It is possible to flash back to OEM or OpenWRT/DDWRT. You can use the mtd command from a shell connection (ssh/telnet) to flash to either OEM or ddwrt-to-factory in DD-WRT using this:
mtd -e linux -f write factoryfilename.img linux
or
mtd -e linux2 -f write factoryfilename.img linux2
It would be slightly different in OpenWRT. I think it's root and alt_root perhaps (instead of linux and linux2). It's been a while since I've used it.
I've never tried flashing dd-wrt directly over openwrt or visa-versa. You could be taking a risk by trying it, but I see no reason why you could not recover from it with a 3x power cycle.
@Lexridge -
you described the steps i took, but my first move was to flash the factory-to-ddwrt.bin image from openwrt to 'kernel' instead of root_fs. that resultsed in a brick that did not recover form 3x powwe cycle.
from serial console, i was able to use the uboot/linksys flashing tool. this required serving a factory image (i used openwrt,,,,,,.img) via tftp.
the steps are
interrupt u-boot, attach ethernet cable for lan to your local hositn network
rename whatever factory image you want to flash as tortuga.img and host it by your tftpserver
run the u-boot command 'run flashimg' to flash to linux, or 'run flashimg2' to flash to linux2
I have 3 vlans on my MX4300, and I have separate virtual SSIDs for each.
I've noticed that if I create an additional virtual SSID on a radio that is connected to the same network/vlan as an SSID already on that radio that the radios seem to start resetting themselves, I'll get a connection, it'll last maybe 10 seconds then it'll lose the connection, all the SSIDs will disappear from my laptop's network list, then they'll appear again and I can connect, and after a few seconds they all drop again.
As soon as I disable that additional SSID it stabilizes.
Any idea if this is an MX series problem or if this is an OpenWRT thing in general that I just shouldn't be doing? Or thoughts on where to look for radio logs that might indicate what's happening?
I just updated to arix's "release" build and it does seem to have the same behavior.
i have exact same problem on my mx4300 as dumb AP with many vlans. same vlan on multiple ssid on same/different radio (with mDNS service across vlan) is a sure sign of your router complaining bridge loops and client connectivity suffering. have not gotten past it and yet to have anyone suggesting help on that
Is this on a single unit, or a mesh? I have 2 APs and 3 VAPs. They work fine on the parent node, but VAPs on the child nodes don't work. I've gotten it to work fine on DD-WRT with very little effort, but the barebones nature of OpenWRT makes it difficult to figure out what's a random settings somewhere and what's actually broken. It's not working for me on arix00's latest build (March 4).
I'm using just one AP at my current apartment, though I have 2 more and was eventually planning to add a second mesh node.
For me the VAPs work fine if they are not using the same VLAN, the problems arise when i put two VAP/SSIDs on the same radio with the same VLAN. In other words, I have an IOT vlan and SSID on my 2.4ghz radio, that is isolated from other things, and i have an IOT-internet vlan and SSID that can connect out to the internet but is isolated from everything on-network, and I have a LAN vlan and SSID for sonos and chromecast type things... on the 5ghz radio i also have the LAN vlan with its own SSID, for phones/laptops.
If I add a second SSID that is also on LAN to either of the radios, as I have wanted to do when I moved a device from my ex's house I would just add her SSID, it starts crashing/restarting the radios.
I have to report my honest experience with an MX4300 using OpenWrt (mostly builds from @arix before it was officially added for support, and later the official FOSS SNAPSHOT).
When I switched from a GL.iNet MT3000 (Mediatek chip) to the $15 Woot sale Linksys MX4300 (Qualcomm chip), I began having random and unexplained disconnects on my wireless network. A smart light bulb here or there, my Nest thermostat saying it's not connected at random times, my Pixel phone being refused connection to the 5GHz WiFi, or having trouble staying connected. I chalked it up to the MX4300 being much newer and recently added to OpenWrt, but I kept reading and hearing about long-term, persistent problems with Qualcomm-based routers (something to do with closed-source drivers & code).
Well, in February I bought the $20 Woot sale Belkin E8450 (Mediatek) and literally ALL my networking problems have VANISHED. Every single one of my smart light bulbs, the thermostat, and all my higher-powered devices (phone, laptop) instantly connect, stay connected, and have blazing fast speeds.
Based on this experience, I'll be joining the chorus of voices advising people to avoid Qualcomm devices on OpenWrt. I'll keep the MX4300 in a closet and give it another chance in a year or two, but I sincerely hope to be on a Mediatek-powered WiFi 7 router by then.
My report of usage so far, bought 4 MX4300, so cheap that can't be helped, replaced my already old AC67U and other tplink AP... Used mainly Arix FOSS repo from the start, no issues with devices or disconnects in phones(no iphones), TV or IoTs, Now I have adguardhome + pbr + wg sever/client, some smb shares, as for 15 bucks device I still think it was a big win.
Maybe I got some sort of hardware dud... I was happy at first but the random disconnects are a showstopper for me. I kept picking up my phone to discover it was (a) not connected to WiFi at all, (b) connected to the 2.4GHz instead of 5GHz, and (c) often unable to even manually connect to the 5GHz, until I rebooted phone or router. With my thermostat and random lights going offline, it made my house very frustrating.
Could be some sort of config error in your config but it could be a faulty hardware. What about the stock firmware.
I use NSS builds for 3 years - several R7800s (my first experience with NSS) and still in use with latest k.6.6 Main-NSS and older k.5.15 (23.05-NSS), then two QNAP 301Ws running for 2 years Main-NSS builds, now two MX4300s (for 15$ each!) Main-NSS builds.
All with a ton of other services running - pbr with split tunneling, wireguard VPN, https-dns-proxy, ksmbd, adblock, banip, zerotier VPN, guest Wi-Fi and LAN, etc.
Really, really stable run, no major issues. And all of them have an excellent range and speeds through several brick walls.
And one bad experience 2.5 years ago (I wanted WiFi 6 with OpenWrt) with Belkin RT3200 with vanilla main OpenWrt. WiFi stopped working after several days and only a reboot could recover it.
And once I had a smartphone that had an awful WiFi - it regularly lost the 5GHz band (no matter the router) and it sometimes couldn't be enabled again without a phone reboot. On 2.4GHz it was able to do only 10-15Mbps up/down speeds even when it was close to the router.
I've been on the OSS snapshot from a month or so ago, it's been stable. Prior to that I was on dd-wrt which had been unstable pretty much from oct-dec, but I hear recently it has gotten more stable.
One observation with stock was that on power loss, it doesn't come back without manual intervention.
This is why I'm willing to try the MX4300 again in future to see if it gets better. I'm even willing to concede there was a config problem in my setup. (And if you're unaware, the RT3200/E8450 had quite a time last year trying to track down a major issue, but now it's stable as a rock.)
I think the MX4300 is generally fine. At least, I'm on the latest (as of this post) release of DD-WRT and it's been solid for over 24 hours. We'll see how stable it ends up being over the next couple of days or week(s). The previous build I was using was a month older and it was solid for weeks.
That's not a ding on OpenWRT because there were plenty of builds and configurations with DD-WRT that were super buggy and broke my network. The bugs ranged from default configuration values breaking DNS to settings straight up not saving or eliminating options (radio1 ended up becoming permanently disabled in one) to issues inherent to the process of making changes, saving, rebooting, and clients retaining old values. I'm not claiming DD-WRT is magic or is somehow superior to OpenWRT; it isn't and it's not.
It's amazing what both projects have accomplished and I have benefited from the hard work of others for years. I am greatly appreciative of all that both teams have done and continue to do. My experience - which may not mirror others - is that OpenWRT is a bit behind the curve because the nature of their build process (which I, personally, think is more robust in the long term) means updates and fixes move more slowly. With DD-WRT, I can just wait until the next release 1-3 days later and the issue is likely fixed (though possibly with new ones, haha).
And I definitely cannot overstate issues with configuration. I have broken my mesh network a dozen or more times with what I thought was a simple change that ended up not doing what I want. Add to that the fact that clients sometimes hold onto old settings and if you don't clear or reboot at the right time, something might seem broken that isn't.
I had an RT3200 that fortunately did not have an issue with OKD and you're right, it's solid right now. Solid enough that I set up my parents with it and am not worried about having to troubleshoot. Any router with proprietary code is going to have a greater likelihood of issues, though, and that's the MX4300 if you want to take advantage of NSS (and I do).
