Solved RT-AX86U dead WiFi asking for country code?

[Sildur]

Hey everyone
So a friend of mine bought an used RT-AX86U and asked me to take a look at it because the wifi led are not lighting up and the SSIDs wont show up. Installing merlinWRT didn't fix it either. Looking at the wifi settings opens a popup asking for a country code and the channels are stuck on auto as the only option.
Already tried full reset and all that, here's the syslog, maybe some of you guys have an idea on what to try next!

Jan 1 00:00:02 kernel: ubi2: attaching mtd10Jan 1 00:00:02 kernel: ubi2: sca - Pastebin.com

Pastebin.com is the number one paste tool since 2002. Pastebin is a website where you can store text online for a set period of time.

pastebin.com

EDIT:
My manufacturing partition (mtd10) was indeed corrupted/missing. ColinTaylor helped me a lot in PMs to recreate it and getting this thing up and running again. This required a lot of unique information, risky commands and a chance of actually bricking the router completly.

 

[ColinTaylor]

It looks like someone has erased or corrupted the manufacturing partition (mtd10). That contains the baseline nvram configuration for the hardware. Without that data the router won't work.

 

[Sildur]

It looks like someone has erased or corrupted the manufacturing partition (mtd10). That contains the baseline nvram configuration for the hardware. Without that data the router won't work.

Hmm, is there a way to restore said parition or reflash it?

 

[ColinTaylor]

That partition contains information put on at the factory that is unique to each router, e.g. serial numbers, MAC addresses, etc. It also contains regional information (like the territory), and hardware specific info (the RT-AX86U has at least two hardware revisions).

So you really need the original data. Trying to recreate it is going to be difficult.

You could try attaching that partition and seeing how far you get. Probably not very far...

cat /proc/mtd
ubiattach /dev/ubi_ctrl -m 10

 

[RMinNJ]

Should one backup this partition somehow in case this rare problem happens?

 

[Sildur]

That partition contains information put on at the factory that is unique to each router, e.g. serial numbers, MAC addresses, etc. It also contains regional information (like the territory), and hardware specific info (the RT-AX86U has at least two hardware revisions).

So you really need the original data. Trying to recreate it is going to be difficult.

You could try accessing that partition and seeing how far you get. Probably not very far...

cat /proc/mtd
ubiattach /dev/ubi_ctrl -m 10
ubinfo -a

Yeah getting an error on command ubiattach /dev/ubi_ctrl -m 10: ubiattach: error!: cannot attach mtd10 error 22 (Invalid argument)
Full log: https://pastebin.com/WdfgJmik

 

[ColinTaylor]

Yeah getting an error on command ubiattach /dev/ubi_ctrl -m 10: ubiattach: error!: cannot attach mtd10 error 22 (Invalid argument)
Full log: https://pastebin.com/WdfgJmik

Well, if you get to the point where you're just going to bin it send me a private message. We might be able to rebuild that partition using the information from my RT-AX86U. But I've never done this before so you'd have to accept the risk of potentially bricking it.

 

[Sildur]

Updated the main post. ColinTaylor helped me a lot in PMs in order to recreate my broken partition and get this thing up and running again, thanks a lot!

 

[darshiz]

Hi

I have a AX82U that seems to have a similar problem to the one mentioned above. (WIFI lights on, but not broadcasting and getting invalid country code error).

So, @ColinTaylor and @Sildur I was wondering if you would be able to share with me the steps you took to restore the router?

I understand that the routers are not the same, but I imagine that they would be quite similar.

Apologies for hijacking the thread.

Thank you,
darshiz

 

[akirax]

Same problem here, can anyone help me?

Best regards.

 

[Sildur]

@ColinTaylor basically rebuild my router with modified files based on his own with my serial ids etc. I can't share those files, they are tailored to my router.

 

[akirax]

@ColinTaylor basically rebuild my router with modified files based on his own with my serial ids etc. I can't share those files, they are tailored to my router.

ok, many thanks.

Already contact with him.

Hope he can help me.

Cheers.

 

[akirax]

@ColinTaylor save my router from dead.

I am very grateful to him, he has been wonderful.

 

[Malleus]

As akirax, I'm having the same problem.

I've already contacted with Mr. @ColinTaylor

I'm waiting for your response. Thanks.

Sincerely.

 

[giosita]

Good evening everyone.

I have the same problem with the AX86: suddenly (but I think it’s been at least 10-15 days since the last time I accessed the management interface), it stopped accepting login credentials, including SSH. The Instant Guard also was not working, but the internet connection via LAN and Wi-Fi was functional.

I did a hard reset, and boom. The Wi-Fi is completely dead with a country code error.

I spent the entire day trying various things, and the result is that the CFE is corrupted.

All the MAC addresses are incorrect, the same goes for the serial number, PIN, and the Wi-Fi calibration parameters are completely missing, etc.

You can see this from a comparison of the backup files: I took one from a few months ago and compared it with a backup just done, noting these differences and completely missing data.

A temporary workaround (TERRIBLE, DO NOT DO IT) is to restore ALL the parameters —about 3600— by extracting them from a backup made before the disaster, create a script to set them all (nvram set -all parameters- followed by a commit and a reboot), copy it to the router via SCP, and launch it via SSH.

At that point, after rebooting, the Wi-Fi starts working again; yes, but only until the next hard reset of the router...

This is obviously because the parameters set via nvram set are NOT saved in the CFE, and after the reset, the device retrieves the corrupted data.

Now, this situation, in correlation with the device hacking problem (whether through AICloud vulnerabilities, VPN servers, or anything else) is absolutely terrifying.

The procedure to extract the default NVRAM file from the CFE and modify it exists on GitHub, but I’m having difficulty mounting the backup of the UBIFS image to modify and restore it. I won’t go into further details because I don’t think it’s appropriate to share potentially dangerous procedures.

Anyway, I’m also asking for support from @ColinTaylor : as you may have already read, I have various backups to extract the data from. If you could help me, I would be immensely grateful—my warranty has expired.