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Topic: vxkiller wont load on tp-link tl-wr543g v2

The content of this topic has been archived on 5 May 2018. There are no obvious gaps in this topic, but there may still be some posts missing at the end.

Hi everyone, please help me.
vxkiller from wiki page https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wr542g dont work
( alternative download link: www.xs4all.nl/~mettema/TL-340G-Linux_60 … 7cee3e.rar )
I tried to load it over web interface but after couple seconds of "loading" nothing happends, it just return me to main page. So my question is can this router even load vxkiller ?

Here is some pictures of this router (click for bigger image):
http://i.pics.rs/t/82EnO http://i.pics.rs/t/J6U7L http://i.pics.rs/t/EJPBl http://i.pics.rs/t/ESvaU http://i.pics.rs/t/pVNmq

(Last edited by MasterX on 8 Aug 2016, 20:23)

it won't load on tl-wa5210g v2 either... solution needed

(Last edited by anarchy99 on 8 Aug 2016, 14:18)

Vxkiller image for tl-wr542 can not be accepted by tl-wr543 due model sign mismatch. What flash chip do you have in your router? Can you post more datailed photo or write down here flash chip markings? If it is compatible with image itself it is possible to prepare vxkiller for 543.

what about wa5210g v2? same problem due to "different hw" version.

opening Step1.bin (microredboot) from http://www.mediafire.com/download/586bs … NT_NS2.rar in hexeditor you can find hw id and version starting af offset 43C -> 52 10 00 01

as far as i know it is enough to change to 52 10 00 02 and fix md5sum but md5 update procedure is unknown to me. (the one described in wr702 thread does not work altough the wa5210g fw contains same md5 placeholder string)

xssa wrote:

Vxkiller image for tl-wr542 can not be accepted by tl-wr543 due model sign mismatch. What flash chip do you have in your router? Can you post more datailed photo or write down here flash chip markings? If it is compatible with image itself it is possible to prepare vxkiller for 543.

Hi xssa, here are flash chip markings and images also:

Flash chip: WINBOND 25Q16BVSIG 1108 ( google link: http://www.datasheetlib.com/datasheet/3 … #datasheet )
[ picture1: http://i.pics.rs/pVNmq picture2: http://prnt.sc/c3ysm6 ]

and here are other chips on this router:

Cpu: Atheros AR2317-AC1A

I guess ethernet ports chip: Marvell 88E6060-RCJ1

SDRAM Chip (i guess): ESMT M12L128168A-AZT1P03Y5 (and its 16mb i think)

(Last edited by MasterX on 10 Aug 2016, 14:53)

anarchy99 wrote:

what about wa5210g v2? same problem due to "different hw" version.

opening Step1.bin (microredboot) from http://www.mediafire.com/download/586bs … NT_NS2.rar in hexeditor you can find hw id and version starting af offset 43C -> 52 10 00 01

as far as i know it is enough to change to 52 10 00 02

Can you describe the differences in a hardware between wa5210 v1 and v2?

MasterX wrote:

Bump!

What kind of exactly hw IDs you both are need?
I will clean huge layer of dust from my Kamikaze sources in a holidays...

xssa wrote:

What kind of exactly hw IDs you both are need?
I will clean huge layer of dust from my Kamikaze sources in a holidays...

well im really sorry but as i understand you, i need to write fcc id and mac adress right? if so than can you please give me something so i can contact you for more details

(Last edited by MasterX on 12 Aug 2016, 10:40)

xssa wrote:
anarchy99 wrote:

what about wa5210g v2? same problem due to "different hw" version.

opening Step1.bin (microredboot) from http://www.mediafire.com/download/586bs … NT_NS2.rar in hexeditor you can find hw id and version starting af offset 43C -> 52 10 00 01

as far as i know it is enough to change to 52 10 00 02

Can you describe the differences in a hardware between wa5210 v1 and v2?

i haven' t checked the hw inside but others claim there is no difference, someone at ryohnosuke forum wrote "ahh that works a little more stable than version 1, the high-pin v1 had suddenly disconnected, which no longer happened to me with v2"

but from my tests there is no noticeable performance improvement with v2

so it looks like only a software lockdown to prevent other firmwares load, tried this way:  https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php … 06#p202606 it did not work.

if the string CC 96 28 EE 8D FB 21 BB 3D EF 6C B5 9F 77 4C 7C found in decompressed wa5210g firmware is still used i need a way of calculating correct md5 sum. or maybe it is the first string OP wrote CC 96 28 EE 8D FB 21 BB 3D EF 6C B5 9F 77 4C 07, he mentioned something about wrong last byte maybe it differs from device to device...

Be so kind and desist with the histrionics.

There no differences in signatures between original build 080904 and wr543_linux16RAM.bin. Without actual hw it is impossible to test compatibility issues.
Any feedback from anarchy99? I'm waiting for your success story.

Max Hopper wrote:

Be so kind and desist with the histrionics.

Be so kind and help if u can smile . I wont give up that easily for something i want to learn by experimenting smile

xssa wrote:

There no differences in signatures between original build 080904 and wr543_linux16RAM.bin. Without actual hw it is impossible to test compatibility issues.

I know that, and i dont think that problem is in compatibility, something else is problem here. btw here is what happen when i try to load file over web interface:
https://youtu.be/Lloa3_OMC8w

after loading i waited couple minutes in hope for auto restart, but nothing, then i restart to factory by holding reset button for 10 seconds and still nothing. I even tried again to load file and after couple minutes of waiting no restart then i power off device and power on again but no signs.

(Last edited by MasterX on 16 Aug 2016, 01:52)

Can you try different browser and/or another computer?

xssa wrote:

Can you try different browser and/or another computer?

I tried just now over google chrome, mozilla firefox, microsoft edge, internet explorer and i tried also over wireless and lan port 1. If i add another computer its still gona be the same because if this is not working over 4 browsers, its not gona work over another computer also

(Last edited by MasterX on 17 Aug 2016, 00:16)

xssa wrote:

There no differences in signatures between original build 080904 and wr543_linux16RAM.bin. Without actual hw it is impossible to test compatibility issues.
Any feedback from anarchy99? I'm waiting for your success story.

sorry, network problems prevent me from trying. i could try to upload it over wifi but don't want to just 'kill' it in case it will work. will update here with the story result.

xssa, maybe i am wrong about ram size i really dont know. if you understand this hardware markings and if you need to see more details, please see the pictures in first post (when you open the site, click 2 more times to full zoom so you can see hardware markings needed for vxkiller. resolution of pictures are 2592 x 1944.) and for additional information just tell me what i need to post here and i will post it.

(Last edited by MasterX on 24 Aug 2016, 12:23)

i've just compared wr543_linux16RAM with step1 and tplink firmware. if the problem is not missing padding byte at the end of wr543_linux16RAM i'd look at the image start/load address and length.

tp-link decompressor has length of 400 while vxkiller has 500

update: got info from a friend he managed to upgrade his TL-WA5210G v2 with the modified Step1_v2.bin so i had to go and try it myself. it worked and another TL-WA5210G v2 is now running airos. there is also TL-WA5210G v1 connected to modified airos AP and it works without problems or any compatibility issues.

thank you both, xssa for fixing md5 and MasterX for opening this topic and bumping it wink

(Last edited by anarchy99 on 30 Aug 2016, 17:48)

anarchy99 wrote:

i've just compared wr543_linux16RAM with step1 and tplink firmware. if the problem is not missing padding byte at the end of wr543_linux16RAM i'd look at the image start/load address and length.

tp-link decompressor has length of 400 while vxkiller has 500

update: got info from a friend he managed to upgrade his TL-WA5210G v2 with the modified Step1_v2.bin so i had to go and try it myself. it worked and another TL-WA5210G v2 is now running airos. there is also TL-WA5210G v1 connected to modified airos AP and it works without problems or any compatibility issues.

thank you both, xssa for fixing md5 and MasterX for opening this topic and bumping it wink

well i am glad that you fixed your problem, now i need to fix mine, but i need help from xssa smile

anarchy99 wrote:

i've just compared wr543_linux16RAM with step1 and tplink firmware. if the problem is not missing padding byte at the end of wr543_linux16RAM i'd look at the image start/load address and length.

tp-link decompressor has length of 400 while vxkiller has 500

update: got info from a friend he managed to upgrade his TL-WA5210G v2 with the modified Step1_v2.bin so i had to go and try it myself. it worked and another TL-WA5210G v2 is now running airos. there is also TL-WA5210G v1 connected to modified airos AP and it works without problems or any compatibility issues.

thank you both, xssa for fixing md5 and MasterX for opening this topic and bumping it wink


Hi there! I have a TL WR-543G ver 2.0 and I am interested in installing Openwrt. This model does not appear in the official list of supported routers but from the above discussion I understand that it is possible to install openwrt using the procedure for TL-WA5210G v2 with some modifications. Is this true? TL-WA5210G v2 is not listed in the supported router list either, hence the need for the 'modified Step1_v2.bin' in comparison to TL-WA5210G v1, right?

As this is going to be my first openwrt flash, can you please summarize the steps required? E.g. a link to the procedure/instructions to the documented procedure (e.g. for TL-WA5210G v1) along with the necessary modifications needed for WR-543G.

As a last note, from the files mentioned in the thread, the two files hosted in 4shared are still available but the file in mediafire is not, so if it is needed, I will need help on it.

The discussion might have continued from here.