Request for OpenWrt Support: Imou HX21 Router (MediaTek MT7981BA)

For Developers
1

Hello OpenWrt Community,

I'm reaching out to request potential OpenWrt support for the Imou HX21 router. I recently performed a teardown and have gathered the following hardware information, which I hope will be useful for anyone considering porting OpenWrt to this device.

Key Hardware Specifications:

Main CPU: MediaTek MT7981BA (Filogic 820)

WLAN/Wi-Fi Chip: MediaTek MT7976CN

RAM: 256 MB

ROM (Flash): 128 MB (ESYSONS S32F1GM)

Based on the SoC (MT7981BA) being supported by OpenWrt for other devices, I'm hopeful that this router could also potentially run OpenWrt. The memory configuration also seems sufficient

I have attached (or will link) some teardown photos for further reference.

Teardown Photos:

  • Main CPU (MediaTek MT7981BA):
    IMG-20250704-164848.jpg

  • WLAN Chip (MediaTek MT7976CN):
    IMG-20250704-164837.jpg

  • RAM/ROM Chips:
    IMG-20250704-164848.jpg

  • Gigabit Ethernet controller:
    IMG-20250704-164628.jpg

I am eager to learn if anyone in the community has already looked into this device or if there's interest in developing support for it. Any guidance, advice on where to start, or even confirmation of feasibility would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time and expertise!

Best regards,
Mehbubsifat

2

Hi, can you get some kind of boot log from OEM firmware. Also full circuit board pictures may come handy later searching console pins.

Outline of process (that you will go through):

3

First step would be to find and gain serial access, check bootlog and maybe interrupt booting.

4

Often you get that as system log when freshly booted. Eg trustzone would be a no-go

5

i have no TTL module , can i give you freshly booted system log ? but its a bin format!
and console pins are fourth picture that mark J1.

IMG-20250704-164628
IMG-20250704-1646281093×2704 198 KB

1 Like
6

Post here, via a text editor if you want to remove last 3 parts of a MAC address

7

please give your email id i;ll send into your email

8

Post here, forum has moderators if you publish too much.

10

Enclose the output with 3x backtick in one line before and after ``` or use [</>] button above.

12

Any Progress?

13

any update mate?

14

system log from freshly booted will be enough to get support for it?

15

Certainly not, current exploartion is to identify incompatible components making porting impossible thus saving futile efforts.

16

IMG-20250704-164628
IMG-20250704-1646281093×2704 198 KB

i don’t have multimeter or anything.
1 = VCC
2 = GND
3 = RX
4 = TX

**Is this correct?

and** PL2303 USB to TTL Serial Converter , reference RBD-0389 will it work?

17

Spec says it is selectable 3.3 / 5 V

You will need multimeter to determine shiled printed around solder points function. One solder spill makes smokes.

18

Is it necessary to solder the wires on the PCB, or can I simply have the three pins make contact with each other using hand?

19

If you got enough hands, you don't need to solder.

20

You can press wire ends against contact pada with clothes pin or plastic hair pin or even insulate wires with a piece of paper BUT dont short circuit tthem, leg makee sure you power it on off like at wall socket.

1 Like
21

another option is to drill the holes, to be able to stick wires through them.

1 Like
22

the PL2303 USB to TTL Serial Converter , reference RBD-0389 will not work its 5v.
any recommend model to use?
like : FTDI USB to TTL Serial Converter Adapter FT232RL RBD-0658
or CP2102 Module USB to TTL Serial UART ConverterRBD-1770

or anything else?