GL-AR300M: NOR vs NAND models

Technical Support for Routers
1

Hello,

How do I tell the NOR model from the NAND model based solely on the sticker? Have the NOR models always been marked as AR300M16 and the NAND models *always been marked AR300M?

I’m attaching a photo for reference.

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2

Yes. AR300M16 is Nor version because it only has 16M flash.

AR300M has dual flash.

3

@alzhao – thank you for your prompt reply. Could you please elaborate on the “dual flash” statement?

Also, do I understand it correctly that AR300M16 requires the ar71xx (Generic) image builder and AR300M requires the ar71xx (NAND) image builder?

4

Dual flash means it has Nor and Nand.

5

You are correct about the imagebuilder

6

@alzhao, @kyson-lok the GL-AR300MD profile seems to have disappeared from the current snapshot ar71xx_nand image builder. Do you know why?

7

@stangri The main difference between AR300MD and AR300M16 is that it is dual device. It doesn’t support nand, you should use AR30016 and then install ath10k driver, that is AR300MD.

8

@kyson-lok – not sure I understood you correctly. I was previously told I need to use the ar71xx_nand image builder for AR300MD. Are you saying that I should now use the ar71xx_generic to build images for the AR300MD?

9

All right, You should now use the ar71xx_generic to build images. Actually, AR300MD is ar71xx_generic, and AR300M is ar71xx_nand.

10

There’s no AR300M profile in ar71xx_nand image builder either!

@alzhao – please clarify!

My understanding was that for the AR300M16 I should use the ar71xx_generic image builder and the ar71xx_generic image builder does have the profile gl-ar300m since 17.01.4. It produces the .bin images.

I’ve been previously told that the AR300M is the marking on the sticker for the dual/NAND version (AR300MD) and that for that router the ar71xx_nand image builder should be used. And I have done just that in the past and in the past it produced the .tar images. However in the most recent ar71xx_nand snapshot image builder there’s no more GL-AR300MD profile. So I can no longer build an image for the AR300MD.

Please advise.

11

@stangri The device with nand flash’s patch isn’t committed to lede, so you can’t find the profile on snapshot imagebuilder.

12

@kyson-lok – it used to be there a few revisions ago. Anyways, I’ve received contradicting feedback from you guys:

That’s why I’m asking again @alzhao, @kyson-lok – which image builder(s) do I need for AR300M16 (NOR-only device, aka AR300M) and AR300M (Dual NOR/NAND device, aka AR300MD) and which profiles should I use to build vanilla OpenWrt/LEDE images.

Thanks!

13

It can be confusing :wink:

  1. All AR300Mxx models have 16MB NOR flash.
  2. The original AR300M, AR300M-EXT had both 16MB NOR flash and 128MB NAND flash.
  3. The original AR300M, AR300M-EXT had an option of an additional 5GHz radio (now discontinued).
  4. The current models, AR300M16, and AR300M-Lite do not have the NAND flash, only the NOR.
  5. The 16MB NOR is more than enough for just about any image, making the NAND an additional cost that could be saved.
  6. The current LEDE stable imagebuilder (17.01.04) and a prebuilt image can be found at:
    Index of /releases/17.01.4/targets/ar71xx/generic/
  7. If you have an AR300M-Lite you will have to build a new image with Wifi enabled otherwise you will not be able to get into it. Worth it as it is available at a very good price :wink: I have built it already and you could download from one of my servers if it will help.
    http://blue-wave.net/firmware/lede170104/lede-17.01.4-ar71xx-generic-gl-ar300mLite-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin
1 Like
14

Listen to @kyson-lok, he is the one making the imagebuilder. Seems there is a problem in naming and I think he is fixing it.

1 Like
15

Thanks, very detailed and helpful.

16

@kyson-lok So I have the (NAND) AR300M and it doesn’t accept the image generated by the LEDE ar71xx_generic image builder for the gl-ar300m profile.

How can I build a vanilla LEDE/OpenWrt image for the AR300M (the one with NOR/NAND flash)?

17

We don’t submit the patch of AR300M which is with nand flash to LEDE/OpenWrt, so you can’t build a vanilla LEDE image for it.

18

@kyson-lok well, I’ve tried building an image with this imagebuilder posted on your github (and regular make command, not your python script), but:

  1. Despite including ath10k-firmware-qca9887 and kmod-ath10k the ac-radio is not detected.
  2. I only got 16Mb of flash.

Please advise.

19

I think its a little bit unlucky to cal the router as NAND or NOR version.

I think its better to call the router as single or dual flash router.

20

Hey! Thanks for the clarification… I happen to have the OG GL-AR300M-ext. I saw that you mentioned an optional 5GHz radio. How would I go about finding the information that would allow me to unlock that functionality?