Given AX6000 and AX88U Pro are virtually identical, do they accept the same firmware?

[Hypothosis]

There's a new version available for only AX88U Pro - the difference between the models is one USB port as far as i can see. Can I just upload the AX88U Pro software to the AX6000?
Via Web?
Via SSH direct command?

My new AX6000 has amazing range, but something is not working with the "upgrade.cgi", i cannot upload any firmware to it right now. It's stuck in the initial connection phase (TCP handshakes I guess). So while I am at it, might as well experiment with the AX88U Pro firmware?

Any thoughts?

 

[OzarkEdge]

There's a new version available for only AX88U Pro - the difference between the models is one USB port as far as i can see. Can I just upload the AX88U Pro software to the AX6000?
Via Web?
Via SSH direct command?

My new AX6000 has amazing range, but something is not working with the "upgrade.cgi", i cannot upload any firmware to it right now. It's stuck in the initial connection phase (TCP handshakes I guess). So while I am at it, might as well experiment with the AX88U Pro firmware?

Any thoughts?

Use the firmware released for your model.

OE

 

[PureSpeed]

The work around on the GT-AX6000 is hard reset it and then put it in recovery mode and use Asus firmware restoration tool to put newest firmware on it. putting the AX6000 pro firmware will not work they may look identical but they are not.

 

[Hypothosis]

I did try to put it in recovery mode, so I kept the reset button pressed and then attached the power, then released it once the big LED was flashing. downloaded the tool also, but it claims that the router is not in recovery mode... what did I do wrong?

 

[Tech9]

Via Web?

No, the firmware will be rejected.

Via SSH direct command?

You may need a new router if you force different model firmware.

 

[PureSpeed]

did you set the IP of 192.168.1.10? Once that’s done let it sit and flash for 1-2 minutes then try the recovery tool

 

[Ripshod]

No, the firmware will be rejected.



You may need a new router if you force different model firmware.

Reads like a setup m8. This could lead to someone killing their router.

 

[Tech9]

but something is not working with the "upgrade.cgi"

Reset the router to factory defaults and configure manually after. Don't try and potentially destructive firmware upload methods.

 

[Hypothosis]

i did try the factory defaults and all already, i tried update via AI node, all kinds of things, always hangs establishing contact to "update.cgi" (as per chrome inspector)

with the tool: i'll try setting 192.168.1.10 now, i had used 192.168.50.10

 

[bennor]

Can I just upload the AX88U Pro software to the AX6000?

Generally the Asus router firmware will not allow you to upload a different router model firmware even if the two models are "similar". Just because the models may be similar doesn't mean there isn't under the hood settings/options/values specific to one router model or the other.

 

[Hypothosis]

i understand, given the models are virtually identical, all the same chips, same ram... i thought invoking the write command per ssh might work in this specific instance. if i don't get anywhere, i'll try that. my understanding is, that i'd still have the rescue mode interface / restoration and can simply flash the correct one.

i'll try to get the upload via mini cfe mini webserver working, the tool doesn't work for me.

 

[Hypothosis]

summarizing: update via web interfaces (tried various options, deactivating css, mesh node etc.) doesn't work. also firmware restoration doesn't work can't get the tool to work (router is not in rescue mode), can't get a ping on 192.168.1.1, can't get the u-boot web interface consequently. i tried all network ports.

however, it does boot into the currently installed firmware (asus 3.0.0.4.388_23285), hence my only plan is now to transfer firmware to tmp and then trigger by hand via ssh.

any better ideas?

 

[Hypothosis]

as all others means of upgrading have failed, i tried the hnd-write route now for AX6000. could this be the reason the web upgrade fails?

admin@GT-AX6000-D7E0:/tmp# hnd-write GT-AX6000_3.0.0.6_102_21514-g9affda2_136-g5d23c_nand_squashfs.pkgtb linux
imgif: Enabling NAND incremental flashing functions!

Upgrading:

process_pkgt: Error! image partition(s) too small for new bootfs and rootfs!
process_pkgt: Required space:69006780, Available space:53075968

rootfs2 / mtd8 seems to be too small. obviously I don't know exactly what I'm doing, but I also got nothing to lose as all other options failed.
any pointers? this is trying to flash from 3.0.0.4 to 3.0.0.6

 

[glens]

Maybe you can't get to the rescue web interface because you're doing something incorrectly, and maybe you can't because you've mucked it up so now nobody can.

Just glanced through the thread from the beginning and can't decide if you're actually talking about an inability to flash RT firmware onto the GT model or that the GT will not flash a proper GT firmware. If you're trying to flash a different model firmware: stop right there, put that notion out of your head, and don't let it re-enter.

 

[RMerlin]

given the models are virtually identical

They are not.

For instance, the RT-AX88U Pro exists with two different switch controllers, and an older firmware without support for that switch can brick a router if flashed on a newer revision.

The GT-AX6000 also has an RGB interface, which the RT-AX88U_Pro lacks.

Having the same CPU and wifi SoC does not mean that everything else is the same.

Bottom line is, do not try to flash a different model firmware, no matter what the specs sheet might say about it - because the hardware (and the bootloader) will NOT be the same.

 

[Hypothosis]

I didn't really do anything yet to break it, it auto-updated, after which further updates wouldn't work and auto-upgrade would "succeed" without any actual upgrade.

But I may have a lead now, 441 bad PEBs according to my syslog. As one partition wanted 69MB and i have only 53M, while 40 bad PEBs are the max (=5MB) and 441 (=50MB) is maybe just too much? Does anyone with an AX6000 have a comparison, i understand these are estimated. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this on my AX's or AXE.
1575 PEBs are available = 196.875MB - doesn't sound too bad, but if the assumption is not more than 5MB break, then it may be trouble with the partition layout.

From Syslog:
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: ubi0 warning: ubi_calculate_reserved: number of bad PEBs (441) is above the expected limit (40), not reserving any PEBs for bad PEB handling, will use available PEBs (if any)

From some Linux Kernel discussion:

[PATCH 2/5] ubi: Limit amount of reserved eraseblocks for bad PEB handling - Shmulik Ladkani

[...] the actual amount of PEBs reserved are set to zero. [...] But if there are no available PEBs, ubi will go into readonly mode.

Only weird thing, there's not really an error stating that the upgrade failed. Only this warning.

In any case, probably have to send this one back.

Spoiler: Upgrade SysLog

Jan 22 11:39:49 rc_service: cfg_server 3133:notify_rc stop_upgrade;start_webs_upgrade 1

[... steps ommited from log by OP...]

fw/rsa, Start
Jan 22 11:39:54 AUTO_UPGRADE: cfg_trigger=1
Jan 22 11:39:54 AUTO_UPGRADE: wget fw beta GT-AX6000_9006_102_4856-g8178ee0_un.zip
Jan 22 11:39:56 AUTO_UPGRADE: exit code: 0
Jan 22 11:39:56 AUTO_UPGRADE: wget fw beta GT-AX6000_9006_102_4856-g8178ee0_rsa3.zip
Jan 22 11:39:56 AUTO_UPGRADE: exit code: 0
Jan 22 11:39:56 AUTO_UPGRADE: mv trx OK
Jan 22 11:40:00 AUTO_UPGRADE: fw check OK
Jan 22 11:40:00 AUTO_UPGRADE: To download fw/rsa, End
Jan 22 11:40:00 rc_service: rc 5199:notify_rc stop_logger
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: klogd started: BusyBox v1.24.1 (2023-05-07 09:39:15 CST)
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Linux version 4.19.183 (gitserv_asus@bpza001bud) (gcc version 9.2.0 (Buildroot 2019.11.1)) #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun May 7 09:41:23 CST 2023
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: random: get_random_bytes called from start_kernel+0x9c/0x454 with crng_init=0
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Kernel command line: coherent_pool=4M cpuidle_sysfs_switch pci=pcie_bus_safe console=ttyAMA0,115200 earlycon rootwait mtdparts=brcmnand.0:2097152(loader),264241152@2097152(image),524288@266338304(crashlog) root=/dev/ubiblock0_4 ubi.mtd=image ubi.block=0,4 rootfstype=squashfs cma=0M
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: mtusize 1500
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: CCI hardware cache coherency enabled
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: bootloader version U-Boot 2019.07 (May 07 2023 - 11:38:54 +0800), Build: 5.04L.0
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: inMemNvramData.szBoardId GTAX6000_50991
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: size of sk_buff 512
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: offset of cb in sk_buff 368
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: PMC driver initcall
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: PMC driver scanning DT
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: pmc match PMC brcm,bca-pmc-3-2
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Remapping PMC IO memories...
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: phys virt size
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: 0x00000000ffb01018 0xffffff8008db8018 0x00005080
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: 0x00000000ffb20000 0xffffff800809e000 0x00000240
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: 0x00000000ffb00400 0xffffff80080bc400 0x000005d0
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: 0x00000000ffb80000 0xffffff80080be000 0x00001000
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: pmc_initMC using DQM mode
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Powering on XRDP core...
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Toggle reset of XRDP core...
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: map_hw_timer_interrupt,162: interrupt_id 68
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: map_hw_timer_interrupt,162: interrupt_id 69
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: map_hw_timer_interrupt,162: interrupt_id 70
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: map_hw_timer_interrupt,162: interrupt_id 71
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Broadcom GBPM v0.1 initialized
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Broadcom IQoS v1.0 initialized
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Broadcom Logger v0.1
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: /dev/bcmnet Char device registered
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: skb_free_task created successfully with start budget 256
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: ^[[0;34mBLOG v3.0 Initialized^[[0m
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: BLOG Rule v1.0 Initialized
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Skip Legacy Led init
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Initialise system trusted keyrings
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Key type asymmetric registered
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Asymmetric key parser 'x509' registered
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: 3 cmdlinepart partitions found on MTD device brcmnand.0
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Creating 3 MTD partitions on "brcmnand.0":
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: 0x000000000000-0x000000200000 : "loader"
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: 0x000000200000-0x00000fe00000 : "image"
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: 0x00000fe00000-0x00000fe80000 : "crashlog"
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: bcm63xx-hsspi ff801000.spi: spi driver using polling mode
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: brcmboard registered
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: brcmboard: brcm_board_init entry
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Last RESET due to Unknown
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: RESET reason: 0x00000000
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: DYING GASP IRQ Initialized and Enabled
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: bcm_i2c: Error in loading module
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Bridge Broadcom hooks registered
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Loading compiled-in X.509 certificates
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: ubi0: attaching mtd2
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: ubi0: scanning is finished
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: ubi0 warning: ubi_calculate_reserved: number of bad PEBs (441) is above the expected limit (40), not reserving any PEBs for bad PEB handling, will use available PEBs (if any)
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: ubi0: attached mtd2 (name "image", size 252 MiB)
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: ubi0: PEB size: 131072 bytes (128 KiB), LEB size: 126976 bytes
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: ubi0: min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048/2048, sub-page size 2048
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: ubi0: VID header offset: 2048 (aligned 2048), data offset: 4096
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: ubi0: good PEBs: 1575, bad PEBs: 441, corrupted PEBs: 0
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: ubi0: user volume: 8, internal volumes: 1, max. volumes count: 128
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: ubi0: max/mean erase counter: 2325/552, WL threshold: 4096, image sequence number: 1616815245
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: ubi0: available PEBs: 0, total reserved PEBs: 1575, PEBs reserved for bad PEB handling: 0
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: ubi0: background thread "ubi_bgt0d" started, PID 118
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Registered phy device: EGPHY:0x1
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Registered phy device: EGPHY:0x2
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Registered phy device: EGPHY:0x3
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Registered phy device: EGPHY:0x4
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Registered phy device: EXT3:0x11
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Registered phy device: 10GAE:0x6
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Registered phy device: EXT3:0x13
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: Registered phy device: 10GAE:0x7
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:10): background thread "ubifs_bgt0_10" started, PID 213
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:10): UBIFS: mounted UBI device 0, volume 10, name "data"
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:10): LEB size: 126976 bytes (124 KiB), min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048 bytes/2048 bytes
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:10): FS size: 19808256 bytes (18 MiB, 156 LEBs), journal size 1015809 bytes (0 MiB, 8 LEBs)
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:10): reserved for root: 935592 bytes (913 KiB)
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:10): media format: w5/r0 (latest is w5/r0), UUID D5A2EBE6-DC7C-4736-A60B-299AE0DA05AB, small LPT model
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:11): background thread "ubifs_bgt0_11" started, PID 229
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:11): UBIFS: mounted UBI device 0, volume 11, name "defaults"
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:11): LEB size: 126976 bytes (124 KiB), min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048 bytes/2048 bytes
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:11): FS size: 7237632 bytes (6 MiB, 57 LEBs), journal size 1015809 bytes (0 MiB, 6 LEBs)
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:11): reserved for root: 341850 bytes (333 KiB)
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:11): media format: w5/r0 (latest is w5/r0), UUID 0D352230-D8BF-4434-A535-1FAAA80C06EE, small LPT model
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:13): background thread "ubifs_bgt0_13" started, PID 259
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:13): UBIFS: mounted UBI device 0, volume 13, name "jffs2"
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:13): LEB size: 126976 bytes (124 KiB), min./max. I/O unit sizes: 2048 bytes/2048 bytes
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:13): FS size: 51171328 bytes (48 MiB, 403 LEBs), journal size 2539520 bytes (2 MiB, 20 LEBs)
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:13): reserved for root: 2416947 bytes (2360 KiB)
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: UBIFS (ubi0:13): media format: w5/r0 (latest is w5/r0), UUID A30C6B97-7077-4016-BC84-61944535C31A, small LPT model
May 5 01:05:16 kernel: wlcsm: module license 'Proprietary' taints kernel.

 

[Hypothosis]

probably should have attached this

 

[Hypothosis]

Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root 49.1M 49.1M 0 100% /
ubi:data 16.8M 68.0K 15.8M 0% /data
ubi:defaults 5.7M 380.0K 5.0M 7% /tmp/mnt/defaults
ubi:jffs2 44.5M 644.0K 41.5M 1% /jffs
ubi:defaults 5.7M 380.0K 5.0M 7% /tmp/mnt/defaults
ubi:defaults 5.7M 380.0K 5.0M 7% /tmp/mnt/defaults

I mean, I am returning it... or is it easily fixable. Merlin's pktb are 64M, that includes all the partitions? This doesn't look very full. Root is pretty full yeah. But with 449 blocks bad, i have around 200MB left. Isn't that enough for main image, failsafe image + whatever else is needed?

 

[glens]

On a GT-AX6000

 

[Ripshod]

Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root 49.1M 49.1M 0 100% /
ubi:data 16.8M 68.0K 15.8M 0% /data
ubi:defaults 5.7M 380.0K 5.0M 7% /tmp/mnt/defaults
ubi:jffs2 44.5M 644.0K 41.5M 1% /jffs
ubi:defaults 5.7M 380.0K 5.0M 7% /tmp/mnt/defaults
ubi:defaults 5.7M 380.0K 5.0M 7% /tmp/mnt/defaults

I mean, I am returning it... or is it easily fixable. Merlin's pktb are 64M, that includes all the partitions? This doesn't look very full. Root is pretty full yeah. But with 449 blocks bad, i have around 200MB left. Isn't that enough for main image, failsafe image + whatever else is needed?

You broke it?
And you're returning it?
Not be making many friends around here then.