Firstly, I'm not sure if this is the right place to be posting, but this seems like the most active router hacking/reverse engineering forum.

I'm cursed with a Pace 5286AC and want to replace the firmware with something more useful. I don't need the wifi functionality, just the base SOC and ethernet ports. I suspect that's an achievable endeavor.

I've already found the serial port and logged boot. I posted it to wikidevi (this forum won't let me link.. boo)

The u-boot is locked down and cannot be interrupted. It also requires a login and the password doesn't seem to be anything obvious, or derived from the SSID/WPA password/etc.

Short of getting my hands on a firmware (doubtful), I think my next best option is to extract the nand flash and go through it. Hopefully it's not encrypted.

I have a donor unit and the tools/soldering skills to remove the chip, but I don't have a proper nand reader handy. Does anybody have a socketed nand reader? I'll happily remove and mail the chip for extraction.

Finally, I've had a heck of a time finding the GPL releases related to this device. With the acquisition of Pace by Arris, they shutdown Pace's github account and refer it all to Arris. They don't seem to name the repos the same as the device models, so I'm totally lost. Am I missing something with how they do it?