I've been using 23.05.4 on two TP-Link OnHub's for a while now, and started with it since this model started seeing official support and builds. It's been great.
I'm trying to use a USB drive for additional storage and for logging RRD data and graphs to prevent wear on the onboard flash. The issue I'm having is that any USB drive inserted and formatted works until reboot. I've even tried it with an unformatted, unpartitioned USB drive and it still fails with a red ring.
When the router is rebooted with any USB drive inserted, I get a red ring. I suspect the router is trying to boot of the USB drive and just locks up. Removing the USB allows for successful startup of the router after power cycling.
Is there a remedy for this? How do I configure this router to not try to boot off any external USB drive? I've put the developer screw back in.
I should have been clearer about the type of drive I'm using: It's just a Sandisk micro USB flash drive. I've also tried other brands of flash drives with the same result, but if you still think it's a power issue, I'll try a powered hub and report back.
I've tried FAT, ext4, and completely unpartitioned drives. All with the same result on both my OnHubs. These units had no problems booting off the OpenWRT USB boot when doing the initial install using the same flash drives.
If it is still available, have you tried booting with the original OpenWRT USB stick that has the image on it just to test USB boot? (Or if not, making another one.)
Also, you indicated you have two of these devices running OpenWRT. Are you able to recreate this issue on both? (And are you sure the developer screw is in the closed position for both devices? )
I'm pretty sure I put the screws back in as that's the best place to store them. Again, this is two separate units.
Nonetheless, I'll try your idea of booting with the OpenWRT image on the USB. While I wiped the drive, it won't take long to create another one. I'll try it tomorrow and post an update.
I have the Asus version, and not sure if the screws are exactly the same as the TP-Link. With the Asus, the developer screw can only be loosened to break electrical contact from two conductive points on the board. The screw (by design) won't actually come completely out though.
I think the USB drive can't be left in the Onhub while booting. As far as I understand the device is run in developer mode to be able to install and use OpenWrt. Developer mode defaults to booting from USB if it detects a drive. More details are available in the original support thread below:
Thank you for that. This answers a lot of questions. I went back and re-read the install instructions and see that removing the developer screw gives access to the button, but putting it back doesn't disable developer mode.
What I'm not clear on is whether the OpenWRT image is signed or not. If it's signed, I expect I could exit developer mode by connecting a USB keyboard and following the steps on the exploitee.rs site above and accomplish what I want.
If someone knows already, please let me know. If not, I've another OnHub I can test this out on as the other two are "working" devices at the moment.
I'm hoping that OpenWRT development on the Linksys LN1301, which have twice the RAM (2GB) and a quarter of the storage (1GB) works out. If the USB on that device doesn't suffer this problem, I can just do an extroot and go nuts with writing and logging data without worrying about wearing out the device.
On a side note, I've a few more of these TP-Link OnHub routers in my inventory that I'm not using and likely won't ever use. If anyone in the Los Angeles County area wants one, they're available used with some wear for $20. They're all working, complete with covers and power supplies and the Google firmware on them. I've never gotten around to installing OpenWRT on them and likely won't. The asking price is what I paid for them via local Craigslist sellers when I had visions of using these farther and wider than I ever did.
Please reach out via DM if you want one. I have two, maybe three that I can part with. Please let me know.