NanoPi running OpenWRT unreachable after being powered off for an extended period

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hello everyone.

I’m having a major issue with my NanoPi R5S running OpenWRT, which I installed on the eMMC flash. I had the device powered off for about three weeks, and now OpenWRT isn't working anymore. When I boot up the NanoPi, the LEDs flash as expected, and I can reach it via ping, but it no longer routes any traffic. I also can't access the LuCI web GUI or connect via SSH. OpenWRT seems to be dead. It also doesn't matter where I plug in the LAN cable.

What could be causing this, and how can I get the router working again? Thanks in advance for any helpful tips.

Regards,
Mic.

2

How is the R5S connected to your network/computer? Is the computer directly connected to one of the lan ports on your R5S? What else is connected to the R5S and to what port(s)? Have you disabled wifi on your computer?

3

Hello,

The problem wasn't the connection. It must have been corrupted firmware (OpenWRT) in the eMMC flash. I’m not exactly sure what happened while the NanoPi was powered off for about three weeks.

In the end, I found a way to boot the NanoPi using FriendlyWRT from an SD card. To do this, you have to hold down the Maskrom button for about 4 seconds while powering it on (but no longer than that, otherwise you can't write to the eMMC). Then, using the eMMC tools within FriendlyWRT's LuCI interface, I was able to write the image from the SD card back to the eMMC flash. This allowed the NanoPi to boot from the eMMC again. From there, I was able to use the FriendlyWRT eMMC tools to write the OpenWRT 25.12 image to the eMMC. It’s running normally again now. Fortunately, I had a recent backup of my configuration.

Still, it’s strange that the NanoPi exhibited such odd OpenWRT behavior after just three weeks.

Regards,
Mic.

4

I agree, but I think it is safe to say that this is not actually an OpenWrt issue, per se. Something clearly went wrong on the storage device.

Meanwhile, I'm glad it is up and running again.

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Thanks! :slight_smile: