Running OpenWRT on the Plusnet Hub One (& BT Home Hub 5a)

[#1]

Sorry, misread the original question, I thought it was about HG612 not the 3G dongle.
My suggestion would be - if you have linux on your computer, set it up there, get it to work, then copy the configs over to the router. To start with, google usbmodeswitch.

[#2]

fyi, 'mkresin' has made available a LEDE install image to permit restoring original BT firmware to HH5a.  You will need a serial connection to the HH5a, and a TFTP server.  You must also use the unique nanddump file you originally created from the HH5a, because it contains calibration data unique to the particular HH5a.

http://openwrt.ebilan.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&p=1394#p1394

[#3]

Hi, can you pm me pls I could do with talking to someone who has experience with openwrt. I've just installed it on one of my plusnet routers as a repeater but there's an annoying quirk I need to sort out. May be IP address related or just something I'm missing in openwrt

[#4]

Sorry, I don't have any experience with 'repeater' (wifi extender) mode in openwrt or LEDE.

Closest was a quick test of WDS client mode with openwrt, where I observed for the WDS link to be re-established, the WDS server end often had to be rebooted if the WDS client had been power cycled for whatever reason.

[#5]

Search for openwrt wifi repeater, bridge, wds. There's interesting articles on their wiki.

[#6]

I have got the repeater semi working with btwifi network but I'm not able to access the landing page to log in, although I can  access bt's network sites  like BT.com. I'm wondering if it's down to the routers IP address 

[#7]

Just a heads up.  LEDE snapshot r2363 and later introduces a number of major changes, specifically:

 - nand bad block table (BBT) support has finally been introduced.

- retains use of existing BT bootloader and OEM partition layout.

More info can be found here:

http://openwrt.ebilan.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=180&p=1434#p1434

All new serial link installation instructions for Windows using Notepad++ and PuTTY also available:

https://openwrt.ebilan.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=138

[#8]

Perhaps, an ignorant question, but still: so, the new release contains a number of major changes, but are they any good for the average user? Is it worth the trouble of restoring to BT firmware and re-flashing?

[#9]

I would respond by saying, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'...

Imho, if you have openwrt or lede working fine on your HH5a, leave it alone.

If you are wanting to specifically install the latest lede 'snapshot' (ie. r2363 and above) onto a HH5a, then you need to be aware there are new installation files and procedure/documentation.

[#10]

Hi All

    This is probably an OpenWRT question rather than a HH5A one, but since this place is close to home...

I am trying to install OpenWRT/LEDE on my HH5a. Most of the steps have gone fine - I have saved backups, installed and unlocked u-boot, tftp'd and image and performed sysupgrade etc. I get to here:

BusyBox v1.24.2 () built-in shell (ash)

     _________
    /        /\      _    ___ ___  ___
   /  LE    /  \    | |  | __|   \| __|
  /    DE  /    \   | |__| _|| |) | _|
 /________/  LE  \  |____|___|___/|___|                      lede-project.org
 \        \   DE /
  \    LE  \    /  -----------------------------------------------------------
   \  DE    \  /    Reboot (HEAD, r1491)
    \________\/    -----------------------------------------------------------

root@lede:/#

But I cannot seem to get any of the Ethernet ports working at this point. I get link messages if I connect/disconnect the cable, and ifconfig seems 'plausible', although I am not 100% sure:

root@lede:/# ifconfig
br-lan    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 44:E9:DD:6B:98:6E  
          inet addr:192.168.1.1  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fdd6:121d:9e2d::1/60 Scope:Global
          inet6 addr: fe80::46e9:ddff:fe6b:986e/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:100 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:7564 (7.3 KiB)

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 44:E9:DD:6B:98:6E  
          inet6 addr: fe80::46e9:ddff:fe6b:986e/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:83 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:8151 (7.9 KiB)

eth0.1    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 44:E9:DD:6B:98:6E  
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:69 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:4538 (4.4 KiB)

my PC has an IP address of 192.168.1.2/24, but I cannot ping the HH5A or do anything else via the Ethernet ports.

Oh, I have set the passwd on the HH5A.

Clearly the ports have worked in order for tftp to have worked, but I seem to be missing something at this stage. Can anyone offer advice?

Thanks, Jon N

[#11]

Clearly the ports have worked in order for tftp to have worked, but I seem to be missing something at this stage.

Well, I recognize the feeling. Not that my Ethernet ports didn't work, but rather when OpenWRT was finally installed, I powered it up and it booted up and behaved just like your regular Linux does - it just sat there doing nothing and waiting for my commands. It's powerful but not very user friendly, you need to know how to use it and how to configure it otherwise, out of the box, it won't "just work".
Thankfully for me, the image I first got had LuCi bundled in so I was able to get some GUI and set it up from there.
What I understand is your Eth ports work. Next step, you need to get a sample network config file, edit it with your username and password, and upload it to /etc/config/network in order to get online.
When you're online, run opkg update & opkg install luci
to get the GUI and resume the setup from there!

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Quote fixed.

[#12]

A short note re updating to LEDE snapshot r2363. I was on r2000 and managed to upgrade it via "migrate" command, without rolling back to original PN firmware first. Not that I wanted to do it, but my flash drive containing backup was apparently too small - backup took 128 MB in size and there was 126 MB more free, so 2 MB short for the rollback script to work. So I just ran "migrate", it formatted my hub, then prompted me to run "sysupgrade" which I did, and it took just a few moments, rather than 50+ minutes had I gone the restore & reflash route.
I do have one issue since - the hub boots up with a random MAC after every reboot (caldata didn't save?). Not a big issue for me, since I don't plan to ever reboot it manually.

[#13]

If ethernet problem still persists, only other suggestion is you restore the stock BT firmware from your nanddump file and try again.  See instructions here:

http://openwrt.ebilan.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=142&start=10

The restore only takes about 3 minutes if you interrupt the installed Openwrt custom u-boot loader when hub starts, and then to TFTP boot the new LEDE install image.  Restore instructions will be offered on the welcome screen.

Check the size of your nanddump file.  It should be over 130,000 KB (133,000,000 bytes) in size.  Anything smaller would suggest the file is incomplete.  

[#14]

Hi Bill

---

@bill888 wrote:

If ethernet problem still persists, only other suggestion is you restore the stock BT firmware from your nanddump file and try again.

So are you saying that I should be able to ping having performed the initial sysupgrade? [which is what I'd have thought]?

See instructions here:

http://openwrt.ebilan.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=142&start=10

The restore only takes about 3 minutes if you interrupt the installed Openwrt custom u-boot loader when hub starts, and then to TFTP boot the new LEDE install image.  Restore instructions will be offered on the welcome screen.

Check the size of your nanddump file.  It should be over 130,000 KB (133,000,000 bytes) in size.  Anything smaller would suggest the file is incomplete.  

---

 Yes, I've already seen those, thanks. I tried that but IIRC I get a "memory kernel wrong format" error or similar after a reboot.

My nanddump file is about 130MB in size and start with bytes 0x22 0x0c 0xdd FWIW. I thought I had backed it up correctly ... didn't check for CRC error though, if that makes a difference.

Is it possible to get a nanddump file from someone else's HH5A and use that?

Cheers, Jon N

[#15]

yes, you should have been able to ping the HH5a following initial sysupgrade.

yes, first three bytes of a nanddump file for HH5a are indeed 0x22 0x0c 0xdd.

The fact the restore has also failed does lead me to think there is something not quite right with your HH5a's nand.