can I get some eyes on my PR?
I just bought an EAX17, my question is, is it still not possible to install openwrt with the factory.img image? Only for serial and u-boot?
Yes. Only uart access and initframfs.
The "official" file doesn't work though and I haven't figured out why. If you just clone the repo and build yourself it works fine though.
I can share my copies of initramfs and sysupgrade if you'd like.
Yes, it would be very useful to have copies of the initramfs and sysupgrade, do you also have how the pins for uart should be?
The uart pins holes are clearly labeled, but you'll have to use a solder sucker and/or some solder wick to open the holes.
There are also two pairs of empty pads for the tx and rx that be need a small blob of solder to complete the traces. It's much easier to do this before putting in the header pins. (i circled those in red)
Also, to open the case, there are 4 screws covered by the back label.
I'll upload the files as soon as I get to my computer. (edit: I can't upload .bin files here, so I'll email them to you)
Great! I wasn't sure which one was TX and which was GND, and I didn't know about connecting the points—that's a really helpful tip. Thanks!
it took me far longer than it should have to discover those broken traces. I was baffled as to why my uart connection wasn't working.
a couple blobs of solder and you're good.
Sadly that's very common among vendors.
It worked; I've already installed the image you shared with me. As for future updates, will they be done normally using sysupgrade, or do they need to be done via UART? For now, do I need to compile the image myself? I tried flashing the one on the firmware page, but it corrupted the boot partitions.
Yeah. The official file doesn't work.
I created an issue, but it was tagged "invalid"
I'm not really sure what to do to fix the problem
The files I emailed you I just built myself. Everything works as expected when I just run make.
I think the buildbot shovels packages into the root squashsf after it's already built, which then triggers an error because the validation note in the FIT no longer has a matching hash.
This problem is definitely unique, because none of the other targets have this validation step when they boot.
Not sure how to fix the buildbot if this is indeed the issue.
Edit: oh, but yes. Normal sysupgrade process is fine as long as you have a valid sysupgrade file. The uart + initframfs process is necessary to just get shell access when the device still has stock firmware. Now you can just ssh in.
Ready, I could compile the updates without problem, what Makeconfig are you using? I see that the Luci version is still 24.10. On an EAX12 and other routers, using the latest image installs LuCI 25.12.
I'll share my makeconfig when I get back to my machine, but if you want to just do it yourself, you can go to the firmware builder page and just see the list of bundled packages.
Delete the existing .config, add all those to a fresh .config and then run defconfig and it'll fill out everything else, including the dependencies for the ones you manually added.
Oh, but if you bricked your device with the faulty .bin, you'll need uart access again to unbrick it. At the uboot prompt, setenv the two invalid flags back to 0, saveenv, and then repeat the initramfs process
Hi,
i recently bought an EAX15 v3 and just yesterday I managed to get uart access. Great you (fliz) shared the picture of the broken lanes - I thought my serial adapter was faulty...
I saw the uboot prompt but could not stop the process nor change the selection. Is there something i have forgotten?
And could you be so kind and send me your initramfs @fliz please?
Thanks, Frank
Hey frank. I haven't built it since the initial 25.12 release and I think the official is now 25.12.2, so I'll rebuild first.
It would be great if we could figure out how the buildbot is breaking things so I can submit a fix so the firmware builder actually works.
ok. built 25.12.2
I can't post it in here though, so pm me an email address to send it to.
Many thanks!
I am new to this forum, so might be I cannot pm you for now...
The other thing I mentioned: How can stop the boot process - I used minicom, but there was no reaction when the menu apperared.
a menu briefly appears. just hit the correct number while its on the screen. the window is short.
I figured out the issue and submitted a fix
My PR was accepted and it's on the 25.12 release branch, so when 25.12.3 comes out, the official images on firmware-selector.openwrt.org should work now.
I don't know anything about the release cycle - but is it already available on snapshot? I have my main devices on snapshot and near to no problems using it.


