Strikingly out of the ordinary - dual partition problem on WRT1900ACS

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

I've got myself stumped on this bizarre issue involving both partitions.

Build 14524 on P1, and a newer build 15469 on P2 both configured to a 10.10.1.0/24 subnet. Both have been chunking along just fine until I took down the router to clean up some cable clutter today and on bootup, wifi failed to start. Now the fun starts.

I could connect to 15469 on wire, but only on 192.168.1.1 and wonder of wonders, none of my previous config settings remain - just like a brand new bootup from a sysupgrade.bin. Worse, nothing was getting by the "No Password Configured" prompt.

Off I go to P1 alternate partition only to have a similar issue here - it fires up like a new sysupgrade.bin as well on 192.168.1.1 wanting a password configured. Again, none of the previous settings remain, but I could set a new password, configure my wifi, and interface and had internet access. Problem is, a reboot takes me right back to the same place with no config setting retained.

If I restore from backup, it comes back up as a new sysupgrade. I can also manually restore each individual backup file and everything works as it should until a reboot once again wipes all configs away.

Desperation sets in and I reflash 15469 on P2 - it all looks normal, but again impossible to get past the password config prompt. Back to P1, add password, config network, wifi, interface and I'm running again sort of so I decide to try to and put OEM back to P1 by:

/tmp# sysupgrade -F -n -v FW_WRT1900ACSV2_2.0.3.201002_prod.img
Image metadata not found
Image check failed but --force given - will update anyway!
Commencing upgrade. Closing all shell sessions.
Connection to 192.168.1.1 closed by remote host.
Connection to 192.168.1.1 closed.

Again, I can connect to wire on 192.168.1.1 but I get no Linksys UI other than their standard Linksys blue wallpaper image but no wifi available.

Strangely, all three firmwares allow me access to the internet on a 192.168.1.1/24 subnet.

Can anybody give me any other method that might get me over this oddity?

2

Might be browser cache issue. Try with another browser.

3

Watch the kernel logs, this could be a physical failure on the flash memory.

4

@hnyman - Might be browser cache issue. Try with another browser.

Not a hope. P2 build had been running since Jan. 10 without a hitch. When it came back up, I got this any client/any browser:

Screenshot from 2021-01-26 10-29-11
Screenshot from 2021-01-26 10-29-11831×156 16.6 KB

then could not get pass the either the empty password, or add password prompt in LuCI. As I said, as though I just installed a new build. Now get the same thing on a reboot of the other partition, but can get by it.

@eduperez - Watch the kernel logs, this could be a physical failure on the flash
memory.

You might be on to something, but this is well beyond my ability to diagnose.

When I go back to P1 build from Sept. 10, it also comes back up with no existing config, but I can add a password, and I'm back on line on 192.168.1.1. If I add my config from usb to /etc/. . . everything appears to be fully fuctiononal until a reboot and I have to repeat the process to get back to it. It's concerning that both partitions are having issues.

Flashing OEM gives me this on boot:

Screenshot from 2021-01-29 08-16-04
Screenshot from 2021-01-29 08-16-04861×227 23.4 KB

which I cannot get past. Also odd it's saying I need EA Series flash.

So I went back to P1, added my config, and started taking a general look around at things to see what might be out of norm and see DF seems a bit odd looking at the Filesystems:

/dev/root                21.5M     21.5M         0 100% /rom
tmpfs                   249.0M      5.7M    243.3M   2% /tmp
	-------------------------------------------
tmpfs                   249.0M      1.6M    247.3M   1% /tmp/root	what the
overlayfs:/tmp/root     249.0M      1.6M    247.3M   1% /			H*** !!!
	-------------------------------------------
ubi1:syscfg              29.6M    312.0K     27.7M   1% /tmp/syscfg
tmpfs                   512.0K         0    512.0K   0% /dev

Now IIRC this seem to be what it should look like.

overlayfs:/overlay        7.3M    116.0K      6.8M   2% /

Then

-ash: /proc: Permission denied
root@OpenWrt:/# /proc/cpuinfo
-ash: /proc/cpuinfo: Permission denied
root@OpenWrt:/# /etc/board.json
-ash: /etc/board.json: Permission denied

Then in dmesg I see:

10.631176] UBIFS error (ubi0:1 pid 932): ubifs_read_node_wbuf: expected node type 0
[   10.639197] UBIFS (ubi0:1): background thread "ubifs_bgt0_1" stops
[   10.645679] mount_root: failed to mount -t ubifs /dev/ubi0_1 /tmp/overlay: No error information
[   10.753528] UBIFS (ubi0:1): Mounting in unauthenticated mode
[   10.759258] UBIFS (ubi0:1): background thread "ubifs_bgt0_1" started, PID 943
[   10.799358] UBIFS (ubi0:1): recovery needed
[   11.149566] UBIFS error (ubi0:1 pid 941): ubifs_check_node: bad magic 0x000000, expected 0x6101831
[   11.158571] UBIFS error (ubi0:1 pid 941): ubifs_check_node: bad node at LEB 14:112640
[   11.166436] Not a node, first 24 bytes:
[   11.166440] 00000000: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00                          ........................

where ubifs /dev/ubi0_1 /tmp/overlay points back to the odd DF report.

I have looked at the device recovery page and dragged out my old Cisco serial kit - (Prolific DB9-USB) and found a serial connector to run tx/rx/gnd to null modem on the Prolific DB9 just in case, but I'm hoping someone might know if I'm looking at Corrupt Environment or Corrupt Bootloader which I should be able to fix, or a nand or other hardware failure in which case I would hit up Linksys under the remaining warranty.