FonFlash issues

[chillifire]

Thank you for the FONFlash tool. Great concept.
I have tried your loading tool and it works well - sometimes.

I am loading OpenWRT images on a Fonera+
- I loaded standard OpenWRT images - no problem.
- I loaded a custom image (compiled with buildroot) succesful but the logs show many kernel messgaes - it appears parts of the linux kernel cannot be read. This goes on for a little while with more and more processes freezing up over a short period of time (i.e. no webgui response, no ssh response and finally no internet connection)
- To verify the image I loaded it manually via redboot - no issues
- I also tested the same image on a D-Link DIR300, which also uses an Atheros 23xx processor - no issues and very stable for weeks.

I have attached an extract of the syslog for your reference.

I would love to get this going and am happy to invest time in testing etc, if it helps.

Cheers.

Hanno Schupp
Chillifire


On another note: This is less a rant but an offer to analyse the error and getting this to work. I think your program is great and you are onto something. I wonder whether this type of programme could be also be used for DIR300 and other redboot managed routers as well. The procedure to flash new firmware are very similar indeed. Your thoughts?

[Eric]

Not only can a version be made that will install firmware on a DIR300, it already has been done. There's a newer version of FonFlash (that's actually fairly old by now...) that I haven't gotten around to making the official version. This version can handle installation on a DIR300 provided redboot is accessible.

This version may solve your problem on the Fon+ as well, as it uses a more dynamic method to determine file sizes/memory locations. You can download it here. Let me know if this works.

You can find the thread where this was originally discussed here

[chillifire]

Thank you, I will test tonight (your morning, I presume) with the Fonera+. Your description of dynamic size detection sounds promising though, as I had a suspicion that the current version assumes a certain lzma size; an assumption that does not hold true as soon as additional kernel modules are chosen. I will provide and update when tested...

Can I clarify regarding the DIR300 whether it is still necessary to install the modified redboot that leads to the DD-WRT> prompt, or has your program made that step obsolete and everything can be installed directly into the original Redboot? Please advise.

PS: I never found out why the adjusted Redboot delivered by DD-WRT leading to the DD-WRT prompt was necessary for flashing the DIR300. Ia ma looking for advice and education on this, I guess.

Thanks

[chillifire]

The tool seems to work fine on a DIR-300, which had the DD-WRT version of redboot installed (ap61.rom). It appears to load correctly and the flashed router seems to run stable (does so now for 24 hours.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the Fonera+ which was flashed with the very same image (both routers run on an Atheros 23xx chipset).

You can see how the system runs into trouble reading the kernel right from word go and continuous to run into trouble as certain periodic tasks are started through cron. The commands issued by cron result in kernel read issues, which causes the commands to fail. the associated service/program shuts down as a consequence and after a couple of hours the router appears totally frozen.

Please let me know, if can provide any further analysis on the router or the flash required to get this sorted out. The concept is brilliant and I would like to support to get it right as much as I can.

[Eric]

Can you please upload and post a link to both the kernel and root filesystem firmware images that aren't working? It would be very helpful for debugging this. Thanks!

[chillifire]

Sure. Here goes...
http://www.chillifire.net/downloads/cur ... t.squashfs
http://www.chillifire.net/downloads/cur ... linux.lzma

[Eric]

First, thanks for the donation. I really appreciate it. Second, let me apologize for not getting to this sooner, since I've been working on dealing with issues relating to the 1.0 release of Gargoyle.

However... I tested the images you sent, and I'm not seeing the problems you describe. I think the problem is with your Fon+, and not the flash program. I also think I know why you see errors when using fon-flash and not when flashing via command line.

Fon flash organizes the device like this, with kernel after rootfs:

Code: Select all

[---------rootfs---------][--kernel--]

From the docs on your site I see you flashing via command line with this configuration, with the kernel before rootfs:

Code: Select all

[--kernel--][---------rootfs---------]

If there's a problem at the end of the flash chip, you'll see an error with fon flash, because that portion is occupied by the kernel, but not if you flash it manually with the kernel at the beginning of the flash.

This also explains why the exact same images work on the DIR 300, and not the FON+. If the problem was that fon-flash could not handle larger kernel/rootfs you would expect that those same images would fail on the DIR 300, but you report that it works.

I will keep your images installed on my Fon+ for a few more days, and see if I see any errors such as your syslogs show, but so far I haven't seen this error.

One thing you can do to check/verify this: Try flashing the device manually but put the kernel after the rootfs. If you do this specify the size of the rootfs to be big -- fon flash uses all available space, not just the size the file requires (to allow room to write more data). If you specify a smaller rootfs the kernel that comes after it may not be far enough along the flash chip to be over the bad sector and you won't see the error.

[chillifire]

Thank you for your tests. Now, that is interesting that everything 'seems' to work fine. I am making the assumption you have the Fon+ connected to the internet when testing it, right?
If you are connected when you are testing it, it does not work fine, because if the firmware ran OK I should see a heartbeat here on my control pannel and an OpenVPN connection should have been built. I could see none of that over the last few days.
Question: did you create a Chillifire account and register the router, or did you just pout on the firmware onto your Fon+ and that's it? If the latter, could send me PM or a MSN message to say you are connected? Once you are connected, I should see after 4 minutes - otherwise you have the same problems I have.
Thanks for your help.

[Eric]

You're right, I didn't connect to the internet, but I wouldn't have expected that to cause filesystem i/o errors. But just to be sure... I'll try that now.

[Eric]

Ok... up and running now (connected to the net). No errors in the system log, at least not yet. I can login to the hotspot with username provided just fine.

Btw... having to specify name/address/phone on your registration page is highly annoying, especially since I'm just testing. That's why I didn't test with internet connected at first. All info I provided (except email address and name) is bogus -- though the fact I said my state is New Jersey and my country is Canada should tip you off to this fact.