The Save Wi-Fi campaign predicted that the FCC rules of late 2015 would result in router vendors locking the firmware to prevent out-of-spec Wi-Fi emissions. Although the FCC indicated that it was not their goal to prevent third-party firmware upgrades, it now appears that this is the outcome.

Please use this topic to report routers and/or vendors whose firmware is now locked down to third-party software updates. Include the following information:

• Purchase date

• Manufacturer/vendor

• Model number

• Version number

• Identifying info on the package to help people avoid locked-down equipment (UPC code, part number, etc.

• How you know that they are locked down (personal observation, tried it and it didn't work (what was the error message?), statement from vendor, etc.)

• Any links to statements from the vendor

And if you would like to help push back against these FCC rules, visit the Save WiFi - Round #2 https://www.gofundme.com/save_wifi_round_2 and the Original Save WiFi roundhttps://www.gofundme.com/savewifi note

New TP-Link Routers now appear all to be locked down as of February 2016. The following chat occurred on the TP-Link support line (Camille is the support rep):

The full chat is at http://ml.ninux.org/pipermail/battlemes … 04379.html

Would it make sense to keep track of the last date a particular router was acquired that was known not to be locked down? Or does that become too involved? Sounds more like a database application than a forum thread, I suppose.

were quite fortunate that there's a X86 build for OpenWRT and computer now a days are very power efficient.

That's a good idea. The proper place for this info would be the Table of Hardware (which is now driven by a database). For the time being, it would be best to add it to the Comments field. To do that:

* log into the wiki (https://wiki.openwrt.org/)
* go to the Table of Hardware https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/start
* find the router
* Click the link in the "Device Techdata" column (It says "View/Edit data")
* In the Comments field, add the date/symptoms in the (whether locked down or working)

And it wouldn't hurt to leave a message in this forum topic to note that you made the entry

(Last edited by richbhanover on 21 Feb 2016, 15:44)

• Purchase Date 24 Feb 2016 from USA vendor NewEgg.com

• TP-Link TL-WR1043ND v3.0

• Stock firmware: 3.16.9 Build 151021 Rel.74655n

• HW revision printed on box, UPC 8-45973-05138-9

• Vendor statement about lock: http://ml.ninux.org/pipermail/battlemes … 04379.html

Stock web UI won't accept pre-compiled OpenWRT DD trunk factory image for this device, failing on on "version of the upgraded file was incorrect," even after renaming image file to wr1043v3_tp_recovery.bin.

TFTP server set up at 192.168.0.66 and connected to a LAN port. OpenWRT image renamed to wr1043v3_tp_recovery.bin and placed in server root.  Held down the reset button, powered on, and then released the reset button after ~20sec.  Device then booted OpenWRT.

Note also added to wiki:
https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl … stallation

(Last edited by westbywest on 16 Mar 2016, 15:33)