TP-Link Archer C50 (EU) V6.0 - 5 GHz interface not present

msohani · March 31, 2024, 7:17am

i couldn't find , could you please send me a link

ashipaek0 · May 1, 2024, 2:56pm

Used the OpenWRT builder to generate a fresh snapshot sysupgrade.bin and wireless stopped working

Trying to flash my backup, i managed to brick somehow

ive been trying to go back to stock firmware with tftp with no result.

i must have forgotten how to flash this device. now i have just the power led on and no activity whatsoever.

appreciate concise instructions on debricking this device.

i've downloaded the stock firmware, followed the instructions to dd a few bytes off, and used TFTP to flash the router, which completes.

but it doesn't boot anymore. just flashes all leds once and goes off

thanks

jschwart · May 2, 2024, 8:25am

github.com/openwrt/openwrt

ramips: Add support for TP-Link Archer C50 v6 (CA/EU/RU)

committed 08:29PM - 19 Nov 23 UTC

Renaud11232

+120 -3

This adds support for the TP-Link Archer C50 v6 (CA/EU/RU). (The ES variant is a… rebranded Archer C54 and NOT supported.) CPU: MediaTek MT7628 (580MHz) RAM: 64M DDR2 FLASH: 8M SPI WiFi: 2.4GHz 2x2 MT7628 b/g/n integrated WiFi: 5GHz 2x2 MT7613 a/n/ac ETH: 1x WAN 4x LAN LED: Power, WiFi2, WiFi5, LAN, WAN, WPS BTN: WPS/WiFi, RESET UART: Near ETH ports, 115200 8n1, TP-Link pinout Create Factory image -------------------- As all installation methods require a U-Boot to be integrated into the image (and we do not ship one with the image). We are not able to create an image in the OpenWRT build-process. Download a TP-Link image for your device variant (CA/EU or RU) from their website and a OpenWRT sysupgrade image for the device and build yourself a factory image like following: TP-Link image: tpl.bin OpenWRT sysupgrade image: owrt.bin > dd if=tpl.bin of=boot.bin bs=131584 count=1 > cat owrt.bin >> boot.bin Installing via Web-UI --------------------- Upload the boot.bin via TP-Links firmware upgrade tool in the web-interface. Installing via Recovery ----------------------- Activate Web-Recovery by beginning the upgrade Process with a Firmware-Image from TP-Link. After starting the Firmware Upgrade, wait ~3 seconds (When update status is switching to 0%), then disconnect the power supply from the device. Upgrade flag (which activates Web-Recovery) is written before the OS-image is touched and removed after write is succesfull, so this procedure should be safe. Plug the power back in. It will come up in Recovery-Mode on 192.168.0.1. When active, all LEDs but the WPS LED are off. Remeber to assign yourself a static IP-address as DHCP is not active in this mode. The boot.bin can now be uploaded and flashed using the web-recovery. Installing via TFTP ------------------- Prepare an image like following (Filenames from factory image steps apply here) > dd if=/dev/zero of=tp_recovery.bin bs=196608 count=1 > dd if=tpl.bin of=tmp.bin bs=131584 count=1 > dd if=tmp.bin of=boot.bin bs=512 skip=1 > cat boot.bin >> tp_recovery.bin > cat owrt.bin >> tp_recovery.bin Place tp_recovery.bin in root directory of TFTP server and listen on 192.168.0.66/24. Connect router LAN ports with your computer and power up the router while pressing the reset button. The router will download the image via tftp and after ~1 Minute reboot into OpenWRT. U-Boot CLI ---------- U-Boot CLI can be activated by holding down '4' on bootup. Dual U-Boot ----------- This is the first TP-Link MediaTek device to feature a split-uboot design. The first (factory-uboot) provides recovery via TFTP and HTTP, jumping straight into the second (firmware-uboot) if no recovery needs to be performed. The firmware-uboot unpacks and executed the kernel. Web-Recovery ------------ TP-Link integrated a new Web-Recovery like the one on the Archer C7v4 / TL-WR1043v5. Stock-firmware sets a flag in the "romfile" partition before beginning to write and removes it afterwards. If the router boots with this flag set, bootloader will automatically start Web-recovery and listens on 192.168.0.1. This way, the vendor-firmware or an OpenWRT factory image can be written. By doing the same while performing sysupgrade, we can take advantage of the Web-recovery in OpenWRT. It is important to note that Web-Recovery is only based on this flag. It can't detect e.g. a crashing kernel or other means. Once activated it won't boot the OS before a recovery action (either via TFTP or HTTP) is performed. This recovery-mode is indicated by an illuminated WPS-LED on boot. Co-authored-by: Julius Schwartzenberg <julius.schwartzenberg@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Renaud Gaspard <gaspardrenaud@hotmail.com> Signed-off-by: Julius Schwartzenberg <julius.schwartzenberg@gmail.com> Tested-by: Julius Schwartzenberg <julius.schwartzenberg@gmail.com> Tested-by: Jaroslav Mikulík <byczech@gmail.com> Tested-by: Ashipa Eko <ashipa.eko@gmail.com>

Do you think there might be a regression?

I never tried these but the steps below "Installing via TFTP" seem concise for TFTP installation.

ashipaek0 · May 2, 2024, 8:36am

Thanks.

will that get me back to stock or openwrt?

jschwart · May 2, 2024, 8:53am

Those instructions are for OpenWRT afaik. I would suggest first trying to get OpenWRT to run again since those instructions tend to be more tested.

ashipaek0 · May 2, 2024, 9:02am

okay thanks.

If anyone knows how to get back to stock firmware please share.

now i think the router is back up, but i can't access 192.168.1.1 though i'm sure luci is in the sysupgrade package snapshot.

would prefer to get back to stock

jschwart · May 2, 2024, 9:32am

What do you mean with "can't access"? Did you try ping & ssh?

ashipaek0 · May 2, 2024, 9:42am

i can ping it

why would luci not work though?

jschwart · May 2, 2024, 9:52am

You could check if you manage to get in via SSH.

ashipaek0 · May 2, 2024, 10:09am

solved it with a factory reset and installing luci again via ssh.

Appears that to get back to stock i need to strip some parts of the stock firmware to make it flashable via openwrt gui.

if i'm not mistaken it should be the boot partition

no idea though. my attempts at doing it resulted in a brick all over

jschwart · May 2, 2024, 10:11am

Glad you got the device back to work! Is WiFi still broken or did you manage to get it to work?

ashipaek0 · May 2, 2024, 10:12am

Wifi is working now but only after pressing the WPS button for 5 seconds thereabouts

After a reboot 2.4Ghz is disabled.

5Ghz works.

Actually never used to use 5 Ghz radios before now as i think at some point it wasn't working?....

jschwart · May 2, 2024, 10:30am

That would not be a hardware support issue then. Great you figured this out!!

That's the title of this thread
But 5 GHz was working the moment support was merged into mainline.

ashipaek0 · May 2, 2024, 10:37am

Yeah.

What to do though? no matter what i do, the wifi simply stays disabled.

unfortunately its been so long ago that i upgraded that i can't tell when the last good version was

jschwart · May 2, 2024, 11:55am

Maybe you could ask on IRC or report a bug as described here: https://openwrt.org/bugs
Another option might be to open a new forum topic which might get the right attention. This topic is way off track already

ashipaek0 · May 3, 2024, 11:53pm

Okay so how i got back to Stock Rom

Download Stock Rom from TP-Link site
rename .bin to orig.bin
run: dd if=orig.bin of=tplink.bin skip=257 bs=512 on file.
Flash.
I did it via cli (ssh), so i can't tell you for sure if it will work via GUI (stuff i've read says it should)
cd /tmp
upload file to/tmp
run: mtd -r write /tmp/tplink.bin firmware

Already prepared firmware: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LrObT98tI7QZbkQt6rtynBLdlA0rw5ge/view?usp=sharing

jschwart · May 4, 2024, 8:58am

Great you found a way! Maybe you could add this information to the wiki?

therealbons · May 10, 2024, 1:30am

I am starting by saying, Great work on this project.
I wish to add that at the moment I have not found any problems with wireless as described by other users, but in the sense that the CPU gets completely hammered during downloads.
It seems like a general problem, but it's more noticeable when the device is downloading over a wireless connection.
In detail, CPU spikes to 100% with sirq to 99%. I am not sure if this thread is the right place to report this; if not, sorry.
Best regards and great job.

jschwart · May 10, 2024, 3:25pm

Do you know if this is specifically with 5 GHz or also with 2.4 GHz? In case it also happens with 2.4 GHz, this will probably also affect the prior revisions of this device.

I guess the best would be to create a new topic on this.
Thanks a lot for looking into this!!

therealbons · May 11, 2024, 10:45pm

To extend I have 100/20 mb, and the device was connected trough 5GHz.
I am writing in past tense since I have installed the official firmware and returned it.
Can confirm that the step to return it to stock firmware work with the latest release from tp-link.