to copy the caldata is :

cp /mnt/ubi/lib/firmware/IPQ4019/FCC/* /lib/firmware/IPQ4019/hw.1/
cp /mnt/ubi/lib/firmware/QCA9888/FCC/* /lib/firmware/QCA9888/hw.2/

source : https://souktha.github.io/misc/ea8300-openwrt/#minimum-configuration

The above procedure is for american router. I am not sure if I can follow this method for the UK. I have ordered the router, but yet to arrive. I will check the actual details once I get the router.

Thanks once again.

-Gamma

[badulesia]

I have checked the document you've linked. It describes a way to import Linksys files within an experimental old OpenWrt. It's not what you are looking for.
Just stick to the Luci method, it's simple and reliable.

[gamma-577]

@badulesia , I appreciate your advice. I will stick to that. Thank you!
-Gamma

[gamma-577]

Hello Experts!

The router came in yesterday with OEM image on mtd 13 ( alt partition ). I successfully installed OW 22.03.6 on main partition ( mtd 11 ). Immediately I increased the kernel size to 500000.

I tried to create ssh access to OEM image. The files are in place. The OEM booted well. But no ssh access.

The triple boot failure trick did not work either. I tried many times. The OW 22.03.6 partition became inaccessible. I didn't mind though as I overwrote it with latest OW fw 23.05.3.

So for sake of protecting OW partition access I have to overwrite OEM image with another OW image.

Before I do that, just a quick question. Is there any other method to change the boot partition from OEM to OW ?

Thanks.

-Gamma

[badulesia]

Many thing wrong here.

@gamma-577

The router came in yesterday with OEM image on mtd 13 ( alt partition ).

OEM software is installed on both partitions, and should start first with partition A (mtd11).

@gamma-577

I tried to create ssh access to OEM image

This tutorial is totaly outdated and potentially dangerous. It is meant for an experimental OpenWrt. DO NOT follow its instructions, and better forget about it ! You can't have SSH access with OEM. Furthermore it is meaningless as the goal is to install OpenWrt.

@gamma-577

The triple boot failure trick did not work either. I tried many times.

It works. You still have OEM on both partitions.

@gamma-577

So for sake of protecting OW partition access I have to overwrite OEM image with another OW image.

There is no need to overwrite OEM. You can do it or keep it. It works in both case. It's just a choice. You can always restore OEM by flashing it from OpenWrt.

[gamma-577]

Hi @badulesia ,

Thank you for your comments.

@badulesia

should start first with partition A (mtd11).

It's a used router. Multiple updates had changed the mtd partition, it seems.

@badulesia

DO NOT follow its instructions, and better forget about it !

Done!

@badulesia

It works. You still have OEM on both partitions.

I followed the instructions here : https://openwrt.org/toh/linksys/ea8300#recovery_automatic

Somehow the router still booted into the current OEM partition mtd13. So I reinstalled OW 23.05.3 on mtd11 and overwrote OEM fw with OW 22.03.6 ( on mtd13 ).

About the triple boot failure trick, later I found that I was waiting too long while router switched off. When I minimised that break, the trick did work. As of now I've OW on both the partitions. The OEM fw is so compulsive and unattractive that I've decided to keep the other partition for OW experiments.

I really appreciate your though provoking inputs. Thank you once again!

-Gamma

[badulesia]

Sounds better now. Enjoy.