Hi all, hoping for some help as I am tearing my hair out with this one. Sorry for the wall of text...
Short(ish)...
Please can someone help explain how (or if) I can use the sysupgrade file for this Wavlink Router to create a direct to chip flashable Openwrt bin file (there appears to be no 'factory' for this device). I have a working dump of the original full flash contents and can get a good connection with CH341A and a clip. I have the Boyamicro 25Q64ASSIG flash chip if it makes a difference. I've read other posts about needing a driver, but the fact I installed Openwrt before makes me think it's not the issue any more?
Back story...
I installed Openwrt onto this device as soon as I got it, seamless install but performance was poor, so I went back to stock with TFTP recovery boot. Performance was still poor and then I discovered the seller had provided a 12v adapter for this 24v device! With 24v it worked nicely!
At this point I tried to install Openwrt using TFTP boot as initially. My version happily has an unlocked TFTP bootloader but does not provide the HTTP uboot loader suggested in the guide. The file transfers but I saw error in the console of "Abort: Image size greater than 3866624". I have tried rolling back the Wavlink firmware, as well as direct to chip flashing another uploaded stock dump (from the DDWRT forum) to try and get TFTP boot to take a larger file or the HTTP uboot interface. No luck.
I did use the firmware selector tool to make a cut down 3.5mb Sysupgrade file which it did take, but bootlooped, so I had to clip flash back my dump. I think I read an error like upstream not writable when I had access to the console and uploaded Openwrt, but I didn't record it so cannot be sure.
The kicker is I have damaged the serial pins so can't get into it this way (can touch it on to read an error with some luck but that's about it). I do have the crappy firmware which has the root webpage which allows me to start telnet and run commands and can run the exploit which allows me to upload a file to the device. Can it be flashed via telnet commands maybe?
Any options here please? I have a working device but the security holes in the stock firmware are so bad I really want to run Openwrt on it. I could replace the flash chip entirely but don't think this will solve the loading issue.
Yes it was the first time, but Openwrt > Stock > Openwrt changes something and somehow I have been left with the 3866624 file size limit over TFTP.
Also from working with this device I believe the guide isn't fully accurate, it appears to request a TFTP file after the 3rd failed boot, not every time as the guide suggests.
Understood, in this case just get smaller / older openwrt for initial install, then sysupgrade right away. You can trim away wifi, even luci if handy with command lines to trim them even smaller.
OpenWrt does not modify OEM u-boot, it just grows bulkier over time.
Thanks for the replies, I have got there (kind of) and will spell out what I have found out in case it helps others.
I tried to make a smaller sysupgrade file and apply the BoyaMicro patch but I just couldn't understand it and was following ChatGPT blindly, so abandoned this. I also found that all versions prior to 21.02.5 caused a bootloop.
I purchased a new WN570HA1 with the aim of dumping a good flash (a no lose gamble as they sell for more than AliExpress purchase price in the UK). The new device is VERY different inside (new heatsinks and board layout, including true PoE as well as passive) but critically it has 16mb of flash (this is called an Aerial HD2 Pro rev B).
This model has the expected http uboot interface and took Openwrt kernel fine, then Sysupgrade, all good, BUT the 5ghz radio does not show at all. Nightmare. I applied the fix of patching the radio config data at 0x00048000 using a downloaded MT7610E-V10-FEM.bin (sorry I cannot link the thread as I went through so many). Still no 5ghz.
I then decided to replace the 8mb flash on my old Aerial HD2 a2 variant with a 16mb version as a final roll of the dice and dump it all onto it. I soldered in a Winbond 25Q128FVSG and chucked the rev B flash at it with the radio fix. It worked and 5ghz came up! Found the MAC address in the dump, updated it and now my old device is happily running Openwrt, albeit with the MT7610e limited at 9dbm power (appears to be a known driver bug though). Worth noting no 5ghz on this version without the radio fix either.
Maybe someone knows why on earth this has worked?! The upshot is I have a working Openwrt and stock dump if anyone in the future needs it but I would caution that the rev B hardware is seemingly not suitable for Openwrt.
Update to this, I got curious typing it and opened up the WL-WN570HA1 rev B again and found it has a MT7628 and MediaTek MT7613BE inside, just like the WL-WN570HA2. Guess what, the HA2 image works perfectly on the rev B! Only word on installation is that the uboot ip remains 192.168.1.10 and the snapshot image does not include luci.
Maybe someone can comment if this means the WN570HA1 and WN570HA2 are now the same device?!