[Solved] Nighthawk R7500v2 How to increase free flash area similar to the R7800

[rwhalb]

Folks:

I have a Nighthawk R7500v2 with the latest stable OpenWrt 18.06.5 r7897-9d401013fc code installed. I see that there is an OEM netgear partition:

root@OpenWrt:~# cat /proc/mtd
dev:    size   erasesize  name
mtd0: 00c80000 00020000 "qcadata"
mtd1: 00500000 00020000 "APPSBL"
mtd2: 00080000 00020000 "APPSBLENV"
mtd3: 00140000 00020000 "art"
mtd4: 00140000 00020000 "artbak"
mtd5: 00400000 00020000 "kernel"
mtd6: 01c00000 00020000 "ubi"
mtd7: 04480000 00020000 "netgear"
mtd8: 00700000 00020000 "reserve"
root@OpenWrt:~#

I also see from commit ipq806x: Enlarge R7500v2 flash - use netgear partition
that I though would have not included this partition.

Current Disk file systems:

root@OpenWrt:~# df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root                 3.0M      3.0M         0 100% /rom
tmpfs                   233.6M    440.0K    233.2M   0% /tmp
/dev/ubi0_1              17.9M    180.0K     16.8M   1% /overlay
overlayfs:/overlay       17.9M    180.0K     16.8M   1% /
tmpfs                   512.0K         0    512.0K   0% /dev
root@OpenWrt:~#

Questions:

1. Is there a way to increase the size of the / (overlay) by removing the partition and adding it to the "ubi" partition similar to the R7800?

2. Why was this not done when I installed the R7500v2 image since the above commit seems to address this?

Thanks for your support,
Ron Henderson

[tmomas]

@rwhalb

I also see from commit ipq806x: Enlarge R7500v2 flash - use netgear partition
that I though would have not included this partition.

That's master only. No backporting to 18.06 has happened.

@rwhalb

Why was this not done when I installed the R7500v2 image since the above commit seems to address this?

18.06 does not contain this commit. Install a snapshot and you should have this change.

[hnyman]

Or install 19.07.0 where the change can also be found:
https://git.openwrt.org/?p=openwrt/openwrt.git;a=history;f=target/linux/ipq806x/files-4.14/arch/arm/boot/dts/qcom-ipq8064-r7500v2.dts;h=faec8b35aec7149f91641e7294798af58164e308;hb=refs/heads/openwrt-19.07

The 19.07.0-rc2 is publicly available right now, and the final 19.07.0 has also been already built but will be officially released in a few days.
rc2: http://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/19.07.0-rc2/targets/ipq806x/generic/
Final: http://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/19.07.0/targets/ipq806x/generic/

[rwhalb]

hnyman:
Just flashed the 19.07.0-rc2 image to the R7500v2. The 'netgear' partition is no longer present but the free flash area has not increase:

root@OpenWrt:~# cat /etc/openwrt_release
DISTRIB_ID='OpenWrt'
DISTRIB_RELEASE='19.07.0-rc2'
DISTRIB_REVISION='r10775-db8345d8e4'
DISTRIB_TARGET='ipq806x/generic'
DISTRIB_ARCH='arm_cortex-a15_neon-vfpv4'
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION='OpenWrt 19.07.0-rc2 r10775-db8345d8e4'
DISTRIB_TAINTS=''
root@OpenWrt:~#

root@OpenWrt:~# df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root                 3.3M      3.3M         0 100% /rom
tmpfs                   233.6M    284.0K    233.3M   0% /tmp
/dev/ubi0_1              17.7M     64.0K     16.7M   0% /overlay
overlayfs:/overlay       17.7M     64.0K     16.7M   0% /
tmpfs                   512.0K         0    512.0K   0% /dev
root@OpenWrt:~#

root@OpenWrt:~# cat /proc/mtd
dev:    size   erasesize  name
mtd0: 00c80000 00020000 "qcadata"
mtd1: 00500000 00020000 "APPSBL"
mtd2: 00080000 00020000 "APPSBLENV"
mtd3: 00140000 00020000 "art"
mtd4: 00140000 00020000 "artbak"
mtd5: 00400000 00020000 "kernel"
mtd6: 06080000 00020000 "ubi"
mtd7: 00700000 00020000 "reserve"
root@OpenWrt:~#

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
---Ron Henderson

[hnyman]

Did you use the TFTP recovery flashing method?

Normal sysupgrade is not enough as the ubi size does not get modified in the sysupgrade process, although the new firmware might say a different new size for it.

Reference to my old analysis:

Netgear R7800 exploration (IPQ8065, QCA9984)

I think that I tracked that down: the sysupgrade process uses ubi-based write tool "ubiupdatevol" instead of the old good mtd. Kernel and rootfs are written separately using that tool into an existing mtd partition, and the tool reads the mtd partition info from the currently running firmware. (there is no practical way to check inside the image for the new partition structure) Apparently that tool also sets the ubi volume size info, so even if the new mtd partition is larger, the ubi volume i…

[rwhalb]

hnyman:

All is well now:

1. I first did a reset of the R7500v2. (I.e., Held in the reset button for 5 seconds or more while the R7500v2 was powered on)

2. Then I did a tftp flash recovery (i.e., Put R7500v2 in flash updating mode by holding in the reset button while powering on and waiting for the power LED to turn to a blinking white pattern)

3. Viewed the process via the serial port (This step is not necessary but useful for learning)

4. Used the factory image for 19.07.0-rc2. Not the sysupgrade image. This factory image reset the overlay partition size as advertised.

root@OpenWrt:~# df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root                 3.3M      3.3M         0 100% /rom
tmpfs                   233.6M    292.0K    233.3M   0% /tmp
/dev/ubi0_1              79.0M    180.0K     74.7M   0% /overlay
overlayfs:/overlay       79.0M    180.0K     74.7M   0% /
tmpfs                   512.0K         0    512.0K   0% /dev
root@OpenWrt:~#

root@OpenWrt:~# cat /proc/mtd
dev:    size   erasesize  name
mtd0: 00c80000 00020000 "qcadata"
mtd1: 00500000 00020000 "APPSBL"
mtd2: 00080000 00020000 "APPSBLENV"
mtd3: 00140000 00020000 "art"
mtd4: 00140000 00020000 "artbak"
mtd5: 00400000 00020000 "kernel"
mtd6: 06080000 00020000 "ubi"
mtd7: 00700000 00020000 "reserve"
root@OpenWrt:~#

Thanks for your support!
Ron Henderson

[tmomas]

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