You are here

Home » Forums » Hardware » Nodes

Downgrading a PBE-M5-400 before loading AREDN

5 posts / 0 new
Log in or register to post comments
Last post
Wed, 02/25/2026 - 21:26
#1
KD9USW
Downgrading a PBE-M5-400 before loading AREDN
My new PBE-M5-400 is running AirOS  XW v6.2.0.  Looking through the Ubiquity downloads, I don't see much for down grade options.  

I will admit, the UI website is a little vast and confusing.  I might have missed it on one of the passes.

Any input from the group.
Top
Thu, 02/26/2026 - 21:19
nc8q
nc8q's picture
Downgrading a PBE-M5-400 before loading AREDN ?
Is your PB3-M5-400 an
802.11n
or
802.11ac
device?

I looked and did not find instructions for downgrading from AirOS  XW v6.2.0.
 
Top
Fri, 02/27/2026 - 06:24
(Reply to #2)
KD9USW
Follow up
Good Morning,

I believe they are ac's.  Here is what I base that on:

I have 6 other radio's of the same FCC ID (SWX PBE 5M) and the IC numbers match (6545A PBE5M).  The original 6 all came with AirOS8.  All went well using ac instructions.

The one I am working on was ordered about 6 months ago and is just being put into service now.  When I open its control panel the logo just says AirOS.  I think I remember the first set the panel actually said AirOS 8.  I could be wrong.  The first ones went up about 2 years ago.  I have attached a copy of the UI screen.

I have the possible files to be used to make the downgrades off of the AREDN site.  None of the 4 possibilities will load.  I get a 413 error telling me they are to large.  This AirOS version seems to be a memory hog.  It is using 34% of the memory by itself.

So, at this point, this is what I think I know.  Ant thoughts would be appreciated.

Joe
KD9USW
Image Attachments: 
Top
Fri, 02/27/2026 - 09:42
nc8q
nc8q's picture
I have a PBE-M5-XW on the tower and out of service.
I will power it up and get some information from it to share.
When I purchased it (~2018-2019?), XWs were new
and required a nightly build of a 'rocket-?.bin'.
Later they used a standard build. 
root@NC8Q-PBE-M5-400:~# ifconfig|grep HWaddr
br-dtdlink Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 02:7A:34:60:BF:62  
br-lan    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 02:AE:66:6F:C7:37  
br-wan    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 02:D4:97:87:A2:D7  
br0       Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 78:8A:20:1F:9F:B9  
br0.1     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 78:8A:20:1F:9F:B9  
br0.2     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 78:8A:20:1F:9F:B9  
br0.3     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 78:8A:20:1F:9F:B9  
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 78:8A:20:1F:9F:B9  
wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 78:8A:20:1E:9F:B9  
root@NC8Q-PBE-M5-400:~#
If your HWaddr is close to mine, you may have an 802.11n device.

73, Chuck
 
Image Attachments: 
Top
Fri, 02/27/2026 - 14:21
(Reply to #4)
KD9USW
Pulling HWaddr on the AirOS GUI with PBE-M5-400
Thanks Chuck,

Do you know how I can pull the addresses through the AirOS GUI?  I have not gotten to the point where I have AREDN flashed on the radio. Or am I not thinking about this right?  

I appreciate the help.

Joe
KD9USW
Top

Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer