TD-W8970 router and LEDE

I currently have two TD-W8970B (Version 1.0). One bought before TP-Link encrypted their firmwares and one bought just 2 months ago. I hoped to use this procedure to flash without soldering: https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/td-w8970#installation_without_opening_the_case_web_interface_hack

Later on, I found out that the hack only works on the TD-W8970A. So I just prepared the commands, that I am gonna use for flashing, and wrote them down in a text editor. I held the four cables (VCC, GND, TX, RX) on the board of the router without prior soldering with one hand and made a copy paste from text editor to terminal with the other hand.

It just took me 1 minute. So, no soldering needed if you just want to make the initial flashing over serial cable.

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thanks for help, 4 pings or 3? i need buy a piece. thanks

If you want to use the TD-W8970 as a modem over VDSL or "ADSL with Annex A" I would buy the TD-W8970A and try out the web interface hack.

If you need the router as modem for ADSL with Annex B, you must buy the B Version. In this case flashing over serial is mandatory if the OEM firmware is encrypted (build date 12.10.2013 or newer):
https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/td-w8970#serial

Btw, I held 4 wires with one hand on the router's board (VCC, GND, RX, TX) for the serial connection and made a copy/paste of the pre-written commands with the other hand.

really badass!
vcc might not be needed. I used ftdi serial to usb.

i put 3 cables only and extranger charaterec on minicom console but not a posible pront.

any idea?

screen worked for me:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/working_with_the_serial_console#Screen

i put the 4 cables y nothing :frowning: whith uart usb serial

Do you have any output (e.g. error) in the terminal?
Under Gentoo I had to add my user to the uucp group to get access. The group might be called differently in your Linux distro:

david@vpc ~/Homepage> ls -la /dev/ttyS*
crw-rw---- 1 root uucp 4, 64 12. Nov 09:44 /dev/ttyS0
crw-rw---- 1 root uucp 4, 65 12. Nov 09:44 /dev/ttyS1
crw-rw---- 1 root uucp 4, 66 12. Nov 09:44 /dev/ttyS2
crw-rw---- 1 root uucp 4, 67 12. Nov 09:44 /dev/ttyS3

And, make sure to use the correct baud rate.

This is the command I used:

screen /dev/ttyS0 115200

Thank David

im with windows and mac. putty and hyperterminal the same , nothing on screem but say conectated

???? its very extrange

from linux

Welcome to minicom 2.7.1

OPCIONES: I18n
Compilado en Aug 13 2017, 15:25:34.
Port /dev/ttyUSB0, 18:50:04

Presione CTRL-A Z para obtener ayuda sobre teclas especiales

��������������������������x@���@.�

Perhaps, your terminal and/or minicom cannot display Unicode characters. These posts might be related:

I personally use rxvt-unicode+screen and cannot help you much with minicom.

My environment variables are as follows:

david@vpc ~> echo $TERM
rxvt-unicode
david@vpc ~> locale
LANG=de_DE.utf8
LC_CTYPE="de_DE.utf8"
LC_NUMERIC="de_DE.utf8"
LC_TIME="de_DE.utf8"
LC_COLLATE=C
LC_MONETARY="de_DE.utf8"
LC_MESSAGES="de_DE.utf8"
LC_PAPER="de_DE.utf8"
LC_NAME="de_DE.utf8"
LC_ADDRESS="de_DE.utf8"
LC_TELEPHONE="de_DE.utf8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="de_DE.utf8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="de_DE.utf8"
LC_ALL=

i type sudo update-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=en.UTF-8 and reboot

change my default languaje but No fix the problems with minicrom

???? any idea

What is your Linux distribution? I can't help you with Windows and Mac OS.

What is the output of "locale" and "locale -a"?

now wthit ubuntu

C
C.UTF-8
en_AG
en_AG.utf8
en_AU.utf8
en_BW.utf8
en_CA.utf8
en_DK.utf8
en_GB.utf8
en_HK.utf8
en_IE.utf8
en_IL
en_IL.utf8
en_IN
en_IN.utf8
en_NG
en_NG.utf8
en_NZ.utf8
en_PH.utf8
en_SG.utf8
en_US.utf8
en_ZA.utf8
en_ZM
en_ZM.utf8
en_ZW.utf8
es_AR.utf8
es_BO.utf8
es_CL.utf8
es_CO.utf8
es_CR.utf8
es_CU
es_CU.utf8
es_DO.utf8
es_EC.utf8
es_ES.utf8
es_GT.utf8
es_HN.utf8
es_MX.utf8
es_NI.utf8
es_PA.utf8
es_PE.utf8
es_PR.utf8
es_PY.utf8
es_SV.utf8
es_US.utf8
es_UY.utf8
es_VE.utf8
POSIX
LANG=es_ES.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=es_ES:en
LC_CTYPE="es_ES.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC=es_ES.UTF-8
LC_TIME=es_ES.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE="es_ES.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY=es_ES.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES="es_ES.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER=es_ES.UTF-8
LC_NAME=es_ES.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=es_ES.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=es_ES.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=es_ES.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=es_ES.UTF-8

These settings should be fine. What is the terminal you are using?

minicrom, now putty for try a new test

Ah, I assumed you are executing minicom from inside another terminal (e.g. gnome-terminal).

I compiled minicom and took a look at the manpage. It has the following option:

-R, --remotecharset    : character set of communication partner

Thus, the option "-R utf-8" might help.

There is also:

-L, --iso              : don't assume screen uses ISO8859

But, I have to admit, that I am not familiar with minicom.

Another reason for the garbage output might be a faulty cable:

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