Support for D-Link COVR-P2500

For Developers
25

I have a similar firmware locked into the Breed uboot science?. Could anyone get me an idea to either upgrade firmware or destroy that Breed Science uboot science? btw, why is that breed uboot called a science?

BusyBox v1.19.4 (2015-12-22 09:52:33 CST) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

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MMMM= MMMMMM  MMM   MMMM       MMMMM   MMMM  MMMMMM   MMMM  MMMMM'
MMMM=  MMMMM MMMM    MM       MMMMM    MMMM    MMMM   MMMMNMMMMM
MMMM=   MMMM  MMMMM          MMMMM     MMMM    MMMM   MMMMMMMM
MMMM=   MMMM   MMMMMM       MMMMM      MMMM    MMMM   MMMMMMMMM
MMMM=   MMMM     MMMMM,    NMMMMMMMM   MMMM    MMMM   MMMMMMMMMMM
MMMM=   MMMM      MMMMMM   MMMMMMMM    MMMM    MMMM   MMMM  MMMMMM
MMMM=   MMMM   MM    MMMM    MMMM      MMMM    MMMM   MMMM    MMMM
MMMM$ ,MMMMM  MMMMM  MMMM    MMM       MMMM   MMMMM   MMMM    MMMM
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   For those about to rock... (QCA9558.LN, unknown)
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root@OpenWrt:~# logread
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [    0.110000] registering PCI controller with io_map_base unset
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.err kernel: [    0.120000] ar71xx: invalid MDIO id 1
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.530000] bio: create slab <bio-0> at 0
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.540000] PCI host bridge to bus 0000:00
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.540000] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [mem 0x10000000-0x11ffffff]
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.550000] pci_bus 0000:00: root bus resource [io  0x0000]
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.550000] Switching to clocksource MIPS
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.560000] NET: Registered protocol family 2
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.560000] IP route cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.570000] TCP established hash table entries: 2048 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.580000] TCP bind hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.580000] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 2048 bind 2048)
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.590000] TCP reno registered
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.590000] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.600000] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.610000] NET: Registered protocol family 1
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.debug kernel: [    0.610000] PCI: CLS 0 bytes, default 32
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.630000] squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.640000] JFFS2 version 2.2 (NAND) (SUMMARY) (LZMA) (RTIME) (CMODE_PRIORITY) (c) 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.650000] msgmni has been set to 119
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.650000] io scheduler noop registered
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [    0.650000] io scheduler deadline registered (default)
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   32.190000] Copyright (c) 2005-2009 Atheros Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   32.200000] SPECTRAL module built on Jun  1 2016 10:01:02
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   32.290000] ath_tx99: Version 2.0
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   32.290000] Copyright (c) 2010 Atheros Communications, Inc, All Rights Reserved
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   32.490000] ath_dev: Copyright (c) 2001-2007 Atheros Communications, Inc, All Rights Reserved
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.230000] __ath_attach: Set global_scn[0]
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.230000] *** All the minfree values should be <= ATH_TXBUF-32, otherwise default value will be used instead ***
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.250000] ACBKMinfree = 48
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.250000] ACBEMinfree = 32
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.250000] ACVIMinfree = 16
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.250000] ACVOMinfree = 0
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.260000] CABMinfree = 48
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.260000] UAPSDMinfree = 0
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.260000] ATH_TXBUF=540
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   34.270000] Enterprise mode: 0x03fc0000
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   34.280000] Restoring Cal data from DRAM
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.280000] SPECTRAL : get_capability not registered
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.290000] HAL_CAP_PHYDIAG : Capable
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.290000] SPECTRAL : Need to fix the capablity check for RADAR (spectral_attach : 231)
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.300000] SPECTRAL : get_capability not registered
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.310000] HAL_CAP_RADAR   : Capable
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.310000] SPECTRAL : Need to fix the capablity check for SPECTRAL
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.310000]  (spectral_attach : 236)
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.320000] SPECTRAL : get_capability not registered
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.330000] HAL_CAP_SPECTRAL_SCAN : Capable
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.330000] SPECTRAL : get_tsf64 not registered
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.340000] spectral_init_netlink 52 NULL SKB
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.340000] SPECTRAL : No ADVANCED SPECTRAL SUPPORT
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.340000] SPECTRAL :----- module attached
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.350000] Green-AP : Green-AP : Attached
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.350000] 
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.360000] ath_get_caps[6147] rx chainmask mismatch actual 3 sc_chainmak 0
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.370000] ath_get_caps[6122] tx chainmask mismatch actual 3 sc_chainmak 0
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.380000] ath_attach_dfs[12621] dfsdomain 1
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.390000] SPECTRAL : module already attached
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   34.400000] osif_wrap_attach:280 osif wrap attached
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   34.400000] osif_wrap_devt_init:900 osif wrap dev table init done
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   34.410000] ath_tx_paprd_init sc 83090000 PAPRD disabled in HAL
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   34.420000] wifi0: Atheros ???: mem=0xb8100000, irq=47
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   34.430000] ath_pci: 10.2.3.31 (Atheros/multi-bss)
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   34.510000] bonding: Ethernet Channel Bonding Driver: v3.7.1 (April 27, 2011)
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   34.780000] ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   34.950000] NET: Registered protocol family 24
Jan 12 01:37:07 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   35.000000] nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (960 buckets, 3840 max)
Jan 12 01:37:10 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   40.890000] device eth1 entered promiscuous mode
Jan 12 01:37:10 OpenWrt daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'lan' is now up
Jan 12 01:37:10 OpenWrt daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'loopback' is now up
Jan 12 01:37:10 OpenWrt daemon.notice netifd: wan (1054): udhcpc (v1.19.4) started
Jan 12 01:37:10 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   41.490000] eth1: link up (1000Mbps/Full duplex)
Jan 12 01:37:10 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   41.490000] br-lan: port 1(eth1) entered forwarding state
Jan 12 01:37:10 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   41.500000] br-lan: port 1(eth1) entered forwarding state
Jan 12 01:37:10 OpenWrt daemon.notice netifd: wan (1054): Sending discover...
Jan 12 01:37:11 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   41.980000] eth0: link up (100Mbps/Full duplex)
Jan 12 01:37:11 OpenWrt user.notice ifup: Enabling Router Solicitations on lan (br-lan)
Jan 12 01:37:12 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   43.500000] br-lan: port 1(eth1) entered forwarding state
Jan 12 01:37:14 OpenWrt daemon.notice netifd: wan (1054): Sending discover...
Jan 12 01:37:14 OpenWrt daemon.notice netifd: wan (1054): Sending select for 192.168.31.188...
Jan 12 01:37:14 OpenWrt daemon.notice netifd: wan (1054): Lease of 192.168.31.188 obtained, lease time 216000
Jan 12 01:37:14 OpenWrt user.notice ifup: Enabling Router Solicitations on loopback (lo)
Jan 12 01:37:14 OpenWrt daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan' is now up
Jan 12 01:37:15 OpenWrt user.notice ifup: Allowing Router Advertisements on wan (eth0)
Jan 12 01:37:15 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   46.200000] osif_wrap_devt_detach:255 osif wrap dev table detached
Jan 12 01:37:15 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   46.210000] osif_wrap_detach:312 osif wrap detached
Jan 12 01:37:15 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   46.230000] SPECTRAL : Module removed (spectral = 83882000)
Jan 12 01:37:15 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   46.230000] Green-AP : Green-AP : Detached
Jan 12 01:37:15 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   46.230000] 
Jan 12 01:37:15 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   46.270000] Removing athdebug proc file
Jan 12 01:37:15 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   46.280000] ath_dev: driver unloaded
Jan 12 01:37:15 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   46.290000] ath_tx99: driver unloaded
Jan 12 01:37:15 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   46.300000] ath_spectral: driver unloaded
Jan 12 01:37:15 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   46.330000] ath_dfs: driver unloaded
Jan 12 01:37:15 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   46.360000] ath_rate_atheros: driver unloaded
Jan 12 01:37:15 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   46.370000] ath_hal: driver unloaded
Jan 12 01:37:16 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: phy for wifi device wifi0 not found
Jan 12 01:37:16 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: wifi0(qcawifi): disable failed
Jan 12 01:37:16 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   46.870000] ****Address of trace_timer :832ba590 
Jan 12 01:37:16 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   46.950000] ath_hal: 0.9.17.1 (AR5416, AR9380, REGOPS_FUNC, WRITE_EEPROM, TX_DATA_SWAP, RX_DATA_SWAP, 11D)
Jan 12 01:37:16 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   47.000000] ath_rate_atheros: Copyright (c) 2001-2005 Atheros Communications, Inc, All Rights Reserved
Jan 12 01:37:16 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   47.030000] ath_dfs: Version 2.0.0
Jan 12 01:37:16 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   47.030000] Copyright (c) 2005-2006 Atheros Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Jan 12 01:37:16 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   47.070000] ath_spectral: Version 2.0.0
Jan 12 01:37:16 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   47.070000] Copyright (c) 2005-2009 Atheros Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Jan 12 01:37:16 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   47.080000] SPECTRAL module built on Jun  1 2016 10:01:02
Jan 12 01:37:16 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   47.110000] ath_tx99: Version 2.0
Jan 12 01:37:16 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   47.110000] Copyright (c) 2010 Atheros Communications, Inc, All Rights Reserved
Jan 12 01:37:16 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   47.170000] ath_dev: Copyright (c) 2001-2007 Atheros Communications, Inc, All Rights Reserved
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   47.410000] __ath_attach: Set global_scn[0]
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   47.420000] *** All the minfree values should be <= ATH_TXBUF-32, otherwise default value will be used instead ***
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   47.430000] ACBKMinfree = 48
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   47.430000] ACBEMinfree = 32
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   47.430000] ACVIMinfree = 16
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   47.440000] ACVOMinfree = 0
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   47.440000] CABMinfree = 48
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   47.440000] UAPSDMinfree = 0
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   47.450000] ATH_TXBUF=540
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   47.460000] Enterprise mode: 0x03fc0000
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   47.460000] Restoring Cal data from DRAM
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   47.910000] wlan_vap_create : enter. devhandle=0x832c0380, opmode=IEEE80211_M_HOSTAP, flags=0x1
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   47.920000] wlan_vap_create : exit. devhandle=0x832c0380, opmode=IEEE80211_M_HOSTAP, flags=0x1.
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.err kernel: [   47.930000] VAP device ath0 created osifp: (823d2b80) os_if: (83334000)
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   48.170000] Set freq vap stop send + 83334000
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   48.170000] Set freq vap stop send -83334000
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   48.300000] Set wait done --83334000
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   48.430000]  
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   48.430000]  DES SSID SET= 
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   48.450000]  
Jan 12 01:37:17 OpenWrt kern.warn kernel: [   48.450000]  DES SSID SET=OpenWrt_9531_2.4G_2770 
Jan 12 01:37:18 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   48.700000] 8021q: adding VLAN 0 to HW filter on device ath0
Jan 12 01:37:19 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   49.960000] device ath0 entered promiscuous mode
Jan 12 01:37:19 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   49.960000] br-lan: port 2(ath0) entered forwarding state
Jan 12 01:37:19 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   49.970000] br-lan: port 2(ath0) entered forwarding state
Jan 12 01:37:20 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: Loading defaults
Jan 12 01:37:20 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: Loading synflood protection
Jan 12 01:37:20 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: Adding custom chains
Jan 12 01:37:21 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: Loading zones
Jan 12 01:37:21 OpenWrt kern.info kernel: [   51.970000] br-lan: port 2(ath0) entered forwarding state
Jan 12 01:37:22 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: Loading forwardings
Jan 12 01:37:22 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: Loading rules
Jan 12 01:37:22 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: Loading redirects
Jan 12 01:37:22 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: Loading includes
Jan 12 01:37:22 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: Optimizing conntrack
Jan 12 01:37:22 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: Loading interfaces
Jan 12 01:37:22 OpenWrt user.info firewall: adding lan (br-lan) to zone lan
Jan 12 01:37:22 OpenWrt user.info firewall: adding wan (eth0) to zone wan
Jan 12 01:37:23 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: /etc/rc.common: line 85: /usr/lib/qos/generate.sh: not found
Jan 12 01:37:26 OpenWrt user.notice dnsmasq: DNS rebinding protection is active, will discard upstream RFC1918 responses!
Jan 12 01:37:26 OpenWrt user.notice dnsmasq: Allowing 127.0.0.0/8 responses
Jan 12 01:37:30 OpenWrt daemon.info dnsmasq[1811]: started, version 2.62 cachesize 150
Jan 12 01:37:30 OpenWrt daemon.info dnsmasq[1811]: compile time options: IPv6 GNU-getopt no-DBus no-i18n no-IDN DHCP no-DHCPv6 no-Lua TFTP no-conntrack
Jan 12 01:37:30 OpenWrt daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1811]: DHCP, IP range 192.168.1.100 -- 192.168.1.249, lease time 12h
Jan 12 01:37:30 OpenWrt daemon.info dnsmasq[1811]: using local addresses only for domain lan
Jan 12 01:37:30 OpenWrt daemon.info dnsmasq[1811]: reading /tmp/resolv.conf.auto
Jan 12 01:37:30 OpenWrt daemon.info dnsmasq[1811]: using nameserver 192.168.31.1#53
Jan 12 01:37:30 OpenWrt daemon.info dnsmasq[1811]: using local addresses only for domain lan
Jan 12 01:37:30 OpenWrt daemon.info dnsmasq[1811]: read /etc/hosts - 1 addresses
Jan 12 01:37:30 OpenWrt daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1811]: read /etc/ethers - 0 addresses
Jan 12 01:37:30 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: cp: can't stat '/etc/quagga/*': No such file or directory
Jan 12 01:37:30 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: /etc/rc.common: line 1: /usr/sbin/quagga.init: not found
Jan 12 01:37:30 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: setting up led sys
Jan 12 01:37:30 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: setting up led wan
Jan 12 01:37:30 OpenWrt user.info sysinit: service: file '/usr/sbin/mcproxy' is not executable
Jan 12 01:37:34 OpenWrt daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1811]: DHCPDISCOVER(br-lan) 192.168.1.233 00:0e:c6:ad:84:f3 
Jan 12 01:37:34 OpenWrt daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1811]: DHCPOFFER(br-lan) 192.168.1.233 00:0e:c6:ad:84:f3 
Jan 12 01:37:34 OpenWrt daemon.info dnsmasq-dhcp[1811]: DHCPREQUEST(br-lan) 192.168.1.233 00:0e:c6:ad:84:f3

dev: size erasesize name
mtd0: 00040000 00010000 "u-boot"
mtd1: 00010000 00010000 "u-boot-env"
mtd2: 00630000 00010000 "rootfs"
mtd3: 001d0000 00010000 "rootfs_data"
mtd4: 00170000 00010000 "kernel"
mtd5: 00010000 00010000 "art"
mtd6: 00790000 00010000 "firmware"

27

Hello Christian, did you solved the issue with PLC adapter not working?

I've been able to install both the squash image and the additional PLC package but, while Wi-Fi radios and up-link to my router for Internet access do work fine, none of the COVR-P2500 can talk each others via Powerline... Also all of the LEDs works quite fine, but the PLC LED that doesn't turn ON whatever setting I configure for it. Very frustrating, indeed.

Hope to get some clue here from you guys, being a noob with OpenWRT.

Thank you in advance!

28

Unfortunately not, maybe we should contact him via email.

29

Hello, I'm interested too to make tests.

30

Anyone managed to get it open in the 1st place ?

Would love to connect to the serial port on this thing.

There are 4 screws at the bottom, but even when removed I
still can't get it open, unless I go for excessive force, which
I'd like to avoid :confused:

31

Replying to myself ....

I got it to work, but there are a couple of issues with netadairs instructions.

1st off, you need to have the COVR node beeing converted, capable of accessing internet.

Assuming internet works, and before continuing with the post processing scripts,
you need to install two libraries required by unsquashfs.

in cli run:

opkg update
opkg install liblzma zlib

after that, the unsquashfs (executed in get_firmware.sh) will work w/o errors.

The second issue is the /etc/init.d/plchost script.

it checks the value of plc.config.Enabled, which for me was 0, always.

0 however means it won't execute the plc commands in /etc/init.d/plchost.

To fix this you have two options, either set the value of the
plc.config.Enabled to 1, or modify the script. I picked the 1st option

check the current value (should be 0):
uci get plc.config.Enabled

modify and save:
uci set plc.config.Enabled=1
uci commit

verify (should be 1 now)
uci get plc.config.Enabled

when the init script is run now, the output will be as in

I don't know what or who sets the specific uci value, so this is a dirty
workaround.

Finally, the plchost script didn't want to run for me during startup, so
I added it to the system->startup->local startup by adding

sleep 3
/etc/init.d/plchost restart
exit 0 <--- is already there

after that the units were able to communicate, and clients on the "far side"
could access the network and internet.
Ran a speedtest, and got approx 270Mbs in both directions, but the COVRs
were next to each other during the test.

Didn't play around with wifi, but I'd assume it works too :wink:

Here's the LED configuration.
If you don't mind having the power LED in orange, you can skip the 1st entry
in the LED config. If you want to have it in green, you also have to add

echo default-on > /sys/class/leds/covr_p2500:orange_power/trigger
echo none > /sys/class/leds/covr_p2500:orange_power/trigger

before the sleep 3 line, in the local start up script.

With the Default state unchecked for the WiFi LEDs, will make them stay off
as long as there's no traffic, if you want them to stay on and blink, check the box.

image
image980×1054 29.9 KB

I checked if there would be a new firmwares for the PLC chip in the units,
and found several threads covering the QCA75XX and QCA7550 on Google

One of them was https://community.tp-link.com/us/home/forum/topic/204234 ,
where post #26 had a link to a dropbox containing lots of PLC FWs.

The one netadair extracts in get_firmware.sh is rubbish (at least for me),
it's not very stable, and I manually have to reestablish the PLC connection
after every reboot.
I grabbed the most recent I could find for EU (check the QCA75XX folder) from
the dropbox, which was PA8030P_V3_EU_2.7.pib & .nvm. and replaced
(or modify the /etc/init.d/plchost script) the ones in /lib/plc with the DLed files.

The performance is the same, but the units connect directly after reboot
without requiring manual steps.Can't say anything about stablility just yet :slight_smile:

Finally, a big thank you to netadair for doing the research, and compiling
OpenWRT for the COVRs.

1 Like
32

@netadair would you mind sharing the code for what you have found for this device so far? I couldn't find anything on your website or github.

I also have a few of these, waiting to see OpenWRT support one day... :slightly_smiling_face:

Regarding the PLC firmware, there should probably be a generic one for each chip in some public repository in the long term, similar to wireless firmware.

Assuming QCA would release these under an appropriate licence for this purpose, does anyone happen to know how this works e.g. for ath10k firmwares in legal terms, i.e. did qca explicitly publish their binaries for use with open source licenses?

33

I don't think they did, I think it's been extracted from FWs of misc PLC devices.

If you look at the specs, the COVRr seems to be similar to the TL-WPA8630P v2, which is supported
by OpenWRT, same CPU and PLC.

Problem is, if the flash fails, you'd need to rescue it using uboot via serial console (unless there's TFTP built into the uboot), that's why I asked if someone actually managed to open one of these devices.

EDIT
Found these in the FCC ID database


The four white rings on the PCB on pg 9 are probably the serial connector.
Top pics also shows the unit disassembled,and gives us a hint on how to get it open,
34

After removing the four screws, the rear cover (with the AC plug) cannot be removed completely, since the plug is soldered to the pcb (there is also another screw fixing it to the pcb).

So just remove the front cover, this takes a bit of force as the wireless pcb is screwed to the isnide of the cover; also there is a two-row pcb connector at the top of the case (above the covr logo) so the upper part should be pulled off rather carefully, as perpendicular as possible to avoid damaging the connector.

Maybe I'll find some time to have a closer look at this device next week. :slightly_smiling_face:
i.e. re-doing most of the efforts netadair solved already, but which are quite useless without the code (I remember we've had this discussion here before; that sharing binary images only is technically just as much of a GPL violation as a vendor who would not release their sources...)

35

OK,

if force is what's required, then I should be able to do it :wink:

Since netadair posted images for both the COVR and the WPA8630Pv2, I could imagine they're quite similar.
I'm considering flashing one of my units with OpenWRTs WPA8630Pv2 image, and see if it comes back up :slight_smile:

No guts, no glory ....

36

Thanks for instructions.
One is flashed and worked but how to launch association for PLC ?

It doesn't work with WPS button.

37

WPS button worked for me, even when I used one on D-Links FW, and one on OpenWRT.

Did you upgrade the PLC FW from dropbox ?
I can imagine they won't be able to speak to each other, if you did. In that case you need to
downgrade the PLC FW by using the original script, or put OpenWrt on the 2nd unit too.

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38

It works directly when flashing the 2nd (both with PLC FW from Dropbox).
Thank you.

39

Hi, I tried QCA75XX-2.8.0.0030.nvm FW for PLC and is faster than 2.7.
I took it here : https://community.tp-link.com/us/home/forum/topic/204234

40

Are you US based ?

I'm in EU, that's why I picked the EU FW.
I think there was a newer version available in the Dropbox, but since it wasn't flagged as EU, I skipped it.

41

No, I'm EU based. It seems to work fine but I add a watchdog to restart plchost if ping is not ok.

42

If there are actually different firmware blobs (rather than country configurations) for e.g. US and EU, this might still be an issue as these devices use band plans to avoid ham and professional radio frequencies.

Do you happen to have an rtl-sdr DVB-T dongle or similar to verify both firmwares have the same spectrum of emissions? Would be curious to compare these, maybe higher speed was only reached by less notch filtering :innocent:

43

Found other pictures : https://pclab.pl/art77930-4.html

44

Hi,

After few months, many errors like this "deauthenticated due to local deauth request" are present in System log.
I'm trying this [Solved] LEDE 17.01.5 deauthenticated due to local deauth request every 10 minutes an adding this in /etc/config/wireless :

    option disassoc_low_ack '0'
    option wpa_strict_rekey '1'
    option wpa_strict_rekey '86400'
45

Since LEDE 17.01 and the ar71xx target are outdated, this device really should be ported to ath79 master.

I would appreciate if @netadair could share some information on how to create a signed factory-flashable image, however the current kernel also grew too big for the current oem mtd layout, so the dts needs to be changed to use okli loader, i.e. move the kernel image to the rootfs partition, and put a kernel loader image to the kernel partition.

I've done this for COVR-C1200 already and it's probably the same here. Maybe I'll find some time after the holidays to continue working on this device.

1 Like