Hauwei 556a OpenWRT

treatyman

Hi,

Is it possible to flash this router with OpenWRT ? I have a post in Broadband/Midband but nobody seems to know.. Just wondering if it would be easier to flash it with OpenWRT and do what I want to do in the link?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056123066

Thanks,

Jonathan

What chipset is it using?

Broadcom SoC?
Atheros?

treatyman

To be honest I haven't a clue.. All I know is it's a huawei hg566a, the ones vodafone give out.

treatyman

Jonathan wrote: »

What chipset is it using?

Broadcom SoC?
Atheros?

From what I researched it looks like it's a broadcom

Jonathan

treatyman wrote: »

From what I researched it looks like it's a broadcom

Yup, a Broadcom 6358 to be exact. Comes with an Atheros WLAN card too, so it is definitely a possibility.

https://wiki.openwrt.org/inbox/huawei.hg556a

The OpenWRT 63xx support is patchy to say the least. I tried the precompiled BT Voyager 2110 backfire firmware when it came out and it bricked it.

I compiled my own version from source with my own patches and got it booting but not stable. I must have another go at it some time over Christmas actually.

treatyman

Jonathan wrote: »

Yup, a Broadcom 6358 to be exact. Comes with an Atheros WLAN card too, so it is definitely a possibility.

https://wiki.openwrt.org/inbox/huawei.hg556a

The OpenWRT 63xx support is patchy to say the least. I tried the precompiled BT Voyager 2110 backfire firmware when it came out and it bricked it.

I compiled my own version from source with my own patches and got it booting but not stable. I must have another go at it some time over Christmas actually.

Sounds like it's a bit beyond my technical expertise.. If I give it a go which of these will I use?

http://downloads.openwrt.org/backfire/10.03.1-rc4/brcm63xx/

Jonathan

treatyman wrote: »

Sounds like it's a bit beyond my technical expertise.. If I give it a go which of these will I use?

http://downloads.openwrt.org/backfire/10.03.1-rc4/brcm63xx/

Try the NEUFBOX squashfs version and if that goes ok you can move to the squashfs version. Chances are it won't, and you'll end up with a bricked device.

See here for a list of what devices use what SoC.

I really wouldn't recommend loading OpenWRT unless you know what you are doing. Recovering from a bricked device is possible but you need experience with JTAG debugging, signal probing and TTL serial ports.

jpl888

Lads,

Ever since I updated my HG556a to the latest Vodafone firmware (dated 21/11/11) I am having issues. Whilst looking around for a solution I came across this thread. It seems OpenWRTing the HG556a may now be an option according to https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket/10741

I am going to compile my own customer OpenWRT firmware using this patch, and post back if it works. Wish me luck!

Jonathan

While it might work correctly, that patch will never make it into OpenWrt trunk in it's current state. It causes the router to use a random MAC address upon every boot. You will also lose ADSL functionality.

If you are a Vodafone customer, there is a chance that you were previously a BT customer. In that case, the BT Voyager 2110 definitely does have OpenWrt support so you might be safer using that instead.

jpl888

How come it will disable ADSL, I haven't seen any indication of that?

Jonathan

jpl888 wrote: »

How come it will disable ADSL, I haven't seen any indication of that?

Broadcom won't release GPL code for the ADSL drivers, nor are they obliged to.

jpl888

Oh, that's a shame. I'll give it a miss then.

I went back to the OEM B026 firmware. Touch wood, it's not restarting itself since. Something wrong with that latest B027.