I suppose that's a question if you're willing to risk a release candidate, as mentioned. RCs aren't even beta-status software. I personally wouldn't risk it on something as critical for something bootloader-related.
If you were, thou, be sure to check the link @j_c posted. IDK you're trying using the same release/source.
FYI: I confirmed I successfully flashed OpenWrt SNAPSHOT r30226-6a1d7bf52b using uboot2.0 version: 22.07.10 on my Slate AX ('GL.iNet GL-AXT1800'). My notes/log states I used a factory.bin to do so.
I just reverted back to GL.iNet firmware 4.6.8-r1 using the U-boot image from the GL firmware page then used the GL GUI to upgrade to 4.6.11-r2 (without saving settings).
Trying to replicate what you did. I reverted back to 4.6.8 using the u-boot image from the GL firmware page. Can you explain how you got from there to the SNAPSHOT image?
I tried flashing the SNAPSHOT sysupgrade image using u-boot, and it never rebooted. I then power cycled and found it still running 4.6.8. I then I tried flashing the sysupgrade using the LuCI web interface and it has bricked the router.
I've also tried flashing the factory.bin and factory.ubi images using u-boot - the former did nothing (just like sysupgrade) and the latter resulted in a router that would boot, allocate an address in the 192.168.1.xxx range and respond to ping at 192.168.1.1 but not to http or https.
Whoa, what?! Can you get back to the U-boot WebUI interface?
Looking at my logs more closely I can't tell exactly what I did. At one point I downloaeded & verified the checksums for
openwrt-ec111b1614d2-qualcommax-ipq60xx-glinet_gl-axt1800-squashfs-factory.binopenwrt-ec111b1614d2-qualcommax-ipq60xx-glinet_gl-axt1800-squashfs-sysupgrade.binI was on GL firmware openwrt-axt1800-4.6.11-1216-1734278520 but I didn't explicitly note if I used the OWRT factory.bin or the sysupgrade.bin. I have a feeling I used the GL GUI to flash the sysupgrade.bin... which is a generally recommended method to safely flash pure OWRT.
This seems to indicate OWRT is installed. Try ssh [email protected].
The device has become very intermittent. When I start u-boot it responds reliably to ping requests but only about one time in ten to http. Very often it accepts one http request but no more. By trying over and again I have managed to re-flash u-boot, hoping that would make it more reliable but it doesn't seem to have helped. I have also tried repeatedly to re-flash the GL firmware but u-boot keeps dropping the connection while uploading.
It's pretty frustrating - I bought this router because I understood it was hackable. Now it looks like I might have to get out a soldering iron, or just throw it in the bin and buy another one.
EDIT: By some miracle I managed to flash the openwrt ubi file and now seem to have a bare bones openwrt installation.
I'd really check to see that the U-boot WebUI is present before proceeding.
The U-boot WebUI seems to be present but only intermittently. Sometimes it doesn't respond to http, sometimes it responds then stops responding, and sometimes it fails mid-upload. This seems really weird to me. But thanks for your hint that having an address 192.168.1.xxx allocated is a sign that OWRT is running, which turned out to be correct.
In case this helps anyone else in the future, what I did was flash the factory.ubi file from U-Boot and when after failing multiple times mid-upload it finally worked, I found my router to be running OWRT. Since then it's been flawless.
The uboot version of each router model is different.
Depends on the difference in order time, uboot versions on the same model of routers may be different (very rare).