If I replace the eeprom (rom) on the TP-Link RE650 V2 from the original 8Mb to 16Mb and manually adjust the partition table for data such as: partition-table base, default-mac base, pin base,...
I wonder if the image for the TP-Link RE650 V1 model would work on it?
Radio settings should be in the last flash block (and you keep the backup copy)
IF you can recover to modded image you have currently running, yes, test it out, then check if persistent MAC and radio parameters are correct and you succesfully upgraded V2 to V1
I've been playing around with the V2 version for a while now, and until I updated or reinstalled the image, the device worked. After the update, there were problems due to incorrect or inconsistent partition table and other data on the eeprom.
I'm more interested in how much and in what ways the two images differ? Would such a step work?
I assume the Wifi driver is the same, probably only the GPOI changes?
The most time-consuming and annoying thing is the constant soldering of the eeprom when I brick the device.
You could compare the two PRs to see where they differ.
ymmv, if v1 boots at all it is workable from there.
I checked both hex codes of the eeprom dump,... the data differs due to the bootloader, different firmware versions,... I also checked both versions of the openwrt image, which also differ. I would need a little more help from others here.
Because I do not have the knowledge to create a new custom image using an image builder.
It would be nice if there was a simpler solution for us inexperienced users to upgrade our favorite equipment.
You can't customize the image that way, using the image builder.
There's plenty of flash chip upgrade threads at the forum, here's one Upgrade TP-link_TL-WDR4300 from 8M to 16M flash.
thanks for linking my upgrade @frollic, I got a notification because of it, so now I am here
@589userr589 If you need help I can guide you step by step. In fact I am on my third router flash upgrade for WDR4300 today. I am going to read up on your router (RE650 V2) a bit and see what steps may need to be adjusted.
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That would be great... But I'm not sure if I'll be clear about the steps.
I played around a bit and manually changed the Flash Layout. I used the Flash Layout for RE650 V1. When booting the OEM V2 image, it did not work, I managed to recover using boot to ram (option 1 when choosing to load via RS232 console) and openwrt kernel image. When the device booted, I loaded the sys V2 image via the web interface, everything is ok. Since I previously replaced the eeprom, I can easily jump between SW version V1 and V2. The only problem is in the operation of wifi. I wonder how I can manually configure the wifi driver. I wonder if there is a possibility that in the future the V1 image will be developed as a common image for both HV versions?
No.
Custom hardware means custom software, that part is all yours.
when I manually built the image, I used the bootloader for HW version 1.
I used Flash Layout HW V1
Flash layout based on partition table found in the device.
partition fs-uboot base 0x00000 size 0x20000
partition os-image base 0x20000 size 0x2f0000
partition file-system base 0x310000 size 0xaf0000
partition partition-table base 0xe00000 size 0x02000
partition default-mac base 0xe10000 size 0x00020
partition pin base 0xe10100 size 0x00020
partition product-info base 0xe11100 size 0x01000
partition soft-version base 0xe20000 size 0x01000
partition support-list base 0xe21000 size 0x01000
partition profile base 0xe22000 size 0x08000
partition user-config base 0xe30000 size 0x10000
partition default-config base 0xe40000 size 0x10000
partition radio base 0xff0000 size 0x10000
All other partition contents are from HW V2.
Support for devices with 8MB flash will be discontinued soon, here is a solution, one image for both devices. Changes or upgrades to the image are minimal.
Replacing the spi-nor flash is a good option to keep your device viable. But there won't be OpenWrt for custom one-off devices, and the "RE650 V1" image will only support the RE650 V1 as it came from the factory, while a "RE650 V2" image will only support the the RE650 V2 as it came from the factory. If you choose to modify the hardware, you will have to do your own changes locally.
Thanks for the info, I find it interesting because both images (RE650 V1 and V2) use the same drivers, the HW in terms of operation differs only in wifi chips. And of course both images use exactly the same drivers. The only difference is in the driver configuration, which allows for proper operation.
Yes, if there is no other way, we will have to make adjustments ourselves. However, the problem arises when new builds no longer match our adjustments or these adjustments will slowly disappear, because these files can be stored on other sites.
I successfully manually edited the data according to the assigned partition table as in the RE650 V1 version. All data is original V2, except for the V1 bootloader.
At the first boot after replacing the eeprom, I had to do a device recovery using the serial console and the openwrt kernel image. The problem is that the versions have the Wifi device settings set exactly the opposite. Because of this, only 5g wifi works, the signal is very weak (HW RE650 V2 running SW V1).
So far, I have not been able to set up wifi on HW V2 to work on the V1 image. If anyone has any suggestions, I will be happy with any help.
What I have noticed so far is that it would be possible to upgrade the V1 image in case of detection of HW V2 using different wifi settings,.....
As for the partition table data, what is on the rom (eeprom) is used at boot. When updating the SW, the image uses its own partition table. If the wifi driver does not detect the necessary data, the wifi works with very low transmission power.
If any of the developers happen to read this, I kindly ask them to help me upgrade the V1 image.