CFE bootloader update

[jsmiddleton4]

Now that I've installed Merlin's latest I went ahead and updated the CFE to my manually edited separate MAC's CFE. Just double checked to make sure I updated the CFE properly by looking at the updated one.

The MAC's are changed as intended in the CFE. LAN MAC, 2.4ghz MAC, etc., not the same.

Did full reset, etc., of NVRAM.

FW still shows LAN and 2.4ghz MAC's the same.

BUT the FW does show the change I made in the CFE to the 5ghz channel's MAC.

 

[ryzhov_al]

No mystics, no MAC's collision. All works well

Just double checked to make sure I updated the CFE properly by looking at the updated one.

The MAC's are changed as intended in the CFE. LAN MAC, 2.4ghz MAC, etc., not the same.

Yes, the MAC addresses will be the same. As long as wireless interface is bridged with LAN ports it's OK.

In fact, we've got two «sources» for MAC addresses, you can be sure that they had not stolen

• for wired interfaces it's a BCM53115 switch hardware defaults:
  

  # robocfg show

• for wireless interface it's a NVRAM variables, which used by BCM4331 wl driver:
  

  # strings /dev/mtd0ro | grep /macaddr

Both wired and wireless MAC's may be configured by firmware, depending current needs.

 

[jsmiddleton4]

This command:

ifconfig | grep HWaddr

Shows the bridged MAC's. LAN and 2.4ghz show same ending in :60.

This command:

strings /dev/mtd0ro | grep /macaddr

Shows the MAC's being unique and from the CFE.BIN. LAN ends in :60, 2.4ghz in :62 and 5ghz in :63.

Without knowing for sure I think that is progress. Before the CFE assigned the same MAC's to the LAN and the 2.4ghz channels. I looked in the cfe.bin to be sure including the archived "old" bin .2 version.

The router does "see" the unique MAC's at some level. The bridging works as well as the LAN's MAC is going to be what is seen at another level.

The question I still need to investigate and might dig my backup E3000 out to test is what does a slave router connect to via wireless bridge or WDS, etc. What MAC do you put in the slave to connect to the N66U IF you are doing bridge via 2.4ghz channel?

If its different than the "norm" that is fine. Not wrong per se. The norm is you use the MAC of the wireless channel of the master and put that in the slave for the "Connect to" fields. So if connecting routers via 2.4ghz channel, you use the MAC of the Master's 2.4ghz channel for the slave.

If the way the Asus is setup the slave needs the LAN MAC, again that is fine. Who cares as long as it works? But it would be nice to know. If making this kind of connection is different than the "norm" tell us.....

 

[jsmiddleton4]

Since some are confused about another "patch" regarding this MAC thing....

There is no patch.

1. I copied the cfe.bin to the /tmp directory. Did so by running this command in the System Tools field. But one could also telnet into the router and do the same.

cat /dev/mtd0 >/tmp/cfe.bin


2. I moved the cfe.bin to my Desktop. Did so by using WinSCP and FTP mode BUT i still had Toastman's Tomato FW installed. Merlin's via FTP won't let me see the root of the router. I have to use WinSCP in SSH mode when using Merlins to use WinSCP to "see" the router's stuff. So IF I had Merlin's installed at this point I'd would have used WinSCP with "SCP" protocol. Some one more experienced than I with telnet commands if they so choose can list the telnet commands that would be required to move stuff back and forth from the router to the computer for editing. I'm 100% positive this could easily be done all inside telnet IF the commands were clear.

3. I saved a copy of the cfe.bin as cfe.old.

4. I used HexD to edit the cfe.bin's MAC address listings.

5. I installed Merlin's latest .262 in the router. The write commands provided are for Merlin's and as far as I know some of the write stuff when using Tomato is not allowed as some stuff is read only with Tomato.

6. I moved the "new" cfe.bin back to the /tmp using WinSCP now in SCP file mode since Merlin's FW was installed.

7. I over wrote the existing cfe.bin with the new one using this command provided by Barry via telnet (Didn't want to take any chances with the internal Run CMD as we're talking CFE here):

mtd-write -i cfe.new -d pmon

8.. Cleared with the WPS button and booted.

9. Cleared NVRAM again when router came back up.

10. Reconfigured my router clean to avoid any previous MAC address information.

11. Ran these commands referred to by ryzhov_al too see the results.

ifconfig | grep HWaddr

strings /dev/mtd0ro | grep /macaddr
_____________________________________________

I am NOT saying this needs to be done.

I am NOT saying the way Asus did the cfe.bin is wrong.

I am NOT telling anyone else they need to do this to their router.

There is NO patch. This was all done manually to the already patched 64K cfe.

I did not run a NVRAM Commit command thinking the clear NVRAM and booting did so on its own. When I check the MAC's are what I put in the cfe manually.

 

[jsmiddleton4]

Played with WDS just a bit. Used my E3000 with Toastman's as the slave. The slave wants the LAN MAC. However WDS needs some help.

Could only get reliable connection with all security turned off.

If I was going to run a WDS system I'd probably use Toastman's or Shibby's FW.

Edit: I wonder if the folks reporting connectivity issues with WDS that the problem is not the MAC thing but some issues with security modes and WDS in the ASUS core FW?

 

[CWolfCW]

1.0.1.1

So uh... I really want to get on the 64k CFE bandwagon but I've run into a snag:

root@ubuntu:/home/kami# telnet 13.13.13.13
Trying 13.13.13.13...
Connected to 13.13.13.13.
Escape character is '^]'.
RT-N66U login: admin
Password:


ASUSWRT RT-N66U_3.0.0.4 Sun Dec 16 01:33:41 UTC 2012
admin@RT-N66U:/tmp/home/root# wget http://wl500g-repo.googlecode.com/files/cfe_n66u-1.0.1.3-4.tgz
Connecting to wl500g-repo.googlecode.com (74.125.133.82:80)
cfe_n66u-1.0.1.3-4.t 100% |*******************************| 156k 00:00:00 ETA
admin@RT-N66U:/tmp/home/root# tar -xzf ./cfe_n66u-1.0.1.3-4.tgz
admin@RT-N66U:/tmp/home/root# ./cfe_update.sh /dev/mtd0ro
Original CFE version is not 1.0.1.2! Exiting...
admin@RT-N66U:/tmp/home/root# strings /dev/mtd0ro | grep bl_version
bl_version=1.0.1.1
admin@RT-N66U:/tmp/home/root#

I don't appear to have bl_version 1.0.1.2 and am unsure how to proceed. Apparently users with 1.0.1.1 are rare as I've only seen one other person with this version number but nobody has an visible solution. :/

Am I stuck?

 

[themiron]

Did you try an Hex Editor? I have this 3 MACs in my CFE:
et0macaddr=50:46:5D:XX:YY:30
pci/1/1/macaddr=50:46:5D:XX:YY:30
pci/2/1/macaddr=50:46:5D:XX:YY:34
- lfbb

Beware of hexedit cfe directly, enbedded nvram CRC will be wrong.
Intstead - export nvram from cfe to txt with help of nvsimple, edit it with ur favorite txt editor and embedd it back again into cfe with help of same nvsimple tool.

p.s four MACs are reserved to each band for Gust Network purposes, so 2.4 has :30, 5 - :34, ethernet MAC is meaningless here

 

[droidman]

So uh... I really want to get on the 64k CFE bandwagon but I've run into a snag:



I don't appear to have bl_version 1.0.1.2 and am unsure how to proceed. Apparently users with 1.0.1.1 are rare as I've only seen one other person with this version number but nobody has an visible solution. :/

Am I stuck?

I had 1.0.1.1 and was able to upgrade, I had to edit the cfe_update.sh script to change all references from 1.0.1.2 to 1.0.1.1 and it worked.

 

[CWolfCW]

Thanks very much for that tip on editing the cfe_update.sh file. That worked out nicely.

Just to confirm for myself before I try flashing DD-WRT (Fractal's version), if I see this line:

Dec 31 19:00:07 kernel: _nvram_init: allocat header: 2183856128, size= 65536

That means the CFE is actually at 65536 (64K) right?

I'm currently running the latest build of RMerlin's firmware so I'm unsure if that's the physical 64K from CFE patch or the modified kernel hack.

I don't want to end up bricking my router by accident. ^^;

 

[jsmiddleton4]

Toastman has a new version out of his Tomato variant.

Playing with it now. Had been playing with Merlin's latest.....

MAC addresses are unique and as indicated in the CFE.BIN not bridged with LAN/2.4ghz the same.

If I was going to setup WDS system I'd be using Toastman's. Used to have a WDS system but no longer need it. But IF I was going to, this is the version I'd use.

http://www.4shared.com/dir/v1BuINP3/Toastman_Builds.html#dir=118604379

 

[bird333]

Toastman has a new version out of his Tomato variant.

Playing with it now. Had been playing with Merlin's latest.....

MAC addresses are unique and as indicated in the CFE.BIN not bridged with LAN/2.4ghz the same.

If I was going to setup WDS system I'd be using Toastman's. Used to have a WDS system but no longer need it. But IF I was going to, this is the version I'd use.

http://www.4shared.com/dir/v1BuINP3/Toastman_Builds.html#dir=118604379

Your CFE macs are unique right?

 

[jsmiddleton4]

Yes.....

I changed them in the cfe.bin manually.

 

[AlcornTech]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but is there a reason why the regular 64k builds won't work with the updated 64k CFE? I realize Fractal is using later builds, but why woudn't something like this work? -> dd-wrt.v24-19519_NEWD-2_K2.6_mega-nv64k.bin

While I appreciate Fractals hard work, I would prefer to be able to use mainstream builds rather than relying on a volunteer to make the latest firmware available for my router.

Can someone please confirm that I'm right or tell me how wrong I am? Thanks.

 

[Pierino]

RMerlin's firmwares work with either the 32k cfe or the updated 64k cfe. As to the why the different builds of dd-wrt work or not is a question for the dd-wrt forums, I think you'd get a quicker answer there. I did read there that one user did flash his with one of the regular builds not made by fractal specifically for the rt-n66u.
I can't remember though if everything went ok.


Merlin's builds are mainstream. Mot of us use them I bet.

 

[AlcornTech]

I apologize if I offended anyone (Pierino). I think my question is relevant and I am by no means trying to bash RMerlin...I am about to use his firmware for my initial flash. However, various users have posted on this 48 page thread asking the same question I have and there have been no solid technical answers as to why the regular, generic, posted-on-dd-wrt.com-64k-builds won't work and exactly what Fractal has done to make his work. For now, I will use the RMerlin release to upgrade to Fractals release. I respect both of their works and I meant no offense. I was going to post on dd-wrt after this post, but did not want to double post. Thanks for the warm welcome and have a happy new year Pierino!

 

[Pierino]

Sorry if I seemed offended, I wasn't. Lol.
I just meant you would get an answer more quickly if you asked at the dd-wrt forum. Sorry if I offended you with my answer.

 

[Tommy2jz]

Pardon my newbness, how do I save the old CFE (1.0.1.2)?

I successfully upgraded to CFE 1.0.1.3 using Putty SSH (i have no knowledge of this coding) while on Merlin's firmware

I tried searching and had no luck.

Thanks and regards.

 

[JVWilliams]

Pardon my newbness, how do I save the old CFE (1.0.1.2)?

I successfully upgraded to CFE 1.0.1.3 using Putty SSH (i have no knowledge of this coding) while on Merlin's firmware

I tried searching and had no luck.

Thanks and regards.

If you're still running stock Asus firmware or the RMerlin replacement, you can probably use a USB flash stick. That's what I used.

 

[mromero]

Man, I cannot believe I spent nearly an hour reading 48 pages of posts to do such a simple thing! The dire warnings had me wary.

I simply enabled SSH on the Merlin firmware GUI, logged out.

Made sure I was connected via wired ethernet, opened up my PUTTY in Windows, logged in and ran the commands as per the first post in this thread.

Took about one minute total and I was done.

Rebooted the modem to make sure everything was fine and logged in again to Merlin and it reports I have the new CFE bootloader 1.0.1.3 version.

Tomorrow I will log in via WINSCP or FILEZILLA and root around and copy the old CFE to my NAS and on a couple of other computers.

Now is there anything else I need to do?

THANKS ryzhov_al and Merlin!

 

[KevTech]

Tomorrow I will log in via WINSCP or FILEZILLA and root around and copy the old CFE to my NAS and on a couple of other computers.

Don't reboot router until you get your old CFE off the router.

The files are stored temporarily so if you have rebooted the router since upgrading the CFE the old CFE may be gone now.