Request to add support for TP-Link Archer A6 v3

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halfbytecode
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 17 Feb 2022
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2022 16:29    Post subject: Request to add support for TP-Link Archer A6 v3 Reply with quote
Hello,

This router is fairly new and has Mediatek MT7621 chipset. It also has OpenWrt support on the stable channel. However, the open source WiFi driver(s) for mt76 apparently have an issue with the 5 GHz WiFi being unstable, and the performance being far inferior to stock firmware. Beamforming and MU-MIMO support is also absent in OpenWrt. This is also true for the snapshot builds of OpenWrt which apparently have a newer (open-source) WiFi driver.

I think other routers having the same chipset also suffer from these issues on OpenWrt, like Netgear R6350, Netgear R6850, D-Link DIR-878, etc.

With support for these Netgear routers just being added to the DD-WRT beta build from 02/15, it would be appreciated if we could also add support for TP-Link Archer A6 v3. Proprietary WiFi driver could really help this router.

OpenWrt device webpage: https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/tp-link/tp-link_archer_a6_v3
Wi-Cat.ru link: https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/TP-LINK_Archer_A6_v3.0
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kernel-panic69
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Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 14126
Location: Texas, USA

PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2022 19:33    Post subject: Reply with quote
Device support is normally added when a fullflash dump is provided or (PREFERABLY) a hardware donation is sent to the developer for proper porting.

https://dd-wrt.com/donations/
https://dd-wrt.com/router-detection/

That is stated in numerous places in this forum.

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halfbytecode
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 17 Feb 2022
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Thu Feb 17, 2022 22:35    Post subject: Reply with quote
I can try dumping all partitions through OpenWrt. I also have the stock firmware (stripped) that I can provide. Would that be good?

I got the list of partitions and other info over ssh:

Code:
root@OpenWrt:~# df
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted
 on
/dev/root                 3840      3840         0 100% /rom
tmpfs                    60112       264     59848   0% /tmp
/dev/mtdblock4            9344      4188      5156  45% /overla
y
overlayfs:/overlay        9344      4188      5156  45% /
tmpfs                      512         0       512   0% /dev
root@OpenWrt:~# df -h
Filesystem                Size      Used Available Use% Mounted
 on
/dev/root                 3.8M      3.8M         0 100% /rom
tmpfs                    58.7M    264.0K     58.4M   0% /tmp
/dev/mtdblock4            9.1M      4.1M      5.0M  45% /overla
y
overlayfs:/overlay        9.1M      4.1M      5.0M  45% /
tmpfs                   512.0K         0    512.0K   0% /dev
root@OpenWrt:~# cat /proc/mtd
dev:    size   erasesize  name
mtd0: 00040000 00010000 "u-boot"
mtd1: 00f60000 00010000 "firmware"
mtd2: 002b9e96 00010000 "kernel"
mtd3: 00ca616a 00010000 "rootfs"
mtd4: 00920000 00010000 "rootfs_data"
mtd5: 00050000 00010000 "config"
mtd6: 00010000 00010000 "radio"
root@OpenWrt:~# mount
/dev/root on /rom type squashfs (ro,relatime)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime)
cgroup2 on /sys/fs/cgroup type cgroup2 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,
relatime,nsdelegate)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime)
/dev/mtdblock4 on /overlay type jffs2 (rw,noatime)
overlayfs:/overlay on / type overlay (rw,noatime,lowerdir=/,upp
erdir=/overlay/upper,workdir=/overlay/work)
tmpfs on /dev type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,noexec,noatime,size=512k,mo
de=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec,noatime,mode=6
00,ptmxmode=000)
debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw,noatime)
none on /sys/fs/bpf type bpf (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,mo
de=700)
kernel-panic69
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Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 14126
Location: Texas, USA

PostPosted: Fri Feb 18, 2022 0:20    Post subject: Reply with quote
The whole point of a fullflash dump (of stock firmware) is moot if you do it through another 3rd party firmware.
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halfbytecode
DD-WRT Novice


Joined: 17 Feb 2022
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Fri Feb 18, 2022 19:35    Post subject: Reply with quote
Can I try enabling SSH on stock firmware through modified config backup file, as described in the link below for an earlier version of identical router, and making a fullflash dump through SSH?

https://blog.dsinf.net/2021/02/hacking-into-tp-link-archer-c6-shell-access-without-physical-disassembly/

Or should I try to get a hold of the fullflash dump from the OpenWrt people who added support for this router?
dimitri_souza
DD-WRT User


Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 51

PostPosted: Sat Mar 12, 2022 0:24    Post subject: Reply with quote
kernel-panic69 wrote:
Device support is normally added when a fullflash dump is provided or (PREFERABLY) a hardware donation is sent to the developer for proper porting.

https://dd-wrt.com/donations/
https://dd-wrt.com/router-detection/

That is stated in numerous places in this forum.


I have this device (actyally a C6 v3.2 which has exaclty the same hardware as the A6 v3) with UART access. I'm able to both access U-Boot environment as well as the root console after stock firmware boot.

However I don't know how to perform this "fullflash dump". I searched on the internet but I was not able to find some clear instructions. The ones with U-Boot instructions had commands not supported by this U-Boot (see below).

Is there any wiki here at dd-wrt.com where I can find more documentation about this process?

Anyway, OpenWRT already supports this device, below is the partition structure of this device, not sure if this helps DD-WRT:

Code:
&spi0 {
   status = "okay";

   flash@0 {
      compatible = "jedec,spi-nor";
      reg = <0>;
      spi-max-frequency = <40000000>;

      partitions {
         compatible = "fixed-partitions";
         #address-cells = <1>;
         #size-cells = <1>;

         partition@0 {
            label = "u-boot";
            reg = <0x0 0x40000>;
            read-only;
         };

         partition@40000 {
            label = "firmware";
            compatible = "denx,uimage";
            reg = <0x40000 0xf60000>;
         };

         config: partition@fa0000 {
            label = "config";
            reg = <0xfa0000 0x50000>;
            read-only;
         };

         radio: partition@ff0000 {
            label = "radio";
            reg = <0xff0000 0x10000>;
            read-only;
         };
      };
   };
};


Code:
U-Boot 1.1.3 (May 13 2020 - 19:39:06)
MT7621 # help
?       - alias for 'help'
bootm   - boot application image from memory
cp      - memory copy
erase   - erase SPI FLASH memory
ethon   - enable ethernet.
go      - start application at address 'addr'
help    - print online help
httpd -start www server for firmware recovery
loadb   - load binary file over serial line (kermit mode)
md      - memory display
mdio   - Ralink PHY register R/W command !!
mm      - memory modify (auto-incrementing)
mtest   - simple RAM test
nm      - memory modify (constant address)
printenv- print environment variables
reset   - Perform RESET of the CPU
rf      - read/write rf register
saveenv - save environment variables to persistent storage
setenv  - set environment variables
spi     - spi command
tftpboot- boot image via network using TFTP protocol
version - print monitor version
MT7621 #
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