Hi everyone, I've managed to brick the device! No wireless, just the bridge led. So I popped it open to try and fix it, and there seems to be quite some room for modding as well. My main question is how to flash the firmware through serial. Has anyone done it? Thanks

It's in the Wiki : http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/kingston/mlw221

Serial Port is shown...You only need Gnd and Rx/Tx ....do not connect to Vcc

Please choose the operation:
   1: Load system code to SDRAM via TFTP.
   2: Load system code then write to Flash via TFTP.   <--- http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/generic.flashing.tftp
   3: Boot system code via Flash (default).
   4: Entr boot command line interface.
   7: Load Boot Loader code then write to Flash via Serial.
   9: Load Boot Loader code then write to Flash via TFTP.

So I would either use option 2 or 7, right? I have an ethernet cable soldered straight to the pads, which is not ideal but should work. Can I use serva or do I have to stick to Linux? Also, would option 7 work, and if yes, how do I set things up? I know, I could just search all that stuff, but I really need the NAS up and running again. And that's just the beginning, so thank you all in advance.

Option 7 is for uboot only...not recommended.

Got it working again! all it needed was a wireless config regeneration.
so, here comes the tricky part, how do we access the nas from outside the repeater network? meaning that there's a master network and a client one and you have access to everything from the master network, but not from the client. bridging them doesn't do much.
also, how do we get the Ethernet port to work? eth0.1 is a vlan, but why is it necessary?

Some days ago, MLW221 has been available for about $15 including shipping in Europe. Many guys have bought the device.
Are ldpinney's binaries still up to date or could anyone please explain, how to re-build them for a newer OpenWRT-version?

Kingston has released a new MLWG3, and the MLW221 is no longer available on the US site.  The MLWG2 is similarly discounted in the US to $30.99 delivered from Kingston.

The new device is dual band, and a version is available with internal storage, in addition to the SD card and USB. 

https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php … 10#p310210

I recently used the old files for the MLWG2 (BB 14.07) and then upgraded to CC 15.05.  You may want to list the packages before upgrading, as when I upgraded I lost mount points and not sure what else.

Thank you for the Chaos Calmer image, it works!  Even in German

Luci can be accessed via WLAN, but how would the MLW221 simultaneously get to the internet, without soldering the onboard Ethernet connector, or risking to brick the device?

I tried an Ethernet dongle, a Wifi USB dongle, and my phone.  They all get registered in the syslog, but no drivers appear.

How can the missing packets be installed without internet connection?

I will assume that in the interfaces section you see at least a LAN and a WAN (maybe WAN6 or WWAN).  If so you should be able to go to the "WiFi" tab and add a STAtion\Client (in addition to your existing Master\AP).

Select SCAN, choose a STAtion by clicking "Join".
At the top of the next page UNSELECT THE CHECK BOX for "Replace wireless configuration", enter you passphrase in the next box followed by submit.
Scroll to the bottom and click "Save and Apply"

You will be using the single on board radio to work both sides of the connection.

You can add a wireless USB dongle, but you need to figure out if it is supported (search for supported USB LAN adapters for Linux) and then what driver you will need.  I have done both, but find that the USB device is generally NOT faster.

There is no OpenWrt resource for this information that I am aware of.

This is great, so simple! Works like a charm :-) THANK YOU!  Your clear guidance to uncheck 'replace wireless configuration' was the clue, I might have assumed that at some point but did not dare risking to brick the device.

If I now wanted to access the openWRT device from its hosting wifi network, i.e. from the one it just joined, in parallel to the possibility to access it from within the 'OpenWRT" WiFi network that it spans itself: How would this be safely accomplished? Is this a firewall issue, or a question of bridging the two networks in some clever way?

I'd assume: If your kind previous hint and the answer to my last question were prominently documented, many openWRT newbies would save hours of risky trial-and-error. I guess I should put a note into the wiki...

This is not as easy.  I assume the request is to access the LAN of your MLW221 from the LAN of the "AP".  The AP(STAtion) is on a different subnet and coming in the WAN, so to speak, is, as you say, hitting the firewall.  So the basic answer is no by design.  The device is working as a "Router" and separating your local traffic from the outside world.

If you convert the device to work as a "Dumb AP" of sorts then this is possible, but it is not something you want to take into the outside world.  It's not safe.  There is a package called "relayd", which will let you connect to your AP (STAtion) and be on the the same SUBNET as the rest of your devices (wireless on both sides).  I used it briefly, on another RAMPIS and it works.  It's a bit odd to configure.  Search the wiki and read, read, read. 

If you wish to go down this road, I will suggest you make a backup of your working "Router" config and do the same when you get a "relayd" config working.  Then you can just load one up and reboot for your needs.  If you search the forum and wiki I think you will find some have authored scripts to do this.

Thank you, RangerZ. Pardon, I might have misled you. We don't have a router scenario in mind, but a portable music server. The standard use case would be for the device  to sign on to our wifi network and share music with other wifi clients on that LAN. Only if the device does not have access to our wifi network, e.g. on the road, the device's own wifi would be used to let other clients connect to it and access the device.

So essentially, it's great that we now have the device act simultaneously as both wifi client and access point. All we'd need is the ability for it to expose its samba and http ports to both sides -- no routing or traversal of data required. Shouldn't there be a smart solution in openWRT for this seemingly simple scenario?

I am still not sure I am following you.  The MLW221 is the music server.  You want users to be able to connect to it's internal AP on the WLAN, which generally  means they have no internet access while they are connected, unless the client has multiple interfaces (like a laptop might, but not most other devices). 

You also want the MLW221 to be come part of the LAN as a client (like another PC on the network) so that other LAN clients can also stream from it.  If you can accept the IP coming THROUGH the MLW221 from the main LAN then relayd might work.  Just not sure how transportable the device is to other LANS (ie different subnets) with out reconfiguration.

If you want the MLW221 to act as a DHCP for those connected to it's AP, then you need a traditional router.  The only way I can think that you could also come in the other way would be to modify (heavily) or possible disable the firewall.  Not in my skill set.

It's not as simple as you would like to think it is.

It's so simple: In LuCi's Firewall settings for the "WAN" zone I set "Input" to "accept" instead of "reject". That's it! Now the device can be accessed from both our FritzBox LAN as 192.168.178.67 and from within its own WiFi network as 192.168.1.1 — via  Luci, SSH and presumably every other service: perfect!

Thank you for helping, RangerZ, probably our problem has just been too simple!

Need help.
installing all from https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/kingston/mlw221 was ok and workable except installation of kmod-fs* i needed afp, netatalk, hfs+ (strangely exfat formatted by apple won't be recognized by ex2,3,4), installation failed because of core 3.xxxx i do not remember.
so I upgrade it with https://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_cal … pgrade.bin and there was missing points of menu options and no list for software to install. I was thinking to reset settings and that I did - inside of web interface... now I have no access to wifi it seems like no wifi at all. I am not tech and no way to soldering or programming- i can only copy and paste files. I'll appreciate with beer or cap of coffee if some smart guy could send me a file or instruction to activate WiFi at least and guide to install needed mods.
Thank you an advance!

(Last edited by alikator on 13 Apr 2016, 10:42)

I also bricked my  MLW221 by resetting OpenWRT back to defaults in LuCi.

Now, the device just lights up the green and the outer blue LED, then the blue LED flashes rapidly, then it lights continuously, together with the green. No wifi activity, neither as access point nor as client; no way to access the device, apparently.

Does anyone have an idea how to unbrick the device in this steady-blue state, except for opening the case and soldering a serial port?

It's been upgraded to the most recent sysupgrade.bin and ran out of memory when I installed forked-daapd via opkg, hence the idea to reset openWRT.

(Last edited by ub on 15 Apr 2016, 22:21)

connect by telnet or ssh,
edit file /etc/opkg.conf with vi editor and add sources for opkg to it 

mine is:

dest root /
dest ram /tmp
lists_dir ext /var/opkg-lists
option overlay_root /overlay
option check_signature 1
src/gz chaos_calmer_base http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05/ramips/mt7620/packages/base
src/gz chaos_calmer_packages http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05/ramips/mt7620/packages/packages
src/gz chaos_calmer_luci http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05/ramips/mt7620/packages/luci
src/gz chaos_calmer_routing http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05/ramips/mt7620/packages/routing
src/gz chaos_calmer_telephony http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05/ramips/mt7620/packages/telephony
src/gz chaos_calmer_management http://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05/ramips/mt7620/packages/management

(Last edited by kiklhorn on 26 May 2016, 11:43)

Need help

英文基本上不懂，连查带猜的看，我的一个无线读卡器mlw221，开机蓝灯闪一个下就没动静了，secureCRT串口连上显示如下信息，弄不明白，这个读卡器还有救吗？我要如何操作？谢谢！

U-Boot 1.1.3 (Apr 10 2013 - 15:50:37)

Board: Ralink APSoC DRAM:  64 MB
relocate_code Pointer at: 83fb4000
enable ephy clock...done. rf reg 29 = 5
SSC disabled.
spi_wait_nsec: 29
spi device id: 1 20 18 4d 1 (20184d01)
find flash: S25FL129P
raspi_read: from:30000 len:1000
*** Warning - bad CRC, using default environment

============================================
Ralink UBoot Version: 4.1.1.0
--------------------------------------------
ASIC 7620_MP (Port5<->None)
DRAM component: 512 Mbits DDR, width 16
DRAM bus: 16 bit
Total memory: 64 MBytes
Flash component: SPI Flash
Date:Apr 10 2013  Time:15:50:37
============================================
icache: sets:512, ways:4, linesz:32 ,total:65536
dcache: sets:256, ways:4, linesz:32 ,total:32768

##### The CPU freq = 580 MHZ ####
estimate memory size =64 Mbytes

Please choose the operation:
   1: Load system code to SDRAM via TFTP.
   2: Load system code then write to Flash via TFTP.
   3: Boot system code via Flash (default).
   4: Entr boot command line interface.
   7: Load Boot Loader code then write to Flash via Serial.
   9: Load Boot Loader code then write to Flash via TFTP.
0
   
3: System Boot system code via Flash.
## Booting image at bc050000 ...
raspi_read: from:50000 len:40
   Image Name:   Linux Kernel Image
   Image Type:   MIPS Linux Kernel Image (lzma compressed)
   Data Size:    5510365 Bytes =  5.3 MB
   Load Address: 80000000
   Entry Point:  8000c310
raspi_read: from:50040 len:5414dd
   Verifying Checksum ... Bad Data CRC

(Last edited by mostary on 17 Jun 2016, 02:52)

It looks like you have a serial console.
If so ... upload a known working image using tftp.
Option #2
它看起来像你有一个串行控制台。
如果是这样的......使用TFTP上传已知的工作形象。
选项＃2

Unfortunately you'll need a ethernet connection for that.
不幸的是你所需要的，一个以太网连接。

http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/kingston/mlw221

非常感谢ldpinney的指导 !
现在我的mlw221可以通过串口连上电脑，但是无法通过以太网线连接，显示如下：
You choosed 2

 0

raspi_read: from:40028 len:6

2: System Load Linux Kernel then write to Flash via TFTP.

Warning!! Erase Linux in Flash then burn new one. Are you sure?(Y/N)

Please Input new ones /or Ctrl-C to discard
        Input device IP (10.10.10.123) ==:10.10.10.123
        Input server IP (10.10.10.3) ==:10.10.10.3     
Input Linux Kernel filename () ==:d:\Drivers\test.bin

netboot_common, argc= 3

NetTxPacket = 0x83FE4C40

KSEG1ADDR(NetTxPacket) = 0xA3FE4C40

NetLoop,call eth_halt !

NetLoop,call eth_init !
Trying Eth0 (10/100-M)

Waitting for RX_DMA_BUSY status Start... done

ETH_STATE_ACTIVE!!
TFTP from server 10.10.10.3; our IP address is 10.10.10.123
Filename 'd:\Drivers\test.bin'.

TIMEOUT_COUNT=10,Load address: 0x80100000
Loading: Got ARP REPLY, set server/gtwy eth addr (00:21:cc:da:8b:e8)
Got it
T T T T T T T T T T
Retry count exceeded; starting again
TFTP from server 10.10.10.3; our IP address is 10.10.10.123
Filename 'd:\Drivers\test.bin'.

TIMEOUT_COUNT=10,Load address: 0x80100000
Loading: Got ARP REPLY, set server/gtwy eth addr (00:21:cc:da:8b:e8)
Got it
T T T T T T T T T T
Retry count exceeded; starting again
TFTP from server 10.10.10.3; our IP address is 10.10.10.123
Filename 'd:\Drivers\test.bin'.

TIMEOUT_COUNT=10,Load address: 0x80100000
Loading: Got ARP REPLY, set server/gtwy eth addr (00:21:cc:da:8b:e8)
Got it

无法ping:10.10.10.123,请高手赐教，谢谢。

(Last edited by mostary on 2 Jul 2016, 13:31)

mlw221 网线直接连接电脑  设定电脑ip为：192.168.1.1   255.255.255.0   其它不用设定。启动tftpd32   选择tftpd路径和server interfaces  192.168.1.1对应的网卡。
  secureCRT操作如下：
Please Input new ones /or Ctrl-C to discard
        Input device IP (10.10.10.123) ==:192.168.1.2
        Input server IP (10.10.10.3) ==:192.168.1.1     
Input Linux Kernel filename () ==:×:\××××\××××××.bin

Hi to @ll

I brick my mlw221. The update by flashing the original firmware stop and now the mlw221 starts with the green and the blue Led/ right. On the serial connection, i cant read the boot screen. Its screens unreadble signs? My connection is: 57600 baut, data 8, stop 1 and parity none.
Is the software broken? But its starts with unreadble signs?
Whats my mistake?

Thanks

Me too, I bricked my mlw221.
Only blue light set and green blinking, no wifi.
Can I do anything to revert to stock firmware? Can you explain how-to-do it? thanks a lot.

I have now connected the ethernet and PC recognize my item with an IP, but i dont know how to put the stock firmware again. Instead, I dont know how-to-access to Lucy in windows, neither telnet.

I dont know how to connect the pc (win10) with the mobilelite. Can anybody explain it please?

(Last edited by gramolo on 6 Dec 2016, 12:26)

Hello,

I have a little problem. After I flashed the mlw221 with lede I tried to switch back to openwrt. Now the mlw221 isn't booting into openwrt and via serial I get this message:

3: System Boot system code via Flash.
## Booting image at bc050000 ...
raspi_read: from:50000 len:40
Bad Header Checksum

According to this page
https://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/gene … ing.serial I can flash the router via serial, but I need to know the right values for ereasing and so on. So my question is, can sombody give me the right values? The firmware file I have has this size (according to windows) 9,50 MB (9.961.528 Bytes) It's from this package https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0CKgl … 5rczhZc00/

Thanks

(Last edited by rj-45 on 5 May 2017, 08:50)

Hello

I´m having same Trouble as @rj-45
First flash with LEDE, after flash cannot enter, becaus Wifi was disable.

Then, I´ve managed to get access via serial connector and Putty.
Enabled Wifi and accessed the Device via Wifi.

Now i´ve upgrade the LEDE Firmware via Wifi and with "openwrt-ramips-mt7620-mlw221-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin"
and i uncheck the config Button, then i´ve press the Flas Button.

After flashing I´ve got the same Message like @rj-45 "Bad Header Checksum after Booting image at bc050000"

Whats happen? Did i have to flash the bootloader(uboot), now? Or an Firmware Image?(There are just sysupgrade Images online).......or can it be a sign, that the device is hardbricked??