The last "syscfg" partition of the OEM firmware turns out to be a
UBIFS used to store user data, just as the "rootfs_data" of OpenWrt,
so it should be reasonable to absorb it into the "ubi" partition.
Factory installations via either OEM firmware or tftp, or by forcibly
flashing factory image to mtd5 (firmware) partition with mtd tool are
confirmed working, but the UBI remaining inside "syscfg" partition
could break upgrade. Fortunately, installing kmod-mtd-rw and erasing
"syscfg" partition before upgrade is confirmed working, in which case,
"ubi" will automatically expand to the blank space once occupied by
the former mtd8 (syscfg), with the total block number increased, but
the UBIFS for rootfs_data will not automatically claim the newly
available space (since it is created when mtd8 still exists, and
sysupgrade does not set "autoresize" flag to rootfs_data). These space
will be claimed during the next upgrade, when rootfs_data is removed
and created again.
Fixes: 50f727b773 ("ath79: add support for Linksys EA4500 v3")
Signed-off-by: Edward Chow <equu@openmail.cc>
Link: https://github.com/openwrt/openwrt/pull/14791
Signed-off-by: Robert Marko <robimarko@gmail.com>
Add support for the Linksys EA4500 v3 wireless router
Hardware
--------
SoC: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9558
RAM: 128M DDR2 (Winbond W971GG6KB-25)
FLASH: 128M SPI-NAND (Spansion S34ML01G100TFI00)
WLAN: QCA9558 3T3R 802.11 bgn
QCA9580 3T3R 802.11 an
ETH: Qualcomm Atheros QCA8337
UART: 115200 8n1, same as ea4500 v2
USB: 1 single USB 2.0 host port
BUTTON: Reset - WPS
LED: 1x system-LED
LEDs besides the ethernet ports are controlled
by the ethernet switch
MAC Address:
use address(sample 1) source
label 94:10:3e:xx:xx:6f caldata@cal_macaddr
lan 94:10:3e:xx:xx:6f $label
wan 94:10:3e:xx:xx:6f $label
WiFi4_2G 94:10:3e:xx:xx:70 caldata@cal_ath9k_soc
WiFi4_5G 94:10:3e:xx:xx:71 caldata@cal_ath9k_pci
Installation from Serial Console
------------
1. Connect to the serial console. Power up the device and interrupt
autoboot when prompted
2. Connect a TFTP server reachable at 192.168.1.0/24
(e.g. 192.168.1.66) to the ethernet port. Serve the OpenWrt
initramfs image as "openwrt.bin"
3. To test OpenWrt only, go to step 4 and never execute step 5;
To install, auto_recovery should be disabled first, and boot_part
should be set to 1 if its current value is not.
ath> setenv auto_recovery no
ath> setenv boot_part 1
ath> saveenv
4. Boot the initramfs image using U-Boot
ath> setenv serverip 192.168.1.66
ath> tftpboot 0x84000000 openwrt.bin
ath> bootm
5. Copy the OpenWrt sysupgrade image to the device using scp and
install it like a normal upgrade (with no need to keeping config
since no config from "previous OpenWRT installation" could be kept
at all)
# sysupgrade -n /path/to/openwrt/sysupgrade.bin
Note: Like many other routers produced by Linksys, it has a dual
firmware flash layout, but because I do not know how to handle
it, I decide to disable it for more usable space. (That is why
the "auto_recovery" above should be disabled before installing
OpenWRT.) If someone is interested in generating factory
firmware image capable to flash from stock firmware, as well as
restoring the dual firmware layout, commented-out layout for the
original secondary partitions left in the device tree may be a
useful hint.
Installation from Web Interface
------------
1. Login to the router via its web interface (default password: admin)
2. Find the firmware update interface under "Connectivity/Basic"
3. Choose the OpenWrt factory image and click "Start"
4. If the router still boots into the stock firmware, it means that
the OpenWrt factory image has been installed to the secondary
partitions and failed to boot (since OpenWrt on EA4500 v3 does not
support dual boot yet), and the router switched back to the stock
firmware on the primary partitions. You have to install a stock
firmware (e.g. 3.1.6.172023, downloadable from
https://www.linksys.com/support-article?articleNum=148385 ) first
(to the secondary partitions) , and after that, install OpenWrt
factory image (to the primary partitions). After successful
installation of OpenWrt, auto_recovery will be automatically
disabled and router will only boot from the primary partitions.
Signed-off-by: Edward Chow <equu@openmail.cc>
