It was a succesful experiment. Done in 5 minutes.
I bought two of them, and flashed them with AX52. This is a very cheap device with medium bulky MT7981 CPU.
Difference between AX52 is the Wi-Fi, but since they both are MT7981 we don't have to worry about anything, driver figures itself out.
Flash layout etc. are all the same. ASUS is lazy, they won't be doing a new design just for the sake of it 
I just had to create a new topic because the topic wasn't mine and it was confusing to see if it was supported or not between a lot of messages there
Can you get ubus call system board and iwinfo (set wifi MAC to random to keep PII painted over) showing AX52 and functional 160MHz?
I will as soon as I have time, but I have seen with my own eyes that 160MHz is functional
root@OpenWrt:~# ubus call system board
{
"kernel": "6.12.71",
"hostname": "OpenWrt",
"system": "ARMv8 Processor rev 4",
"model": "ASUS RT-AX52",
"board_name": "asus,rt-ax52",
"rootfs_type": "squashfs",
"release": {
"distribution": "OpenWrt",
"version": "SNAPSHOT",
"firmware_url": "https://downloads.openwrt.org/",
"revision": "r33101+1-313d563664",
"target": "mediatek/filogic",
"description": "OpenWrt SNAPSHOT r33101+1-313d563664",
"builddate": "1771242522"
}
}
root@OpenWrt:~# iwinfo
phy0-ap0 ESSID: "OpenWrt_2.4GHz"
Access Point: mac_Address
Mode: Master Channel: 13 (2.472 GHz) HT Mode: HT20
Center Channel 1: 13 2: unknown
Tx-Power: 20 dBm Link Quality: 70/70
Signal: 0 dBm Noise: -92 dBm
Bit Rate: unknown
Encryption: WPA-PSK (CCMP)
Type: nl80211 HW Mode(s): 802.11ax/n/g/b
Hardware: embedded [MediaTek MT7981]
TX power offset: none
Channel offset: none
Supports VAPs: yes PHY name: phy0
phy1-ap0 ESSID: "OpenWrt_5GHz"
Access Point: mac_Address
Mode: Master Channel: 40 (5.200 GHz) HT Mode: HE80
Center Channel 1: 42 2: unknown
Tx-Power: 23 dBm Link Quality: 70/70
Signal: 0 dBm Noise: -92 dBm
Bit Rate: unknown
Encryption: WPA-PSK (CCMP)
Type: nl80211 HW Mode(s): 802.11ax/ac/n
Hardware: embedded [MediaTek MT7981]
TX power offset: none
Channel offset: none
Supports VAPs: yes PHY name: phy1
root@OpenWrt:~#
On a side note, I know you said on the interface it says AX52 and that is normal. But I think, on the interface it should of said AX52 PRO instead. Imagine if somehow the label of the router is teared or lost. And then you would forgot what your device was. That's just small criticism, I think it should be this way instead.
eg https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/?version=24.10.5&target=ramips%2Fmt7621&id=asus_rt-ax54 all 4 variants say ax54 in UI, that is normal.
Succesfully merged
Hi, I have same device. I try to flash non-pro version on asus web-ui (192.168.50.1) but it says unsuccessful. I tried so many things but I am very new at this stuff.
what file are you flashing it with ?
I have pro version, tried to flash with non-pro version because thats the only one I could find. And also tried snapshot version but outcome is same.
cool.
now, try to answer the question.
openwrt-mediatek-filogic-asus_rt-ax52-initramfs.trx
openwrt-25.12.2-mediatek-filogic-asus_rt-ax52-initramfs.trx
try downgrading to the oldest ASUS firmware available for the Pro, if it still fails, you'll most likely have to use serial to install openwrt.
if it works, record what ASUS firmware version you were on prior to downgrading.
Try to read carefully, the github. And do exactly what it says. If you dont trust yourself dont do it. If you power off at wrong time you're cooked. Take this stuff very seriously.