Overclocking router devices

Thank you. Backed up and done. Flashed my secondary C7 v4 with the 1GHz CPU only mod as that's what QCA9563 seems to reliably do on stock voltage seeing gwlim's sample and looking around on Google. Not touching memory as I can't control timings/voltage to stabilize.

Given that it hasn't rebooted on some browsing and torrenting... doing some preliminary testing with my phone and the wifi sweetspots app that tests maximum throughput on wifi links:

5GHz on a 2x2 phone at ~2m, direct LOS to the router
Stock: ~530 mbps
1000MHz: ~620 mbps

Nice improvement. Any extra CPU power out of these single core devices is more than welcome.

If it remains stable then I'll flash my primary C7 v4 which runs a 50/10 mbps PPPoE service on a fiber link while doing SQM on it, plus all the other routing tasks. There it'll be more noticeable. I have some spare heatsinks I'll be adding shortly.

Thank you very much!


edit: flashed the other C7 v4 a few hours later.

Three days so far: no abnormal behaviors at 1GHz, downloaded file hashes all match, heavy torrenting heats up the chassis a bit more than before, but other than that, no downsides.

Any guide on how to do so for the v4? I'm having the same device and it could use a bit of overclocking.

Sure.

First, go to system -> backup flash/firmware, and backup all mtdblock partitions. In particular you want mtd0 and mtd7 (bootloader and ART, but it doesn't hurt to just backup all of it). Keep these safe, make copies, you know your backup strategy.

Then upload the modified uboot with scp to the router, either your own after modifing and compiling, or gwlim's for the C7 v4. I use winscp for this, then uploaded the file to /tmp.

Then, SSH in and:

  • opkg update
  • opkg install kmod-mtd-rw
  • insmod mtd-rw i_want_a_brick=1 this unlocks the read only partitions
  • cat /proc/mtd will show all partitions:
dev:    size   erasesize  name
mtd0: 00020000 00010000 "factory-uboot"
mtd1: 00020000 00010000 "u-boot"
mtd2: 00ec0000 00010000 "firmware"
mtd3: 00185a94 00010000 "kernel"
mtd4: 00d3a56c 00010000 "rootfs"
mtd5: 00a80000 00010000 "rootfs_data"
mtd6: 000f0000 00010000 "info"
mtd7: 00010000 00010000 "art"

You want to write the modified bootloader to mtd0, that's "factory-uboot" for the C7 v4

  • mtd write /tmp/mtd0-uboot-factory.bin factory-uboot or whatever name you chose for the bootloader file

That should be it, you'll see the partition get unlocked then flashed. Reboot. Done.

Check the kernel log, you'll see:

....
[    0.000000] CPU clock: 1000.000 MHz
[    0.000000] clocksource: MIPS: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 3822520893 ns
[    0.000006] sched_clock: 32 bits at 500MHz, resolution 2ns, wraps every 4294967295ns
[    0.008214] Calibrating delay loop... 498.89 BogoMIPS (lpj=2494464)
....

775MHz -> 1000MHz is a ~30% improvement that will be certainly felt on CPU bound workloads and there's bound to be lots of these running on weak single core MIPS hardware, I'll take it and stop there. By the way, no issues so far. My two samples at least work fine at 1GHz. That's enough of a boost already and don't want to deal with any instability with higher OCs or memory OC thrown into the mix. You can try if you want.

You can restore the original mtd0 partition this way and go back to stock clocks if needed.


Disclaimer to people skimming over this post:
Unless you truly want a brick, these instructions are for the Archer C7 v4, don't go around flashing another device's bootloader onto your router or randomly writing to read only partitions that are protected for a reason, or else you'll get a nice brick.

You did agree to wanting a brick here, after all:

insmod mtd-rw i_want_a_brick=1

so if you get a brick, it's on you.

3 Likes

Thanks for the write-up, I've used the 1000MHz bin from gwlim, seems to work, let's hope it's stable.

[    0.000000] CPU clock: 1000.000 MHz
[    0.000000] clocksource: MIPS: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 3822520893 ns
[    0.000005] sched_clock: 32 bits at 500MHz, resolution 2ns, wraps every 4294967295ns

How about v2? The uboot is different?

Cheers.

I'm interested too can make archer v2 1ghz uboot?

@jrambo99 Do you know if I have to reflash this after I update OpenWRT?

You don't have to reflash as openwrt doesn't touch the bootloader partition on most devices.

There are some exceptions like raspberry pi, x86 and some others.

1 Like

as i understand these lets say these "overclockings'" dont adds a health and longer router living time?or maybe bad understand?what possible to push-up from tp-link wdr3500 with stock fw or i need install openwrt?

Overclocking simply allows faster speeds. Doing it like this is relatively safe as voltage is not being increased. That's what really kills devices. Frequency not so much.

does anyone know how to set the clock on the r6220? havent even tried setclk as the only r6220 that isnt put up is the main router and i dont want any down time now. but i have like 4 of these things. i buy them anytime they are under 20 dollars on ebay. they have a nice little metal slug for a heatsink and i have a tiny till 15mm fan from a 90's era macbook that would fit it perfectly.

bought this router on the recommendation of pepe2k in a thread on here i think. couldnt be happier with and do recommend

johnd2 I'm interested too can make archer v2 1ghz uboot?

Hmm.. haven't been back to this thread for a while, interesting developments. I'd settle for a good instructional for the V2 and V3 on how to back up and install a new boot loader, al la jrambo99.

What I would be more interested in, on the testing side, is some wifi thruput numbers.
The thing I'd like to address with this for my C7 AP, is that it seems 5ghz wifi rates cap out about 270-300mbit with 80mhz bandwidth. It would seem that the wifi radio is a larger burden, no surprise, and also 40mhz bandwidth may be less load, even at similar speeds.

I have only a 300/30 connection, so a hair more CPU power would do for me, but others may have more, and also perhaps are using the C7 as a router/wifi AP, vs my dumb AP situation. Would be nice to see how much these OC's get you in an AP, as well as a NAT/Firewall, router, SQM, wifi, load environment.

Maybe totally unrelated but I've successfully overclocked the EA6350v3 and mine and the ones of my users are running it overclocked since almost a year. The method is generic to the IPQ40xx, but I'm not aware of other users trying it on other devices.

Hi!

I have followed your instructions on how to flash the u-boot, followed every step you mention, but after flashing the system starts to bootloop. The first u-boot boots, the second u-boot boots, and the linux kernel starts to boot, but stops halfway.

The bootlog from the uart:

U-Boot 1.1.4 (Dec  9 2018 - 14:23:24)

ap152 - Dragonfly 1.0

DRAM:  128 MB
Top of RAM usable for U-Boot at: 88000000
Reserving 395k for U-Boot at: 87f9c000
Reserving 16448k for malloc() at: 86f8c000
Reserving 44 Bytes for Board Info at: 86f8bfd4
Reserving 36 Bytes for Global Data at: 86f8bfb0
Reserving 128k for boot params() at: 86f6bfb0
Stack Pointer at: 86f6bf98
Now running in RAM - U-Boot at: 87f9c000
Flash Manuf Id 0xef, DeviceId0 0x40, DeviceId1 0x18
flash size 16MB, sector count = 256
Flash: 16 MB
Using default environment

In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Net:   ath_gmac_enet_initialize...
No valid address in Flash. Using fixed address
ath_gmac_enet_initialize: reset mask:c02200
athr_mgmt_init ::done
Dragonfly  ----> S17 PHY *
athrs17_reg_init: complete
SGMII in forced mode
athr_gmac_sgmii_setup SGMII done
: cfg1 0x80000000 cfg2 0x7114
eth0: 00:03:7f:09:0b:ad
eth0 up
eth0
Setting 0x181162c0 to 0x50a02100
factory boot check integer ok.
factory boot load fs uboot len 131072 to addr 0x80010000.
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0
## Starting application at 0x80010000 ...


U-Boot 1.1.4-g4df6eb16-dirty (Nov 30 2018 - 12:33:00)

ap152 - Dragonfly 1.0

DRAM:  128 MB
Top of RAM usable for U-Boot at: 88000000
Reserving 123k for U-Boot at: 87fe0000
Reserving 16448k for malloc() at: 86fd0000
Reserving 44 Bytes for Board Info at: 86fcffd4
Reserving 36 Bytes for Global Data at: 86fcffb0
Reserving 128k for boot params() at: 86faffb0
Stack Pointer at: 86faff98
Now running in RAM - U-Boot at: 87fe0000
Flash Manuf Id 0xef, DeviceId0 0x40, DeviceId1 0x18
flash size 16MB, sector count = 256
Flash: 16 MB
Using default environment

In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Net:   ath_gmac_enet_initialize...
No valid address in Flash. Using fixed address
ath_gmac_enet_initialize: reset mask:c02200
athr_mgmt_init ::done
Dragonfly  ----> S17 PHY *
athrs17_reg_init: complete
SGMII in forced mode
athr_gmac_sgmii_setup SGMII done
: cfg1 0x80000000 cfg2 0x7114
eth0: 00:03:7f:09:0b:ad
eth0 up
eth0
Setting 0x181162c0 to 0x50a02100
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0
## Booting image at 9f040000 ...
   Image Name:   MIPS OpenWrt Linux-4.14.180
   Created:      2020-05-16  18:32:20 UTC
   Image Type:   MIPS Linux Kernel Image (lzma compressed)
   Data Size:    1596331 Bytes =  1.5 MB
   Load Address: 80060000
   Entry Point:  80060000
   Verifying Checksum at 0x9f040040 ...OK
   Uncompressing Kernel Image ... OK
No initrd
## Transferring control to Linux (at address 80060000) ...
## Giving linux memsize in bytes, 134217728

Starting kernel ...

[    0.000000] Linux version 4.14.180 (builder@buildhost) (gcc version 7.5.0 (OpenWrt GCC 7.5.0 r11063-85e04e9f46)) #0 Sat May 16 18:32:20 2020
[    0.000000] bootconsole [early0] enabled
[    0.000000] CPU0 revision is: 00019750 (MIPS 74Kc)
[    0.000000] MIPS: machine is TP-Link Archer C7 v4
[    0.000000] SoC: Qualcomm Atheros QCA956X ver 1 rev 0
[    0.000000] Determined physical RAM map:
[    0.000000]  memory: 08000000 @ 00000000 (usable)
[    0.000000] Initrd not found or empty - disabling initrd
[    0.000000] Primary instruction cache 64kB, VIPT, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes.
[    0.000000] Primary data cache 32kB, 4-way, VIPT, cache aliases, linesize 32 bytes
[    0.000000] Zone ranges:
[    0.000000]   Normal   [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000007ffffff]
[    0.000000] Movable zone start for each node
[    0.000000] Early memory node ranges
[    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000007ffffff]
[    0.000000] Initmem setup node 0 [mem 0x0000000000000000-0x0000000007ffffff]
[    0.000000] random: get_random_bytes called from 0x804ff740 with crng_init=0
[    0.000000] Built 1 zonelists, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 32512
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: console=ttyS0,115200n8 rootfstype=squashfs,jffs2
[    0.000000] PID hash table entries: 512 (order: -1, 2048 bytes)
[    0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
[    0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
[    0.000000] Writing ErrCtl register=00000000
[    0.000000] Readback ErrCtl register=00000000
[    0.000000] Memory: 123296K/131072K available (4030K kernel code, 162K rwdata, 532K rodata, 1220K init, 212K bss, 7776K reserved, 0K cma-reserved)
[    0.000000] SLUB: HWalign=32, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=1, Nodes=1
[    0.000000] NR_IRQS: 51
[    0.000000] CPU clock: 1000.000 MHz
[    0.000000] clocksource: MIPS: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 3822520893 ns
[    0.000006] sched_clock: 32 bits at 500MHz, resolution 2ns, wraps every 4294967295ns
[    0.008213] Calibrating delay loop... 498.89 BogoMIPS (lpj=2494464)
[    0.074776] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
[    0.079763] Mount-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.086747] Mountpoint-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.097461] clocksource: jiffies: mask: 0xffffffff max_cycles: 0xffffffff, max_idle_ns: 19112604462750000 ns
[    0.107857] futex hash table entries: 256 (order: -1, 3072 bytes)
[    0.114341] pinctrl core: initialized pinctrl subsystem
[    0.121732] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[    0.128822] PCI host bridge /ahb/pcie-controller@18250000 ranges:
[    0.135291]  MEM 0x0000000012000000..0x0000000013ffffff
[    0.140792]   IO 0x0000000000000000..0x0000000000000000
[    0.160501] PCI host bridge to bus 0000:00
[    0.164819] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [mem 0x12000000-0x13ffffff]
[    0.172100] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [io  0x0000]
[    0.177967] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [??? 0x00000000 flags 0x0]
[    0.185124] pci_bus 0000:00: No busn resource found for root bus, will use [bus 00-ff]
[    0.193823] pci 0000:00:00.0: BAR 0: assigned [mem 0x12000000-0x121fffff 64bit]
[    0.201568] pci 0000:00:00.0: BAR 6: assigned [mem 0x12200000-0x1220ffff pref]
[    0.211542] clocksource: Switched to clocksource MIPS
[    0.217695] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[    0.222947] TCP established hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.230299] TCP bind hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.237046] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 1024 bind 1024)
[    0.243870] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.250030] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.256870] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[    0.263872] Crashlog allocated RAM at address 0x3f00000
[    0.270454] workingset: timestamp_bits=30 max_order=15 bucket_order=0
[    0.280879] squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
[    0.287063] jffs2: version 2.2 (NAND) (SUMMARY) (LZMA) (RTIME) (CMODE_PRIORITY) (c) 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
[    0.305172] io scheduler noop registered
[    0.309303] io scheduler deadline registered (default)
[    0.315026] ar7200-usb-phy usb-phy: phy reset is missing
[    0.321864] pinctrl-single 1804002c.pinmux: 544 pins at pa b804002c size 68
[    0.329648] gpio-export gpio-export: 2 gpio(s) exported
[    0.335854] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 16 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
[    0.344323] console [ttyS0] disabled
[    0.348113] 18020000.uart: ttyS0 at MMIO 0x18020000 (irq = 9, base_baud = 1562500) is a 16550A
[    0.357237] console [ttyS0] enabled
[    0.357237] console [ttyS0] enabled
[    0.364798] bootconsole [early0] disabled
[    0.364798] bootconsole [early0] disabled
[    0.380120] spi_gpio led_spi: gpio-miso property not found, switching to no-rx mode
[    0.399351] m25p80 spi0.0: w25q128 (16384 Kbytes)
[    0.404290] 5 fixed-partitions partitions found on MTD device spi0.0
[    0.410843] Creating 5 MTD partitions on "spi0.0":
[    0.415809] 0x000000000000-0x000000020000 : "factory-uboot"
[    0.422201] 0x000000020000-0x000000040000 : "u-boot"
[    0.427849] 0x000000040000-0x000000f00000 : "firmware"
[    0.435441] 2 uimage-fw partitions found on MTD device firmware
[    0.441600] Creating 2 MTD partitions on "firmware":
[    0.446735] 0x000000000000-0x000000190000 : "kernel"
[    0.452449] 0x000000190000-0x000000ec0000 : "rootfs"
[    0.458061] mtd: device 4 (rootfs) set to be root filesystem
[    0.463979] 1 squashfs-split partitions found on MTD device rootfs
[    0.470367] 0x000000450000-0x000000ec0000 : "rootfs_data"
[    0.476505] 0x000000f00000-0x000000ff0000 : "info"
[    0.482059] 0x000000ff0000-0x000001000000 : "art"
[    0.488357] libphy: Fixed MDIO Bus: probed
[    1.171908] libphy: ag71xx_mdio: probed
[    1.178806] switch0: Atheros AR8337 rev. 2 switch registered on mdio-bus.0
[    1.832912] ag71xx 19000000.eth: connected to PHY at mdio-bus.0:00 [uid=004dd036, driver=Atheros AR8216/AR8236/AR8316]
[    1.844431] eth0: Atheros AG71xx at 0xb9000000, irq 4, mode: sgmii
[    1.851190] ath79-wdt 18060008.wdt: timeout value must be 0 < timeout < 12, using 12
[    1.864458] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[    1.872003] Segment Routing with IPv6
[    1.875849] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[    1.880476] bridge: filtering via arp/ip/ip6tables is no longer available by default. Update your scripts to load br_netfilter if you need this.
[    1.893886] 8021q: 802.1Q VLAN Support v1.8
[    1.899987] hctosys: unable to open rtc device (rtc0)
[    1.910113] VFS: Mounted root (squashfs filesystem) readonly on device 31:4.
[    1.924046] Freeing unused kernel memory: 1220K
[    1.928721] This architecture does not have kernel memory protection.
[    2.413486] init: Console is alive
[    2.417175] init: - watchdog -
[    2.541565] random: fast init done
[    3.235326] kmodloader: loading kernel modules from /etc/modules-boot.d/*
[    3.417212] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[    3.423001] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[    3.428553] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[    3.438724] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
[    3.446768] ehci-platform: EHCI generic platform driver
[    3.452398] ehci-platform 1b000000.usb: EHCI Host Controller
[    3.458281] ehci-platform 1b000000.usb: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[    3.466471] ehci-platform 1b000000.usb: irq 13, io mem 0x1b000000
[    3.506412] ehci-platform 1b000000.usb: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
[    3.513452] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    3.517654] hub 1-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[    3.522239] ehci-platform 1b400000.usb: EHCI Host Controller
[    3.528129] ehci-platform 1b400000.usb: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
[    3.536344] ehci-platform 1b400000.usb: irq 14, io mem 0x1b400000
[    3.571565] ehci-platform 1b400000.usb: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
[    3.578602] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[    3.582798] hub 2-0:1.0: 1 port detected
[    3.587776] kmodloader: done loading kernel modules from /etc/modules-boot.d/*
[    3.605630] init: - preinit -
[    4.483169] random: jshn: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
[    4.675583] random: jshn: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
[    4.880684] random: jshn: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
[    6.089682] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[    6.095826] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0.1: link is not ready
[    6.128211] urandom_read: 4 callbacks suppressed
[    6.128217] random: procd: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
Press the [f] key and hit [enter] to enter failsafe mode
Press the [1], [2], [3] or [4] key and hit [enter] to select the debug level
[    7.162846] eth0: link up (1000Mbps/Full duplex)
[    7.167741] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[    7.176223] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0.1: link becomes ready
[    9.275949] mount_root: jffs2 not ready yet, using temporary tmpfs overlay
[    9.302980] urandom-seed: Seed file not found (/etc/urandom.seed)
[    9.377398] eth0: link down
[    9.395065] procd: - early -
[    9.398121] procd: - watchdog -
[   10.036245] procd: - watchdog -
[   10.039725] procd: - ubus -
[   10.086717] random: ubusd: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
[   10.178689] random: ubusd: uninitialized urandom read (4 bytes read)
[   10.191194] procd: - init -
Please press Enter to activate this console.
[   10.854767] kmodloader: loading kernel modules from /etc/modules.d/*
[   10.885126] ip6_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[   10.909589] Loading modules backported from Linux version v4.19.120-0-gfdc072324f3c
[   10.917543] Backport generated by backports.git v4.19.120-1-0-g60c3a249
[   10.943390] ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
[   10.967781] nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (2048 buckets, 8192 max)
[   10.996040] urngd: v1.0.2 started.
[   11.053909] xt_time: kernel timezone is -0000
[   11.155530] PPP generic driver version 2.4.2
[   11.161881] NET: Registered protocol family 24
[   11.213635] random: crng init done
[   11.224171] ath10k 4.19 driver, optimized for CT firmware, probing pci device: 0x3c.
[   11.242446] PCI: Enabling device 0000:00:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
[   11.248466] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: pci irq legacy oper_irq_mode 1 irq_mode 0 reset_mode 0
[   11.561695] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/fwcfg-pci-0000:00:00.0.txt failed with error -2
[   11.572593] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   11.805795] firmware ath10k!fwcfg-pci-0000:00:00.0.txt: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   11.815144] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/pre-cal-pci-0000:00:00.0.bin failed with error -2
[   11.826227] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   12.128609] firmware ath10k!pre-cal-pci-0000:00:00.0.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   12.138129] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/cal-pci-0000:00:00.0.bin failed with error -2
[   12.148848] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   12.424243] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/ct-firmware-5.bin failed with error -2
[   12.435604] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   12.546329] firmware ath10k!QCA988X!hw2.0!ct-firmware-5.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   12.556147] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/ct-firmware-2.bin failed with error -2
[   12.567497] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   12.711686] firmware ath10k!QCA988X!hw2.0!ct-firmware-2.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   12.721435] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware-6.bin failed with error -2
[   12.732516] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   12.882881] firmware ath10k!QCA988X!hw2.0!firmware-6.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   12.892400] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware-5.bin failed with error -2
[   12.903478] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   13.050676] firmware ath10k!QCA988X!hw2.0!firmware-5.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   13.060217] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware-4.bin failed with error -2
[   13.071301] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   13.217276] firmware ath10k!QCA988X!hw2.0!firmware-4.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   13.226822] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware-3.bin failed with error -2
[   13.237903] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   13.387836] firmware ath10k!QCA988X!hw2.0!firmware-3.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   13.550948] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: qca988x hw2.0 target 0x4100016c chip_id 0x043202ff sub 0000:0000
[   13.560517] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: kconfig debug 0 debugfs 1 tracing 0 dfs 1 testmode 0
[   13.572166] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: firmware ver 10.1-ct-8x-__fW-022-b0e1b7cd api 2 features wmi-10.x,has-wmi-mgmt-tx,mfp,txstatus-noack,wmi-10.x-CT,ratemask-CT,txrate-CT,get-temp-CT,tx-rc-CT,cust-stats-CT,retry-gt2-CT,txrate2-CT,beacon-cb-CT,wmi-block-ack-CT crc32 1e527180
[   13.624992] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/board-2.bin failed with error -2
[   13.635798] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Falling back to user helper
[   13.712512] firmware ath10k!QCA988X!hw2.0!board-2.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   13.721923] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: board_file api 1 bmi_id N/A crc32 bebc7c08
[   14.663484] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: 10.1 wmi init: vdevs: 16  peers: 127  tid: 256
[   14.681039] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: wmi print 'P 128 V 8 T 410'
[   14.687481] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: wmi print 'msdu-desc: 1424  sw-crypt: 0 ct-sta: 0'
[   14.695779] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: wmi print 'alloc rem: 20904 iram: 26056'
[   14.763948] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: htt-ver 2.1 wmi-op 2 htt-op 2 cal file max-sta 128 raw 0 hwcrypto 1
[   14.776917] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: NOTE:  Firmware DBGLOG output disabled in debug_mask: 0x10000000
[   14.996055] ieee80211 phy1: Atheros AR9561 Rev:0 mem=0xb8100000, irq=2
[   15.043245] kmodloader: done loading kernel modules from /etc/modules.d/*
[   15.199183] CPU 0 Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 0759a524, epc == 801353b4, ra == 80128538
[   15.210186] Oops[#1]:
[   15.212535] CPU: 0 PID: 935 Comm: sh Not tainted 4.14.180 #0
[   15.218374] task: 87d5e1c0 task.stack: 87664000
[   15.223048] $ 0   : 00000000 00000000 0759a524 87763600
[   15.228442] $ 4   : 87c02500 014000c0 8110b798 000022a7
[   15.233836] $ 8   : 00000000 874f4460 0000001a 00000004
[   15.239229] $12   : 00000001 00000040 0000000a 70000003
[   15.244623] $16   : 87c02500 0759a500 014000c0 01400000
[   15.250017] $20   : 80660000 00000000 00000000 87d5e1c0
[   15.255412] $24   : 00000000 801c8290
[   15.260805] $28   : 87664000 87665d00 00001000 80128538
[   15.266200] Hi    : 00000001
[   15.269165] Lo    : 00000043
[   15.272134] epc   : 801353b4 0x801353b4
[   15.276093] ra    : 80128538 0x80128538
[   15.280043] Status: 1100dc03 KERNEL EXL IE
[   15.284362] Cause : 00800008 (ExcCode 02)
[   15.288492] BadVA : 0759a524
[   15.291459] PrId  : 00019750 (MIPS 74Kc)
[   15.295498] Modules linked in: ath9k ath9k_common pppoe ppp_async ath9k_hw ath10k_pci ath10k_core ath pppox ppp_generic nf_conntrack_ipv6 mac80211 iptable_nat ipt_REJECT ipt_MASQUERADE cfg80211 xt_time xt_tcpudp xt_state xt_nat xt_multiport xt_mark xt_mac xt_limit xt_conntrack xt_comment xt_TCPMSS xt_REDIRECT xt_LOG xt_FLOWOFFLOAD xt_CT slhc nf_reject_ipv4 nf_nat_redirect nf_nat_masquerade_ipv4 nf_conntrack_ipv4 nf_nat_ipv4 nf_nat nf_log_ipv4 nf_flow_table_hw nf_flow_table nf_defrag_ipv6 nf_defrag_ipv4 nf_conntrack_rtcache nf_conntrack iptable_mangle iptable_filter ip_tables crc_ccitt compat ledtrig_usbport nf_log_ipv6 nf_log_common ip6table_mangle ip6table_filter ip6_tables ip6t_REJECT x_tables nf_reject_ipv6 ehci_platform ehci_hcd gpio_button_hotplug usbcore nls_base usb_common
[   15.366886] Process sh (pid: 935, threadinfo=87664000, task=87d5e1c0, tls=78003efc)
[   15.374784] Stack : 7ffffff2 00002017 000007fc 00000000 00000000 87763220 87594300 80128538
[   15.383413]         8784a4b8 80218410 00000080 87665e98 00002017 87594300 7ffffff2 00002017
[   15.392041]         000007fc 8011dbc8 00000000 800f4594 8784f550 8784a4b8 8048c960 801664c4
[   15.400671]         87594300 00000081 014000c0 0007ffff 7ffff000 8766b7fc 8766b7fc 00000000
[   15.409299]         00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00002017 87594300
[   15.417928]         ...
[   15.420446] Call Trace:
[   15.420479] [<80128538>] 0x80128538
[   15.426597] [<80218410>] 0x80218410
[   15.430202] [<8011dbc8>] 0x8011dbc8
[   15.433798] [<800f4594>] 0x800f4594
[   15.437396] [<801664c4>] 0x801664c4
[   15.441005] [<80118a5c>] 0x80118a5c
[   15.444626] [<80119140>] 0x80119140
[   15.448240] [<80145a10>] 0x80145a10
[   15.451854] [<801461a4>] 0x801461a4
[   15.455459] [<80146600>] 0x80146600
[   15.459057] [<8006f7cc>] 0x8006f7cc
[   15.462658]
[   15.464188] Code: 00000000  8e020014  02221021 <8c430000> 41626000  30420001  000000c0  8e040000  8c860000
[   15.474259]
[   15.475833] ---[ end trace e1ab179121098193 ]---
[   15.481755] Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception
[   15.487718] Rebooting in 1 seconds..

Why is this happening? Can't seem to boot any openwrt version, either it gets stuck or it gives me a kernel panic.
Is there any way to build Openwrt factory with u-boot so I can flash it via tftp?

Thanks.

It probably means you happen to be the unlucky bloke who "won" the silicon lottery.
Your best way of recovery is to disable as much services as possible, reboot make sure it remains stable just so you can restore the uboot, insert the unlock uboot read write module, restore the original uboot.
I hope you took a backup
If all else fails, recover using UART or external spi flash programmer
Your chip isn't damaged by any measure it just can't cope with the overclock

That does indeed sound like me...

I managed to do it, just like you said.

Hmm, so, I have some questions.

  1. Does your version of the compiled u-boot have the memory overclocked?
  2. If so, can I compile u-boot with only CPU overclocked? Would it be ok (without the memory overclocked?
  3. If the chip can't cope with the overclock do you think that I can overclock to a lower value like 900mhz?
  4. And if the memory has to be overclocked too what's the relation between both frequencies?

Thanks for the help!

Nope I didn't do RAM overclock for the QCA9563 SOC
Negligble performance improvement

Yes you can probably try 900MHZ

Is this a v2 vs v4 thing, because after o/c to 1GHz my v2 on 5GHz tops ~350Mbps only with sirq 97-98%

Cheers.

Hello i have mediatek mt7628an ver:1 eco:2 580mhz cpu, can overclock be applied to this processor? I have a good cooling for cpu. How many mhz can the estimated speed reach? Thank you.

Which settings did you use? Also make sure SFE or offloading is enabled.