Struggling to install OpenWRT onto EA4500 V3

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

I have 2 older routers that I would like to install OpenWRT. Both routers are on OEM firmware 3.1.7.181919. I have downloaded the factory to OpenWRT from https://openwrt.org/toh/linksys/ea4500_v3

Specifically, https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/23.05.5/targets/ath79/nand/openwrt-23.05.5-ath79-nand-linksys_ea4500-v3-squashfs-factory.img

When I attempt to flash the firmware via the web interface (i.e. the connectivity tab) and manually choose that file, an error message pops up saying "Invalid firmware file".

I thought it might be a checksum error, so I downloaded the firmware from https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/ and did a checksum. It was correct.

On this router's OpenWRT device page (https://openwrt.org/toh/linksys/ea4500_v3) under the OEM easy installation, it mentions firmware 3.1.6.172023. The link provided is dead.

Any help is more than appreciated.

2

If that firmware isn't available somewhere online it's time to open the router up and attach a serial cable. See the OEM installation using the TFTP method part of the ToH.

3

Yeah, I was afraid of that. I'll do some digging and see if I can't find something otherwise I'll grab a serial and flash it that way.

Thanks again.

4

found and downloaded every firmware from the dd-wrt entry here but none worked. I did get another error just stating it failed, then back to invalid firmware again.

https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1029895&sid=13f8699dbcde458d1d42a2831321d71e

Looks like I will be digging out my serial cable for this... argh...

5

Hello. I hold the oem firmware of EA4500 V3 extracted from my device, and one FW_EA4500V3_3.1.6.166173_prod.img downloaded from linksys.

However, it may be troublesome to publish them here, and according to https://starkeblog.com/linksys/firmware/ea4500/cryptography/2020/03/24/linksys-ea4500-device-firmware-decryption.html , you may be unable to downgrade even if you obtain them, as the openwrt firmware header conforms to the unencrypted oem firmware header.

6

I find a https://downloads.linksys.com/downloads/firmware/FW_EA4500V3_3.1.6.172023_prod.img , archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20190314003027/https://downloads.linksys.com/downloads/firmware/FW_EA4500V3_3.1.6.172023_prod.img . You can try downgrading.

7

The oem firmware extracted from my device is version 3.1.6.164569, and I could log into it via ssh, but I seem unable to log into 3.1.6.166173 via ssh.

If you can manage to log into it via ssh, you may install OpenWRT by flashing factory image to mtd5 "kernel" partition via the mtd tool, which should also be available within the oem firmware.

8

Thank you! This is such great information. I am unable to find my header pins so I might give this a go over the weekend.

9

As said in https://openwrt.org/toh/linksys/ea4500_v3#serial , the socket may be absent on some boards (which may also not have a power switch). In this case, connecting to the exposed soldering holes for the socket also works.