Check out my post history. I explain the needed steps in details.
Hey, all miwifi-r3 owners
We know that latest kernel (probably 4.17/18) will break the nand driver and unless someone come up with a solution we r not seeing new builds very soon. By the time we can use PandoraBox that was taken down by the Chinese Govt. in last year. It looks like they r back again with new builds and new address https://downloads.pangubox.com/ .Those who don't know PandoraBox is basically the chinese version of openwrt which uses closed source ralink drivers to get better wifi performance. Ya, the wifi performance is even better than stock firmware. I'm gonna post the flash and recovery process with details so hang tight cause this will be a big post. All necessary files r linked here https://mega.nz/#F!WY0FiTIS!Cl_Dzm4yhzrQZFazYG3i8Q
Flash instructions:
- get ssh access via dev firmware https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/xiaomi/mir3
- we need the pandorabox bootloader and flash it, transfer/get the necessary files to cd /tmp
- in ssh:
cd /tmp
mtd write pb-boot-xiaomi3-20180726-0d8505f.img Bootloader
reboot
wait until the led turns into blue
- switch off the router through plug then hold the reset button and switch on the router, release the reset button. router will flashing breath style yellow led
- now go to 192.168.1.1, u will see a PandoraBox firmware upgrade page. select ur pandorabox firmware and upload it.
- access the PandoraBox openwrt by 192.168.1.1, default password is "admin". This has english language, just select the auto in language option.
Revert to stock:
So, we changed the bootloader and pandorabox firmware messed our kernel0 partition. We have to flash our stock bootloader and kernel0 partition back to their initial state. But there is a catch, the bootloader partition is locked in pandorabox firmware or any other normal openwrt firmware, u can't flash the bootloader back. We need a special version of lede/openwrt firmware for miwifi-r3 that compiled with unlocked bootloader option. I already added it in my mega link.
- access the pandorabox firmware upgrade page like before (see 4,5 above)
- select the firmware "lede-ramips-mt7620-miwifi-r3-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin" and upload it.
- login to the router 192.168.1.1, no password, just press login, configure password and enable ssh
- transfer/get ur necessary files (Bootloader.bin & kernel0.bin) to cd /tmp
- in ssh:
cd /tmp
mtd write Bootloader.bin Bootloader
mtd write kernel0.bin kernel0_rsvd
reboot
- access ssh again
fw_setenv flag_try_sys2_failed 1
reboot
- shortly after reboot router will start blinking red (means it's in recovery mode)
- insert a usb stick fat32 formatted with stock firmware renamed to miwifi.bin
- press the reset button for 1~2 sec until the red blinking turns into yellow.
- now chill the eff down for 4-5min and login to the router 192.168.31.1
If u have any ques just shoot it.
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Are the steps the same if I am currently running Padavan? I have SSH access, so am I correct in assuming I can start from step 3?
If the bootloader/u-boot is unlocked then it's possible. can u post the cat /proc/mtd from padavan?, want to see the partition map @bbbenji
hi, i'm in the same situation of bbbenji. i'm on padavan firmware and i want to try pandorabox. this is my partition layout
dev: size erasesize name
mtd0: 00040000 00020000 "Bootloader"
mtd1: 00080000 00020000 "BootEnv"
mtd2: 00540000 00020000 "Factory"
mtd3: 00140000 00020000 "Kernel"
mtd4: 00ec0000 00020000 "RootFS"
mtd5: 00080000 00020000 "Config"
mtd6: 00080000 00020000 "Storage"
mtd7: 06900000 00020000 "RWFS"
mtd8: 01000000 00020000 "Firmware_Stub"
also mtd command not work in padavan shell, it say command not found.
any help would be appreciated. thanks
The mtd command is "mtd_write" in padavan. I tried to flash the pandorabox bootloader but the .img file don't load in padavan. Probably have to erase the block, I wouldn't risk this. I checked prometheus script, that script is a mess, he did some nasty things to support that device. @notthesun
wait, it actually works..rename the .img to .bin like pb-boot-xiaomi3-20180726-0d8505f.bin then
cd /tmp
mtd_write write pb-boot-xiaomi3-20180726-0d8505f.bin Bootloader
reboot
wait until the led turns into blue then follow from step 4. @bbbenji @notthesun
Thanks @bakemono, I got it working. As a note, I didn't have change .img to .bin.
Anyway, I have PandoraBox up and running, but no internet. How can I troubleshoot this?
To go into some detail, I have two WAN interfaces showing. Both are red, have the same MAC and are without IP address.
u have to configure the first wan, 2nd one is for ipv6, select edit for the first wan interface then switch protocol to whatever u have, pppoe or static ip, u have to put ur isp given internet config there @bbbenji
I have regular cable broadband and WAN set to DHCP Client. I am assuming this is correct for my protocol. However, not working. There is no config for my ISP. @bakemono
is ur router's MAC address bind to ur isp ? try this, use the lan mac address to wan and wan mac address to lan..there is a option to change mac address
My router's MAC is not bound to my ISP. However, just tried it, still nothing.
did u use the regular openwrt firmware from here beside padavan ?
I used PandoraBox-ralink-mt7620-xiaomi-r3-2018-07-26-git-e717545-squashfs-sysupgrade from your Mega hosted archive.
no no, i'm just asking beside padavan did u ever use the normal openwrt firmware from here ? is the prblm happened with openwrt ?
Ok, sorry. Yes, I have used an OpenWRT build from this thread a few months ago. Internet worked just fine. I had other issues, wireless connectivity, which made me go back to Padavan.
well, I don't know where is the prblm..I have 2 internet connection, one is dhcp and another one is pppoe..both r working fine..pandorabox is basically openwrt just the drivers r different @bbbenji
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@bakemono, I got it working by setting timezone, updating date/time, rebooting. I can't verify that this is exactly what fixed it, but it appears that way. Thanks for your help. Working great so far.
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thanks for your help but i've tried with another way. I rollback to the original dev firmware and then upload pandorabox. it works really good.
EDIT. Guys do you know if adblock works good on pandora?
EDIT2. adblock not work but i've found a workaround, i've created a sh script to block ads and put it in the /etc/hotplug.d/iface to work on startup.
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u can try adding external source for pkg like this, then install simple adblock or adblock, see if the pkgs r working @notthesun
src-git packages https://git.openwrt.org/feed/packages.git;openwrt-18.06
src-git luci https://git.openwrt.org/project/luci.git;openwrt-18.06
src-git routing https://git.openwrt.org/feed/routing.git;openwrt-18.06
src-git telephony https://git.openwrt.org/feed/telephony.git;openwrt-18.06