Reinstall TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND v2 with a CP2102 Uart

TL-WR1043ND v2 with some kind of social media software on in. Don't have admin passwords.
Did use a CP2102 and followed unbricked/firmware and other youtube vids. Every time I get a little bit closer to solve this puzzle, but really need help with the last (hopefully few) steps.

Solder the headers for the CP2102. Download putty
With only the power of the adapter I get some info with putty, but no command line

U-Boot 1.1.4 (Jun 13 2014 - 15:14:01)

ap135 - Scorpion 1.0DRAM:
sri
Scorpion 1.0
ath_ddr_initial_config(211): (16bit) ddr1 init
tap = 0x00000002
Tap (low, high) = (0xaa55aa55, 0x0)
Tap values = (0x8, 0x8, 0x8, 0x8)
 4 MB

With only 3.3v from the usb CP2102 I get some kind of funky loop that I can't stop, also not with enter "tpl" real quick

Connecting both power (TP-Link adapter and 3.3V) and toggle with the power button of the router I get a lot of information on the screen and some kind of command prompt.
I get information like

BusyBox v.1.23.2
Social Media Wifi SMW Tools 2.78

and an root@OpenWrt promt

What should be the next step to make the router work again. The tftp command doesn't not work

I'm a complete newby, and don't want to throw away this device. Any help is highly appreciated

That's what you need.

How familiar are you with command-line administration?

What does

which scp
cat /etc/openwrt_release
cat /etc/os-release
cat /etc/board.json

show?

Hi, I'm totally not familiar with command-lines, but want to try everything.

This is what I get when I use your commands

which scp
/usr/bin/scp
root@OpenWrt:/# cat /etc/openwrt_release
DISTRIB_ID='OpenWrt'
DISTRIB_RELEASE='Chaos Calmer'
DISTRIB_REVISION='r49403'
DISTRIB_CODENAME='chaos_calmer'
DISTRIB_TARGET='ar71xx/generic'
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION='OpenWrt Chaos Calmer 15.05.1'
DISTRIB_TAINTS='no-all busybox'
root@OpenWrt:/# cat /etc/os-release
cat: can't open '/etc/os-release': No such file or directory
root@OpenWrt:/etc# cat /etc/openwrt_version
15.05.1

These are the files in the /etc folder

For me it's like a 1000pc puzzle (all white) and it's nice to see that there is some progress :wink: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

I’m impacted by the California power shutdown, so can’t walk you through this today. Basically, since you have root access, you should be able to

  • Determine the proper sysupgrade image
  • Confirm that the flash layout is compatible (cat /proc/mtd will help someone give an opinion)
  • Download it to your desktop
  • Either upload it to the device with scp, or fetch it from your desktop from the device
  • sysupgrade to a current version (I would not save settings in this case)

Hi Jeff. If you can help me tomorrow I would really appreciate it. Even if it's one step at a time. Don't know how to do the steps as I'm a complete newly. Tnx and hope the power will be on soon

If someone can help here, it would be greatly appreciated. We’re probably a day or two (at least) before PG&E restores power.

I would always recommend to start with less invasive methods first, e.g.:

  • bootloader based push-button tftp recovery with OpenWrt's factory image
  • trying to enter a root shell on the running system via serial - and trying to sysupgrade with OpenWrt's sysupgrade image (wget it to /tmp/) first.
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Hi Slh and Jeff

Because I used the putty screen for the first time, I am not familiar with all the possibilities. I followed also an "bricked TP-Link Router recovery" video on youtube. That was with dd-wrt instead of openwrt. I had admin, but was also managed to get an ap135> prompt where tftpboot did work.
Now the router is back to live. With dd-wrt, so I'm already happy it's alive and kicking. Next step will be the openwrt :slight_smile:

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