Well, in hope to get more reliable and modern firmware on my Totolink A850R router from aliexpress.com I decided to upgrade it by TOTOLINK A850R-V1.0.2-20151104.zip from Totolink official site. So, I unpacked downloaded ZIP, started to upgrade the TOTOLINK-A850R-V1.0.2-B20151104.1609.web firmware from web admin panel, where the web form counted from 90 till 1 sec, after that page has been reloaded, I waited few more mins, and ... I figured out that my upgrade failed, with next "achievements":
- I cannot open the web admin panel http://192.168.1.1 from web browser anymore,
- both 5G and 2.4G WiFi do not work anymore, althought LAN/WAN works, i. e. my routed is not completely bricked,
- with using USB-to-RS232 TTL UART PL2303HX Auto Converter adapter I can reach RealTek bootloader console.
So, I started to recover my router (everything below under Linux) in next steps:
- Preliminary network activities:
vit@meadow ~/totolink $ sudo route add -host 192.168.1.6 eth0
vit@meadow ~/totolink $ route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
~...~
192.168.1.6 * 255.255.255.255 UH 0 0 0 eth0
~...~
vit@meadow ~/totolink $ sudo ufw disable
Firewall stopped and disabled on system startup
vit@meadow ~/totolink $
- To connect PL2303HX to A850R (from key: empty socket, white wire (RXD), green wire (TXD), black wire (GND), red wire (VCC, +5V) is not used);
- To run minicom in 38400 7N1 mode:
sudo minicom
- In order to get RealTek bootloader from minicom it's required to press both WPS/RST buttons before (!!!) power up the router:
Booting...
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@
@ chip__no chip__id mfr___id dev___id cap___id size_sft dev_size chipSize
@ 0000000h 0c84016h 00000c8h 0000040h 0000016h 0000000h 0000016h 0400000h
@ blk_size blk__cnt sec_size sec__cnt pageSize page_cnt chip_clk chipName
@ 0010000h 0000040h 0001000h 0000400h 0000100h 0000010h 000002dh GD25Q32
@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
---RealTek(RTL8196D)at 2013.12.27-12:35+0800 v1.2 [16bit](700MHz)
no sys signature at 00010000!
no sys signature at 00020000!
no sys signature at 00030000!
no sys signature at 00040000!
P0phymode=01, embedded phy
---Ethernet init Okay!
<RealTek>
Booting...
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@
@ chip__no chip__id mfr___id dev___id cap___id size_sft dev_size chipSize
@ 0000000h 0c84016h 00000c8h 0000040h 0000016h 0000000h 0000016h 0400000h
@ blk_size blk__cnt sec_size sec__cnt pageSize page_cnt chip_clk chipName
@ 0010000h 0000040h 0001000h 0000400h 0000100h 0000010h 000002dh GD25Q32
@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
---RealTek(RTL8196D)at 2013.12.27-12:35+0800 v1.2 [16bit](700MHz)
no sys signature at 00010000!
no sys signature at 00020000!
no sys signature at 00030000!
no sys signature at 00040000!
P0phymode=01, embedded phy
---Ethernet init Okay!
<RealTek>
<RealTek>
<RealTek>?
----------------- COMMAND MODE HELP ------------------
HELP (?) : Print this help message
DB <Address> <Len>
DW <Address> <Len>
EB <Address> <Value1> <Value2>...
EW <Address> <Value1> <Value2>...
CMP: CMP <dst><src><length>
IPCONFIG:<TargetAddress>
AUTOBURN: 0/1
LOADADDR: <Load Address>
J: Jump to <TargetAddress>
FLR: FLR <dst><src><length>
FLW <dst_ROM_offset><src_RAM_addr><length_Byte> <SPI cnt#>: Write offset-data to SPI from RAM
MDIOR: MDIOR <phyid> <reg>
MDIOW: MDIOW <phyid> <reg> <data>
PHYR: PHYR <PHYID><reg>
PHYW: PHYW <PHYID><reg><data>
PORT1: port 1 patch for FT2
<RealTek>
<RealTek>IPCONFIG
Target Address=192.168.1.6
<RealTek>
- Firmware preparation (downloaded from ToToLink A850R Dual Band Wireless Router V5.1 Firmware Download; also, be aware that another TOTOLINK-A850R-V1.1.4-B20170526.1150.web firmware behaves weird, i. e. the same way, as initially installed TOTOLINK-A850R-V1.0.2-B20151104.1609.web firmware* from official site), and starting up tftp:
vit@meadow ~/totolink $ ls -lt
total 2420
-rw-r--r-- 1 vit vit 2475044 Sep 27 2014 TOTOLINK-A850R-IP04268-8197D-SPI-4M64M-V5.1-B20140927_1_1097_ALL.web
vit@meadow ~/totolink $ md5sum TOTOLINK-A850R-IP04268-8197D-SPI-4M64M-V5.1-B20140927_1_1097_ALL.web
965e767daca31aa8bc7c9af64ab2def8 TOTOLINK-A850R-IP04268-8197D-SPI-4M64M-V5.1-B20140927_1_1097_ALL.web
vit@meadow ~/totolink $ tftp 192.168.1.6
tftp> binary
tftp> rexmt 1
tftp> timeout 180
tftp> trace
tftp> status
Connected to 192.168.1.6.
Mode: octet Verbose: off Tracing: on
Rexmt-interval: 1 seconds, Max-timeout: 180 seconds
tftp> put TOTOLINK-A850R-IP04268-8197D-SPI-4M64M-V5.1-B20140927_1_1097_ALL.web
~...~
sent DATA <block=4826, 512 bytes>
received ACK <block=4826>
sent DATA <block=4827, 512 bytes>
received ACK <block=4827>
sent DATA <block=4828, 512 bytes>
received ACK <block=4828>
sent DATA <block=4829, 512 bytes>
received ACK <block=4829>
sent DATA <block=4830, 512 bytes>
received ACK <block=4830>
sent DATA <block=4831, 512 bytes>
received ACK <block=4831>
sent DATA <block=4832, 512 bytes>
received ACK <block=4832>
sent DATA <block=4833, 512 bytes>
received ACK <block=4833>
sent DATA <block=4834, 512 bytes>
received ACK <block=4834>
sent DATA <block=4835, 36 bytes>
received ACK <block=4835>
Sent 2475044 bytes in 2.9 seconds
tftp>
- Next under minicom terminal (be aware, router will automatically reboot and enter in non RealTek bootloader mode at the end of firmware uploading):
<RealTek>
**TFTP Client Upload, File Name: TOTOLINK-A850R-IP04268-8197D-SPI-4M64M-V5.1-B20140927_1_1097_ALL.web
~...~
**TFTP Client Upload, File Name: TOTOLINK-A850R-IP04268-8197D-SPI-4M64M-V5.1-B20140927_1_1097_ALL.web
|
**TFTP Client Upload File Size = 0025C424 Bytes at 80500000
Success!
<RealTek>
Linux kernel (root-fs) upgrade.
checksum Ok !
burn Addr =0x00010000! srcAddr=0x80500000 len =0x00101412
.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Flash Write Successed!
<RealTek>
Root filesystem upgrade.
checksum Ok !
burn Addr =0x00130000! srcAddr=0x80601422 len =0x0015b002
.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Flash Write Successed!
<RealTek>
reboot.......
Booting...
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@
@ chip__no chip__id mfr___id dev___id cap___id size_sft dev_size chipSize
@ 0000000h 0c84016h 00000c8h 0000040h 0000016h 0000000h 0000016h 0400000h
@ blk_size blk__cnt sec_size sec__cnt pageSize page_cnt chip_clk chipName
@ 0010000h 0000040h 0001000h 0000400h 0000100h 0000010h 000002dh GD25Q32
@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Reboot Result from Watchdog Timeout!
---RealTek(RTL8196D)at 2013.12.27-12:35+0800 v1.2 [16bit](700MHz)
no rootfs signature at 000E0000!
no rootfs signature at 000F0000!
Jump to image start=0x80500000...
decompressing kernel:
Uncompressing Linux... done, booting the kernel.
done decompressing kernel.
start address: 0x80003400
Realtek WLAN driver - version 1.6 (2013-02-21)
DFS function - version 1.0.18
8812 mp chip !!
#######################################################
SKB_BUF_SIZE=3600 MAX_SKB_NUM=768
#######################################################
#######################################################
SKB_BUF_SIZE=3600 MAX_SKB_NUM=768
#######################################################
Probing RTL8186 10/100 NIC-kenel stack size order[3]...
chip name: 8196C, chip revid: 0
NOT YET
eth0 added. vid=9 Member port 0x10...
eth1 added. vid=8 Member port 0x1...
eth2 added. vid=9 Member port 0x2...
eth3 added. vid=9 Member port 0x4...
eth4 added. vid=9 Member port 0x8...
eth5 added. vid=9 Member port 0x0...
[peth0] added, mapping to [eth1]...
Realtek FastPath:v1.03
Done! Here is a fully workable Totolink A850R router with recovered V5.1 firmware.
More info:
- About RealTek bootloader,
- Firmware upgrade under Winduz with using FirmwareUpgradeTool.zip (translated from Vietnamese),
- TOTOLINK A850R online emulator,
- More info about hardware with pics of similar TOTOLINK A780R (in Chinese),
- Firmware TOTOLINK page (in Vietnamese).
Next might be interesting too:
TOTOLINK's Bulgarian site,RTL8197DL(SoC) +RTL8192ER(2.4G WiFi bgn) +RTL8812AR(5G WiFi an+ac),