OpenWrt Forum Archive

Topic: Netgear WNR2000 OpenWRT (Atheros AP81, AR9103 chip, u-boot)

The content of this topic has been archived between 3 Apr 2018 and 3 May 2018. Unfortunately there are posts – most likely complete pages – missing.

Magnum wrote:

Looking forward to the "final" .1 interim release of AA.

I doubt that AA 12.09.1 will ever be released.  There hasn't been any activity on it since R42647 over 7 months ago (see https://dev.openwrt.org/log/branches/at … justment).

ptcruisergt wrote:

I doubt that AA 12.09.1 will ever be released.  There hasn't been any activity on it since R42647 over 7 months ago (see https://dev.openwrt.org/log/branches/at … justment).

Too bad. Is there any easy-to-understand-way to repartition my own custom build of BB? (kinda like a an image I could tftp over just like the original firmware) Just looking for a few ekstra hunded kbs to fit in a few extra packages to fit 99% of my needs if I ever would need a backup router. I really just want to flash it with a final image and never touch it again, so to speak.
I found out the rootfs-squashfs file in BB needs to be 2.1MB or less to fit on the image (2.2MB will fit but then no JFFS) when flashing via the original firmware. It's really frustrating having to choose which packages to include.

I'll probably just stay with AA and IPv4 only.

What about Chaos Calmer? Will the non-legacy OpenWRT ever run on this WNR2000v3?  It "IS" "ALREADY running Kamikaze which is very old..    :-(  .. One very "IMPORTANT" reason I stopped buying "A" Netgear router, a product with Firmware "THAT is "LOCKED" - meaning "BORING"..

(Last edited by tikblang on 13 Apr 2015, 18:41)

Could anyone give me instruction on how to flash OpenWRT on WNR2000v4?
I know there's a trunk image but I'm not really sure what to do with it.
The only thing I did until now was enabling Telnet.

Gigadroid wrote:

Could anyone give me instruction on how to flash OpenWRT on WNR2000v4?
I know there's a trunk image but I'm not really sure what to do with it.
The only thing I did until now was enabling Telnet.

The trunk image is broken. Start Learning Here -- Take note that I am working on a solution that will bypass the TTL-serial-cable requirement, although having one is always strongly encouraged. Stay up to date by subscribing to the linked thread
Use the latest homegrown sysupgrade image: Here -- This image was compiled using the patchset submitted upstream yesterday. If you flash it successfully, tell me how it's working (ethernet,leds) -- these are the main items patched.

Also, look thru the rest of the posts on that thread I linked you. There's a wealth of information -- most importantly how to save yourself if you brick your router. See "How To Unbrick".

I recommend that if you want to use opkg, to learn how to build your own image and host your own opkg repo. That's what I'm doing and it's been a smooth ride.

(Last edited by bazz on 22 Apr 2015, 19:58)

I am a total newby and a old Dutch retired guy.
I was for 40 years a application programmer/analist, so I have used many programming languages.
And I know a little bit of OS's for running and testing the applications, so also a little bit of Linux basic commands.

I have a WRN2000V1 and have read all the stuff.
Someone wrote, that he would write a kind of manual for newbies, but I haven't found it.

So I understand, that first of all, I must have a Linux PC.

Then for flashing the WRN2000 I have to do:

Setup Router telnet (found at :  https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php … 79&p=9  Quote 209 )

Install OpenWRT  (found at https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php … 79&p=6  Quote 148)

But http://fuhry.co.cc/b/wnr2000/ubootenv-s … itions.img --> Error 404
But http://www.simcop2387.info/wnr2000/uboo … itions.img in Quote 162--> OK

If there is still a manual for newbies, let me know.

But also please let me know if the steps I found are enough to do a install and the sequence of the steps are OK.

Flash layout is not optimal partly because the uimage partition follows the rootfs.  Thanks to this thread, I modified the kernel's hard-coded partition table only to contain u-boot, u-boot-env, firmware, and art.  This changes maximizes our free space for JFFS2.

In Barrier Breaker buildroot menuconfig I selected the AP81 target profile and enabled CONFIG_MTD_SPLIT_FIRMWARE in kernel_menuconfig.  I concatenated the kernel image and rootfs and TFTP'ed the result.  Then in u-boot-env I changed bootcmd from "bootm 0xbf2a0000" to "bootm 0xbf050000".  I had to run jff2mark after the first boot and reboot -- probably we can append the marker to the conglomerated image file instead.  The OpenWRT kernel additions automatically split the firmware partition at runtime.

This procedure might complicate flashing back to Netgear's original firmware.  It should be possible to change bootcmd without a serial console using fuhry's ubootenv.pl script.

target/linux/ar71xx/patches-3.10/999-wnr2000-firmware-partition.patch

--- a/arch/mips/ath79/mach-wnr2000.c
+++ b/arch/mips/ath79/mach-wnr2000.c
@@ -43,25 +43,9 @@ static struct mtd_partition wnr2000_part
         .offset        = 0x040000,
         .size        = 0x010000,
     }, {
-        .name        = "rootfs",
+        .name        = "firmware",
         .offset        = 0x050000,
-        .size        = 0x240000,
-    }, {
-        .name        = "user-config",
-        .offset        = 0x290000,
-        .size        = 0x010000,
-    }, {
-        .name        = "uImage",
-        .offset        = 0x2a0000,
-        .size        = 0x120000,
-    }, {
-        .name        = "language_table",
-        .offset        = 0x3c0000,
-        .size        = 0x020000,
-    }, {
-        .name        = "rootfs_checksum",
-        .offset        = 0x3e0000,
-        .size        = 0x010000,
+        .size        = 0x3a0000,
     }, {
         .name        = "art",
         .offset        = 0x3f0000,

I successfully installed the Backfire Image von my WN2000RPT, but upgrading to BB failed. To sum it up: there is no way to install the generic BB image due to the 4MB flash chip in the WN2000RPT/WNR2000v1, right?
Is it possible to create a smaller version of BB to install it on the WN2000RPT?

(Last edited by theliquid on 26 Jul 2015, 19:21)

Hi,
Thank to this forum I managed to revive an old bricked WNR2000v1 I had in a drawer and I plan to give it a new home it soon.

However, I struggle to get it working properly.

Until now I tried:

  • Backfire 10.03.1 - for some reason it does not see WiFi (both luci and iwconfig)

  • Barrier Breaker 14.07 - 2 show-stoppers, I cannot get the NAT to work at all and it seems the settings are wiped every time I turn it off

  • Chaos Calmer 15.05 RC3 - doesn't even boot

Which is the recommended most recent version working on this router? It is me doing something wrong?

You have build a smaller image with bb or it won't have the space neccesary for a jffs, thus not able to save settings. I would really reccommned going with AA with this router. Only use BB and CC if you can optimize the flash layout, but that would co plicate things if you want to go back to original firmware.

theliquid wrote:

I successfully installed the Backfire Image von my WN2000RPT, but upgrading to BB failed. To sum it up: there is no way to install the generic BB image due to the 4MB flash chip in the WN2000RPT/WNR2000v1, right?
Is it possible to create a smaller version of BB to install it on the WN2000RPT?

I have a WN2000RPT too: did you simply "sysupgraded" from the stock Kamikaze version to Backfire?
Have you also tried the Chaos Calmer version?

Has someone tried to get back to original OEM firmware (=Netgear's modified version of Openwrt)?

Does the debrick guide on the first post works also for the WN2000RPT?

I've unsuccessfully tried to boot the uImage of Chaos Calmer (this one) on a WN2000RPT...

What I've done wrong?

U-Boot 1.1.4.18-g542ec981 (Apr 30 2009 - 12:56:38)

AP81 (ar7100) U-boot
sri
32 MB
Top of RAM usable for U-Boot at: 82000000
Reserving 245k for U-Boot at: 81fc0000
Reserving 192k for malloc() at: 81f90000
Reserving 44 Bytes for Board Info at: 81f8ffd4
Reserving 36 Bytes for Global Data at: 81f8ffb0
Reserving 128k for boot params() at: 81f6ffb0
Stack Pointer at: 81f6ff98
Now running in RAM - U-Boot at: 81fc0000
id read 0x100000ff
flash size 4MB, sector count = 64
Flash: 4MB
In:    serial
Out:   serial
Err:   serial
Net:   ag7100_enet_initialize...
Fetching MAC Address from 0x81feaa00
: cfg1 0xf cfg2 0x7114
eth0: 20:4e:7f:4a:f8:52
dup 1 speed 100
eth0 up
eth0
### main_loop entered: bootdelay=1

### main_loop: bootcmd="bootm 0xbf2a0000"
Hit any key to stop autoboot:  0 
ar7100> tftpboot 0x81000000 wn2000rpt.bin
Using eth0 device
TFTP from server 192.168.1.12; our IP address is 192.168.1.10
Filename 'wn2000rpt.bin'.
Load address: 0x81000000
Loading: #################################################################
         #################################################################
         #################################################################
         ####################
done
Bytes transferred = 1098522 (10c31a hex)
ar7100> bootm
## Booting image at 81000000 ...
   Image Name:   MIPS OpenWrt Linux-3.18.20
   Created:      2015-09-11  16:10:22 UTC
   Image Type:   MIPS Linux Kernel Image (lzma compressed)
   Data Size:    1098458 Bytes =  1 MB
   Load Address: 80060000
   Entry Point:  80060000
   Verifying Checksum ... OK
   Uncompressing Kernel Image ...OK
No initrd
## Transferring control to Linux (at address 80060000) ...
## Giving linux memsize in bytes, 33554432

Starting kernel ...

[    0.000000] Linux version 3.18.20 (buildbot@builder1) (gcc version 4.8.3 (OpenWrt/Linaro GCC 4.8-2014.04 r46450) ) #1 Fri Sep 4 215
[    0.000000] bootconsole [early0] enabled
[    0.000000] CPU0 revision is: 00019374 (MIPS 24Kc)
[    0.000000] SoC: Atheros AR9130 rev 2
[    0.000000] Determined physical RAM map:
[    0.000000]  memory: 02000000 @ 00000000 (usable)
[    0.000000] User-defined physical RAM map:
[    0.000000]  memory: 02000000 @ 00000000 (usable)
[    0.000000] Initrd not found or empty - disabling initrd
[    0.000000] Zone ranges:
[    0.000000]   Normal   [mem 0x00000000-0x01ffffff]
[    0.000000] Movable zone start for each node
[    0.000000] Early memory node ranges
[    0.000000]   node   0: [mem 0x00000000-0x01ffffff]
[    0.000000] Initmem setup node 0 [mem 0x00000000-0x01ffffff]
[    0.000000] Primary instruction cache 64kB, VIPT, 4-way, linesize 32 bytes.
[    0.000000] Primary data cache 32kB, 4-way, VIPT, cache aliases, linesize 32 bytes
[    0.000000] Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 8128
[    0.000000] Kernel command line:  console=ttyS0,115200 root=31:02 init=/sbin/init mtdparts=ar7100-nor0:256k(u-boot),64k(u-boot-envd
[    0.000000] PID hash table entries: 128 (order: -3, 512 bytes)
[    0.000000] Dentry cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
[    0.000000] Inode-cache hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
[    0.000000] Writing ErrCtl register=00000000
[    0.000000] Readback ErrCtl register=00000000
[    0.000000] Memory: 28516K/32768K available (2621K kernel code, 129K rwdata, 344K rodata, 224K init, 194K bss, 4252K reserved)
[    0.000000] SLUB: HWalign=32, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=1, Nodes=1
[    0.000000] NR_IRQS:51
[    0.000000] Clocks: CPU:400.000MHz, DDR:400.000MHz, AHB:200.000MHz, Ref:5.000MHz
[    0.000000] Calibrating delay loop... 265.42 BogoMIPS (lpj=1327104)
[    0.080000] pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
[    0.080000] Mount-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.090000] Mountpoint-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.100000] NET: Registered protocol family 16
[    0.100000] MIPS: machine is Generic AR71XX/AR724X/AR913X based board
[    0.110000] Switched to clocksource MIPS
[    0.120000] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[    0.120000] TCP established hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.120000] TCP bind hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.130000] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 1024 bind 1024)
[    0.140000] TCP: reno registered
[    0.140000] UDP hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.140000] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 256 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
[    0.150000] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[    0.160000] futex hash table entries: 256 (order: -1, 3072 bytes)
[    0.180000] squashfs: version 4.0 (2009/01/31) Phillip Lougher
[    0.180000] jffs2: version 2.2 (NAND) (SUMMARY) (LZMA) (RTIME) (CMODE_PRIORITY) (c) 2001-2006 Red Hat, Inc.
[    0.190000] msgmni has been set to 55
[    0.210000] io scheduler noop registered
[    0.210000] io scheduler deadline registered (default)
[    0.220000] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 16 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
�[    0.250000] serial8250.0: ttyS0 at MMIO 0x18020000 (irq = 11, base_baud = 12500000) is a 16550A
[    0.260000] console [ttyS0] enabled
[    0.260000] console [ttyS0] enabled
[    0.270000] bootconsole [early0] disabled
[    0.270000] bootconsole [early0] disabled
[    0.280000] TCP: cubic registered
[    0.290000] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[    0.290000] bridge: automatic filtering via arp/ip/ip6tables has been deprecated. Update your scripts to load br_netfilter if you .
[    0.300000] Bridge firewalling registered
[    0.310000] 8021q: 802.1Q VLAN Support v1.8
[    0.320000] VFS: Cannot open root device "31:02" or unknown-block(31,2): error -6
[    0.330000] Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partitions:
[    0.340000] Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(31,2)
[    0.340000] ---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(31,2)

UP

Could someone help me?
I think I should pass some argument to uboot with bootargs...

Hello guys!

Thanks to this thread, I am now running AA on my WNR2000v1.

I only have one problem left; I can see the wireless network, but I am unable to connect to it. As soon as I try, I get thrown off after a few seconds, without ever receiving an IP address. Funny thing is, when I try to connect, it's like the transmit power drops to half, for a second, then back up to full.

I've taken a look in /etc/config/network, and it does not contain the line that disables wireless, like it did in Backfire.

I've tried restarting the router, but to no avail.

What do? :-)

Happy new year to all WNR2000 lovers :-)

Recently, I compiled Chaos Calmer  r48014 trunk release for Netgear WNR2000V1.  There is no ipv6 support because of the limited space in the flash memory. But everything else works nicely. You will have around 170 Kb space in the /overlay drive which is big enough to save your configuration.

Here is the links:

rootfs.bin     = https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7XbZB … cslist_api
uImage.bin = https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7XbZB … cslist_api

Enjoy.

In addition to my last post :

I think the next release will be named as Designated Driver. The software list update brings nothing so far. But Openwrt team will update their servers very soon.

By the way there is 'vsftpd' included in this new firmware in case you need it.

The screen output is as follows :


BusyBox v1.24.1 (2015-12-30 21:03:01 MST) built-in shell (ash)

  _______                     ________        __
|       |.-----.-----.-----.|  |  |  |.----.|  |_
|   -   ||  _  |  -__|     ||  |  |  ||   _||   _|
|_______||   __|_____|__|__||________||__|  |____|
          |__| W I R E L E S S   F R E E D O M
-----------------------------------------------------
DESIGNATED DRIVER (Bleeding Edge, r48014)
-----------------------------------------------------
  * 2 oz. Orange Juice         Combine all juices in a
  * 2 oz. Pineapple Juice      tall glass filled with
  * 2 oz. Grapefruit Juice     ice, stir well.
  * 2 oz. Cranberry Juice
-----------------------------------------------------
root@WNR2000:~# free
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:         28860      23860       5000        416       1904       6276
-/+ buffers/cache:      15680      13180
Swap:            0          0          0
root@WNR2000:~# df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root                 2.0M      2.0M         0 100% /rom
tmpfs                    14.1M    416.0K     13.7M   3% /tmp
/dev/mtdblock3          384.0K    244.0K    140.0K  64% /overlay
overlayfs:/overlay      384.0K    244.0K    140.0K  64% /
tmpfs                   512.0K         0    512.0K   0% /dev
root@WNR2000:~#

Cool smile

Would you mind posting your build config?

Is there a way to reset uboot in TFTP recovery mode? The WNR2000v1 can't boot OpenWRT images (not sure why, goes straight back to recovery), nor can it load official firmwares (wrong uboot).

faruktezcan wrote:

Happy new year to all WNR2000 lovers :-)

Recently, I compiled Chaos Calmer  r48014 trunk release for Netgear WNR2000V1.  There is no ipv6 support because of the limited space in the flash memory. But everything else works nicely. You will have around 170 Kb space in the /overlay drive which is big enough to save your configuration.

Here is the links:

rootfs.bin     = https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7XbZB … cslist_api
uImage.bin = https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7XbZB … cslist_api

Enjoy.

What mtd layout are you using with these files?

Hi all & Happy New Year 2016!

I've created updated OpenWRT 15.05 'Chaos Calmer' images for Netgear WNR2000v3. Device is supported by original OpenWRT build although poorly - only Ethernet LEDs are working, power LED stays amber and no buttons are available. Furthermore, at least in my device, due to empty area in ART partition WLAN interface gets random MAC address every time router starts (bought it used but no signs of bad flashing so I suppose I'm not the only one with this problem).

Here's list of changes :

  • all LEDs work as expected and are accessible

  • all 3 buttons (rfkill, reset, wps) are accessible, rfkill and reset configured to work as expected; wps button enables system heartbeat (pulses) on wps led (test feature as I do not use wps at all, feel free to reconfigure, script is in place)

  • WLAN interface is assigned a permanent hardware address that follows eth1 & eth0 interface MAC numbers

  • USB modules removed from system (device has no USB port)

  • thanks to above, available space in overlay fs increased from 172k to 236k


System images :
https://micu.webserwer.pl/pub/openwrt/1 … actory.img
https://micu.webserwer.pl/pub/openwrt/1 … ory-NA.img
https://micu.webserwer.pl/pub/openwrt/1 … pgrade.bin

Packages (kernel modules, for all others use original repository) :
https://micu.webserwer.pl/pub/openwrt/1 … ckages.txz

Source patches and config file for above images :
https://micu.webserwer.pl/pmwiki/pmwiki … .Downloads
https://micu.webserwer.pl/pub/openwrt/1 … 000v3.diff

Also, good news is that using above patches and a little effort, it is possible to access all GPIOs on other Atheros-based routers, the ones that have some LEDs and buttons connected not to main SoC (CPU) but to wireless chip instead. Kernel infrastructure is in place now.

Best regards
Micu

micu wrote:

Hi all & Happy New Year 2016!

I've created updated OpenWRT 15.05 'Chaos Calmer' images for Netgear WNR2000v3. Device is supported by original OpenWRT build although poorly - only Ethernet LEDs are working, power LED stays amber and no buttons are available. Furthermore, at least in my device, due to empty area in ART partition WLAN interface gets random MAC address every time router starts (bought it used but no signs of bad flashing so I suppose I'm not the only one with this problem).

Here's list of changes :

  • all LEDs work as expected and are accessible

  • all 3 buttons (rfkill, reset, wps) are accessible, rfkill and reset configured to work as expected; wps button enables system heartbeat (pulses) on wps led (test feature as I do not use wps at all, feel free to reconfigure, script is in place)

  • WLAN interface is assigned a permanent hardware address that follows eth1 & eth0 interface MAC numbers

  • USB modules removed from system (device has no USB port)

  • thanks to above, available space in overlay fs increased from 172k to 236k


System images :
https://micu.webserwer.pl/pub/openwrt/1 … actory.img
https://micu.webserwer.pl/pub/openwrt/1 … ory-NA.img
https://micu.webserwer.pl/pub/openwrt/1 … pgrade.bin

Packages (kernel modules, for all others use original repository) :
https://micu.webserwer.pl/pub/openwrt/1 … ckages.txz

Source patches and config file for above images :
https://micu.webserwer.pl/pmwiki/pmwiki … .Downloads
https://micu.webserwer.pl/pub/openwrt/1 … 000v3.diff

Also, good news is that using above patches and a little effort, it is possible to access all GPIOs on other Atheros-based routers, the ones that have some LEDs and buttons connected not to main SoC (CPU) but to wireless chip instead. Kernel infrastructure is in place now.

Best regards
Micu

Micu I am very interested in trying your build.  I have been using DD-WRT for a bit with my WNR2000v3 but I really want to use OpenVPN client to permanently route all of my traffic through a private VPN.  There is not enough space on this device (roughly 3.5 MB total available space) to run OpenVPN with DD-WRT so now I am thinking to look into a tailored build of OpenWRT to take care of this for me instead.  I have never used OpenWRT and am today trying to learn more smile

My question (and maybe some of this is more basic OpenWRT questions) is as follows...

So your build is basically an image that can be TFTP'd onto the device in download mode but it is the bare OpenWRT plus some fixes for the LEDs and buttons, removes USB support, etc?  And the packages are only for kernel/core (here comes my part of OpenWRT novice.. smile ) ?

I was thinking to maybe try pushing your image to my device and then using opkg to add openvpn (~150 KB for openvpn-openssl and ~10KB for openvpn-easy-rsa) and I would ideally like to add HTTP but it looks like LuCI with all dependencies would be way too big! 

This does not include LuCI or any other HTTP interface does it?

It is not the end of the world to have HTTP but would certainly make things easier to manage smile

Do you think taking your image plus openvpn would be a pretty good starting point?

Hello j0shg!

Yes, you can upload firmware to router in a standard way (using tftp is preferable). I do recommend to use serial console if you can, as it helps a lot.

Image contains LuCi so Web interface is available.

The reason for providing kernel packages is that they contain kernel modules. My GPIO patches modify kernel so standard OpenWRT kernel kmod-* packages may not be compatible with this build. For all other packages (applications, libraries etc.) you may use OpenWRT repository.

j0shg wrote:

Do you think taking your image plus openvpn would be a pretty good starting point?

Exactly, try to do that. Good luck!

(Last edited by micu on 18 Jan 2016, 15:33)

Hi All,

I was able to put back Version 1.0.1.26 (via the Web GUI) on my wnr2000v3.  But I cannot put the router in "recovery mode" so I can upload Chaos Calmer on it (15.05) . I would like to upload other firmware besides the netgear either via TFTP or WebGUI.

Can I load DD-WRT first then OpenWRT?  I like Luci Web Interface, I can configure it to do a port redirection like this;
config 'redirect'
        option '_name' 'remotessh'
        option 'src' 'wan'
        option 'proto' 'tcp'
        option 'src_dport' '55535'
        option 'dest_ip' '192.168.1.101'
        option 'dest_port' '22'
        option 'target' 'DNAT'
        option 'dest' 'lan'

Very nice feature of an OPenWRT.

(Last edited by tikblang on 30 Jan 2016, 01:38)

hi there,
chaos calmer has been released and i found wnr2000v2 in link below
https://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_cal … uashfs.chk

can i just install this from original latest netgear firmware update gui?
any issue installing luci like space constraint?

Just to follow up, I was able to do a "sysupgrade -v /tmp/chaos-calmer15.05.1.bin"  "BUT" whenever I remove the power the wnr2000v3 is going back to the fresh configurations. I can hit "apply and save" and the unit will run fine, but after the power failure will not save the new configurations.

After the upgrade I can put the device in the default configurations (or the firmware is already the default config) and still the same. The Netgear WNR2000V3 cannot hold the modifications like the additional "port forwarding" and the root password.

Thanks,
Tik

(Last edited by tikblang on 26 Apr 2016, 19:51)