Installation on Linksys WRT1200AC

[cwswpl]

Hi Lantis and Ispyisail,

Thanks for your advice a last week, my new WRT1200AC router just arrived and I'm in the process of setting up.

I connected to the factory Linksys interface via wifi and went through the upgrade firmware process and installed

gargoyle_1.10.0-mvebu-armada-385-linksys-caiman-squashfs-factory.img

The router restarted, no connection appeared over wifi, so I connected via ethernet and the Gargoyle interface appeared fine at 192.168.1.1, I was able to login.

Then I tried to restore the settings from my existing Gargoyle router (1.8.1 on a TP-Link WR 1043ND-V3 purchased last year preloaded from Eric Bishop).

Now only the power and ethernet port lights come on, and there's no response at 192.168.1.1.

Do I take it trying to restore settings from a previous version of Gargoyle is a no-no?

So what's my next move to recover, and is there any way to transfer settings from the old router without having to retype everything manually?

[ispyisail]

Then I tried to restore the settings from my existing Gargoyle router (1.8.1 on a TP-Link WR 1043ND-V3 purchased last year preloaded from Eric Bishop).

Bad move

Google "Openwrt failsafe"

I don't have one of those routers but I suspect linksys may have there own recovery method as well?

So what's my next move to recover, and is there any way to transfer settings from the old router without having to retype everything manually?

yes but its very manual and it might be faster just to start again

[Lantis]

trigger it into the alternate flash partition, and then don't restore settings from a completely different router.

[cwswpl]

Thanks guys.

So I followed the OpenWRT failsafe instructions by pressing the Blue protected setup button shortly after boot.

The factory Linksys Smart Wifi setup comes up. This confuses me, as the instruction say it should boot into OpenWRT but ignoring the (obviously now corrupt) config.

Lantis, is this the alternate partition you were talking about? I'm not sure where to go confidently from here.

I'd rather rescue the original damaged partition and leave this alternate one intact if I can.

What would happen if I use the Red factory reset button?

Is there any articles on setting up this router with OpenWRT to get me up to speed?

Linksys emphasised compatibility in their promo, but it's really not clear to me what the internal structures are and what controls I should be using. For example, if there are two partitions, how do you switch which one it should boot into by default?

I did end up getting a USB/TTL cable if that's any use.

[Rog66]

Turn off the router
Switch the router on
As soon as the power LED goes out for the 1st time turn it off again.
Repeat twice more
When you turn it on the fourth time, let the boot complete and it will boot to the alternate partition which should have the Linksys firmware if you have only installed gargoyle
Reinstall gargoyle and set up from scratch

[cwswpl]

Hi Rog, thanks for the detailed sequence.

This works to switch from the alternate (working factory) partition back to the dead partition, but seemingly not the other way.

To do that I have to press the blue Protected Wifi Setup button sometime after startup.

I'm hesitant to replace the factory firmware on the alternate partition until I feel confident with what's going on here.

What would be the process to reset the config or reinstall Gargoyle on the dead partition?

[Lantis]

They alternate.
When you flash from one, it actually flashes the other and then boots to that.
When you flash from the other one, it flashes the original and boots to that.
So you can always revert to your last known state.

So now you are back on stock Linksys, if you flash again you will be overwriting the now corrupt Gargoyle partition.
If you flash again from Gargoyle, you will overwrite the Linksys firmware with another Gargoyle. (Don’t panic, you can always flash stock Linksys back if you have at least one working partition to start. And with a USB serial cable you’re even safer)

I expect the corrupt config caused it to reboot enough times to trigger failsafe on its own. Pressing the button won’t do that on its own.
The wrt series of routers boot surprisingly quickly, especially if a corrupt config is causing them to crash.
You should be right to go from there.

[cwswpl]

Lantis, awesome, thanks. What an great arrangement - sounds like it must be almost impossible to corrupt both partitions (except by importing an old version config!) because one must be active before you can replace the other.

That makes perfect sense now, and i feel a lot safer to go ahead. Will let you know how I get on.

[cwswpl]

That worked!

I have now replaced the dead partition with a fresh install of Gargoyle 1.10 - the Linksys firmware is still in place on the other partition, and I can switch back and forward with the triple power off.

So I have my afternoon's work cut out for me, with re-entering the config from the old router. There's quite a bit of it, because I have named all devices on the premises and put a few curfews and limits in place on the kids.

I'm replacing the old gargoyle router because it tends to restart a lot (often several times a day). I haven't been able to work out why, and don't want to mess with upgrading it without a fully configured backup on hand I can switch in.

Really appreciate all the quick advice. And the project itself of course!

Gargoyle is a terrific for monitoring and regulating LAN traffic. I'm still amazed that the commercial vendors don't make these features available out of the box.

[cwswpl]

Quick follow-up question: I notice that the new router/gargoyle reports chip temperatures.

It's a hot day and I'm getting:

CPU Temperature: 86 °C
RAM Temperature: 55 °C
Wifi Temperature: 53 °C

CPU seems hot. What range do we normally expect, and is there any built-in behaviour that will kick in if it overheats?

Any evasive action that can be taken to cool things (ie. reduce CPU clock rate?)