I set this aside for a while and just got back to it yesterday. The advice from @hecatae was just right. There was a newer point release of OpenWRT since then, but same recipe. I was able to flash OpenWRT and was also able to flash back to GL.iNet firmware.
I figured out a couple things along the way, which might be helpful to others on this journey….
- Although the docs for the Uboot process says you can use either RJ45 port, after that flash you must use the LAN port, not the WAN port. (I felt kind of dumb when I realized this, since it’s kind of obvious in retrospect.)
- The OpenWRT router IP address is 192.168.1.1, and the Velica router IP address is 192.168.8.1, so there is some tweakage required in the PC static IP when switching around.
- Going from OpenWRT to stock firmware is a 2-step process. It’s described pretty well in this thread: Attempting to restore factory firmware on GL-B2200 returns to uboot . I had been pointed to the norplusemmc-ipq40xx-single.img firmware before but was not clear on how to use it. I didn’t realize there was the second step of flashing stock firmware after that.
- I couldn’t find product info for this router by searching on the GL.iNet web side, but it’s still here: GL-B2200 / Velica - GL.iNet
- Stock firmware for this router is here: GL.iNet download center . (The Uboot doc link there points to “4” rather than “3”.)