Neon
February 15, 2026, 11:17pm
1
Hi,
The Acer Predator Connect X6E looks like an interesting candidate to replace my old 4G modem router.
Specs from the manual:
I’ve started opening it, but better tools are needed. The outer shell comes off easily, but some screws are hidden under glued antennas. Since development for the IPQ5018 + QCN9024 is already ongoing, it may be supported with 512 MB RAM. The SDX62, however, looks like it will be more challenging, according to my research.
Any Thoughts?
Edit:
The antennas are internal.
Neon:
I’ve started opening it, but better tools are needed. The outer shell comes off easily, but some screws are hidden under glued antennas. Since development for the IPQ5018 + QCN9024 is already ongoing, it may be supported with 512 MB RAM. The SDX62, however, looks like it will be more challenging, according to my research.
Any Thoughts?
Photos are nice.
And if you can't remove the antennas, but turn them,
look here as some example
you need some plastic spudgers
Neon
February 15, 2026, 11:51pm
3
ElektromAn:
Photos are nice.
I will add more pictures as I continue.
slh
February 16, 2026, 1:48am
4
256 MB RAM would imply a hard disqualification and frankly 512 MB RAM would already be on the small end - choose your battles wisely, this one wouldn't be on my list.
Neon
February 16, 2026, 2:08am
5
Thanks, it is not intended to be a main access point. I will see how much RAM it actually has and how it communicates with the modem. If it is possible to use the modem, I'm inclined to proceed.
slh
February 16, 2026, 2:37am
6
Determine the actual amount of RAM first (you need to, anyways), 256 MB is a hard no-go for anything.
Neon
February 16, 2026, 2:59am
7
The UK Acer store lists:
Memory/Storage Processor: NAND 512MB / DDR 512MB Modem: NAND 256MB / DDR 512MB Cellular
This would make more sense considering the hardware combo.
slh
February 16, 2026, 3:00am
8
I would not just believe store listing for something like this.
Neon
February 16, 2026, 3:04am
9
Sure, I will certainly try to get the real values...
Neon
February 18, 2026, 1:18pm
11
This?
Ideas?
Edit:
The device has an undocumented usb-c that registers as a network device on linux but no dhcp and the usual IPs had nothing to share.
1 Like
Neon
February 19, 2026, 3:56pm
12
I checked the pads at the bottom next to the middle shielding with a scope, and there is some 1.8V communication going on. I ordered a 1.8V converter, and hopefully, this is the UART of the ipq5018.
1 Like
Looking at the product photos ..
If the bottom side, the one with SIM card slot and type c, these can be testpoints ..
Neon
February 21, 2026, 11:58am
14
I have guessed the numbered shielded components on the top as:
2: QCN9024 (Wi-Fi 5G ant)
On the back are the ground pads for the modem on the left and the shielding at the same spot as the IPQ5018. I assume since the two com lines with the resistors are from the direction of the IPQ5018, it is likely the UART. I will have more information later today.
Neon
February 21, 2026, 1:39pm
15
bootlog: google drive link
IPQ5018# is_sec_boot_enabled
secure boot fuse is not enabled
IPQ5018# setenv bootargs console=ttyMSM0,115200n8 ubi.mtd=rootfs root=mtd:ubi_rootfs rootfstype=squashfs rootwait init=/bin/sh
IPQ5018# bootipq
...
# mount -t proc proc /proc
# mount -t sysfs sysfs /sys
# cat /proc/mtd
dev: size erasesize name
mtd0: 00030000 00001000 "0:SBL1"
mtd1: 00010000 00001000 "0:MIBIB"
mtd2: 00010000 00001000 "0:BOOTCONFIG"
mtd3: 00010000 00001000 "0:BOOTCONFIG1"
mtd4: 000a0000 00001000 "0:QSEE_1"
mtd5: 000a0000 00001000 "0:QSEE"
mtd6: 00010000 00001000 "0:DEVCFG_1"
mtd7: 00010000 00001000 "0:DEVCFG"
mtd8: 00010000 00001000 "0:CDT_1"
mtd9: 00010000 00001000 "0:CDT"
mtd10: 00010000 00001000 "0:APPSBLENV"
mtd11: 000a0000 00001000 "0:APPSBL_1"
mtd12: 000a0000 00001000 "0:APPSBL"
mtd13: 00070000 00001000 "0:ART"
mtd14: 00080000 00020000 "0:TRAINING"
mtd15: 03e00000 00020000 "rootfs_1"
mtd16: 03e00000 00020000 "rootfs"
mtd17: 00446d94 0001f000 "kernel"
mtd18: 003ba000 0001f000 "wifi_fw"
mtd19: 00005000 0001f000 "bt_fw"
mtd20: 01648000 0001f000 "ubi_rootfs"
mtd21: 01667000 0001f000 "rootfs_data"
# cat /proc/partitions
major minor #blocks name
1 0 4096 ram0
1 1 4096 ram1
1 2 4096 ram2
1 3 4096 ram3
1 4 4096 ram4
1 5 4096 ram5
1 6 4096 ram6
1 7 4096 ram7
1 8 4096 ram8
1 9 4096 ram9
1 10 4096 ram10
1 11 4096 ram11
1 12 4096 ram12
1 13 4096 ram13
1 14 4096 ram14
1 15 4096 ram15
31 0 192 mtdblock0
31 1 64 mtdblock1
31 2 64 mtdblock2
31 3 64 mtdblock3
31 4 640 mtdblock4
31 5 640 mtdblock5
31 6 64 mtdblock6
31 7 64 mtdblock7
31 8 64 mtdblock8
31 9 64 mtdblock9
31 10 64 mtdblock10
31 11 640 mtdblock11
31 12 640 mtdblock12
31 13 448 mtdblock13
31 14 512 mtdblock14
31 15 63488 mtdblock15
31 16 63488 mtdblock16
31 17 4379 mtdblock17
31 18 3816 mtdblock18
31 19 20 mtdblock19
31 20 22816 mtdblock20
31 21 22940 mtdblock21
# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
mtd:ubi_rootfs 22.3M 22.3M 0 100% /
# uname -a
Linux (none) 4.4.60 #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Oct 23 19:29:13 CST 2025 armv7l GNU/Linux
# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 4 (v7l)
BogoMIPS : 48.00
Features : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm aes pmull sha1 sha2 crc32
CPU implementer : 0x51
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant : 0xa
CPU part : 0x801
CPU revision : 4
processor : 1
model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 4 (v7l)
BogoMIPS : 48.00
Features : half thumb fastmult vfp edsp neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt vfpd32 lpae evtstrm aes pmull sha1 sha2 crc32
CPU implementer : 0x51
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant : 0xa
CPU part : 0x801
CPU revision : 4
Hardware : Generic DT based system
Revision : 0000
Serial : 0000000000000000-
# cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal: 408444 kB
MemFree: 350956 kB
MemAvailable: 348992 kB
Buffers: 724 kB
Cached: 1100 kB
SwapCached: 0 kB
Active: 1828 kB
Inactive: 32 kB
Active(anon): 36 kB
Inactive(anon): 0 kB
Active(file): 1792 kB
Inactive(file): 32 kB
Unevictable: 0 kB
Mlocked: 0 kB
HighTotal: 0 kB
HighFree: 0 kB
LowTotal: 408444 kB
LowFree: 350956 kB
SwapTotal: 0 kB
SwapFree: 0 kB
Dirty: 0 kB
Writeback: 0 kB
AnonPages: 48 kB
Mapped: 1000 kB
Shmem: 0 kB
Slab: 6576 kB
SReclaimable: 1132 kB
SUnreclaim: 5444 kB
KernelStack: 688 kB
PageTables: 16 kB
NFS_Unstable: 0 kB
Bounce: 0 kB
WritebackTmp: 0 kB
CommitLimit: 204220 kB
Committed_AS: 8 kB
VmallocTotal: 1572864 kB
VmallocUsed: 0 kB
VmallocChunk: 0 kB
Neon
February 21, 2026, 8:26pm
16
So the RAM is 512MB, and I guess the modem is connected with mhi. Does this mean there is a chance to get it up with vanilla OpenWrt?
Edit:
Hostle
February 22, 2026, 10:41pm
18
looks very similar to the linksys mx5500 ..
/dts-v1/;
#include "ipq5018.dtsi"
#include "ipq5018-mx-base.dtsi"
/ {
model = "Linksys MX5500";
compatible = "linksys,mx5500", "qcom,ipq5018";
chosen {
bootargs-append = " root=/dev/ubiblock0_0 coherent_pool=2M";
@georgem83 .. what do you think ?
Neon
February 23, 2026, 3:31am
19
Thank you for your support!
it's more like the MX6200 where the internal switch ports are connected to two PHYs instead of a switch. We should be able to get ethernet and wifi working. Not sure about the 5G modem though..
