TP-Link Archer C6 v2 - 5GHz wifi driver + firmware

For Developers
1

Hi folks,

I've just build a new firmware for my brand new TP-Link Archer C6 v2 and it just went very smooth from git to upload. Great Work dear Developers and thank you very much !

The only thing that i have not figured out yet is what kind of kernel driver with with FW must I use to get the 5GHz Wifi working ? 2,4GHz works fine

I Use the "kmod-ath10k-ct" Kernel drive with several different FW eg. "ath10k-firmware-qca9888-ct" but only the 5GHz LED is working and the 5 GHz wifi is not ;(

2,4GHz Wifi an LED works as expected !

Any hints with kernel driver & fw PAIR I should use ?

Thx you very much

kind regards

2 
CPU1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9563 (775 MHz)
FLA1: 8 MiB (GigaDevice GD25Q64CSIG)
RAM1: 128 MiB (Zentel A3R1GE40JBF)
WI1 chip1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9563 bgn
WI2 chip1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9886 an+ac
ETH chip1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9563
Switch: Qualcomm Atheros QCA8337N
3

Hi wulfy23,

thx for your quick answer.

So I just recompiled my firmware with
the Modules kmod-ath10k and the firmware ath10k-firmware-qca988x

No 5HGZ Wifi

so I compiled once more
kmod-ath10k-ct with ath10k-firmware-qca988x-ct... ath10k CT 10.1 firmware for QCA988x devices

samesame, no 5GHz Wifi

Got this Kernel msg that loading the FW failed:

root@OpenWrt:~# dmesg |grep 888
[    1.798888] ag71xx 19000000.eth: connected to PHY at mdio-bus.0:00 [uid=004dd036, driver=Atheros AR8216/AR8236/AR8316]
[   17.890754] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA9888/hw2.0/firmware-6.bin failed with error -2
[   18.032460] firmware ath10k!QCA9888!hw2.0!firmware-6.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   18.041967] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA9888/hw2.0/firmware-5.bin failed with error -2
[   18.223883] firmware ath10k!QCA9888!hw2.0!firmware-5.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   18.233383] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA9888/hw2.0/firmware-4.bin failed with error -2
[   18.414830] firmware ath10k!QCA9888!hw2.0!firmware-4.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   18.424332] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA9888/hw2.0/firmware-3.bin failed with error -2
[   18.654166] firmware ath10k!QCA9888!hw2.0!firmware-3.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   18.663669] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA9888/hw2.0/firmware-2.bin failed with error -2
[   18.845323] firmware ath10k!QCA9888!hw2.0!firmware-2.bin: firmware_loading_store: map pages failed
[   18.854782] ath10k_pci 0000:00:00.0: Failed to find firmware-N.bin (N between 2 and 6) from ath10k/QCA9888/hw2.0: -11

in the Firmware dir is just one file

root@OpenWrt:~# ls /lib/firmware/ath10k/
QCA988X/                      pre-cal-pci-0000:00:00.0.bin
root@OpenWrt:~# ls /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/
board.bin       firmware-5.bin

So I'm still thinking that I need to find the right kernel driver & FW pair to get it working.

BTW What is your information source ?

4

Those log messages show the driver looking for the 9888 variants.

5

Hi Jeff,

your are absolutely right.
But as I'm using the kernel modules for the ath10k as they are, what do i wrong ?

kind regards

6 
make menuconfig > firmware ath10k-988x-

no idea if they support yours but they seem closer than 9888

7

Hi Wulfy23 thx again for the hint. Butt 288x is not working at all for me.

So after a few more "git pull" and "make" here is what i found out so far.

"kmod-ath10k-ct" with "ath10k-firmware-qca9888-ct....... ath10k CT 10.4 fw for QCA9886/8 devices"
are the only working pair.

Now I see the device with "ifconfig wlan0"

In the luci interface the WLNA0 is still " Wireless is not associated" so the interface is up and running but the link to the network is not....

thx you all for your help.

kind regards

1 Like
8

The status of an AP will be "not associated" with zero signal bars until a station device connects to the AP. Does a laptop / phone / etc (which is 5 GHz capable) see the AP on the air?

9

Hi mk24,

thx for the hint, but the client side was not the problem.

i Had to change the device ebntry in /etc/config/wireless

config wifi-device 'radio0'
option type 'mac80211'
option channel '36'
option hwmode '11a'
option path 'pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0'
option htmode 'VHT80'
option legacy_rates '1'
option country 'DE'

Now it works fine.

Thx you all again for your help !

regards

10

Does it work well? Do you have any issues with OpenWrt? Can you share your builds? I own Archer C6 v2 too, I'm curious :slight_smile:

11

Yes it works very well.

here are two Download-Links:

openwrt-ath79-generic-tplink_archer-c6-v2-squashfs-factory.bin 7 MB
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/8057428e1dddad8f71dd7bd5ba02e6f820190707071133/89810afc057882428669ad8ab5f66c3720190707071133/5b85ea

openwrt-ath79-generic-tplink_archer-c6-v2-initramfs-kernel.bin 6 MB
https://wetransfer.com/downloads/ef6449c3adf358fb76eaa8476d181bd120190707071350/609787c4d54dce36c917bdc9be2ff56720190707071350/b2e883

Freshly compiled this morning from git.

I also Inculded IP-Ban and Dyn DNS in the package

Looking forward to your Feedback

And remember FLASHING at your own RISK !

12

Hi All,

just compiled from git a latest FW for the TP-Link Archer C6 v2.

Update only.

openwrt-ath79-generic-tplink_archer-c6-v2-initramfs-kernel.bin 6 MB

Enjoy

And remember FLASHING at your own RISK !

13

What version of C6 is this firmware for? EU or US?

14

I bought my C6 Archer in Europe, but I'm m not sure there is a difference between them!?

So the FW is tested on my hardware, maybe anyone can test it on the "us" bought Hardware

15

@Gandalf1203 thanks for the work and effort! Do I get this right, the only working driver is the ct one? Do you have any updates on this?