OpenWrt Forum Archive

Topic: Update on Linksys WRT1900AC support

The content of this topic has been archived between 16 Sep 2014 and 7 May 2018. Unfortunately there are posts – most likely complete pages – missing.

vidar wrote:

yes, I read the firmware advise first. Tried flashing Lede factory first,  but each time the router reverted to the linksys oem firmware. I Have flashed this router with many kaloz' builds before with at least perceived good performance...

You're doing something wrong then... Have you tried flashing via serial?  Have you checked the bootlog on the first boot following a flash, as that would detail an issue should it be crashing and booting to the alt partition.

It is a security risk to use any OpenWrt based build since there hasn't been a commit in over a year, thereby meaning it's impossible to ensure there's not an exploitable bug in the firmware... This is why those warnings were added to the Wiki page.



JohnFlower wrote:
JW0914 wrote:
vidar wrote:

Hi, I have a WRT1900ACv1 now running kaloz build from october 2016

Did you by chance read the firmware section of the wiki?  Kaloz's builds, as with all OpenWrt builds, should not be utilized, instead, official LEDE builds, or davidc502's, should be.

If you value stability, Kaloz's last build is the only one you can use. Linux kernel 4.9 and 4.4 have been causing issues.

That's not factually accurate, as stability depends on environment and the stability is with the wifi driver on 4.9 IIRC.  I'm using 4.4 with my 1900ac v1 and it works fine.

Bottom line, any firmware running OpenWrt cannot be validated as secure, ergo one's taking a substantial security risk by choosing to flash unsupported firmware.

Can't you also use 4.1 or is it not compatible with LEDE?

(Last edited by JW0914 on 26 Sep 2017, 01:02)

JW0914 wrote:

Can't you also use 4.1 or is it not compatible with LEDE?

LEDE maintains 4.4 for the v1 specifically because 4.9 is utter garbage stability wise. LEDE doesn't maintain 4.1 patches.

4.4 drops pppoe + vlan tagged inet connections for some reason. Haven't bothered to look into it.

JohnFlower wrote:

4.4 drops pppoe + vlan tagged inet connections for some reason. Haven't bothered to look into it.

That doesn't mean it's unstable on 4.4, but that there's a likely user environment issue.  As I mentioned before, I'm running the development branch of LEDE with 4.4 on a 1900AC v1 I manage and it works fine.  There was an issue several months back of LAN losing WAN access overnight, and after scheduling a cron job to reboot prior to the business day beginning, there hasn't been an issue since.


It cannot be stressed enough that OpenWrt based builds are not secure to utilize, and anyone currently running them is taking a substantial risk.

  • This is due to OpenWrt ceasing as a project, for all intents and purposes, over a year ago when the last commits occurred. 

    • Since there's no way to efficiently determine if there's exploitable bugs that have occurred in the last year, this makes it an enormous security risk to utilize. 

  • LEDE should be utilized until such a point when OpenWrt merges with them.

(Last edited by JW0914 on 26 Sep 2017, 13:22)

Has this thread come to cessation in lieu of another thread on LEDE's forum?  I only ask since the last post with a question was on 9/25 (17 days ago)

Not sure mate!

Hey guys,

Any news about the KRACK patch/fix for the next stable release???

Yes.

LEDE added the KACK patch and did a 17.1.4 release today

Has Linksys rolled out their update for patching the Krack vulnerability?

nickx95 wrote:

Has Linksys rolled out their update for patching the Krack vulnerability?

No mate this forum is for OpenWRT. OpenWRT is a pece of softwair you install on your router to replace the softwair that comes on it from the factry. There is menny things you can do with OpenWRT and LEDE that you cant do with the stock fermwair. Fermwair like OpenWRT or LEDE witch is the same as OpenWRT just more up to date lets you get the latest fixs. All so you can install packages like addblockers and vpn clients and mutch more! Sorry about my crap spelling.

dlang wrote:

LEDE added the KACK patch and did a 17.1.4 release today

nice thank you

Guys, i need some help. Today i bricked my router (wrt1900ac v1/mamba). Havent updated it for a while so i thought its time to try LEDE. As the previous image was openwrt cc i tried to upload the sysupgrade bin but maybe that was a mistake. Anyway about 2 yrs ago i ordered a usb-ttl cable just in case, trying to use it now for the first time without any success. Connected rx, tx and ground cables to the appropriate pins as mentioned in the manual (1-gnd,2-tx,4-rx) And plug it in a windows7 machine. I believe the appropriate drivers are installed. Im trying to connect via putty, but nothing happens. if i turn on the router, the power led keeps blinking, but nothing happens on the terminal. Do you have any idea what am i doing wrong?
Heres a pic about the connected cable: https://ibb.co/ivA9t6
and another one with the putty settings and device manager: https://ibb.co/eMa9t6
Thanks in advance

sysupgrade should work without keeping settings. Try going to the owrt image by just using the power switch as described on the wiki.

The photo is hard to determine whether the connection is correct. Must be connected
Rx -> Tx
Tx -> Rx
GND -> GND

ValCher wrote:

The photo is hard to determine whether the connection is correct. Must be connected
Rx -> Tx
Tx -> Rx
GND -> GND

Man! That was the problem! I assumed tx should connected to tx and so on... Hope the rest will be easier. You saved my day. Big thank!

CrazyBaboon wrote:
ValCher wrote:

The photo is hard to determine whether the connection is correct. Must be connected
Rx -> Tx
Tx -> Rx
GND -> GND

That was the problem! I assumed tx should connected to tx and so on... Hope the rest will be easier. You saved my day

This visualization helped me years back: one device should be viewed as the sender, while the other the recipient (doesn't matter which is which).

  • The Sender transmits data [TX / out], and the Recipient receives it [RX / in]

  • The Sender receives data [RX / in] the Recipient has transmitted [TX / out]

(Last edited by JW0914 on 25 Oct 2017, 23:30)

JW0914 wrote:

This visualization helped me years back: one device should be viewed as the sender, while the other the recipient (doesn't matter which is which).

Yes, once you realize R means receiver and T means transmitter it all makes sense. But for me those were just pins marked with two letters. smile Anyway it's clear now thanks to you guys.

Anyone who's building their own seen this before.

arm-openwrt-linux-muslgnueabi-cpp: error: /home/kirkb/lede-mamba-111417/build_dir/target-arm_cortex-a9+vfpv3_musl_eabi/linux-mvebu/linux-4.4.93/arch/arm/boot/dts/armada-388-clearfog-pro.dts: No such file or directory
arm-openwrt-linux-muslgnueabi-cpp: warning: '-x assembler-with-cpp' after last input file has no effect
arm-openwrt-linux-muslgnueabi-cpp: fatal error: no input files
compilation terminated.

I tried to change the kernel to 4.4 for stability and my build fails.   Using the same build process I've used forever.  Even had a successful build last month using same process.

(Last edited by kirkgbr on 15 Nov 2017, 02:06)

kirkgbr wrote:

Anyone who's building their own seen this before.

arm-openwrt-linux-muslgnueabi-cpp: error: /home/kirkb/lede-mamba-111417/build_dir/target-arm_cortex-a9+vfpv3_musl_eabi/linux-mvebu/linux-4.4.93/arch/arm/boot/dts/armada-388-clearfog-pro.dts: No such file or directory
arm-openwrt-linux-muslgnueabi-cpp: warning: '-x assembler-with-cpp' after last input file has no effect
arm-openwrt-linux-muslgnueabi-cpp: fatal error: no input files
compilation terminated.

I tried to change the kernel to 4.4 for stability and my build fails.   Using the same build process I've used forever.  Even had a successful build last month using same process.

I'm seeing the same issue with 4.4 builds.

@kirkgbr

There is a remaining regression with 4.4 builds.  Revert the last 5 commits starting with "build:" in the following link:

https://git.lede-project.org/?p=source. … de;hb=HEAD

Then your build should be fine.  There are no issues building with 4.9 but 4.4 remains broken.

InkblotAdmirer wrote:

@kirkgbr

There is a remaining regression with 4.4 builds.  Revert the last 5 commits starting with "build:" in the following link:

https://git.lede-project.org/?p=source. … de;hb=HEAD

Then your build should be fine.  There are no issues building with 4.9 but 4.4 remains broken.

Thanks

This isnt meant in a rude or mean way, but reading through this and the other post over 200 pages, every 2nd post is like "my WRT1900AC/1200/3200 has a kernel panic every x hours" or "wifi is unstable" and this for years back on these posts. Dont want to be unfair, but  it seems like a nightmare to me running OpenWRT/Lede on the routers. I actually thought this was a rock stable and one of the best routers you could buy for OpenWRT/Lede. And I was about to buy a WRT1200AC v2 actually. It is in processing right now, but should I cancel my order? I wanted to put Davids image on it, because I am too lazy right now to build my own. I wanted to upgrade from a Netgear WNDR3800 which is ROCK stable since YEARS with my own compiled OpenWRT rom, not a single crash ever. The only reason why I wanted to upgrade is for more OpenVPN bandwitdh, because the Netgear just can route about 12mbit/s of CPU bottleneck. Are there good hopes or chances, the issues will be fixed in the near future? Or should I look for another router to buy (I dont know any other though with a good CPU) for this price. I also wanted to upgrade to have an even more stable 5GHz wifi, the Netgear isnt unstable but sometimes the bandwidth has some little "hick ups". And I even thought the Linksys would have like a 100% stable wifi.

(Last edited by makedir on 16 Nov 2017, 02:26)

Time passes, and I have noticed things seem somewhat contextual relative to its passing.

makedir wrote:

This isnt meant in a rude or mean way, but reading through this and the other post over 200 pages, every 2nd post is like "my WRT1900AC/1200/3200 has a kernel panic every x hours" or "wifi is unstable" and this for years back on these posts. Dont want to be unfair, but  it seems like a nightmare to me running OpenWRT/Lede on the routers. I actually thought this was a rock stable and one of the best routers you could buy for OpenWRT/Lede. And I was about to buy a WRT1200AC v2 actually. It is in processing right now, but should I cancel my order? I wanted to put Davids image on it, because I am too lazy right now to build my own. I wanted to upgrade from a Netgear WNDR3800 which is ROCK stable since YEARS with my own compiled OpenWRT rom, not a single crash ever. The only reason why I wanted to upgrade is for more OpenVPN bandwitdh, because the Netgear just can route about 12mbit/s of CPU bottleneck. Are there good hopes or chances, the issues will be fixed in the near future? Or should I look for another router to buy (I dont know any other though with a good CPU) for this price. I also wanted to upgrade to have an even more stable 5GHz wifi, the Netgear isnt unstable but sometimes the bandwidth has some little "hick ups". And I even thought the Linksys would have like a 100% stable wifi.

I have zero issues with my 1900ACS it has performed great which is why i got the 3200ACM, I've felt very disappointed in 3200ACM but I believe its going to get there soon some real progress is being made there.