RT3200 - BL2: Failed to load image id 3 (-2)

[ehz_gobbo]

Hi All,

I bricked my Belkin RT3200, followed the instructions for serial recovery, followed all the steps successfully and loaded via TFTP the prealoader bin.

Now not sure If I am missing a step, but after that I press enter, and in the menu select reboot, and get "ERROR: BL2: Failed to load image id 3 (-2)"

Not sure if there is an additional step or I missed something, but after that, when I turn the router on nothing happens, not even the leds turn on

resetting ...

F0: 102B 0000
F6: 0000 0000
V0: 0000 0000 [0001]
00: 0000 0000
BP: 0400 0041 [0000]
G0: 1190 0000
T0: 0000 02ED [000F]
Jump to BL

NOTICE:  BL2: v2.10.0   (release):OpenWrt v2024.01.17~bacca82a-3 (mt7622-snand-ubi-1ddr)
NOTICE:  BL2: Built : 06:47:54, Jan 13 2025
NOTICE:  WDT: [40000000] Software reset (reboot)
NOTICE:  CPU: MT7622
NOTICE:  SPI-NAND: adjusting SPI-NAND pin drive strength to 12mA
NOTICE:  SPI-NAND: FM35Q1GA (128MB)
NOTICE:  UBI: scanning [0x80000 - 0x8000000] ...
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 0 f35301a9
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 1 e43f40f9
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 2 21a02791
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 3 00fc48d3
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 4 e20315aa
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 5 6fffff17
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 6 6c782920
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 7 00000000
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 8 00000000
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 9 00000000
NOTICE:  UBI: scanning is finished
NOTICE:  UBI: PEB size: 131072 bytes (128 KiB), LEB size: 126976 bytes
NOTICE:  UBI: VID header offset: 2048 (aligned 2048), data offset: 4096
ERROR:   UBI error: No volume named fip could be found
NOTICE:  UBI: scanning [0x80000 - 0x8000000] ...
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 0 f35301a9
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 1 e43f40f9
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 2 21a02791
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 3 00fc48d3
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 4 e20315aa
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 5 6fffff17
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 6 6c782920
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 7 00000000
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 8 00000000
NOTICE:  UBI: Bad VID magic in block 9 00000000
NOTICE:  UBI: scanning is finished
NOTICE:  UBI: PEB size: 131072 bytes (128 KiB), LEB size: 126976 bytes
NOTICE:  UBI: VID header offset: 2048 (aligned 2048), data offset: 4096
ERROR:   UBI error: No volume named fip could be found
ERROR:   BL2: Failed to load image id 3 (-2)

[grauerfuchs]

You definitely missed something. The "bad VID magic..." errors show that the BL2 you installed can't find the matching UBI partition and so it can't load the next stage of the boot chain. In other words, you installed a version that isn't compatible with the data on your device.

What firmware was your router running previously? Was it running stock firmware? Was it running OpenWRT? If it was running the stable OpenWRT 23.0.5.x or older, you need a BL2 capable of working with the stable firmware. Use the "preloader" available from the OpenWRT firmware selector from any of the OpenWRT 22.x builds, not the version listed alongside 23.x.

[ehz_gobbo]

thanks, honestly don't remember what version it was, but I do know I did the UBI flash when I set it up.
It was working great, then I did attended sysupgrade, and that is when problems started. I got stuck in recovery mode and lost all settings. I then (this is where I bricked it) tried to do a manual install always from the luci interface and from there it stopped working.

The errors above where with the snapshot versions. I've now tried also 23.05.05 uboot.fip and 2nd both 22 an 23 versions of preload bin, less errors but still not working.

[grauerfuchs]

Ok, it looks like you flashed something entirely incompatible at some point and it wiped out the data on the flash chip. I'm guessing you tried to use a sysupgrade to go from stable 23.x or older to either snapshot or 24.x RC, or you tried to do a sysupgrade to downgrade from 24.x RC/snapshot to 23.x or older somewhere along the line. This isn't supported on the RT3200/e8450. The data layout changed between UBI 23.x and UBI 24.x/snapshot, and some revisions of the files would wipe out critical data on the chip. That would leave you in exactly this kind of situation.

You can still recover the device, but it's going to be a little more involved. You'll need to use the mtk_uartboot tool as listed on the wiki and the instructions listed for "hard recovery" present in the main forum topic for this device. Belkin RT3200/Linksys E8450 WiFi AX discussion - #5108 by grauerfuchs
I can't be entirely sure at this point, but corruption like this suggests you probably also damaged the factory partition. If so, then you'll either need the copy that was part of the backup you were supposed to take back when you did the initial UBI install, or you'll need to edit and use the surrogate replacement listed in the hard recovery topic.