I've just bought a Wanadoo Livebox, which I want not because I'm a
Wanadoo customer but because I think it's cute & natty-looking &
because it runs Linux. I intended to install this at my mother's to
give her a wireless connection, but it seems to be having some
problems, which lead me to believe that Wanadoo have locked it not to
allow connections to other ISPs.
I plugged it in, connected to its web interface & entered the username
& password for my mother's Homecall ADSL account - the ADSL status
shows as synced. but no authentication seems to take place and no "WAN
IP" is showed under configuration. I tried power-cycling the LiveBox
and re-entering the username & password, but no joy. I've used an ADSL
router at my mother's previously (I do PC stuff for a living & have
used her as a test-bed in the past!), and know that other routers work,
so I double-checked using the Alcatel speedtouch modem her ISP
provided. No problems there, I can surf the Internet fine, and even I
re-entered the password on her dial-up settings to ensure that it
matched the one I had been entering into the LiveBox.
This is where it gets interesting - I put the CD supplied with the
LiveBox into her PC & tried running the Wanadoo configuration software.
All went swimmingly until I went to enter her username & password - the
software rejected it saying that @homecall.co.uk "is not a domain used
by Wanadoo". :/
I was able to "continue anyway", and did so, but this turned out to be
the end of the installation. I then logged into the Livebox's
webinterface & tried again. Still no joy. The Wanadoo software gives an
example ADSL username in the format "some_user@fs", so I tried entering
that & an arbitrary password in the Livebox's setup and... Hey Presto!
The Livebox now announces an authentication error.
So the only conclusion I can reach is that the Livebox will not try to
authenticate over PPPoA unless the user has entered a username within a
Wanadoo domain. If this is the case, just think how upset Wanadoo users
are gonna be when they try to change ISPs in the future - they've spent
£80 on hardware, but they'll need to replace it!! This could very
conceivably happen should a user wish to move from a metered to an
unmetered service, say.
As I mentioned before, the LiveBox appears to run Linux - certainly
hidden away in /EN/Inventel/dwb/ is a reference to the GPL, and claims
that "the GPL source code contained in this product is available for
free download at http://www.inventel.com." The Inventel logo appears on
several of the LiveBox's configuration screens, incidentally, and their
corporate brochure [1] boasts that "thanks to their open platform that
embed a standard Linux operating system, our access points can easily
integrate new applications". Anyway, to try & download the GPL software
requires one to register (which is better than they were doing a couple
of months ago when, intrigued by the stunning good looks of a
customer's LiveBox I looked at the website to find they "only supply to
OEMs, please contact your supplier for new firmware"), and surprise,
surprise, the form on the website doesn't accept the product / serial
number from my Livebox.
Has anyone else had any problems or success using a Wanadoo LiveBox
with another ISP? Are there any possibilities I've failed to consider,
other than vendor lock-in? Whilst it would seem that Inventel are
making efforts to comply with the GPL, I would find it extremely
mean-spirited if its the case that Wanadoo are "network locking" their
router, especially since they appear to be using Free software to do
so.
Stroller.
[1]
http://www.inventel.com/data/_commercial/article/inventel/inventel.corporate.en.pdf
: So the only conclusion I can reach is that the Livebox will not try to
: authenticate over PPPoA unless the user has entered a username within a
: Wanadoo domain. If this is the case, just think how upset Wanadoo users
: are gonna be when they try to change ISPs in the future - they've spent
: £80 on hardware, but they'll need to replace it!!
Excuse me - where does the £80 come from!?????
The Wanadoo T&C's (which I was looking at today for other reasons today) says
"If you have not previously ordered a Livebox from us, we will provide one (on
loan) at no extra cost, as part of the service. If we provide a Livebox and
you cancel the Wireless & Talk service you will need to return it to us in
the freepost envelope we send you."
You had me worried for a moment - I had to search to answer this & many
references I found do indeed refer to a free Livebox with a £4 talk
subscription - but then I found this
<http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/time/bb_wire1.htm?bbType=wifi>.
I was about to ponder whether that was an old offer, and whether
perhaps Wanadoo only locked their newer boxes, but it seems that on
page 4 <http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/time/bb_wire4.htm?bbType=wifi> it does
indeed state "Please note that your Livebox will only work with Wanadoo
Broadband". I'm sure that besides myself many of Wanadoo's customer's
will have overlooked this. Looks like it's time to grab a copy of the
firmware.
Stroller.
: You had me worried for a moment - I had to search to answer this & many
: references I found do indeed refer to a free Livebox with a Ł4 talk
: subscription - but then I found this
: <http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/time/bb_wire1.htm?bbType=wifi>.
OK - had missed that one! Hopefully someone may know how to hack it.
BTW you may overestimate the advantages of this Livebox being Linux based!!
Most recent Netgear routers also are (see
http://kbserver.netgear.com/kb_web_files/n101238.asp) *BUT* if one downloads
their "GPL code package" it does not include source (just binaries) for the
Netgear written executables which really run the router (just all the support
tasks and the Linux OS which provide their support environment)
That's interesting - I wasn't aware that the Netgear downloads were so
skimpy. I guess it'll all depend on how much work Inventel have done of
their own, how much they've ported GPL tools & generally how nice they
are. I'd be quite happy for myself with a command-line interface, but I
don't like the thought that large chunks of essential utilities might
be missing.
The community work around the Linksys NSLU2 & related network attached
disk-drives seems very active <http://www.nslu2-linux.org/> and since
the LiveBox has an extra USB port in the back I wouldn't be surprised
to find that it could also accept an external USB hard-drive. I'd
consider it quite cool to have a device that does all-in-one ADSL- &
wireless-routing, samba & iTunes streaming server.
Stroller.
: That's interesting - I wasn't aware that the Netgear downloads were so
: skimpy. I guess it'll all depend on how much work Inventel have done of
: their own, how much they've ported GPL tools & generally how nice they
: are. I'd be quite happy for myself with a command-line interface, but I
: don't like the thought that large chunks of essential utilities might
: be missing.
You *CAN* create a full router binary file from the Netgear sources and
packages build files).
It is the Linux tasks which they themselves have written to access their
specific (and proprietary) hardware chipset which are binary only (as the
GPL allows!)
You're kinda confusing me here... I don't know what you mean by "Linux
tasks". Do you mean kernel modules? I have no problem at all with
building a kernel & loading in separate binary modules for things like
graphics cards.
Stroller.
: You're kinda confusing me here... I don't know what you mean by "Linux
: tasks". Do you mean kernel modules? I have no problem at all with
: building a kernel & loading in separate binary modules for things like
: graphics cards.
Neither have I!!!
I went to look how Netgear do it. In their case there is a vital (user mode)
task called setup.cgi (ignore the .cgi - it's a compiled Linux executable)
which is called (with parameters) from the Web-based interface and which
sets and retrieves values deep in the router hardware. All of the static
web HTML pages are supplied in the GPL bundle but, without commented
sources of setup.cgi, one could not really alter how the routers works.
Mean buggers! So if I'm reading this right, one can read from the
source of the webpages how they call the setup.cgi executable, but
figuring out how other parameters might work could be hard guessing?
Stroller.
Am I being thick here, but can you not ftp the entire system down from
the router? Search it with an appropriate editor for the wanadoo
offending phrase, change it to something more appropriate and then ftp
back up? I have changed settings in routers before, something to do with
time servers or similar iirc. The procedure was well documented out
there though. Surely it can't be that different. Pound to a pinch of
sh!t that it is as simple as changing one line of text.
--
Pete Devlin
[{//////news03//////at\\\\\secondrow/////co\\\\\uk}]
"Mind the oranges Marlon!"
Probably not. Experience assures me that I'm usually the thickie!
> Search it with an appropriate editor for the wanadoo
> offending phrase, change it to something more appropriate and then
ftp
> back up? I have changed settings in routers before, something to do
with
> time servers or similar iirc.
P'rhaps so. I'll take a crack at it in the next day or three. You can
certainly save your LiveBox's configuration to a file, but unlike the
Netgear .cfg files it turns out to be all in binary. The firmware is on
the CD, tho', so it should be possible to run `strings` on that.
The thing that bothers me is that the Wanadoo domain appears to be "fs"
(presumably standing for "FreeServe" rather than "French Samoa") and I
think the router is looking for a username in the format "user.name@fs"
- replacing the "@fs" with "@adsl.my.service.provider.co.uk" could be a
mite tricky!?
Stroller.
Hi there Stroller -
There seems to be so little on the Livebox - I searched for a few days
regarding Livebox info before I hooked one up, and all the pages were
in French and Dutch (the two countries where it seems to have launched
already).
I've just connected one up to BT Broadband and it works like a charm.
Username, password, ADSL settings, click Apply, and Broadband is your
uncle. So I can confirm that the box is definitely not network locked
to Wanadoo.
I have firmware version: "INVENTEL version : v5.00-rc8L-uk". The
update manager offers me a later firmware version, but perhaps future
versions *are* network locked - so I'm not going to upgrade :-)
I'm sure you'll have looked through it a dozen times, but do check
again in Configuration --> Advanced --> ADSL and check that nothing is
out of place.
Good luck,
Andrew
Yes, I found loads of that. It makes me wish I'd paid more attention in
language classes at school!
> I've just connected one up to BT Broadband and it works like a charm.
Bugger! I've just tried it here at home, too - it won't connect to my
Eclipse account, either.
> Username, password, ADSL settings, click Apply, and Broadband is your
> uncle. So I can confirm that the box is definitely not network locked
> to Wanadoo.
I'll phone my customer tomorrow or the weekend & see if I can take mine
over to their place. They bought a Livebox a couple of months ago &
have had no problems with it, so I'll see if mine connects on their
line with their username & password.
> I have firmware version: "INVENTEL version : v5.00-rc8L-uk".
That's the same as I have on mine. Interestingly I have only
/EN/Inventel/dwb/Firmware_v5-00-RC5.1-uk.dwb on the CD. If I can
connect to FS ok with the current firmware I'll have established the
hardware is OK, so I might be tempted to try that.
> I'm sure you'll have looked through it a dozen times, but do check
> again in Configuration --> Advanced --> ADSL and check that nothing
is
> out of place.
Well, you're right - I certainly have been through all the menus a
dozen times.
Could I trouble you for a copy of your configuration? In one of the
menus there's an option to save it to a file - if you could do so &
send me a copy (this email address works) I'd be *extremely* grateful.
I know you'll probably want to change your username & password before
saving the config for me, but I'd really like to try all avenues of
diagnosis before I jump to any conclusions.
Thanks for your reply,
Stroller.
I don't know if anyone else here is interested, but since I found it
extremely difficult to find information about this unit by Google I'm
going to record some more notes on what I just discovered.
I read a while back about efforts to modify the Linux installation on
the Linksys NSLU2 network-harddrive, so I thought I'd take a look & see
if I'm able to mount the firmware supplied on the LiveBox's CD as a
disk-image on my Linux box. The article I recalled reading was this one
<http://tinyurl.com/3zoj7>, but I haven't got that far yet - when
searching for it I discovered first a previous article by the same
author <http://tinyurl.com/6t5cj> which explains some of his initial
efforts to find a backdoor to the box.
The suggestion to try connecting to "hidden" webpages on the router
appealed to me - after all, it's often the oldest tricks that still
work! During the process of replying to Andrew's post elsewhere in this
thread I'd tried running the Unix `strings` command on the firmware on
the CD, and seemed to recall seeing some lines containing "html" - sure
enough `strings
/Volumes/Livebox/EN/Inventel/dwb/Firmware_v5-00-RC5.1-uk.dwb | grep -i
html` returns a list of (I'm sure) all the webpages on the router.
Some of these webpages are particularly enticing - when I opened
<http://192.168.1.200/vrll.html> [1] I thought I must've hit gold! It
says "Your gateway is now unlocked", but it turns out that this is just
a standard page that Inventel have provided for users who have
successfully entered a code at <http://192.168.1.200/brdgoff.html>.
This page confirms "Your Livebox is will (sic) only work with Wanadoo
UK Broadband Services" and offers a form in which one can enter an
unlock code. Livebox users can check the lock status of their units by
going to the /brdg.cgi or /indexvrll.html pages - if your Livebox uses
the standard IP address then the former is located at
<http://192.168.1.1/brdg.cgi>. The latter page seems to contain a buggy
URL in which to type the unlock code.
Stroller.
[1] I changed the address of my Livebox from the the GUI so I could put
it on my LAN & still have Internet access - if you have a default
Livebox the page will be <http://192.168.1.1/vrll.html>
<snip>
> > I have firmware version: "INVENTEL version : v5.00-rc8L-uk".
>
> That's the same as I have on mine. Interestingly I have only
> /EN/Inventel/dwb/Firmware_v5-00-RC5.1-uk.dwb on the CD. If I can
> connect to FS ok with the current firmware I'll have established the
> hardware is OK, so I might be tempted to try that.
I wouldn't pay too much attention to the contents of the CD. Check out
one of the posts in this thread:
http://forums.vnunet.com/thread.jsp?forum=20&thread=47140
The poster says that Wanadoo have implied that the CD went out with
the wrong software. FWIW, at no point in the proceedings did I use
their installation CD (not even sure I know where it is).
As the other poster mentioned, most routers use Linux to some degree,
and often do have issues with GPL compliance. I imagine Inventel might
be the same.
> > I'm sure you'll have looked through it a dozen times, but do check
> > again in Configuration --> Advanced --> ADSL and check that nothing
> is
> > out of place.
>
> Well, you're right - I certainly have been through all the menus a
> dozen times.
>
> Could I trouble you for a copy of your configuration? In one of the
> menus there's an option to save it to a file - if you could do so &
> send me a copy (this email address works) I'd be *extremely* grateful.
> I know you'll probably want to change your username & password before
> saving the config for me, but I'd really like to try all avenues of
> diagnosis before I jump to any conclusions.
I can't get the config file at the moment - the internet connection is
being used by three computers and I'd have to delete the password,
save the config, and all that nuisance. I'll try another time - sorry!
I can't find Homecall's settings, but I know that BT Internet's ADSL
settings are different from Wanadoo's default (different encapsulation
method for me). I've got:
PPPoA, VC-Mux, vc:0, vp:38
In the meantime, it might also be worth trying ye olde factory reset
trick:
http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/help/id/7121.htm
Good luck,
Andrew
Yeah, I think I found the VP:VC settings yesterday. I can't find right
now where I changed them - I think the page
<http://192.168.1.1/adsl.html> is a hidden one - but I know now they're
at 0:38.
> In the meantime, it might also be worth trying ye olde factory reset
> trick:
> http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/help/id/7121.htm
Thanks for that. I'll try shortly.
Stroller.
Nope. Makes no difference. :(
Stroller.
I notice Andrew said he never used the Wanadoo cd, could that be relevent ?
Dave
--
For what we are about to balls up may common sense prevent us doing it
again
in the future!!
>it does indeed state "Please note that your Livebox will only work with
>Wanadoo Broadband". I'm sure that besides myself many of Wanadoo's
>customer's will have overlooked this.
From time to time the restriction has been mentioned in posts here in utb
--
PlusNet <http://tinyurl.com/24ymz>
I recommend them and save some cash.
Has a guarantee allowing new users to migrate if they're unhappy.
I don't believe so. I didn't use the CD at first, either - it was only
after I'd established that there was something wrong that I did so, and
my observations are consistent before & after running it.
Stroller.
<snip>
> Some of these webpages are particularly enticing - when I opened
> <http://192.168.1.200/vrll.html> [1] I thought I must've hit gold! It
> says "Your gateway is now unlocked", but it turns out that this is just
> a standard page that Inventel have provided for users who have
> successfully entered a code at <http://192.168.1.200/brdgoff.html>.
> This page confirms "Your Livebox is will (sic) only work with Wanadoo
> UK Broadband Services" and offers a form in which one can enter an
> unlock code. Livebox users can check the lock status of their units by
> going to the /brdg.cgi or /indexvrll.html pages - if your Livebox uses
> the standard IP address then the former is located at
> <http://192.168.1.1/brdg.cgi>. The latter page seems to contain a buggy
> URL in which to type the unlock code.
>
> Stroller.
>
>
>
> [1] I changed the address of my Livebox from the the GUI so I could put
> it on my LAN & still have Internet access - if you have a default
> Livebox the page will be <http://192.168.1.1/vrll.html>
Excellent detective work! The brdg.cgi link informs me that mine is
unlocked, whereas I gather from your posting that yours is not. I did
not obtain my livebox through a normal retail channel, so I may have a
non-standard one - although the firmware version matches yours, of
course.
I've sent my configuration backup to your email address on the
offchance that the lock/unlock status is kept there, rather than in
some other storage.
Failing that, you may be able to phone Wanadoo and request an unlock
code. I imagine that their frontline techs will have no knowledge of
the procedure, and will need to escalate to Inventel, who may simply
decline the request.
Happy hacking!
Andrew
>Failing that, you may be able to phone Wanadoo and request an unlock
>code. I imagine that their frontline techs will have no knowledge of
>the procedure
from what I read some time back, it might have a fee attached, like a
mobile phone network (official) unlocking... 30 quid BICBW. Peter M
--
Try a commercial news service - from 50 MB/day (once-only fee of < $5 )
up to 1500 MB/day for 6 months $99.95, 600 GB over 6 months $149.75
with many options in between... <http://tinyurl.com/3rjw4>
--
chris_junior41
Hi Chris,
I've been doing some homework on this & posting on some other, more
specific, forums. Basically, the restriction seems to be compiled
directly into the `adsld` program on the router's firmware, which is
called by /etc/init.d/adsl at startup.
This means that there's no way of unlocking it without updating the
firmware, which could be a pain - the only obvious way to update the
firmware seems to be by downloading it from Wanadoo using the button in
the web-interface. Supplied on the Livebox's CD is a firmware image &
and Inventel's `DWBFlash` utility, but it doesn't doesn't seem to work
with the Livebox.
Having said that, if one _can_ update the firmware on the Livebox, then
unlocking it should be pretty easy. The below hexdump seems to indicate
that several strings are compiled into adsld to allow connections to
any of several Freeserve domains; since the strings are 20-bytes long
and zero-padded it would be no problem to change them to @aol.com
@btiternet.com & whatever using a hex-editor:
$ hexdump -C sbin/adsld | grep -C 1 -e freeserve -e "@fs" | sed
"s/^[0-f]* //"
6e 6b 6e 6f 77 6e 3a 20 25 63 0a 00 00 00 00 00 |nknown: %c......|
40 62 62 2e 66 72 65 65 73 65 72 76 65 2e 63 6f |@bb.freeserve.co|
2e 75 6b 24 00 00 00 00 40 62 62 31 2e 66 72 65 |.uk$....@bb1.fre|
65 73 65 72 76 65 2e 63 6f 2e 75 6b 24 00 00 00 |eserve.co.uk$...|
40 62 62 32 2e 66 72 65 65 73 65 72 76 65 2e 63 |@bb2.freeserve.c|
6f 2e 75 6b 24 00 00 00 40 62 62 33 2e 66 72 65 |o.uk$...@bb3.fre|
65 73 65 72 76 65 2e 63 6f 2e 75 6b 24 00 00 00 |eserve.co.uk$...|
40 62 62 34 2e 66 72 65 65 73 65 72 76 65 2e 63 |@bb4.freeserve.c|
6f 2e 75 6b 24 00 00 00 40 66 73 24 00 00 00 00 |o.uk$...@fs$....|
00 00 00 00 63 6f 6e 6e 65 63 74 69 6f 6e 5f 6e |....connection_n|
(I've removed the offset addresses using sed because Google Groups is
splitting my lines at < 80 characters, so it's more readable this way)
Since the strings seem to use the standard Unix regular-expression
syntax of "$" to mean end-of line, it might even be worth trying
@*.com$ @*.co.uk$
Of course, that requires one to get the updated adsld on to the Livebox
first, and I don't yet see how to do that. I want to get a serial
console on that as soon as possible, then I should know more, but
unless you know anyone in or around Milton Keynes who can do some
surface-mount soldering for me that's a few days away.
Stroller.
--
chris_junior41
Right now, no idea. I'm optimistic, but I won't know more for a week or
so.
> coz im technical but not too familiar with linux and hex but am a
keen
> learner and can figure it out quickly.
Yeah, sorry - I was showing off there. I worked quite hard to find this
info, and I'm quite proud of my hard work.
>... you say that if i
> manage to update the firmware and change the hex coding that it
should
> allow the @zen username.?
If you can work out how to update the firmware, I'll happily give you a
copy of the modified firmware with the hacked `adsld`.
> where can i find that file to edit?
I found it on the accompanying CD, in the .DWB firmware image file.
After I found the words "Compressed ROMFS" in it, I followed the
instructions in this post to access it <http://tinyurl.com/6lmbj>.
> otherwise is it possible to send to a text file to my email address?
I'll certainly be in touch if I manage to crack it.
Stroller.
...so the misson continues....
--
chris_junior41
Hello
Only Wanadoo can give the unlocking code. Inventel cannot give this
information. the Livebox is the property of Wanadoo.
The DWBFlash utility is working with the Livebox. If it does not work
you
should check the customer manipulation.
Best regards
--
chris_junior41
The DWBflash.exe should be on the CD supplied with your Livebox - if
you don't have that, let me know and I'll send you a copy - as should a
firmware file with a .dwb extension. Just use Window's search to find
them.
I don't think you can just upload only the hacked `adsld` executable -
not by ordinary means, anyway - but it shouldn't be a problem to make a
new firmware image containing it. I've not got as far as researching
how to do that, but it should be a similar technique to those used by
the likes of <http://openwrt.org/>.
As far as I understand, the normal way to use the firmware flashing
utility (DWBflash.exe) is to run it on a Windows PC - when you run it
it prompts you for the location of the firmware to upload - and then
restart the Livebox whilst holding down the "1" button on the back.
Looking at the code in the firmware on my CD I find:
$ cat dev_update.sh
#!/bin/sh
/etc/init.d/ramdisk start
cd /mnt/ramdisk/rd1
tftp -g -r flasher 192.168.1.100
chmod 755 flasher
tftp -g -r image.bin 192.168.1.100
cd
kill -USR1 1
Which basically says "make a ramdisk and use the tftp protocol to get
flasher & image.bin from 192.168.1.100 then restart". I don't think I
could find a file called flasher on the CD, but in any case when I set
my Windows PC to 192.168.1.100 & ran DWBflash.exe it just continued to
report "waiting for connection", even though I restarted the Livebox
twice.
Whilst writing this, I thought I'd do some homework to double-check
that "1" was the right button to hold when restarting the Livebox. I
have to admit I hadn't seen this article
<http://www.wanadoo.co.uk/help/id/7139.htm> before, so it might well be
that the dev_update.sh actually shipped on the Livebox is different to
the one I've seen & looks for 10.7.58.114 instead; I'll test using that
address in my Copious Free Time. What I'd really like is one of these
Livebox 'Rescue System' CDs mentioned on that page - that would be
guaranteed hackable. You wouldn't have any friends working in Wanadoo's
tech support department, would you, by any chance??
Stroller.
Hmmmn... although I know that Wanadoo are now renting the Livebox to
subscribers as part of some of their current packages, I know they've
also sold quite a few Liveboxes to customers for £80 a pop. I'll
assume that Inventel are using "property" in a generic sense here.
> The DWBFlash utility is working with the Livebox. If it does not work
> you should check the customer manipulation.
I'll be interested to have another go, in that case. If you could get
any more information out of them on how exactly DWBflash.exe is
supposed to work I would be quite interested to hear about it.
Stroller.
--
chris_junior41
Only at <http://tinyurl.com/7p3hc>, I'm afraid.
Most of that isn't much use to you - I'm not yet at the stage where I
can get a modified firmware on the Livebox - but Benjamin's post today
does tell me a little more about the format of the lock-strings.
Stroller.
any luck stroller??
--
chris_junior41
--
chris_junior41
--
chris_junior41
--
Scoobyed
http://192.168.1.1/brdgoff.cgi
http://192.168.1.1/bluetooth.cgi
The ISP lock is not that important to me at the moment, but it could be
when my contract runs out.......
--
stureid