Can this box be saved?

[Jeff Gregory]

Hi,

I am currently working on making 30 boxes. Most of them are working great. However, I had some people 'helping' to flash some of the devices (MR-3040) using the latest LibraryBox 2.1 install files and associated openwrt file. I was not present so I do not know what they did other than the boxes don't work. They turn on and all the leds illuminate, but the boxes do not work. Wifi SSID shows as 'OpenWrt'.

I cannot connect via PuTTy at 192.168.1.1 using either telnet or ssh. I have tried the reset procedure. When I try to ping the box from cmd I get a response from 192.168.1.36. I have no idea where that IP address came from. I cannot connect using PuTTy to 192.168.1.36

I would appreciate any input or insight anyone might have to rescue this box.

Thanks

Jeff Gregory

[GeoDirk]

Hey Jeff,

The fact that you get a SSID off the box showing OpenWRT is at least a good sign that the firmware probably is working even if you can't Putty into it yet.  A couple of suggestions:

- Try connecting to the device over wifi.  From the command prompt, type in 'ipconfig' and see if you were assigned an IP address from the device and what your gateway is.  Using a browser, go to that gateway address; probably 192.168.1.1.  If you are lucky, you'll see the OpenWRT admin webpage.

- Likewise, turn off your wifi and connect via the ethernet port to see if you get an IP address and gateway.

If either of those work, try to telnet in using whatever that gateway address ended up being.  Once you are able to telnet in, I would suggest closing off the telnet by running the command 'passwd' to set the root password and allow SSH connections.  Then using WinSCP (with a SCP connection type), you can get into the router and put the firmware onto the /tmp mount where there should be enough room.  Then SSH back into the unit with Putty (or just never have closed out the telnet session) and run these commands from the command prompt:

cd /tmp
mtd -r write firmwarefilename firmware

That should reflash the firmware to the unit.

Hope this helps,

GeoDirk

[Jeff Gregory]

Thanks for your quick reply.

I can 'connect' both by wifi and ethernet but can't get any further. ipconfig tells my I am on 169.254.169.232 on wifi with 255.255.0.0 as subnet but the default gateway is blank. Ethernet gives a similar setup but of course a different ip address for my computer but again no gateway is listed. I have tried to connect using 169.254.169.1 as the gateway but it didn't work.

[GeoDirk]

I find that 169.254.169.x is the address that Windows gives you when it doesn't get any DHCP information from the router.  In other words, I don't think you are getting in there easily anymore.  I don't know about that router model, but generally at this point you'll need to open up the box, find the Tx/Rx ports on the circuit board, solder on some wires that connect to a serial to USB plugin, then using Putty watch the serial port while it boots.  Hijack the bbot process and inject new firmware through a locally running tftp port.  It's a pain...I've done it before as I've become the master at bricking routers but it is a lot of work.

My advice, unless someone else has any ideas, put that unit off to the side with a note saying "bricked" until you get enough bricked routers to make the time involved to resurrect all of them as a group worthwhile. Or you can ship that router to me and I'll add it to my growing collection of bricked routers to fix one day ;-)

Sorry,  GeoDirk

[Jason Griffey]

I'd like to know a BIT more about the process of building the box. I've seen that sort of error if there was a problem on the USB and the flashing of the box didn't quite get done...Is the USB FAT32 formatted? Does it have the install folder at the root of the drive? 

Jason

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[Jeff Gregory]

Jason,

I wished I could answer accurately. I had some people offer to help I gave them the files (freshly downloaded) and the instructions. Obviously, they did not follow the instructions and I was not present so cannot say exactly what they did. They were going to do 30 boxes, but when they called me and said they had tried 5 and none were working I asked them to stop and not do anymore. To just send them to me. The ones they had not touched I am able to flash just fine. Of the 5 they tried, I have been able to reflash 2 of them ok. The other 3 seem to be in the same state. I have tried using a freshly formatted USB with the .bin file and install folder. When it is turned on, it seems to go through the install routine, an eventually the leds are in the 'normal' state for a functioning device, except it is only showing OpenWrt for the SSID and is none functioning. When I examine the USB, the auto_package has been renamed to auto_package_done and the the  apply_config.log and install.log files are there but shorter than they should be. It seems that the install routine is only going part way then stopping. I have attached the install.log and apply_config.log files.

I don't have any proof of this but from something they said on the phone makes me think they did not use the Librarybox version of the openwrt file but a generic one from openwrt.

If I could access the box I am sure I could re-flash with sysupgrade. I can ping it at 192.168.1.36 but telnet nor ssh will let me in. ssh seems to access it but asks for a password which is unknown to me since the one I gave them to set does not work.

Jeff

[Matthias Strubel]

Seems they emptied out the external_fs folder... the script goes in that segment only, if it already had create the folder on the USB stick and on a later reboot it was removed- but the install file is available.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/librarybox/2ee2c2d8-9554-49d2-a30a-1914f8beabca%40googlegroups.com.

[Jeff Gregory]

Thanks all for the comments. Is there anything I can do to get these boxes working or are they consigned to the 'shelf of experience'?

As I mentioned previously, the boxes look to be working fine, except that they aren't. LED's are in a normal state, but the boxes are only broadcasting OpenWRT as the SSID and I cannot connect either by wifi or wire. I can pint the boxes at 192.168.1.36 and get a response, but cannot access them via puTTY on either telnet or ssh at any IP address I have tried. I am sure if I could access, I could reflash by sysupgrade, just don't know how to reach that point.

Jeff

[Matthias Strubel]

These command outputs are needed for exact feedback https://piratebox.cc/openwrt:troubleshooting#technical_summary

I don't understand why the box should be 192.168.1.36

The default IP is always 192.168.1.1 the -for the failsafe as well - important address. 

If you try the failsafe mode,  use the 192.168.1.1 only & telnet because it is not change-able without changing the installed firmware. Period.

Also please use a static ip in the client (computer) when trying to debug. If possible only use wired Ethernet connections. That reduces the amount of possible problems while trying to recover hardware. 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/librarybox/a9078a53-247f-428d-a226-8ab1acf51808%40googlegroups.com.