Xiaomi mi wifi 3 support

For Developers
818

@bakemono

Any idea how to install DNSCrypt on Mi Router 3 with PandoraBox?
I switched from OpenWRT because of the low WiFi speeds.

I tried

opkg install --force-depends http://archive.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05.1/ramips/mt7620/packages/packages/dnscrypt-proxy_1.4.3-1_ramips_24kec.ipk

But it resulted in

Unknown package 'dnscrypt-proxy'. 
Collected errors: 
* pkg_hash_fetch_best_installation_candidate: Packages for dnscrypt-proxy found, but incompatible with the architectures configured 
* opkg_install_cmd: Cannot install package dnscrypt-proxy.

Thanks.

819

i hate padorabox....mu wan keeps on disconnecting

820

Hi. I would like to ask some help from you guys. So recently I got pandora box to work (I used the one from the mega link) then when I tried to go back to the stock firmware it got stuck with the orange light after flashing the stock bootloader also from the mega link. Now my router is stuck on the orange light. Reset button doesn't work. I can connect through the serial port though I can not select the "Load system code to SDRAM via TFTP" because it defaults to option 3 which is "boot system via Flash". even if I press 1 as fast as I can, it still boots with option 3. I hope someone can help me. I have also attached a screenshot as reference.

image
image.png801×459 5.7 KB

821

AFAIK, if you can't boot your router like this, your only option is to convert it to mi wifi mini using this guide: https://4pda.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=736801&st=19920#entry69325956

I've done it on mine, not too hard. But it needs some soldering skills.

1 Like
822

After converting to mini, the full OpenWRT can be flashed and it will work normal?, is there a some drawbacks after converting? Please share some details.
Thank you

823

Yes you can flash OpenWrt as if you have the MiWiFi mini.

I'm currently using PandoraBox 19.01 on mine because the 2.4 GHz wifi is not stable for me on OpenWrt 18.06 (and turns out it is most likely fixed on SNAPSHOT, but I'm currently too lazy to change it), been running it non-stop since then (except a few blackout now and then).

824

It is fixed on SNAPSHOT, as is verified by me using the chinese X-Wrt (not the old one, x-wrt.com).
The new X-Wrt is basically OpenWRT SNAPSHOT with a GUI, plus their own commits which they appear to be contributing to OpenWRT.

By the way, I recommend you to switch over from PandoraBox, since PandoraBox utilizes a different partition scheme than OpenWrt, so using X-Wrt will make transitioning to OpenWrt easier.

1 Like
825

@moriel5
Any tips how to move from Pandora directly to x-wrt ?

826

@moriel5 how do you switch from open-wrt to x-wrt? Which files do i need from https://downloads.x-wrt.com/rom/ ?

  • x-wrt-5.0-b201903191526-ramips-mt7620-xiaomi_miwifi-r3-squashfs-breed-factory.bin
  • x-wrt-5.0-b201903191526-ramips-mt7620-xiaomi_miwifi-r3-squashfs-kernel1.bin
  • x-wrt-5.0-b201903191526-ramips-mt7620-xiaomi_miwifi-r3-squashfs-rootfs0.bin
  • x-wrt-5.0-b201903191526-ramips-mt7620-xiaomi_miwifi-r3-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin
1 Like
827

Does X-WRT offer full speeds on Wifi? Which file did you exactly flash?
I am on PandoraBox as of now, how can I switch?

828

Hello guys finally I could unbrick mi router 3 from the dead, I ask a friend that have a nand programmer and I finally recover mi router 3 ( mir3 ) from brick mode.
I didnt need to do the spi fix because I realize that I have a nand and not doing anything with it, i thouth why not try to burn the nand from stock, with a bin I found.
And it works, my router is back from the dead.
Next thing is try to get ssh from the new version 10.46
Thanks to all .

829

@moriel5 - How can I write your firmware x-wrt from stock? Do you have any walkthrough for doing safely? I don't want to brick mi router 3 again.
Thanks
ps. sorry for my english

830

Sorry everyone, I wasn't at home the past few days (real life priorities), and the local DSLAM had crashed during that time.

From my experience, as comfortable as it is to move directly from PandoraBox to X-Wrt, it's not a good idea, due to the partition layout differences.

My recommendation is to flash the "breed-factory" img from stock, by sending the command: `mtd write bootloader **.img" (replace the ** with the filename), after unlocking the bootloader according to the instructions on the OpenWrt page.
There are also instructions there for returning to stock from PandoraBox.

Hopefully the Mi 3 will be again officially supported by OpenWrt soon, and then we wont have to use any forks.

1 Like
831

no, don't use breed-factory.bin

  1. first revert to stock firmware.
  2. install x-wrt from stock
          nvram set flag_last_success=1
          nvram set boot_wait=on
          nvram set uart_en=1
          nvram commit
          mtd write xxxxx-kernel1.bin kernel1
          mtd write xxxxx-rootfs0.bin rootfs0
          reboot
1 Like
832

Thanks, I'll change my setup accordingly.
But what is the issue with using the breed image?

833

@moriel5 can you provide any guide how to switch from open-wrt to x-wrt? Do I need to flash to stock? Or just do "sysupgrade x-wrt-5.0-xxxxx-ramips-mt7620-xiaomi_miwifi-r3-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin"
Is it safe to go from open-wrt to x-wrt and vice versa (in the future when the bug is solved in open-wrt)?

834

Doesn't x-wrt have an own forum where x-wrt installation can be discussed?
Or a documentation website where the x-wrt installation is described?

835

@moriel5 Does X-WRT offer full speeds on Wifi? Which file did you exactly flash?
I am on PandoraBox as of now, how can I switch?
Also, when was Mi Router 3 ever officially supported by OpenWRT? Did it offer full speeds on WiFi?

@ptpt52 Do you have a link to the exact stock firmware file you used?

836

Sorry, I do not know the answer to those questions yet, since I had not had OpenWrt on my Mi 3 yet (I will once it will be officially supported and stabilized, though).
I went directly from PandoraBox using the breed image, which is why I do not recommend doing so (it works, but due to the different filesystems, not everything as it should be, such as the PandoraBox recovery remaining, preventing proper upgrades, etc.).

837

If they do, it must be in chinese, and I did not find any such forum.
As for documentation, they have a sort of blog in chinese (I used Bing translate to read the contents), and while it seems to have relative basic competence, it only covers a few subjects, such as using a VPN. I had to rely on OpenWrt documentation and my own knowledge to set it up.