Unbricking RE305 v1

solution_seeker · October 2, 2021, 7:39pm

Hi there,

I have the same device. I put firmware on it and started to use OpenWrt. It was very nice first round, However later I wanted to put another firmware which I understood updated snapshot (openwrt-ramips-mt76x8-tplink_re305-v1-squashfs-sysupgrade) and device didn't like i.t It started continuously rebooting when I put in plug, there is no connection on http or telnet etc.

So I feel I messed up firmware/flash room things..

Now, want to fix it, I have a Raspberry Pi 2 and v 3 and some little cables.... Also windows machine and if necessary I can buy usb 2032 things too..

On this image,
https://forum.openwrt.org/uploads/default/original/3X/5/c/5c12b2e154ee0cf7e352376c1e43f5af9fab3b93.jpeg
where is Ground, TX, RX, connections and what's their order? Is there anyone able to help me out? Don't want to throw this device and hoping to learn and experience...

Any advice for me? If so, what steps should I follow?

I appreciate your help.

frollic · October 3, 2021, 1:19pm

Snapshots never come with a webui, and telnet haven't been enabled in years.

Try ssh.

solution_seeker · October 3, 2021, 3:24pm

thank you for your answer. I'm not able to connect to device with http telnet ssh etc. after second firmware update, device crashed & restarting continuously... I'm looking raspi serial connection and reinstall first firmware again. However I really don't know which part https://forum.openwrt.org/uploads/default/original/3X/5/c/5c12b2e154ee0cf7e352376c1e43f5af9fab3b93.jpeg I need to connect as a TX, RX, Ground... do you have any suggession?

frollic · October 3, 2021, 4:53pm

I'd say the 2nd from the top is GND, RX and TX are below, which one's which's trial and error.

solution_seeker · October 3, 2021, 5:29pm

hi Frollic, thank you for your answer again.

If I trial and error.. is that possible to burn this board?

How can I be sure I'm doing right?

frollic · October 3, 2021, 6:57pm

You can always use a multimeter to be sure about the plus and GND.

Accidently connecting TX to TX and RX to RX won't destroy anything.

solution_seeker · October 3, 2021, 9:17pm

thank you so much for your answer! I'll try and let you know about my result

frollic · October 4, 2021, 5:54am

Good luck.

It's not unusual for tp-link to cripple the serial port access, you might need to do some additional soldering, to actually get a working connection.

left546 · October 25, 2021, 6:07pm

Hello. Has anyone found a solution about re305v1. I bricked mine and dont know how to unbrick it. Found out that tftp server is not supported on this device..so the only way is to instal the firmware by serial??

hlias2727 · November 11, 2021, 4:48pm

if you do I would like a photo from the connection... thanksssss

hlias2727 · November 11, 2021, 5:46pm

gnu

this do you mean ?

frollic · November 12, 2021, 12:08pm

that would be the 2nd from the top, yes ....

hlias2727 · November 19, 2021, 2:57pm

hello there.... i wanna help for re305

U-Boot 1.1.3 (Oct 26 2018 - 11:35:05)

Board: Ralink APSoC DRAM:  64 MB
relocate_code Pointer at: 83fb8000
******************************
Software System Reset Occurred
******************************
flash manufacture id: c8, device id 40 17
find flash: GD25Q64B
*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

============================================
Ralink UBoot Version: 4.3.0.0
--------------------------------------------
ASIC 7628_MP (Port5<->None)
DRAM component: 512 Mbits DDR, width 16
DRAM bus: 16 bit
Total memory: 64 MBytes
Flash component: SPI Flash
Date:Oct 26 2018  Time:11:35:05
============================================
icache: sets:512, ways:4, linesz:32 ,total:65536
dcache: sets:256, ways:4, linesz:32 ,total:32768

 ##### The CPU freq = 575 MHZ ####
 estimate memory size =64 Mbytes
RESET MT7628 PHY!!!!!!
Please choose the operation:
   1: Load system code to SDRAM via TFTP.
   2: Load system code then write to Flash via TFTP.
   3: Boot system code via Flash (default).
   4: Entr boot command line interface.
   7: Load Boot Loader code then write to Flash via Serial.
   9: Load Boot Loader code then write to Flash via TFTP.

You choosed 3
                                                                              0

3: System Boot system code via Flash.
gpioMode1 Reg: 0x570544c4
gpioMode2 Reg: 0x554
## Booting image at bc020000 ...
text base: ffffffff
entry point: ffffffff
   Uncompressing Kernel Image ... LZMA ERROR 1 - must RESET board to recover
[04040C0E][04040C0A]
DDR Calibration DQS reg = 00008789

this massege replay again and again....
any idea?
thankx

frollic · November 19, 2021, 4:27pm

if the boot loader interruptable ?

hlias2727 · November 19, 2021, 5:32pm

How to interrupt boot loader?
It is rebooting again and again....
( I used telnet)

sanchezfauste · November 2, 2022, 6:07pm

I have managed to connect to the device with the J2 port and a USB-TTL adapter. I share information that may be useful to you.

Connect via serial:

screen /dev/ttyUSB0 57600

Press 2 on the menu and flash OpenWRT sysupgrade (other images don't work) using TFTP.