Support for Asus ZenWiFi BT8 Tri-band Wifi7 (Mediatek MT7988)

It sounds like it might be something wrong with your factory

This is what I experienced earlier with my recovered BT8 too - I used a generic factory before I found an old backup of my original factory

Romanovj was very helpful with these commands in uboot:

ubi remove rootfs_data

ubi create factory 0x155000 static
tftpboot $loadaddr factory.backup
ubi write $loadaddr factory 0x155000

ubi create rootfs_data - dynamic

But you should only change your current factory to your backup factory

I guess you may be right, in a screenshot of yours the wifi interface shows an asus mac address (cc:28:aa...) in my case it is a mediatek one (00:0C:43....). The factory partition itself exists and has the right size, but perhaps there also was an error writing it just as with the bootloader. The only backup I have is the whole ubi partition from after the TRX installer ran, while I could try that I don“t know how to extract just the factory partition from that and I guess that could also be too late of a backup.

@daniel Is the owrt-ubi-installer still a work in progress, or did I just have bad luck?

I was able to extract my old factory from an UBI file, but as I remember it was complicated.

I think I used "Ubi reader" which involved installing a lot of python packages and a python app installer before I could actually run it.

And then there was a lot of different commands to try before I found the correct one.

I thought that mine was "too late" to extract too, but it actually was my old original one :slight_smile:

Thank you for the tip, unfortunately it seems the factory volume was already empty:

Volume: factory
		---------------------
			Vol ID: 1
			Name: factory
			Block Count: 0

The boot_backup volume contains only mtd0 and mtd1, but from your paste of the original firmware the factory partition was mtd3. The fip volume also shows a block count of 0, so no wonder why it didn“t boot at first.

I had introduced a bug into the first release of the installer because the MTD partition names expected by the installer were not in sync with what went into OpenWrt in the end. I've fixed that with a later release of the installer a couple of days ago:

Update: I read now you actually used that one and yet ended up with an empty factory volume. So probably there is another bug there, I will try to find time now in the weekend to revert my device to stock and retry the installer.

2 Likes

Apologies everyone, I found the bug, fixed it and present to you a fully tested fixed installer release:

If anyone needs help recovering their devices damaged by any of the first two versions of the installer, please contact me by PM, I will of course help you.

7 Likes

Be gentle, I am a total noob having only installed on a GL.iNet so far, which is very very easy...

I took a bit of an expensive punt with this thing, bought one and tried to install the image tonight.
It is HW Rev:B1 and as I was tying to get into the menu to install the firmware it forced me to upgrade the software to the latest (3.0.0.6.102_56839-g6ea7953_253-ge8a71_M7EC). When I try to install the openWRT firmware I get a "firmware update unsuccessful" message.

I downloaded the earliest possible firmware available on the Asus site (BT8_3.0.0.6_102_56236-g789bb21_181-ga0fd7_M7EC), installed that on the BT-8, and tried OpenWRT again, but sadly i got the unsuccessful install message again.

I am almost certainly exposing just how new I am to openWRT and missing an important step, but I can say for sure that the sysupgrade image does not just install from the Asus webUI as it stands.

Edit: So I realised I probably needed to upload the .trx file via the rescue utility, which worked and got me into the intramfs mode, where I then uploaded the sysupgrade... and now... i can't log in. I can SSL into it, so will have to tackle this again tomorrow.

The prebuilt snapshot images don“t include luci (the webinterface) by default, which could be the issue if the website doesn“t load at all.
You can install it with apk update && apk add luci

2 Likes

Yep that’s almost certainly it. I did wonder if it could be as simple as adding some additional packages as soon as I finished my second edit and poured my, ā€œdone for the nightā€ glass of wine. :wink:

Thanks for responding so swiftly, I’ll let you know how I get on and will happily contribute whatever I can back.

It can be as simple as that.
To do this, you just need to install a custom build, which already contains many necessary (and not so necessary) packages.

Example: https://github.com/openwrt-xiaomi/builder/releases

And remember one important thing: snapshots require frequent firmware updates!

1 Like

I'm glad to see this device is being worked on. I've only just bought it. I'll watch with interest until it is a bit more stable.

anyone here plays Counter-Stirke 2 on WiFi (and cable too) as I had problems with disconnections from the game when ran Openwrt on this router in the beginning, I wonder if it's solved or not? Thanks.

Hello Everyone:
I got a problem after update the openwrt image that I pull the code and build.
6G cannot run normally and is displayed as disabled on the UI.

Here is some log:

root@OpenWrt:~# ifconfig -a|grep phy
phy0.0-ap0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr CC:28:AA:64:B6:9A
phy0.1-ap0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr CC:28:AA:64:B6:AA
phy0.2-ap0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr CC:28:AA:64:B6:9A
root@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~# ifconfig |grep phy
phy0.0-ap0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr CC:28:AA:64:B6:9A
phy0.1-ap0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr CC:28:AA:64:B6:AA
root@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~# ifconfig
br-lan Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr CC:28:AA:64:B6:98
inet addr:192.168.1.1 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fdb5:3e35:124e::1/60 Scope:Global
inet6 addr: fe80::ce28:aaff:fe64:b698/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:17553 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:13741 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:4677735 (4.4 MiB) TX bytes:6773088 (6.4 MiB)

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr CC:28:AA:64:B6:98
inet6 addr: fe80::ce28:aaff:fe64:b698/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1504 Metric:1
RX packets:17942 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:14398 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:5016197 (4.7 MiB) TX bytes:6893859 (6.5 MiB)
Interrupt:104

lan1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr CC:28:AA:64:B6:98
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

lan2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr CC:28:AA:64:B6:98
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:17942 errors:0 dropped:5 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:13741 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:4944429 (4.7 MiB) TX bytes:6773088 (6.4 MiB)

lan3 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr CC:28:AA:64:B6:98
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:104

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:854 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:854 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:77176 (75.3 KiB) TX bytes:77176 (75.3 KiB)

phy0.0-ap0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr CC:28:AA:64:B6:9A
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:152 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:22295 (21.7 KiB)

phy0.1-ap0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr CC:28:AA:64:B6:AA
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:496 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:112905 (110.2 KiB)

wan Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr CC:28:AA:64:B6:99
inet addr:192.168.16.200 Bcast:192.168.16.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::ce28:aaff:fe64:b699/64 Scope:Link
inet6 addr: 240e:3a1:4a44:9500:ce28:aaff:fe64:b699/64 Scope:Global
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:42528 errors:0 dropped:945 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:16989 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:9509521 (9.0 MiB) TX bytes:4618612 (4.4 MiB)
Interrupt:104

root@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~# lsmod
air_en8811h 16384 0
aquantia 24576 0
authenc 12288 2 crypto_safexcel,authencesn
authencesn 12288 0
cfg80211 315392 7 mt7996e,mt76x2_common,mt76x02_lib,mt7603e,mt76_connac_lib,mt76,mac80211
compat 12288 2 mac80211,cfg80211
crypto_safexcel 98304 0
des_generic 12288 0
geniv 12288 1 seqiv
gpio_button_hotplug 16384 0
leds_gpio 12288 0
libcrc32c 12288 1 nf_tables
libdes 20480 2 crypto_safexcel,des_generic
mac80211 618496 6 mt7996e,mt76x2e,mt76x02_lib,mt7603e,mt76_connac_lib,mt76
md5 12288 1 crypto_safexcel
mt76 77824 6 mt7996e,mt76x2e,mt76x2_common,mt76x02_lib,mt7603e,mt76_connac_lib
mt76_connac_lib 49152 1 mt7996e
mt7603e 45056 0
mt76x02_lib 49152 2 mt76x2e,mt76x2_common
mt76x2_common 20480 1 mt76x2e
mt76x2e 20480 0
mt7996e 126976 0
nf_conntrack 86016 7 nft_redir,nft_nat,nft_masq,nft_flow_offload,nft_ct,nf_nat,nf_flow_table
nf_defrag_ipv4 12288 1 nf_conntrack
nf_defrag_ipv6 16384 1 nf_conntrack
nf_flow_table 28672 2 nf_flow_table_inet,nft_flow_offload
nf_flow_table_inet 12288 0
nf_log_syslog 16384 0
nf_nat 36864 4 nft_redir,nft_nat,nft_masq,nft_chain_nat
nf_reject_ipv4 12288 2 nft_reject_ipv4,nft_reject_inet
nf_reject_ipv6 12288 2 nft_reject_ipv6,nft_reject_inet
nf_tables 196608208 nft_fib_inet,nf_flow_table_inet,nft_reject_ipv6,nft_reject_ipv4,nft_reject_inet,nft_reject,nft_redir,nft_quota,nft_numgen,nft_nat,nft_masq,nft_log,nft_limit,nft_hash,nft_flow_offload,nft_fib_ipv6,nft_fib_ipv4,nft_fib,nft_ct,nft_chain_nat
nfnetlink 16384 1 nf_tables
nft_chain_nat 12288 2
nft_ct 16384 4
nft_fib 12288 3 nft_fib_inet,nft_fib_ipv6,nft_fib_ipv4
nft_fib_inet 12288 0
nft_fib_ipv4 12288 1 nft_fib_inet
nft_fib_ipv6 12288 1 nft_fib_inet
nft_flow_offload 12288 0
nft_hash 12288 0
nft_limit 12288 5
nft_log 12288 0
nft_masq 12288 1
nft_nat 12288 0
nft_numgen 12288 0
nft_quota 12288 0
nft_redir 12288 0
nft_reject 12288 3 nft_reject_ipv6,nft_reject_ipv4,nft_reject_inet
nft_reject_inet 12288 2
nft_reject_ipv4 12288 0
nft_reject_ipv6 12288 0
ppp_async 16384 0
ppp_generic 45056 3 pppoe,ppp_async,pppox
pppoe 20480 0
pppox 12288 1 pppoe
rtc_pcf8563 12288 0
seqiv 12288 0
sha1_ce 12288 0
sha1_generic 12288 2 crypto_safexcel,sha1_ce
sha512_arm64 16384 0
slhc 12288 1 ppp_generic
usb_common 12288 3 xhci_plat_hcd,xhci_hcd,usbcore
usbcore 192512 4 xhci_plat_hcd,xhci_pci,xhci_mtk_hcd,xhci_hcd
xhci_hcd 135168 3 xhci_plat_hcd,xhci_pci,xhci_mtk_hcd
xhci_mtk_hcd 20480 0
xhci_pci 16384 0
xhci_plat_hcd 12288 0
root@OpenWrt:~#
Could someone help me ,please.
Thanks.

When 6G shows as disabled in Luci it is mostly caused by either that the password encryption not is set to WPA3 or that you are using 320Mhz set to a country that does not allow it.

2 Likes

After setting the country code to AU, the encryption method to WPA3, and a bandwidth of 160Mhz, it can connect to wifi 5g and 6g. However, the test rate using the speed test APP is very low. The test result for 5G download speed is: 40Mbps, while for 6G download speed it is: 90Mbps. This rate is also too low.
May I ask how fast your speed is? I don't know why.
I used the original FW of BT8 before. With 6G, the speed could reach 1000Mbps. The following is my configuration log:

root@OpenWrt:~# cat /etc/config/wireless

config wifi-device 'radio0'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option path 'soc/11300000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
        option radio '0'
        option band '2g'
        option channel '1'
        option htmode 'EHT20'
        option disabled '1'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio0'
        option device 'radio0'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option ssid 'OpenWrt'
        option encryption 'none'

config wifi-device 'radio1'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option path 'soc/11300000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
        option radio '1'
        option band '5g'
        option channel '40'
        option htmode 'EHT80'
        option cell_density '0'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio1'
        option device 'radio1'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option ssid 'OpenWrt_bt8_5g'
        option encryption 'sae-mixed'
        option key '1234567890'
        option ocv '0'

config wifi-device 'radio2'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option path 'soc/11300000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0'
        option radio '2'
        option htmode 'EHT160'
        option country 'AU'
        option cell_density '0'
        option band '6g'
        option channel '5'

config wifi-iface 'default_radio2'
        option device 'radio2'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option ssid 'OpenWrt_bt8_6g'
        option encryption 'sae'
        option key '1234567890'
        option ocv '0'

root@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~# lsmod
air_en8811h            16384  0
aquantia               24576  0
authenc                12288  2 crypto_safexcel,authencesn
authencesn             12288  0
cfg80211              315392  8 mt7996e,mt7915e,mt76x2_common,mt76x02_lib,mt7603e,mt76_connac_lib,mt76,mac80211
compat                 12288  2 mac80211,cfg80211
crypto_safexcel        98304  0
des_generic            12288  0
geniv                  12288  1 seqiv
gpio_button_hotplug    16384  0
leds_gpio              12288  0
libcrc32c              12288  1 nf_tables
libdes                 20480  2 crypto_safexcel,des_generic
mac80211              618496  7 mt7996e,mt7915e,mt76x2e,mt76x02_lib,mt7603e,mt76_connac_lib,mt76
md5                    12288  1 crypto_safexcel
mt76                   77824  7 mt7996e,mt7915e,mt76x2e,mt76x2_common,mt76x02_lib,mt7603e,mt76_connac_lib
mt76_connac_lib        49152  2 mt7996e,mt7915e
mt7603e                45056  0
mt76x02_lib            49152  2 mt76x2e,mt76x2_common
mt76x2_common          20480  1 mt76x2e
mt76x2e                20480  0
mt7915e               139264  0
mt7996e               126976  0
nf_conntrack           86016  7 nft_redir,nft_nat,nft_masq,nft_flow_offload,nft_ct,nf_nat,nf_flow_table
nf_defrag_ipv4         12288  1 nf_conntrack
nf_defrag_ipv6         16384  1 nf_conntrack
nf_flow_table          28672  2 nf_flow_table_inet,nft_flow_offload
nf_flow_table_inet     12288  0
nf_log_syslog          16384  0
nf_nat                 36864  4 nft_redir,nft_nat,nft_masq,nft_chain_nat
nf_reject_ipv4         12288  2 nft_reject_ipv4,nft_reject_inet
nf_reject_ipv6         12288  2 nft_reject_ipv6,nft_reject_inet
nf_tables             196608208 nft_fib_inet,nf_flow_table_inet,nft_reject_ipv6,nft_reject_ipv4,nft_reject_inet,nft_reject,nft_redir,nft_quota,nft_numgen,nft_nat,nft_masq,nft_log,nft_limit,nft_hash,nft_flow_offload,nft_fib_ipv6,nft_fib_ipv4,nft_fib,nft_ct,nft_chain_nat
nfnetlink              16384  1 nf_tables
nft_chain_nat          12288  2
nft_ct                 16384  4
nft_fib                12288  3 nft_fib_inet,nft_fib_ipv6,nft_fib_ipv4
nft_fib_inet           12288  0
nft_fib_ipv4           12288  1 nft_fib_inet
nft_fib_ipv6           12288  1 nft_fib_inet
nft_flow_offload       12288  0
nft_hash               12288  0
nft_limit              12288  5
nft_log                12288  0
nft_masq               12288  1
nft_nat                12288  0
nft_numgen             12288  0
nft_quota              12288  0
nft_redir              12288  0
nft_reject             12288  3 nft_reject_ipv6,nft_reject_ipv4,nft_reject_inet
nft_reject_inet        12288  2
nft_reject_ipv4        12288  0
nft_reject_ipv6        12288  0
ppp_async              16384  0
ppp_generic            45056  3 pppoe,ppp_async,pppox
pppoe                  20480  0
pppox                  12288  1 pppoe
rtc_pcf8563            12288  0
seqiv                  12288  0
sha1_ce                12288  0
sha1_generic           12288  2 crypto_safexcel,sha1_ce
sha512_arm64           16384  0
slhc                   12288  1 ppp_generic
usb_common             12288  3 xhci_plat_hcd,xhci_hcd,usbcore
usbcore               192512  4 xhci_plat_hcd,xhci_pci,xhci_mtk_hcd,xhci_hcd
xhci_hcd              135168  3 xhci_plat_hcd,xhci_pci,xhci_mtk_hcd
xhci_mtk_hcd           20480  0
xhci_pci               16384  0
xhci_plat_hcd          12288  0
root@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~#
root@OpenWrt:~# iw reg get
global
country AU: DFS-ETSI
        (915 - 920 @ 4), (N/A, 30), (N/A)
        (920 - 928 @ 8), (N/A, 30), (N/A)
        (2400 - 2483 @ 40), (N/A, 36), (N/A)
        (5150 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 23), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR, AUTO-BW
        (5250 - 5350 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), NO-OUTDOOR, DFS, AUTO-BW
        (5470 - 5600 @ 80), (N/A, 26), (0 ms), DFS
        (5650 - 5730 @ 80), (N/A, 26), (0 ms), DFS
        (5730 - 5850 @ 80), (N/A, 36), (N/A), AUTO-BW
        (5850 - 5875 @ 20), (N/A, 13), (N/A), AUTO-BW
        (5925 - 6425 @ 160), (N/A, 23), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR
        (57000 - 71000 @ 2160), (N/A, 43), (N/A), NO-OUTDOOR

Is there any other settings I need to do?
Thank you .

Can all variants of the BT8 be flashed to OpenWRT?

This is a super long thread, but why are you guys interested in this instead of a Banana Pi build? The BT8 only has 1GB of RAM and I’m wondering how that will fare 5 years from now.

I’m more interested in buying WiFi 7 access points and using them with a Banana Pi R4 or even a mini PC with OPNsense. Can the BT8 be configured to use as an access point? If so, is this a better option than Ubiquiti or TP-Link Omada?

Does OpenWRT fully support the Asus BT8?

Depends what you mean by variant.

Very well.

Everything running Openwrt can be set up as an AP.

Still in beta, but yes.

2 Likes

What do you think of the BT8 as an access point? Ik still in the early stages of building my home network. I'm doing as much research and asking as many questions as possible. I really want to build a WiFi 7 network as this is the future.

Variant as in firmware and hardware revision. Will I need to worry about buying one that can't be flushed to OpenWRT? I'm guessing Asus will probably want to lock down their hardware with a firmware update in the future?

My thinking before discovering this thread was going with a BPI R4 router and TP-Link Omada EAP 773 APs.

It's reasonably priced and Omada doesn't require a hardware controller. However, I'm being pushed away due to the fact that TP-Link is under investigation by the US government. I am worried about privacy and security implications. Since it's not open source, I don't know what telemetries are sent to TP-Link's servers. Originally, I didn't think any of this would be an issue as all data would be routed by a highly secured OpenWRT router. If I can't trust Unifi or Omada due to potential privacy issues, then my thinking is to get OpenWRT access points. The BT8 is reasonably priced and on sale due to Prime Day. The specs are decent, especially if used as an access point. I guess I won't have to worry about the blocklist and other apps taking up the BT8's RAM. The BPI R4 8GB RAM should be more than adequate. I think I'll start off with a two-pack and place it around the house to see what coverage is like. They'll both be plugged into the wired network in my house. I guess this is called the wired backhaul? Pardon me if I get the terminology wrong.

My house is wired with Cat5e cables. I have gigabit fiber internet and am contemplating upgrading to 3 gigabit later this year when my service contract expires.

If not the BT8, what else do you recommend?

TDLR, I wouldn't buy anything wifi7 today.

Nor would I upgrade to 3 gbit. I've had the option to upgrade from 1 to 10gbit for the last 5 years, still can't find reasons enough for the additional $5-10/mo they're asking.

3 Likes

I have not done any serious testing, but wifi7 on OpenWRT is still very much a work in progress and it might be a while before we see all the functions (MLO etc) and speeds of the original firmware.

I have several BT8 and am using some with the original firmware in a mesh network and some with OpenWRT.

I also have the Banana Pi R4 as my main router and among other things I am using it as a 10Gbps switch for my home network.

Some say the that wifi7 signal from Banana Pi R4 is weak and I can confirm that BT8 seems to have better signal.

And personally I like the look of BT8 better since I dislike pointy antennas.

1 Like