Belkin F5D-7231 v1212 history

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McTedson
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:42    Post subject: Belkin F5D-7231 v1212 history Reply with quote
Hello,
Long story short, i got one of these, wasn't exactly happy with the features. So i bit the bullet and installed the generic micro firmware on it. Result: wireless worked ok, lan ports dead (all leds on). Been reading all topics i could find about the problem, but none matched my problem.
So I pulled the box apart, and this doesn't look exactly like other 723x. Processor is BCM 5352, flash is an amd (spansion) 29lv160, 8 meg ram ESMT chip.FCC ID H8NRT2406W means this thing is an askey, however i couldn't find an askey rt2406w. Hooked both serial and JTAG on it, booted it to see what it says. Apparently the micro firmware didn't support the integrated LAN on the 5352. Tried to reflash it with a different version from the web interface, apparently it goes ok (updating / rebooting) but reboots with the exact same version of dd-wrt that was running.
At this point i went to the debrick tool, backed up the whle flash and reflashed another kernel (can't remember exactly which one, but i took one that should have worked on the 5352). Box didn't boot anymore.
Upon close inspection of wholeflash.bin, it looks like this box is running a compressed CFE. The compressed CFE and the decompression part are stored in the first 128kb. Kernel starts at 128kb, nvram if i remember correctly was around its normal offset , but not quite.
At this point i took a 256k CFE that did support 5352 , flashed it in, and this is the point where the sh*t hit the fan. Box didn't boot anymore. Long story short, i flashed every cfe i could find with no result. Serial was completely silent at boot, no reaction even after 10 minutes. I reflashed the cfe from my backup and ... :
Serial console message is:
Decompressing........
crc_failed
system halted.
Had a bad feeling at this point. So probably my backup was corrupt. Went and cut the gzipped cfe from the cfe backup, tried unpacking, sure enough gunzip said same thing.
Went onto belkin's and picked up F5D7231-4 UK v5.01.11.BIN. Looked it up in a hexeditor, and I realized the file was somehow not right. Upon close inspection realized the file had a special structure , checked around to see if there was a tool to unpack it, there wasn't so i went and wrote one. Unpacked the firmware ok, result was a 2 mbyte flash file which contained everything (cfe, kernel and nvram). Flashed it to the box, boot, and....nothing. Not even "decompressing/checksum failed".
So i took another route. Since the decompression code from my original cfe worked, i cut the gzipped cfe from the firmware update, and pasted it in my old cfe. It was smaller than the one already in, so it didn't overwrite anything. Flashed, reboot, decompressing failed. Argh.
Downloaded IDA, disassembled my cfe, went and patched the checksum check, flashed rebooted: "decompressing...done" hurray ! Well not really, after 5 minutes it was still stuck.
So there it is, i'm kinda out of ideeas. Any ideeas guys ? Anyone has maybe a working cfe for this thing ?
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McTedson
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Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:46    Post subject: Reply with quote
Board pic, small version


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Eko
DD-WRT Developer/Maintainer


Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 5771

PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:04    Post subject: Reply with quote
Can you send me original nvram.bin and cfe.bin?
And yes, I've never seen anything like this....
McTedson
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:11    Post subject: Reply with quote
Sure, i'll attach them if that's ok. Like i said this doesn't look like any hardware i have seen, the only cfe that was 128k was in the v1444, but it won't start on this hw.


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blowhard7
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 14 Mar 2007
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 3:08    Post subject: Reply with quote
Has anyone had any luck debricking this router? I'm in the same situation. Lan ports dead (all leds on). F5D7231-4 revision 1213. Exactley the same board as show in the other post.
McTedson
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:16    Post subject: Reply with quote
No luck yet, and didn't have too much time to fiddle with it so far. It's sitting here on the desk with the jtag wires in it.
I suspect it needs a either a custom CFE for this type of RAM, or a RAM chip swap ( so maybe it'll boot with another already-built CFE). On the other hand it would be nice if someone could dump a CFE from their box and send it....
blowhard7
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 14 Mar 2007
Posts: 2

PostPosted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 16:02    Post subject: Reply with quote
Sent you a PM. Happy to send you whatever you need once I get the Jtag figured out.
McTedson
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 16:42    Post subject: Reply with quote
Answered, and for the record, i'm posting the pinout


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ink
DD-WRT User


Joined: 08 Jun 2006
Posts: 123

PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 13:18    Post subject: Re: Belkin F5D-7231 v1212 history Reply with quote
Hi,McTedson.

there is same board on my desk when i reading this post Very Happy Very Happy Very Happy


now ,do you need wholeflash dump yet?

i can upload it tommorrow
McTedson
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 13:24    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thanks, i got it to work finally (thanks dave!).


For the people with no ethernet but which have a cfe running:
break into the cfe and do
nvram set boardflags=0x398
nvram commit
reboot

;)
ink
DD-WRT User


Joined: 08 Jun 2006
Posts: 123

PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 13:33    Post subject: Reply with quote
[quote="McTedson"]Thanks, i got it to work finally (thanks dave!).


For the people with no ethernet but which have a cfe running:
break into the cfe and do
nvram set boardflags=0x398
nvram commit
reboot

;)[/quote]




Very Happy Very Happy Congratulation!


Could you tell me "VCC REF VOLTAGE POWER TO JTAG IFACE" connect to where ?

Thanks !
McTedson
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 13:40    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well i use a chameleon jtag adapter, and it uses external power. So hooked that to the router's board on that vcc pin.
belkinv1212
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 05 May 2007
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Sat May 05, 2007 10:01    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hello Guys,

I Have the same router Belkin v1212. I want to install DD-WRT but McTedson had problems with DD-Wrt. What I have to do? If i install DD-WRT will I brick my router?
McTedson
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Sat May 05, 2007 14:28    Post subject: Reply with quote
You might loose ethernet, but if you can build a serial console cable, you can restore ethernet (see above). I'm running wrt on it now, works ok.
belkinv1212
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 05 May 2007
Posts: 8

PostPosted: Sat May 05, 2007 16:58    Post subject: Reply with quote
McTedson wrote:
You might loose ethernet, but if you can build a serial console cable, you can restore ethernet (see above). I'm running wrt on it now, works ok.


Thanks for your rapid reponse Smile

I don't need Ethernet but will WAN port broke? It's very important for me..

And in this page

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Installation#Belkin_F5D7230-4_v2xxx_and_Lower

Witch one installation do i have to apply? Belkin F5D7230-4 v2xxx and Lower or

Alternative for Flashing F5D7230-4

What do you recommend me for installation

Thanks for your reponses McTedson Wink
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