Upgrading firmware on Archer C20 v5

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hi,

I'm currently running version 19.07 on my TP-link Archer C20 V5 (OpenWrt 19.07.6 r11278-8055e38794 / LuCI openwrt-19.07 branch git-21.279.78820-fde7889 - this was a Linaro build from before support for this device was included).

As of 21.02 there is a stock build, so I wanted to try to upgrade to that. I followed the instructions on the commit to build boot.bin:

dd if=Archer_C20v5_US_0.9.1_4.17_up_boot\[201214-rel42010\].bin of=boot.bin bs=131584 count=1
cat openwrt-21.02.1-ramips-mt76x8-tplink_archer-c20-v5-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin >> boot.bin

Which all makes sense, but I when I upload via the webgui I get:

Size: 5.06 MB
MD5: aa1604a4ef708fb2f01adbd67c3bda28
SHA256: 1d61dc953f19f303d83ed23d3f9c3e2ce4e14674ab08bda49ed6ee041f7d8ac1

Image metadata not found Use sysupgrade -F to override this check when downgrading or flashing to vendor firmware Image check failed.

The uploaded image file does not contain a supported format. Make sure that you choose the generic image format for your platform.

If I try with the sysupgrade file itself - i.e. without creating boot.bin using the first 128k of the tplink binary first, i get:

Device tplink,c20-v5 not supported by this image Supported devices: tplink,archer-c20-v5 Image check failed.

The uploaded image file does not contain a supported format. Make sure that you choose the generic image format for your platform.

Which actually looks closer - what's the difference between tplink,c20-v5 and tplink,archer-c20-v5?

I'm very hesitant to just apply it with this warning hanging - any ideas what I need to do get the new firmware applied cleanly?

2

Pretty sure you should just use the sysupgrade image, as it is, the git information is for going from stock to openwrt.

3

Should I be worried that it's expecting a different model name? The firmware is expecting tplink,c20-v5 but my unit calls itself tplink,archer-c20-v5

4

Well, it's not an official build you're using, and the device had no support in 19.07, the difference isn't really surprising...

If you want to be 100% sure, you'd probably have to ask Linaro.

5

Oh, are those strings just set in the firmware? I had assumed they were being pulled from the hardware somehow, but that makes more sense.

That makes me feel much much more comfortable about things - I'll give it a crack tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

6

Yeah, that worked fine. Now running a nice shiny 21.02. Thanks for putting my mind at ease!

7

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