Bricked GL-AR150 (ereased uboot)

Technical Support for Routers
1

Oke so I was messing around with uboot and I ereased the wrong part.
I used the following code:
erase 0x9F000000 +0x10000
cp.b 0x80800000 0x9F000000 0x10000
(from GitHub - pepe2k/u-boot_mod at 2014-11-19)
Stupid me I should have double checked the numbers of course…
Anyway now I have a GL-AR150 that is bricked and I do not have the stuff to reprogram the chip. So I am asking around with friends if they can do it for me.
Anyway what do I need to reflash everything?
Hope to hear soon!

2

You have to buy a flash programmer and desolate the flash, and flash the uboot back using the programmer.

1 Like
3

Thanks for the quick reply. Can you advise on which flags programmer to buy?
Also I did not wipe anything else ? Just reflash the uboot part and it should be all good ?
Also which chip do I have to use. The one on the back that is stuck with 8 pins ?
For example will this work ?
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/bJlYpniu

That way I do not have to resolder everything right ? Also can you give me the latest uboot for the gl-ar150 to reflash ?

And another question. I was also thinking about flashing the uboot for the pineapple nano to it. Since the new firmware is detecting that the gl-ar150 is not a nano and therefore it’s not starting. Could this be because it’s seeing another uboot ?

4

I think the programmer in your link works.

You need to resolver the flash and program it. Then solder it back. Pls mount in the correct direction when you program it. Otherwise it may burn the flash.

Pls only write the uboot. Don’t write anything else. Especially don’t overwrite the data at the end of the flash.

Pls find the uboot in our GitHub.

1 Like
5

Thanks. Do you mean resolder instead of resolver? Also what program do you advise to use to flash the eeprom chip ? (It is eeprom right?)
Can you give a tutorial on how to do it ? Or perhaps a (YouTube) link with a tutorial ?

6

Read the text on the memory chip and find the datasheet online. If it really is an eeprom you can follow my guide here:

The guide is for modding a clamp, but you can apply the same program and in circuit programming clip for any eeprom. Would save you the hassle of desoldering the ic. You might need to pull down the ic reset line, and be sure about the voltages.

1 Like
7

Is it not possible to reprogram using the USB UART adapter?

8

No. I tried updating the uboot via that method and failed. So it’s impossible now for the device to boot into anything.

9

You linked the GL-inet uboot but what is the different between this one and the one you linked?

10

You should use the GL inet one, that is the only one they have tested.

1 Like
11

i tried to read and flash the eeprom but its failing. Bought a new eeprom and that one works. What is it that is all on the eeprom that I have to flash to get it working?

12

You need to flash the last 64K byte which contains radio as well. But this can be written using uboot.

So uboot is working then you can try to do using uboot.

1 Like
13

so if I flash uboot in the last 64k i can flash the rest via uboot? Can you link me the rest?

14

I just finished getting the flash readout. @alzhao could you take a look and fix the bin so I can upload it to a new eeprom :slight_smile: ? (i broke some legs on the old one lol)
If you can give me the right bin file that I can flash with flashrom ( I am on mac that is why) then I can flash it since I am in no way good at filling up the file. So please give me a 16.777.216 bytes file please :slight_smile: you are the best!
Can be downloaded here:
https://github.com/d1slact0r/pineapple-firmware-builder/raw/master/backup.bin

15

image

OK, you need to split your file and only exclude the last 64K from 00FF0000 to one separate file, call it radio.bin

Then use your programmer to flash this file to the last 64K of your new flash.
Also flash the correct uboot. Then you can solder your flash to the board then boot. Enter uboot web ui and flash firmware.

1 Like
16

Thank you so much ! Is it possible that you fill this and send me the bin file ? I’ve no idea how to split the file and exclude the last 64kb… (I’m using Linux and flashrom)

17

On Linux you should use dd to extrude one part of a file into another file.

Pls use google find examples.

1 Like
18

Oke so then I get 2 files?
1 radio.bin
2. uboot.bin

Then where do I flash that to ?

19

Uboot.bin flash to the start of the flash
Radio.bin flash to the end of the flash.

Actually I said this in previous reply.

1 Like
20

thanks that makes a lot of sense. But it is not possible for you to give a bin file that I can flash using flashrom ? Since with the program flashrom and bus pirate I can not flash a specific region as far as I know.