OpenWrt support for TP Archer A6 v3 (JP)

I have this device and I would like to install OpenWrt on it. I tried the available image, but the install process via GUI fails. Seeing that the GUI is already multi-language, I can only guess that the difference from international to the Japanese version is in the frequency bands? What is needed to make the existing image compatible with the JP version?

I found this thread: TP-LINK Archer c6 v3.0 BR I assume the situation is similar?

The patch for TP-LINK Archer c6 v3.0 BR was sent on 2021-12-08 and till now it hasn't been applied for any snapshot compilation.

Hope you get your router's special_id # included!

Thank you for that! To be honest, I really do not know how all this developing process works, I am just a user, who likes to use OpenWrt on his devices. I do appreciate all the work the people involved are doing.

I did post in that thread for the BR variant, because the user @hmh said, he was not aware of other variants (other than US and BR) and I linked to this thread. However, my post in that thread was hidden, because apparently I did not follow the community guidelines. Not sure why - I just wanted to share the info about the JP variant.

If there is anything I can do, for example trying to find those special IDs, I can do that, if someone can let me know where I need to look. Again, I am just a user.

There are JP signatures on the tp-link original firmware file, for the A6 3.0(JP) and A6 3.20(JP), so yes, it might be possible to just add them. Meanwhile, please locate and download the TP-Link original firmware file for your JP router version when you go through the TP-Link JP site, and post the sha256sum here, just in case.

The firmware file from TP-Link lists the C6v3 router for 3.20(JP) and A6v3 3.0.0(JP) versions, so yes, those IDs likely should be added to the OpenWRT image file since they're indeed missing, as long as the sha256sum of the tp-link firmware you get when you try to download it also matches. But someone has to test the resulting image in a JP device. And my tested patch wasn't even accepted yet...

Thank you for your reply.

I found the download page here:

The most recent version downloaded as:

Archer A6(JP)_V3_211118.zip

sha256sum 'Archer A6(JP)_V3_211118.zip'
752c6c9054442ce2f009a35a8bab131a476654052eafa64b69b79793567696bf  Archer A6(JP)_V3_211118.zip

Inside the archive is this bin file and some English instructions:

a6c6_v3-up-ver1-0-14-P1[20211118-rel43110]_2021-11-18_12.04.37.bin

There is also a source file here:

sha256sum 'GPL_Archer A6&C6.tar.gz'
e584051d3ae2ed7ec2679ad190d7bfa45546cc6798699894e8b494e22a396c96  GPL_Archer A6&C6.tar.gz

Please let me know, if I can do anything futher. Of course I am happy to help testing, once it is possible to do so.

He probably needs the checksum of the bin file, not the zip.

Makes sense :sweat_smile:

sha256sum 'a6c6_v3-up-ver1-0-14-P1[20211118-rel43110]_2021-11-18_12.04.37.bin'
7ad6ecadbd7450f69aba91644e2e341b5339a2dfbf682048fdda5e74d33c0dcd  a6c6_v3-up-ver1-0-14-P1[20211118-rel43110]_2021-11-18_12.04.37.bin

Well, it is the same sha256sum as the BR firmware of the same version. That means it really should be just a matter of adding the appropriate signatures to the OpenWRT image, and then figuring out whether it needs some extra kernel module inside or not (likely, it will just work).

I am probably missing something, but do you mean, once the patch for BR is accepted, the JP variant is likely to work as well?

No. And the patch for 3.0(BR) was accepted yesterday. I will send a followup patch adding the missing (JP) variants.

2 Likes

I just tested here in my 2 Archer C6 v3 (BR) and it is working perfectly.

Thanks @hmh .

1 Like

Is it possible to follow the progress of this? I looked at Github, but could not find anything relevant to (JP)?

I've followed @hmh 's contribution and hints on this thread and submitted a patch that adds the proper signature for the Archer A6v3 JP after confirming it works on my own router. It has been accepted recently, and hopefully will be pulled soon.

2 Likes

That is great news! Thank you very much.

I finally got around to address this and can confirm it works. Thank you again to everyone involved! :cupcake:

The process I used was: Install snapshot file from the Archer A6 wiki via the OEM GUI. SSH in and install LuCi. After enabling Wifi, I noticed the 2.4GHz radio repeatedly dropping after a few minutes. I installed the drivers following to this thread and that seems to work so far. I plan to install the next stable once it becomes available.

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed 10 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.