Tricky problem with the WR842ND-V2.0

[Breno Jacinto]

Hello friends,

     I've got two units of WR842ND-V1.0 which are just perfect. I can mesh them in pretty much the same way as an MP. 

     But two other units are version 2.0 and nothing seems to work. I can't even upgrade from the original firmware because it shows an error saying that the firmware version is wrong. And by the way, the original firmware states what the device is an WR841ND v. 6/7, which is even more weird. 

      I googled a bit and found out that the hardware from version 1.0 and 2.0 are completely different. Actually, some guys from OpenWRT mentioned in a forum that WR842NDv2 is similar to WR841ND, so maybe that's the root cause of the problem.  

      Curiously, I found that a trunk release for WR842NDv2.0 which is at http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-wr842n-v2-squashfs-factory.bin

     Tried flashing it - same error from the original firmware from TPLink. So I'm running out of options. Should I try to flash it using another firmware? Should I return the hardware and ask for a version 1.0? Anyone who has been in this same situation?

cheers,

---> Breno Jacinto

---> Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Alagoas (IFAL)
-----> http://www.ifal.edu.br
---> Life is Choice. You can choose to be a victim, or anything else you want to be. (Sócrates - Peaceful Warrior) <--

[T Gillett]

Hi Breno

If you want a quick solution, I suggest swapping the Ver 2 units for Ver 1.0 units if you possibly can.

The overall specs are much the same, but it uses a different chipset with a 20% faster CPU.

My Ver 1 units have proved to be very reliable.

Ver 2 has only recently been added to the OpenWrt supported list and from your description the support is not quite there yet.

The SECN firmware is based on the AA 12.09.1 stable release of OpenWrt, so unless the developers back port Ver 2, it won't show up in our builds.

Regards

Terry

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[Breno Jacinto]

Hi Terry,

    I've got new devices from TP-Link, but they refused to send me v.1.0. I like to think that they are not manufacturing this version anymore... 

    They sent me a version 2.1 device. So this time I proceeded to install this firmware from OpenWRT: http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-wr842n-v2-squashfs-factory.bin

     And to my surprise everything went smoothly. But, I've got a few problems:

1 - No web interface present

2 - No wireless interfaces got set up. The led light is also off.

    I could telnet successfully and got shell access. Could you give me a light of how to go from here? Is there a chance of getting SECN firmware to work on these devices?

cheers,

---> Breno Jacinto

---> Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Alagoas (IFAL)
-----> http://www.ifal.edu.br
---> Life is Choice. You can choose to be a victim, or anything else you want to be. (Sócrates - Peaceful Warrior) <--

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/village-telco-dev/CAD58EkwBFU2kkB4TSDHBb8Oj23RGa6T4pcmLYOcpW4qY9cP4sg%40mail.gmail.com.

[T Gillett]

Hi Breno

The snapshot build probably does not include the LuCI web UI.

The stable AA builds do include LuCI and I expect that the new BB RC1 build will also include it, so you might like to try that.

The AA build does not support the newer 842 V2 device, but the new BB one does.

You will find the sysupgrade firmware here:
        http://downloads.openwrt.org/barrier_breaker/14.07-rc1/ar71xx/generic/openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-wr842n-v2-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin

The wirleless is disabled by default on OpenWrt images.
To enable it, edit (vi) the /etc/config/wireless file and you will see a line in there with a comment about disabling wireless. Just comment out the 'option disable' line.

Then you can start the wireless subsystem with the command 'wifi'. Or reboot.

There should be no problem putting SECN on to these devices. We plan to make a BB based build shortly that will include the 842 V2.

In the mean time, if you can send me a copy of the /etc/config/wireless and network files from your unit, I can send you a SECN tar file that you can install manually to test.

Also would you run the 'free' and 'df -h' commands and send me the output please.

regards
Terry

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/village-telco-dev/CALj9PZLO08LN%3DNF%3DfA_hsrNr8DnhvUZOx4%2Bi1EMC-CTn3JnbJA%40mail.gmail.com.

[T Gillett]

Breno

I just noticed there is now a BB RC2 release so you might like to try that.

     http://downloads.openwrt.org/barrier_breaker/14.07-rc2/ar71xx/generic/openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-wr842n-v2-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin

Terry

[Breno Jacinto]

Hi Terry,

    I just installed on the new device the latest BB version (http://downloads.openwrt.org/barrier_breaker/14.07-rc2/ar71xx/generic/openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-wr842n-v2-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin). For this one I used the factory version since I used TP-LInk web interface to upgrade. The other one I'll upgrade as well, but using the proper sysupgrade build. 

    Here are the infos you asked:

root@OpenWrt:/# free

             total         used         free       shared      buffers

Mem:         28860        19136         9724            0         1728

-/+ buffers:              17408        11452

Swap:            0            0            0

root@OpenWrt:/#

root@OpenWrt:/# df -h

Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on

rootfs                    5.0M    272.0K      4.7M   5% /

/dev/root                 2.0M      2.0M         0 100% /rom

tmpfs                    14.1M     68.0K     14.0M   0% /tmp

tmpfs                    14.1M     24.0K     14.1M   0% /tmp/root

tmpfs                   512.0K         0    512.0K   0% /dev

/dev/mtdblock3            5.0M    272.0K      4.7M   5% /overlay

overlayfs:/overlay        5.0M    272.0K      4.7M   5% /

root@OpenWrt:/#

/etc/config/wireless output:

root@OpenWrt:/# cat /etc/config/wireless

config wifi-device  radio0

        option type     mac80211

        option channel  11

        option hwmode   11g

        option path     'platform/ar934x_wmac'

        option htmode   HT20

        # REMOVE THIS LINE TO ENABLE WIFI:

        #option disabled 1

config wifi-iface

        option device   radio0

        option network  lan

        option mode     ap

        option ssid     OpenWrt

        option encryption none

root@OpenWrt:/#

/etc/config/network:

root@OpenWrt:/# cat /etc/config/network

config interface 'loopback'

        option ifname 'lo'

        option proto 'static'

        option ipaddr '127.0.0.1'

        option netmask '255.0.0.0'

config globals 'globals'

        option ula_prefix 'fdb9:11b3:0c2d::/48'

config interface 'lan'

        option ifname 'eth1'

        option force_link '1'

        option type 'bridge'

        option proto 'static'

        option ipaddr '192.168.1.1'

        option netmask '255.255.255.0'

        option ip6assign '60'

config interface 'wan'

        option ifname 'eth0'

        option proto 'dhcp'

config interface 'wan6'

        option ifname '@wan'

        option proto 'dhcpv6'

config switch

        option name 'switch0'

        option reset '1'

        option enable_vlan '1'

config switch_vlan

        option device 'switch0'

        option vlan '1'

        option ports '0 1 2 3 4'

root@OpenWrt:/#

    I'd really like to try SECN manually, if you can provide some instructions I'd be glad to try it.

cheers,

---> Breno Jacinto

---> Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Alagoas (IFAL)
-----> http://www.ifal.edu.br
---> Life is Choice. You can choose to be a victim, or anything else you want to be. (Sócrates - Peaceful Warrior) <--

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/village-telco-dev/CAD58EkymeR%3D-OM0a_eLoC3g67VqTnk-5i3k_nXKtZmsmMOP%2Byg%40mail.gmail.com.

[T Gillett]

Hi Breno

I plan to make a BB based build over the next couple of weeks and I will post that up to the VT Downloads/Unstable page for testing.

Regards
Terry

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/village-telco-dev/CALj9PZJwb%2Bz1CZO9kMEoFwretrU%2BK%2BRZm8fDKzwYZQBPNxJ-Zg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Breno Jacinto]

Hi Terry,

     Thank you very much for your attention. I'll try this out and report back to you. 

cheers,

---> Breno Jacinto

---> Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Alagoas (IFAL)
-----> http://www.ifal.edu.br
---> Life is Choice. You can choose to be a victim, or anything else you want to be. (Sócrates - Peaceful Warrior) <--

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/village-telco-dev/CAD58EkwBJXQXqtWb753UsmW6K0Hgw0U0n8JRjTCtvXEmYTzvyw%40mail.gmail.com.