I recently purchased a new TPlink CPE210 and can not successfully install the AREDN software. I have done numerous Ubiquiti devices without issue. I first tried the preferred method, and it seemed to program, but it finally got into a loop where the ethernet port would enable and disable and I was unable to acquire an IP address. So I tried the alternate method which uses the Tiny PXE Sever, which seemed to work but ended with same result. I thought I had bricked the device, so I downloaded the TPLink factory image from TPLink, and used the Tiny PXE server to program it. Now I can log in using the standard 192.168.0.254 IP address and access the PharOS web interface just like it was from the factory. I have tried to program the the last official release as well as daily builds with no luck. I have tried these processes at least 4 times and have been able to recover the factory software everytime, so I am assuming the programming is working.
I have verified my hardware is V2.
I have the correct software downloaded
I have been able to recover the factory software over and over, but cannot get AREDN software to work.
Before I spend any more time on this, has anyone programmed a CPE210 recently?
The model number is on the unit is CPE210(US) V2.8 The PharOS software says the model is a CPE210 V2.
I have a CPE220 coming and I would like to make sure it will work.
Any ideas?
Glenn WA3LAB
Joe AE6XE
Thank you for your response. Could there be an issue with me uploading the factory version?
Glenn
Joe AE6XE
If there is any way I can gather any information to help find the issue, please let me know. You helped me connect a serial port to my damaged Nanostaion, and I was able to repair the unit. As always, thank you for you time and help.
73,
Glenn WA3LAB
Glenn, This could be the issue, should have caught that before. My device on the label is "CPE210(US) Ver:2.0". Can you boot your device with any firmware and telnet/ssh into the node, and do the following command?
The output would look something like this (the prompt will show at the end, no linefeed):
What does it return? There are hardcoded strings built into the firmware images that have to be compatible with the device's vendor flash settings, or the bootloader won't write it to flash. The current strings in the code to create the firmware images:
It's likely this string on your device in the vendor flash partition is different. Let me know what that is to push into the code. Hopefully, there aren't any other hardware changes, if so there will be more changes to get everything working.
Joe AE6XE
Sorry got sidetracked. I had to go into the PharOS management to enable SSH login, then I was able to login. I used the password and username I had setup in PharOS. I entered the command
dd if=/dev/mtd2 bs=1 skip=4360 count=64 2>/dev/null | head -n 1
It responded with:
-sh: Cannot create dev/null : Permission denied
-sh: dd not found
-sh: head not found
I noticed you were logged as root. My linux is very rusty(mostly raspberry Pi stuff). Is that the problem?
Glenn
cat /dev/mtd2 | strings
or if that doesn't work, just do
cat /dev/mtd2
Then, scroll back through all the output, until you can see the string we are looking for.
Joe AE6XE
I used cat mtdblock2 | grep CPE210 and found the string as
CPE210(TP-LINK | US | N300-2 | 55530000):2.0
So it is the same string as you have, but in a different file.
Glenn WA3LAB
Unfortunately the string is exactly like the code snippet...No spaces. I have tried programming through PharOS. Same result. I just received a CPE220 V3 and it programmed first time through PharOS. Other than the power setting (limits to 25dbm), it seems to work fine.
Glenn
There is a chance its a V3.1 device. See if you can find the strings below or something similar
CPE210(TP-LINK|EU|N300-2|45550000):3.1
CPE210(TP-LINK|UN|N300-2|00000000):3.1
CPE210(TP-LINK|US|N300-2|55530000):3.1
I did a search through all the files in the dev directory that are called mtdblock0 through mtd0block6 for the string CPE210 and here are the results. I don't really know what I'm looking for, but here it is.
Glenn WA3LAB
Please test using the stock Openwrt binary for the device on the ath79 branch located here
https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/ath79/generic/
Let me know if it will boot with it.
Glenn
That is good as it indicates that your device is supported.
To connect with it you will need to ssh to 192.168.1.1
I suggest using scp to copy the aredn sysupgrade image for the device to /tmp on the device and then install the image using
sysupgrade -v -n -F /tmp/imagename
Let me know it that works.
Glenn
Joe AE6XE
I used Tiny PXE server to flash each version, and I used the FACTORY version, NOT the upgrade.
Results:
1. openWrt 18.06.5 Goes into loop, no access
2. openWrt 19.07.0 Boots, DHCP active, can login via SSH
3. AREDN 3.19 Goes into loop, no access
Glenn
Here is a bleeding edge AREDN image to test, link below. If this solves the issue, then we are days away from getting this in the nightly build.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17Dm8c9Vs8oFBU9sxD3jnW43JNLKQmB3i...
Note, installing packages is not available on these image, would be available when in the nightly build.
Joe AE6XE
YOU GUYS ROCK!!!
I took a little extra time to complete the configuration to make sure everything else is good. So far so good. I attached a picture
Thanks Joe and KK4ZUZ, I don't even know your name. I'll be watching for the new nightly build to check it out. Thanks again.
73,
Glenn WA3LAB
Great. I am glad its working for you :)
As Joe said it will be fully supported once we change to 19.07 build of openwrt which is currently undergoing testing.
Regards
Andrew (KK4ZUZ)
73
Chad
KA7HAK