OpenWRT 19.07 for Mi 4A Gigabit with mt76 backports (generic edition) - 2021-02-02

Based on 19.07 stable branch commit 312c056 which is a few commits ahead of 19.07.6. Compared to my previous release, this one has thus some fixes, some of which are important security ones. Others are regarding stability (fingers crossed).

Besides that:

• updated mt76 driver, although it has nothing significant concerning this device from upstream stable 19.07 branch, but I've backported a small fix from master version about a possible memory leak
• hopefully fixed kernel packages on the repo not being installable from LuCI (it still complains because it tries to be smart, but what matters is that is works when it invokes opkg install)
• introduced a few tweaks based on the work of @db260179 to try to bring support to some variants where previously the router would not read from the flash and thus got bricked

As always:

• minimal testing was done (on my only router, for my personal needs); use at your own risk as no one here will be responsible if your router bricks or if your cat gets sick, etcetera, etcetera
• if you're only looking to flash or upgrade, you only need the openwrt-ramips-mt7621-xiaomi_mir3g-v2-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin file
• config-*-tar.gz is only for showing what config file and custom repo additions were used during build; if you don't know what that means, you don't need it

OpenWRT 19.07.04 for Mi 4A Gigabit with mt76 backports (generic edition) - 2020-10-24

Based on same commits as previous release, but add more packages so that, for example, NFS is supported. And a lot of others as well.

kernel signature changed when building with support for new packages so had to make a new release.

If you are on 2020-10-22 release and don't have the need for any of the new packages you don't need to update because otherwise it's exactly the same.

As in the previous release, config tar.gz file is provided just for anyone trying to make the same build themselves. For anyone just looking to flash and use this build, you only need the sysupgrade.bin file.

Sysupgrade image md5sum: a7b3a3d99f551b2ef9acfe20530a6891
Sysupgrade image file size: 5440264

OpenWRT 19.07.04 for Mi 4A Gigabit with mt76 backports (generic edition) - 2020-10-22

New build aiming to fix the problems the previous one had.

A custom repo was added, so that most modules should now be installable with opkg directly - no need to copy to /tmp, just use luci or opkg update followed by opkg install package.

Also includes a fix by David Bentham (@db260179 on openwrt forum) for the image block size, to try to make it work for people that were having squashfs errors with previous builds.

Sysupgrade image md5sum: fe468d86816b1abff0b5c0fb80a1e838
Sysupgrade image file size: 5440264

OpenWRT 19.07.04 for Mi 4A Gigabit with mt76 backports (generic edition) - 2020-09-18

Update: this release was a bit messed up - some modules do not correspond to it. Please use a newer release.

A new build, with a more generic config, but including lots of optional packages that can be installed and hopefully be more useful for more people.

Also added:

• a recent fix for possible ethernet problems from the 19.07 branch (although package feed is still from 19.07.04 stable).
• a few more backported patched of the mt76 wireless driver (probably no difference, but don't seem to hurt either)

Included in the zip file is the config file used for this build, to use as base for your own builds rename it to .config after cloning this github repository and switching to the v19.07.4-xiaomi-miwifi-3gv2-mt76updated-2020-09-18-fix_mtk_eth_timeout tag (it's not a branch, just a tag, but for building should work the same).

To install, flash mt7621/openwrt-ramips-mt7621-xiaomi_mir3g-v2-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin file included in the ZIP file. Then copy any packages you need (should their installation fail when installing from the official OpenWRT online repository) from the mt7621/packages directory on the ZIP file to your router's /tmp (e.g. scp xpto.ipk root@myrouter:/tmp, ssh into it and opkg install /tmp/xpto.ipk). By having any needed kmods installed, you should be able to install the rest as usual from the official OpenWRT repositories.

Note: yeah, I know that the title says 2020-09-18 and the config file says 2020-09-23. It's a long story. Don't ask :)

OpenWRT 19.07.04 for Mi 4A Gigabit with mt76 backports 2020-09-11

Built on 2020-09-11 based on OpenWRT v19.07.4 tag.

Kernel is optimized for performance. Besides the basic, includes:

• pppoe support (was missing in first builds)
• luci
• sqm QoS scripts
• adblock
• openvpn
• wireguard
• ddns client
• curl and ufetch-client with SSL support
• screen
• tcpdump
• iperf3
• iftop

You can install more using opkg (this release will fetch stable packages from OpenWRT 19.07.04 repository).

If something doesn't work or something is not as described, please try asking in the in the OpenWRT forum as I've been following that thread.

OpenWRT 19.07 for Mi 4A Gigabit with mt76 backports - 2020-07-22

Built on 2020-07-22 from branch xiaomi-miwifi-3gv2-19.07-mt76updated of this repo.

Kernel is optimized for performance (extra ~200KB). If you need optimized for size, please ask in the comments.

Besides the basic, includes:

• pppoe support (was missing in first builds)
• luci
• sqm QoS scripts
• adblock
• openvpn
• wireguard
• ddns client
• curl and ufetch-client with SSL support
• screen
• tcpdump
• iperf3
• iftop

You can install more using opkg.

Attached:

• config file used for this build, for anyone wanting to use it as a basis for their own builds
• sysupgrade image - IMPORTANT: you usually only need this, either if you're flashing from another OpenWRT release/build, or if you're flashing OpenWRT for the first time
• initramfs image - you'll usually won't need it, however in some cases (for still unclear reasons), when flashing OpenWRT for the first time from a running Xiaomi firmware with mtd, data gets corrupted while flashing and all that you can do (unless you have a flasher) is to unbrick with a TFTP server and the original Xiaomi firmware image (for example as described here); if you are in that situation, and only then you may try this (untested):
  • try flashing this image first (you'll get a system with no persistent data so don't bother configuring it yet; you may also end up with a brick... if so, your only option will be to stay with Xiaomi's firmware forever, or buy a cheap flasher)
  • if you succeeded and were able to boot OpenWRT (although not in its final form), from there try accessing the default IP 192.168.1.1 via SSH as root (no password needed)
  • do a cat /proc/mtd and you should see that the MTD partition previously labeled as OS1 in Xiaomi original firmware is now labeled kernel (if not, please see below where to ask for help)
  • upload the sysupgrade image to /tmp (e.g. using wget, curl, or scp from your machine)
  • finally flash the final sysupgrade image: mtd -e kernel -r write openwrt-ramips-mt7621-xiaomi_mir3g-v2-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin kernel and after the router reboots, you should be set

Edit: the feedback I've had points that the initramfs image doesn't really help; although you can boot with it, the kernel partition isn't seen on the mtd device so you'll get stuck. Please try the latest build I released here on github, if it doesn't work please let me know in the forum and look for @db260179 's thread there, as he is investigating this issue (I never had the issue but he has, and he has his alternative builds that can be of help, whilst being also quite complete ones).

If something doesn't work or something is not as described, please leave a comment or try asking in the OpenWRT forum.

OpenWRT 19.07 for Mi 4A Gigabit with mt76 backports and LZMA boot loader - 2020-07-19

Built on 2020-07-19 from branch xiaomi-miwifi-3gv2-19.07-mt76updated-lzma-loader of this repo.

This is an experimental build to try to solve at least one case of a device that fails to boot with the other OpenWRT 19.07 based releases for Xiaomi R4AG.

Kernel is optimized for performance (extra ~200KB). If you need optimized for size, please ask in the comments.

Besides the basic, includes:

• pppoe support (was missing in last build)
• luci
• sqm QoS scripts
• adblock
• openvpn
• wireguard
• ddns client
• curl and ufetch-client with SSL support
• screen
• tcpdump
• iperf3
• iftop

You can install more using opkg.

Config file attached for anyone wanting to use it as a basis for their own builds.

OpenWRT 19.07 for Mi 4A Gigabit with mt76 backports - 2020-07-11

Built on 2020-07-11 from branch xiaomi-miwifi-3gv2-19.07-mt76updated of this repo.

Besides the basic, includes:

• luci
• sqm QoS scripts
• adblock
• openvpn
• wireguard
• ddns client
• curl and ufetch-client with SSL support
• screen
• tcpdump
• iperf3
• iftop

You can install more using opkg.

Config file attached for anyone wanting to use it as a basis for their own builds.