Posted: Sun Jan 21, 2018 17:01 Post subject: About flashing the CFE
So,
Flashing the CFE.
u2n, you have to make some corrections to your post regard flashing the CFE. First of all, there is a step in your guide that is not finished. One shall copy the nvram values from your set, make modifications accordingly to his MAC addresses and paste them into the cfe_tool. In this step you missed the fact that the tool does not generate a CFE from itself just applying the values. One have to feed some CFE image onto it, so the tool can process it, replace the values and generate the needed CFE.
Second issue IMO is that the cfe_tool will generate a CFE optimized for Vortex! This won't be an original CFE like it was in Linksys from the factory. It will contain some modifications, aside with replaced nvram values, so that the 32k bug can be bypassed (of course, if this is an Asus, the modifications will tend to 100% compatibility). I could miss something in my thoughts, but I would issue a warning to those who decide to flash their CFE.
If I remember anything else, I will come back with it.
Cheers!
Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 12:42 Post subject: Re: About flashing the CFE
I successfully flashed the vortex CFE on EA6700 and then used the mini web server to flash to different firmware.
Is it now safe to flash further firmware changes using the normal administration upgrade process or should I always use the mini web server method with this CFE?
Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 11:53 Post subject: Re: About flashing the CFE
btidey wrote:
Is it now safe to flash further firmware changes using the normal administration upgrade process or should I always use the mini web server method with this CFE?
As far as I understand, CFE miniweb is an alternative method to flash a firmware, not the unique.
Any other software you are flashing will not affect the miniweb, because the latter is a part of the CFE, thus out of the competence of the FW (CFE is like BIOS in a computer).
Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 23:01 Post subject: Re: About flashing the CFE
iMagic wrote:
btidey wrote:
Is it now safe to flash further firmware changes using the normal administration upgrade process or should I always use the mini web server method with this CFE?
As far as I understand, CFE miniweb is an alternative method to flash a firmware, not the unique.
Any other software you are flashing will not affect the miniweb, because the latter is a part of the CFE, thus out of the competence of the FW (CFE is like BIOS in a computer).
I have flashed my EA6700 with the VortexCFE, currently running Kong R33675M, and seemed that there is some instability with 2.4G wifi and speed, thus decided to upgrade to the latest Kong build via the WebGUI upgrade, but that seemed to somewhat "bricked" my router, as it would not come up again after. I tried using the CFE miniWeb browser to upload, no success either. Does the DD-WRT webgui interface for upgrading not work anymore if I use VortexCFE(to avoid the 32K NVRAM boundary issue).
Joined: 18 Mar 2014 Posts: 12915 Location: Netherlands
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 10:11 Post subject:
I do not have an EA6700 but an EA6900 with the Xvortex CFE, those routers are almost similar.
If you experience stabilty issues be sure to erase nvram, for the EA 6900 with XVortex CFE the best method is the WPS button reset (hold, power off, power on while holding for aprox. 25 sec).
With the XVortex CFE you can not upgrade withe the GUI.
You have to telnet into your router to upgrade.
Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2018 16:35 Post subject: Re: About flashing the CFE
fmf132 wrote:
I have flashed my EA6700 with the VortexCFE, currently running Kong R33675M, and seemed that there is some instability with 2.4G wifi and speed, thus decided to upgrade to the latest Kong build via the WebGUI upgrade, but that seemed to somewhat "bricked" my router, as it would not come up again after. I tried using the CFE miniWeb browser to upload, no success either. Does the DD-WRT webgui interface for upgrading not work anymore if I use VortexCFE(to avoid the 32K NVRAM boundary issue).
Thank you for your help and support.
As there is no certainty of what exactly you have done to the router, I cannot advise you anything, but to connect to the router via telnet/ssh and observe what's going on.
Of course, there is a chance that your router doesn't fire up at all. So, first step would be monitoring the ping to the router. There are descriptions somewhere in the Internet, but as I remember a short TTL-ed response would indicate the boot phase, while a long TTL-ed response - a normal functioning router (no matter if it is fully started or still in the process of).
A tool that I used is "tcping" - a windows freeware application that pings the host over TCP by ports. I used it to see the 80th port opening for Web, 23rd for telnet and 22 for SSH.
Finally I was able to upload some earlier FW to the router via TFTP, I guess it was an original FW. It was an awful experience that finally ended up with an Advanced Tomato on router. Since then I had given up making a super home server based on dd-wrt and now it serves me just a WiFi AP and bittorrent client and DLNA server for TV.
BTW, if you had decided to flash the router via TFTP, make sure to write the command while the router is shut off and hit Enter immediately after you plug in the device. It may take some more tries to catch the right moment.
P.S. The above does not represent a certain solution, just some thoughts that should help you make steps accordingly to the actual statement of your router. Good luck!
P.P.S. Right at the moment am looking for a $15 Thin Client to build a server. So, to be continued in some other thread!
Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2018 2:23 Post subject: Successful flash instructions
Alright, after reading through this thread and a few others, I figured I'd save everyone some time and give you a single, coherent post on what firmware worked for me and how I installed it, rather than making people hunt down the relevant information in a bunch of different scattered threads. I did this on two refurbished units I purchased from Amazon in November of 2018.
1) Check the firmware version of your unit. If it is 1.1.40.176451 or greater then you need to downgrade your firmware. If not, proceed to step 2.
1a) Need to downgrade your firmware? It's pretty easy: go to Troubleshooting > Diagnostics, then click the Restore Previous Firmware button. This will take a few minutes, after which point the router will restart. If your firmware is some version below 1.1.40.176451 then you can proceed to step 2.
1b) If Restore Previous Firmware didn't work then you can attempt the manual process. Rather than typing it all out, let me link the thread on the official forums. TL;DR: You need to use the Linksys TFTP app to install the older firmware, which you manually download from Linksys' FTP.
2) Download BrainSlayer's build 23221 from this link, found in this post. If neither of those links work, BrainSlayer's post is on page 3 of the thread titled "For people with a Linksys EA series router..."
2a) Flash build 23221. This should take a few minutes.
2b) Reconnect to the router and verify that build 23221 is installed and running.
3) Download build 26138 for the ea6700 from the beta ftp. If that link doesn't work, this is the February 4th, 2015 release.
3a) Flash build 26138. In the flash options, make sure that "don't reset" is selected.
3b) Reconnect to the router and verify that build 26138 is installed and running.
Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2018 6:43 Post subject: Re: Successful flash instructions
Y|yukichigai wrote:
Alright, after reading through this thread and a few others, I figured I'd save everyone some time and give you a single, coherent post on what firmware worked for me and how I installed it, rather than making people hunt down the relevant information in a bunch of different scattered threads. I did this on two refurbished units I purchased from Amazon in November of 2018.
1) Check the firmware version of your unit. If it is 1.1.40.176451 or greater then you need to downgrade your firmware. If not, proceed to step 2.
1a) Need to downgrade your firmware? It's pretty easy: go to Troubleshooting > Diagnostics, then click the Restore Previous Firmware button. This will take a few minutes, after which point the router will restart. If your firmware is some version below 1.1.40.176451 then you can proceed to step 2.
1b) If Restore Previous Firmware didn't work then you can attempt the manual process. Rather than typing it all out, let me link the thread on the official forums. TL;DR: You need to use the Linksys TFTP app to install the older firmware, which you manually download from Linksys' FTP.
2) Download BrainSlayer's build 23221 from this link, found in this post. If neither of those links work, BrainSlayer's post is on page 3 of the thread titled "For people with a Linksys EA series router..."
2a) Flash build 23221. This should take a few minutes.
2b) Reconnect to the router and verify that build 23221 is installed and running.
3) Download build 26138 for the ea6700 from the beta ftp. If that link doesn't work, this is the February 4th, 2015 release.
3a) Flash build 26138. In the flash options, make sure that "don't reset" is selected.
3b) Reconnect to the router and verify that build 26138 is installed and running.
That's it! Your EA6700 should be ready to use.
Thanks for compiling all the good information. However, I'm still having trouble loading any of these firmware on my ea6700. I get invalid firmware file every time. My router came with firmware 1.1.40.172250. Restore previous version just restores that version. I was unable to load any older linksys firmware versions through the web gui.
When I tried to get tftp to load a different firmware version, or previous version. I get the error 'no response from server'. I tried disable all security/firewall options on the router in case they were interfering, but that didn't seem to help.
I also opened my router in an attempt to use a usb-to-ttl cable to console it. There is no standard pinout for that though. It's got what appears to be a mini-molex type connector, I think? There's no designation for which pins are tx/rcv/ground. I haven't got a connector yet to try this out. I may do that later. I checked the bottom of the board too, there's nothing useful on that side as well. I'm going to attempt to attach pictures of it to this post for reference.
Any suggestions on how to make this work, if not can you recommend a router mfg/model that will let me flash it with ddwrt from the factory with more ease?
Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2018 9:22 Post subject: update~
After doing some more looking, it appears the type of connector is called FTDI, and will work with a standard pin-out connector. A normal USB-to-TTL may possibly not fit on this connector. I was not able to get mine to fit properly. Rather than trying to rig it up haphazardly, I ordered a new cable with the right connector on it. They're called "6pin FTDI FT232RL USB to Serial". I found one on newegg for fairly cheap~
Thanks, unfortunately the pins on this connector are so close together a regular -ttl cable won't fit. The FTDI version doesn't fit either. Thanks for the assistance anyways.
Pictures attached for reference.
You know, you can take those wires out of the plastic connector?
Please make the pictures a little smaller. _________________ I am far from a guru, I'm barely a novice.