Not being able to set wep encryption seems to be a bug, https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php … 00#p220700
I will try that patch tomorrow and see if that resolves it (probably will).

But WEP encryption? I would switch encryption any ways (but that's besides the point).

Cracking wep youtube video
Also it is possible from linux android and windows (windows is not the best choice).

Well I wouldn't bother too much with hiding the ssid either, since it is rather easy to find it even when it is hidden.
http://lifehacker.com/5636856/is-hiding … ore-secure

I updated the images, with revision 39161 + the patch and wep encryption now works as well. thnx to eigma
http://ooxion.com/openwrt/wax50re/openw … pgrade.bin

(Last edited by FriedZombie on 24 Dec 2013, 16:38)

how did you tried "resetting"?? read about failsafe mode.

seems to me that you did not read this:

http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/generic.failsafe

since you don't mention the led behaviour, or the fact you set a static ip on your pc and tried to ping default ip.

(Last edited by nebbia88 on 26 Dec 2013, 10:13)

It does make sense now, if you want to use the wa850 as wan router, you have to change some settings first.
Also if you do explain your desired setup I could give a (probably) a better answer. Since I assumed a few things

Steps under the webgui:
1. Go to the network interfaces overview (network -> interfaces) and click on edit behind the lan interface.
2. Click on the the tab physical settings
3. Untick under 'interface' the 'Ethernet Switch: "eth0"' entry.
4. click on save

5. go back to the interfaces overview (network -> interfaces) and click the button 'add new interface...'
6. put into the textbox 'Name of the new interface' the text: wan
7. change the 'Protocol of the new interface' to 'DHCP client'
8. Select the interface 'Ethernet Switch: "eth0"' under Cover the following interfaces
9. press submit
10. and finally click on 'save and apply' (also found under unsaved changes).

Now it functions as a natted wan router
If you just want to extend the network with some accespoints, just simply change the lan interface protocol to "dhcp client" One side note though, the device will get an ip from the dhcp server allready present in the network. (so it will change).

Well I would look into a firmware update/upgrade for the voip device and if that is not possible pester the company that sold it to you about it.

Otherwise I would make a seperate wifi guest type thing with very stict firewall rules that only allows the ip's and ports needed for the voip thingy.
(and not have it in the same range as your normall network).

(Last edited by FriedZombie on 27 Dec 2013, 20:46)

Thanks for the instructions, I flashed my WA7750RE with OpenWrt, and it worked well.

But later on, in an attempt to flash back to factory firmware, I managed to brick the device. All I did was copying the factory firmware to /tmp, and then 'mtd -r write /tmp/tplink-factory-firmware.bin firmware'. The command ran for a few seconds, and failed with an error (I forgot to copy down the exact error message). All I know is that it now has a flashing LED when plugged in, and won't boot up. If I plug a Windows PC to the ethernet port, the network status switches between "Enabled" and "Network Cable Unplugged" alternatively, and I cannot ping the device at all.

So I'm seeking help here to see if it is possible to unbrick it by working with its Uboot bootloader.

My question is: did I damage the bootloader itself in flashing the factory firmware? If not, what IP address and TFTP setup should I have in order to get it network boot from a PC plugged in the ethernet port?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

(Last edited by alanine on 31 Dec 2013, 00:55)

@johndoe
My next build I will include pptp en ppoe, I could compile the package for you, since it is a kernel module and it is out of sync with the repo (that will happen after a few days). It wouldn't fit properly on the jffs2 partition.

@alanine
You didn't damage the bootloader, but the problem is that they where smart enough to use eth1 on the board to bypass the onboard switch (that isn't connected to anything) and still leave the bootloader tied to eth0

The only way to unbrick it is breaking the device open: http://imgur.com/a/6tRIz
The pinout for the ttl-uart is identical to any other tp-link device. you could use a 3.3v ttl -> usb converter to connect to the board.

However, the ip the u-boot loader uses is 192.168.1.111 and it connects to 192.168.1.100, see this post earlier in this thread.

Before you flash the firmware, you have to cutoff the boot part of the tp-link firmware image.
Download the image: stripped_wa750RE_V1_131015.bin This tp-link image has the bootloader stripped of.

Here are the commands for u-boot if you decide to open the case:

tftpboot 0x80000000 firmware.bin
erase 0x9f020000 +0x3c0000
cp.b 0x80000000 0x9f020000 0x3c0000
bootm 0x9f020000

(Last edited by FriedZombie on 31 Dec 2013, 02:26)

@FriedZombie
Thank you very much for the detailed instruction! Now it seems that I need to get some gears before I can do this properly...

@FriedZombie first of all THANKS SO MUCH for this, i bought a WA750RE recently and OpenWRT is working really well however i am missing the ability to do a VPN on it, openvpn seems too big so i went with pptp but "kmod-mppe" (and its deps kmod-ecb and kmod-sha1) are missing, any chance to add them in the future? I have tried to force mods in current trunk but they do not load correctly.

Thanks!!!!

OpenVpn does fit if it is included via either the imagebuilder or buildroot

Also pptp will be added in the next release I will make. (will be next week )

Thanks!! Looking forward for your next build, i have tried openvpn unpacking openssl in ram but the router reboots just after the connection is established, probably kmod-tun from 3.10.26 does not work properly

P.S. it would be really really useful to have kmod-tun and openssl in the build so one could just install openvpn if needed

Again, thanks a LOT for your work, really lifechanging here

(Last edited by johnuopini on 19 Jan 2014, 12:09)

Just found this thread, FriedZombie you are great! I also need OpenVPN and as the post above i cannot use the kmod-tun on the repository, waiting for the next release! If a donation can speed it up just let me know

P.S. you mentioned buildroot but its not easy to start from scratch, can you also share the makefile configuration or the full source of your build env? this would help a lot!

Hi, I have a WA850RE v1.2 (3.14.8 Build 130622 Rel.81738n) and I'm bothered by its apparent lack of support to upnp/multicast. In other words, if I'm connected to my main router, I cannot discover a upnp device that is properly connected to the extender. If I upgrade my extender to openwrt, will it add the multicast support I'm looking for?

Tks in advance!

(Last edited by errodrigues on 26 Jan 2014, 02:11)

Im total beginner.
I updated my WA750RE with openwrt without Luci.
For me  now repeater is unusable... i can only connect via LAN cable with putty to 192.168.1.1 SSH
Now i want to update repeater with openwrt with Luci or to put on original firmware.
And problem is that i dont know how to upload bin file from my Windows machine to the repeater?

So i know i muat do this:

Upload it to /tmp-directory on your router and execute:mtd -r write /tmp/tplink.bin firmware
But nowhere is written how to do the upload. (repeater have no acces to the internet, its connected only localy with my Windows computer)

You can use WinSCP to copy the file to the router
Please note that someone on this thread previously reported bricking his device trying to go back to the stock firmware

Updated my tl-wa850 with openwrt to gain stability, but regret it now.
This openwrt firmware does NOT support wireless repeating for the 850.
So if you want to extend your wireless signal, you better not put openwrt on your device.
This firmware can only handle one wireless connection (if you set two, only one will work).

Problem now is that there is no decent explanation to be found on how to flash back to the original stock firmware.
I tried it with the GUI and with putty (got the image on the device with wget).
Tried original firmware mentioned in the beginning of this thread and also tried the original tp firmware,
but both give me errors while flashing (not supported).

So now I have a device that just can handle Ethernet <-> WiFi repeating and nothing more.

Fortunately I have two more devices that I did not flash and with the latest TP firmware they seem very stable now.

Is anyone using the trunk build? I do not care about Luci and i want to be able to install the kmod-tun in order to use OpenVPN (the one on the trunk does not work with the "stable" firmware). So, are there any difference other than the web interface in terms of functionality?

In trunk, works well but sadly there is no kmod-tun in trunk anymore! I also tried imagebuilder but apparently its also broken, hope @FriedZombie releases a kmod-tun enabled version soon!

http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/ … ar71xx.ipk

??

Later on i found it, probably the trunk was being rebuilt in that moment because also the md5sums list was not in sync. So trunk image works and i am also able to run openvpn correctly loading the openssl library in memory fs with a trick, yeee! Now i am trying to use imagebuilder to have openvpn builtin. Finger crossed.

Could someone running on FriedZombie image share the full list of packages available on that build? Now im on trunk and i cannot get that list anymore.

Mmm, i have created an image using the trunk Image Builder however the size of the resulting "openwrt-ar71xx-generic-root.squashfs" is a lot smaller (1966080) than the image on the trunk (2883588), i have used this command:

make image PROFILE=TPWA750 PACKAGES="$(wget -qO - http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/config | sed -ne 's/^CONFIG_PACKAGE_\([a-z0-9-]*\)=y/\1/ip')"

So, in theory, the image should be the same as openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-wa750re-v1-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin in the trunk, correct? Not sure if i should go on flashing, i do not want to brick the device.

edit using just the "make install" target the image builder creates all variants and the size of WA750 is correct, i will try to flash this evening

edit2 27/1/2014 trunk built with image builder, no web UI, no ipv6 + openvpn works like a charm, if someone wants me to share the image just let me know (i repeat no web ui)

(Last edited by johnuopini on 29 Jan 2014, 08:48)

Thank you for help to restore device to factory firmware. However i have tried different firmwares and there is one problem with my wa850re. I have to reconfigurate the device each time the main router  changes the mac adrress ( BSSID ) of wifi interface. The main router is DIR-320/NRU B1 flashed with Keenetic at this moment.

As far as I can tell from this thread, the image that's been built so far does not work on the v1.2 hardware, correct?

Firmware Version:   
3.14.8 Build 130922 Rel.53068n
Hardware Version:   
WA850RE v1.2 00000000

Hi guys!

I have a problem after updating my wa850RE i cant connect to my exetender.Please help me to identefiy the problem.
TL WA 850RE VER 1.23
Before i updated to firmware which was dowloaded from the link in this thread Firmware was updated to newest on tp link website.

When i turn it on next led's are working
RE
POWER
ETHERNET(only when cable is pluged)
thru 192.168.1.1 i cant connect to my extenderWhen i do ping 192.168.1.1 get the results

Pinging 192.168.1.1. [192.168.1.1] with 32 bytes
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 3, Lost = 1 (25
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

I just hope that is not bricked

try
telnet 192.168.1.1

(Last edited by nebbia88 on 7 Feb 2014, 20:40)