Solved GT-AX6000 Write Protected aka Borked

[Clark Griswald]

@RMerlin
The first set still returned the read-only error.
I then did the second set, and got no error message.
Not sure what procedure to do next, but willing to do whatever you suggest.

EDIT:
Without too much testing, it appears that the Read-Only error has been fixed, and the only issue is a dhcp rebuild or better a complete "Restore"?

 

[Clark Griswald]

I think the best solution would be to RMA the device...

I don't think this is a common issue, and likely not a bug in UBI/UBIFS..

You doubting boy. I'm disappointed in your lack of faith in the Brain Power of This Forum (RMerlin Specifically)!
RMerlin accepted the challenge and succeeded! Although, @Viktor Jaep certainly has a script in development to De-Griswald the router!

 

[RMerlin]

Without too much testing, it appears that the Read-Only error has been fixed, and the only issue is a dhcp rebuild or better a complete "Restore"?

If you had a backup you should be fine uploading it. The issue was the filesystem, not the file content themselves.

Glad that it worked out - one less piece of e-waste in a landfill.

RMerlin accepted the challenge and succeeded!

All the credit goes to Asus' engineers there. I just had a feeling it was recoverable through software, and that they would know how to do so since the necessary ubi tools were already available in the firmware.

 

[Clark Griswald]

The GT-AX6000 is a great router, and I Thank You RMerlin and the Asus Engineers for bringing my router back to life!

 

[Viktor Jaep]

All the credit goes to Asus' engineers there. I just had a feeling it was recoverable through software, and that they would know how to do so since the necessary ubi tools were already available in the firmware.

Thanks for sharing those instructions, @RMerlin ... those are considered "gold"! Will be keeping these in a safe spot!

RMerlin accepted the challenge and succeeded! Although, @Viktor Jaep certainly has a script in development to De-Griswald the router!

BACKUPMON to the rescue!!!

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for sharing those instructions, @RMerlin ... those are considered "gold"! Will be keeping these in a safe spot!

Make sure to determine the volume ID through ubinfo first, as it may change between models. The size might also potentially vary between models.

 

[FourthandShort]

Wondering if someone can help me here as well.

I just saw this in my logs after rebooting my GT-AX6000:

Jul 29 17:26:57 BWDPI: [sql_remove_journal(74)] remove /jffs/.sys/TrafficAnalyzer/TrafficAnalyzer.db-journal
Jul 29 17:26:57 BWDPI: [BWANA] remove /jffs/.sys/TrafficAnalyzer/TrafficAnalyzer.db
Jul 29 17:26:57 kernel: bcm63xx_nand ff801800.nand: program failed at 7700600
Jul 29 17:26:57 kernel: ubi0 error: ubi_io_write: error -5 while writing 2048 bytes to PEB 936:0, written 0 bytes
Jul 29 17:26:57 kernel: CPU: 3 PID: 118 Comm: ubi_bgt0d Tainted: P O 4.19.183 #1
Jul 29 17:26:57 kernel: ubi0 error: __erase_worker: failed to erase PEB 936, error -5
Jul 29 17:26:57 kernel: ubi0 error: __erase_worker: no reserved/available physical eraseblocks
Jul 29 17:26:57 kernel: ubi0 warning: __erase_worker: switch to read-only mode

Any idea what may have triggered this? I tried the touch command through SSH and i am getting the read only message as well.

Should I try the same commands as on Page 2?

 

[Innocent]

You need to determine first which volume is read-only. UBIFS will switch to read-only to protect itself when an issue is discovered. Check the volume status:

ubinfo -a

If it's the JFFS2 volume as most likely, then it's recoverable, although not simple. You would basically need to reformat that volume (or possibly recreate it which is what someone did in that other thread). The opration carries a high risk of bricking the router, so that might be considered only as a last ressort option.

There is a ubiformat command included in the firmware, but since I have never used it myself, I'm not ready to blindly tell you to run it and possibly brick everything. Let's start first by confirming that it's a UBI volume that's in a non-OK state, and which one.

UBI version: 1
Count of UBI devices: 1
UBI control device major/minor: 10:59
Present UBI devices: ubi0

ubi0
Volumes count: 8
Logical eraseblock size: 126976 bytes, 124.0 KiB
Total amount of logical eraseblocks: 1638 (207986688 bytes, 198.3 MiB)
Amount of available logical eraseblocks: 309 (39235584 bytes, 37.4 MiB)
Maximum count of volumes 128
Count of bad physical eraseblocks: 378
Count of reserved physical eraseblocks: 0
Current maximum erase counter value: 1894
Minimum input/output unit size: 2048 bytes
Character device major/minor: 249:0
Present volumes: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11

Volume ID: 1 (on ubi0)
Type: static
Alignment: 1
Size: 1 LEBs (126976 bytes, 124.0 KiB)
Data bytes: 1280 bytes (1.2 KiB)


State: OK
Name: metadata1
Character device major/minor: 249:2
-----------------------------------
Volume ID: 2 (on ubi0)
Type: static
Alignment: 1
Size: 1 LEBs (126976 bytes, 124.0 KiB)
Data bytes: 1280 bytes (1.2 KiB)
State: OK
Name: metadata2
Character device major/minor: 249:3
-----------------------------------
Volume ID: 3 (on ubi0)
Type: static
Alignment: 1
Size: 94 LEBs (11935744 bytes, 11.3 MiB)
Data bytes: 10806988 bytes (10.3 MiB)
State: OK
Name: bootfs1
Character device major/minor: 249:4
-----------------------------------
Volume ID: 4 (on ubi0)
Type: dynamic
Alignment: 1
Size: 463 LEBs (58789888 bytes, 56.0 MiB)
State: OK
Name: rootfs1
Character device major/minor: 249:5
-----------------------------------
Volume ID: 5 (on ubi0)
Type: static
Alignment: 1
Size: 93 LEBs (11808768 bytes, 11.2 MiB)
Data bytes: 10697784 bytes (10.2 MiB)
State: OK
Name: bootfs2
Character device major/minor: 249:6
-----------------------------------
Volume ID: 6 (on ubi0)
Type: dynamic
Alignment: 1
Size: 440 LEBs (55869440 bytes, 53.2 MiB)
State: OK
Name: rootfs2
Character device major/minor: 249:7
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
Volume ID: 10 (on ubi0)
Type: dynamic
Alignment: 1
Size: 166 LEBs (21078016 bytes, 20.1 MiB)
State: OK
Name: data
Character device major/minor: 249:11
-----------------------------------
Volume ID: 11 (on ubi0)
Type: dynamic
Alignment: 1
Size: 67 LEBs (8507392 bytes, 8.1 MiB)
State: OK
Name: defaults
Character device major/minor: 249:12


just got my ax6000 today, installing merlin and got low jffs error and cant use vpn service.
strange thing is my volume 13 is missing (volume count should be 9 not 8)
does my router is defective?
LOG:
Aug 22 23:49:05 dropbear: JFFS unwritable - creating temporary keys in RAM

 

[aussiebro]

It sounds like bad coding / bug.