Gargoyle on Archer A7

[BogMonster]

Hi all, new forum user, perhaps a stupid question but I cannot find an answer after searching.

I've been running Gargoyle on an Archer C7 v2 for several years now, 100% happy with it, have had over a year of uptime without rebooting and it's been a lifesaver in a country with limited internet data allowance, you can use it to tame updates and force them to run overnight during the uncapped period.

It's been so good that I wanted to replicate the setup I have at home in another property, and after a bit of a hunt around which failed to find anywhere selling a new C7, I got an Archer A7 (which appears near identical). Having looked I see there is a build available for the A7 but only the experimental one (entirely my fault, didn't check before buying the A7).

I guess my question is how "experimental" is it and should I expect it to work as well as my C7 does, or might there be problems and if so what sort of thing? The C7 and A7 seem near identical but the stable build 1.12 is not available for the A7. My current C7 runs 1.10.

I can't see anything on the forum from anybody who has done an A7 using 1.13, but it may be because I don't know where to look and the fact that the "A7" seems to be too short as a search string.

Thanks.

Edited to add - I've tried the firmware installation and the router just bounces it almost immediately with the message "Invalid file type" so I'm stuck on what to do next. Tried to rename/shorten the filename, same result. Off to search again but any suggestions would be gratefully received!

[ispyisail]

https://openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/archer_a7_v5

[BogMonster]

Thanks. So do I first need to install the OpenWRT firmware from that page, and then install the Gargoyle .bin from OpenWRT?

[pythonic]

You don't point to which actual release you're looking at, but there's an official release with A7 v5 support described here (downloads from the "Download" link in the sidebar).

[BogMonster]

Yeah - it's the 1.13 version specific to the A7 v5 that I tried to flash, but it sulked and rejected the file as invalid.

[pythonic]

So which of the 2 files did you try and install: the "factory" or "sysupgrade"?

[BogMonster]

Hi, I tried to install the "factory" - as here

https://www.gargoyle-router.com/downloa ... actory.bin

I understand the other one to be for use if you want to upgrade an existing Gargoyle installation (though as there is only 1.13 available for this router, I'm not sure how that would work so maybe I don't understand it!).

Going back to my earlier question, which of these is correct:

1. I should be able to re-flash the router out of the box with the Gargoyle 'system' firmware file [tried and the router rejects the file]
2. I need to install some version of OpenWRT first and then flash the Gargoyle firmware file
3. Something else (if so - what?)

Thanks.

[pythonic]

If you can't install the Gargoyle "factory" image via the OEM interface, I would suggest trying to install the OpenWrt "factory" image, and then install the Gargoyle "sysupgrade" image from OpenWrt (don't keep settings though).

If you can't install OpenWrt via the OEM interface, you will probably need to use the TFTP method documented on the OpenWrt device page linked by @ispyisail - I would still install OpenWrt first this way then upgrade to Gargoyle (rather than trying to TFTP install Gargoyle); if you can't install OpenWrt via either OEM interface or TFTP then I'd suggest raising the issue on the OpenWrt forums where there is a much larger community that might have experience with the device.

I would use OpenWrt 19.07.10 images rather than later versions, as that is closest in configuration to Gargoyle.

TP-Link have been known to release firmware updates for various devices that make it more difficult to install 3rd party firmwares via the OEM interface; on occasion installing older OEM firmware versions sometimes opens things up but TP-Link has also been known not to permit installing older OEM versions via the OEM interface either .

[BogMonster]

Thanks, will give it a go when I get a bit of time to focus on it. I only bought the A7 because I wanted to replicate the current Gargoyle so if it bricks it then it isn't the end of the world. TFTP is a bit beyond my comfort zone anyway so I may give up at that point! Thanks for your advice.

[ispyisail]

If you can't install the Gargoyle "factory" image via the OEM interface, I would suggest trying to install the OpenWrt "factory" image, and then install the Gargoyle "sysupgrade" image from OpenWrt (don't keep settings though).

If you can't install OpenWrt via the OEM interface, you will probably need to use the TFTP method documented on the OpenWrt device page linked by @ispyisail - I would still install OpenWrt first this way then upgrade to Gargoyle (rather than trying to TFTP install Gargoyle); if you can't install OpenWrt via either OEM interface or TFTP then I'd suggest raising the issue on the OpenWrt forums where there is a much larger community that might have experience with the device.

I would use OpenWrt 19.07.10 images rather than later versions, as that is closest in configuration to Gargoyle.

TP-Link have been known to release firmware updates for various devices that make it more difficult to install 3rd party firmwares via the OEM interface; on occasion installing older OEM firmware versions sometimes opens things up but TP-Link has also been known not to permit installing older OEM versions via the OEM interface either .

Very good summary

Thanks