AR300M-ext firmware update woes

Technical Support for Routers
1

Hello,

Quite a few years ago, I bought an AR300M-ext Mini Smart Router, which at the time worked very well. I've long since moved onto a new model, though.

I recently found a need for a second VPN router and remembered that I still had my
ar300M-ext. I expected to find that this was no longer supported, but was surprised to find out that it was.

I reset the device, logged in and set up new passwords. Unfortunately, when I tried to do an online update, I got a verification fail.

I downloaded what appears to be the most recent firmware file: openwrt-ar300m-4.3.17-0607-1717695110.tar. I then attempted to a local update, but again, verification failed.

Searching around, I read that it might help to change the firmware version to 3.105, before trying to upgrade to the latest. So, I downloaded openwrt-ar300m-nand-3.105.tar and did a local update. This passed verification just fine.

When the router came back up, I tried again to do a local update, but again, it failed. I tried doing an online update again, but this also failed.

Can anyone advise me what to try next? Thank you very much.

Buzby

2

You may not need to debrick your router, but the process is the same, using uboot: Debrick via Uboot - GL.iNet Router Docs 3

But double check if the firmware is the correct one. You jump over the verification.

3

Welcome to the fun of upgrading older GL iNet routers.

You may have to step up to firmware to 4.3.17. Start with the 3.105 firmware, then do an online upgrade the 3.216 firmware using the tar file, and then do the online upgrade to 4.3.17 firmware using the tar file.

If you have an old AR300m, then your Uboot code may be too old to load 4.x using Uboot. You can upgrade your Uboot code, BUT be very careful, as if you load the wrong file, your router is permanently bricked, and becomes e-waste

Look at this page, and make sure you expand the Upgrade the Uboot Version section:

New Uboot code is at:

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All that said, on my AR300m routers, I am running either the GL iNet 3.216 firmware or the or the generic OpenWrt 23.05.x firmware for the GL-AR300M NAND, as both these versions of the firmware just work. I tried 4.3.x, and did not feel it was finished. Currently, I am unhappy with the lack of support on 4.x for the older GL iNet routers as the newer routers are getting new features in 4.6.x, that are missing in 4.3.x. :frowning:

1 Like
4

The 3.105 to 3.216 to 4.3.17 route got the job done. Thank you to both LupusE and eric for your help. Much appreciated.

I'm amazed that such a old and inexpensive router is still fully supported with firmware updates. Very different to my experiences with TP-Link!

Thanks again,
Buzby

5

Are your router AR300M or AR300M16?

AR300M comes with both Nand and Nor firmware. So you need to check if you are running in Nand or Nor firmware by checking the flash size.

Most likely you are running in Nor firmware which is 16MB only so you need to flash the AR300M16 firmware.

6

It's the AR300M, which seems to be working great with the latest firmware.

Thanks again,
Buzby