LEDE cannot save settings, filesystem full

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hello,

I'm the owner of a Netgear wn2000rpt v1 and I recently installed LEDE (I tried to install the latestet version of OpenWrt but it threw kernel panics error at me due to some filesystem problem). To do so I mostly followed those instructions https://www.tnhh.net/posts/lede-on-wnr2000v1-unsupported-hardware.html tldr, connect on the router throught uart / serial, and flash AR71XX's LEDE version.

Everything is working fine, except that my filesystem looks completly full. Thus (I assume that's why) it doesn't save settings and loose everything upon restart which is problematic. Here's the result of a df -h

root@LEDE:/tmp# df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root                 2.3M      2.3M         0 100% /rom
tmpfs                    13.7M    308.0K     13.4M   2% /tmp
tmpfs                    13.7M     56.0K     13.7M   0% /tmp/root
overlayfs:/tmp/root      13.7M     56.0K     13.7M   0% /
tmpfs                   512.0K         0    512.0K   0% /dev

And the weirdest part is I can create new file using 'touch' ...
So I'm not sure of what's going on here. 'firstboot' didn't help at all.

Did anybody experienced something similar before ?

LEDE / OpenWrt version : 17.01.7, r4030-6028f00df0
Router : Netgear wn2000rpt v1

3

You are using a ram disk only, your overlayfs is only temporary.

Due to
https://openwrt.org/supported_devices/432_warning

5 Likes
4

But why did it install itself on a RAM disk ?

I followed the procedure. I don't get it.

5

It didn't install itself on a ramdisk, it's installed on flash. But apparently no room is left for a read/write layer, and so the only way to get a working device at all is to use a ramdisk for that. It's an emergency measure. If you look at the logs you'll find a jffs warning. Somebody also wrote it in the comments of the page you linked to.

1 Like
6

Is Lede storing its logs in a specific folder ? Cause the usual log folder (redirected to /tmp/log) looks empty :

root@LEDE:/tmp/log# cd /var/log
root@LEDE:/tmp/log# ls -lh
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           0 Jun 20 10:53 lastlog
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           0 Jun 20 10:53 wtmp

(thanks for helping by the way)

7

AFAIK log is only in ram. You can use logread and dmesg to read the logs.

3 Likes
8

Depending on your skill level you might be able to make a custom build with your required settings as default. But realistically it is time to upgrade your hardware. Good Luck

https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/additional-software/imagebuilder

3 Likes
9

It's still working... I have not intention to let it go to waste.

I'll go the hard way and log my journey here for anyone willing to help / follow / needing help with the same hardware

10

There are quite a few tiny builds around for similar devices, with their own threads here on the forum. Some of those document the hacks they use to squeeze everything into 4 MB. First step is to remove LuCI and bigger packages/kernel devices (e.g. PPP if you don't need it).

2 Likes
11

It's certainly up to you, but there is time to let go. The device might be working, but the time and effort you will spend on the device isn't probably the best investment!

2 Likes
12

Files created using touch take 0 bytes of space.

13

That's not true. The file itself is 0 bytes, but the directory entry uses some space.

1 Like
14

So you agree the file is 0. Directory entries are a different thing.

15

You could create any file up to a few megabytes, but it exists only in RAM and will be erased on a reboot.

The stock Netgear partition scheme also wastes flash. I have a couple of these that I basically converted to what might be a 16 MB WR-841V8, that being very similar hardware. The reason for that is the ar71xx TP-Link builds autodetect a larger flash, but that is not true of ath79.

1 Like
16

I had troubles configuring the network interface on my windows (erk) computer to connect it to the router... It took me a good chunk of the afternoon so I decided to test the files built by the guy who wrote the blog entry about the wnr2000 (can be found here : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B8bRJIYStpVlZG13NEoyNGQ3a3M )

Those are working fine, no more squashfs, no more alzheimer. If I got more time to waste I might try to build my own image later on.

Thanks for the help

17

Well after just a couple of hours, the router is desyncing, loosing wifi connection from time to time. I found a couple of threads indicating it might come from a bug resolved in later versions... So I'll try to build a more recent image and will post it there if I manage it.

EDIT : After many builds and many flashs I managed to get a LEDE version that fits and boot correctly. BUT, during the operation my wifi ath9k card gave up on life and keeps throwing me bad EEPROM, "failed to initialize errors".... This device was wanky at best before the operation so I wouldn't blame Lede on it. But I feel like I have to warn anyone who might be tempted to use my files. In theory they work but I have no way to test the wifi nor assure its life. Here are my files https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nI5e9zpLbDoezbvWwI8l0CeEM9ojn02v

18

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